Luna Park Sydney - the future with Wet'n'Wild

[Bussy]

1. How do I know his track record?? I don't recall seeing many (if any) of his posts since I've been posting here, and his profile says he is 13yrs old. For all I know he is another teeny bopper posting random rumours.

Did you notice my birthday as well? Unlike a lot of people these days I don't put all my personal information on the Internet for everyone to see. I have made nearly 1500 posts on this forum and have been here since early on. I have worked at 3 theme parks, 2 in Australia and 1 overseas so I have a fair bit of experience on the subject of theme parks.

Anyway back to the topic on hand, it is good to see that LPS are adding something permanent to the park, there is nothing worse than a park not doing anything refreshing, that's what Wonderland did and look where it ended up.

"The Bus is now leaving for Experience Dam, South Australia"

[Ranger Dude]

Apparently HairRaiser is testing. A friend of mine was at LPS for a party last night and said he saw the ride go up and down several times. Said the drop looks intense and very fast. Can't wait to ride it... Still trying to get down there to take a few pics. Anyone else got any further updates?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm amazed how much construction went by here without being noticed - it seems like it was just last week the DA was identified...

[Ranger Dude]

OK, so I went by LPS today to check out the new Hair Raiser ride. I took a few pics but just realised I can't upload on the mobile site and my PC is not working…..

However...

What we have here is looking like a very nice little install indeed. The ride is very compact and one of the park staff informed me that the actual ride itself is testing however there is still construction work going on & the ride is apparently still "a couple of weeks at least" away from opening, so there does not appear to be an opening date yet.

I was informed that the ride is indeed a Larson & ARM Drop, and the height at nearly 50 metres I was informed makes it both the tallest and at 80km free fall drop the fastest ride that has ever been at LPS. The "theming" is apparently going to be in line with the old-style feel of the park. The ride is not a traveller - it is definitely a permanent park model ride however it looks like they are building a timber deck around the seats so the ride sits about half a metre off the ground and there is some kind of covered structure around behind the ride that looks like queuing etc. Although it's not finished yet it certainly looks a few cuts above the other LPS rides although walking through it appears they have done some work to a number of other areas since I was there last. The tower itself is in a great spot, as you walk through the entry you can see it standing over the top of the other rides & Ferris Wheel and then as you look down the boardwalk towards Coney Island it is right in the middle, so they've picked a perfect spot for it. I would imagine the view from up there is going to be very spectacular.

As soon as I can get my iPhone pics uploaded to a PC I will post the photos.

[Gazza]

If you use imigur.com you can upload straight off your phone.

[Jobe]

Would love to see those photos too!! Bring them on!!

I have just been looking at the LPS website and I have just noticed something and I hope I am completely wrong. When looking at the rides section of the website , it no longer lists The Flying Saucer ( Huss model) as being in the park line up. However it is still on the LPS map. I sincerely hope that this is an oversight and not a case where they are removing this ride. We are just seeing the introduction of the first new ride since 1995 and with that the permanent ride count being escalated as well. Lets hope that the introduction of The Hair Raiser does not come at the cost of another permanent ride.....Can anyone who has been to LPS recently confirm whether Flying Saucer has been operating ???

[Ranger Dude]

It was not open when I was there. We need some LPS people on here to give us a little inside information....

[Ranger Dude]

Finally got my PC up and running again... pics attached.

[Reanimated35]

It looks so.....fragile in those pics.

[JulieLovis]

Jobe, I actually enquired about the Flying Saucer when I was there last as it was down on 2 consecutive visits. I went into the Information office and one of the managers came in and we talked for a while.

What he said was that the ride was taken down for annual servicing and there were some important parts that needed to be replaced. Apparently the designer of the ride no longer makes this ride any more and they don't make the parts, which means that LPS would have to have the parts custom made which he said would be very expensive, and even then, given the age of the ride, there could be other parts that may need to be replaced in future that would need to be custom made. So…. the exciting part…. what he did say is that they are in the process of making a decision as to whether it would be a better business decision to replace the Flying Saucer with something brand new. He also said something along the lines of " they would not want that location to remain vacant for very long but new rides take time to procure, build etc "… so I don't know, if it's been taken off the website, maybe LPS have more plans afoot!!?

Back to this ride though, I think it looks great and a really nice compact addition for that spot. Can you imagine how good the view is going to be from the top? I can't wait to ride it. Does anyone know when exactly its going to open?

[Ranger Dude]

Flying Saucer is definitely down. Not in the in-park map any more (trees over the top of where it once was) & certainly not operating. Pls elaborate JulieLovis!!!

Should verify the actual physical ride itself (or what you can see anyway) is there, but there is no reference to it on map or website. As Jobe says though it still is on website map though

[Jobe]

Thanks for the info Julie Lovis- its sad to see the Flying Saucer no longer in the park. It was a iconic ride since 1995 and featured a unique ride experience!! I have ridden it many,many times and its a shame it can no longer be supported!!

The Huss UFO is a fairly unique ride and are actually quite rare- there are about only 17 surviving examples left in the world. Hopefully LPS replaces it quickly with an equally thrilling and iconic ride!! Since the footprint left behind with Flying Saucer's demise is so exact,it will be interesting to see what LPS do with the site. Anyone have any ideas on what would be a good replacement in this spot?

Great pics to RangerDude-thanks!!! I am looking forward to riding this in January in my annual trip to the park!!!

Edited December 7, 2013 by Jobe

[zacsta_1997]

awesome photos, i hope it opens on boxing day, because i plan on going to LPS during the holidays...

i loved the Flying saucer, im upset knowing it may be going soon. i loved that ride.. with a replacement ride, i think there could be room for...

• Power surge
• Claw (traveling Carnival Ride)
• AliBaba
• Zipper
• transformer
• Techno Jump
• Zamperla air strike

hope they choose a good replacement ride

LPS has taken the Flying Saucer off their ride list, they are yet to remove it from the digital park map

Edited December 8, 2013 by zacsta_1997

[Jobe]

I have since been in contact with LPS and the "official" statement is that the Flying Saucer is down for maintenance. I questioned further regarding it being taken from the ride list on the website and the reply I received was that a decision was pending. Nothing has officially been decided yet regarding its future, however, the fact that it has been deleted from the ride list is a fairly ominous sign. I think what JulieLovis has imparted is quite correct and we will hear the official line soon. There will also be an official announcement this week regarding Holiday rides that will be appearing at the park over this summer!! All in all, quite exciting news for LPS fans!

[JulieLovis]

I would like to see the Flying Saucer replaced with a proper new ride and not some second hand trailer ride. In 2013 we've seen 3 new additions to LPS (albeit 2 direct replacements - Carousel and Udrive, plus the new Hair Raiser), all of which have been brand new and proper "Park" rides, which is very positive. So it is all looking positive for a decent Flying Saucer replacement. Something aerial would be good, similar to the Flying Saucer.

Regarding the holiday rides, what are we expecting to see to complement the new Hair Raiser? Something good hopefully seeing the Flying Saucer is out.

[Jobe]

It will definitely not be Pirates Revenge as this is appearing at LPM for the summer!! Personally I am hoping that Crazy Coaster makes an appearance- it has never been to LPS and if it proves popular, then this will give added impetus to LPS finally gaining a 2nd permanent coaster once again!! I think that it will be a major ride to couple in with the launch of Hair Raiser- although I would not be too surprised if The Disk'O makes another appearance!! Fingers crossed for at least 2 rides to really make this a memorable summer for visitors to LPS!!

[Monkeypie]

Disk'o is going to Huskisson carnival this year

[JulieLovis]

There is a great photo on the Hair Raiser Facebook page taken from the top of the tower- I can't work out how to copy it to post here...

Or, right click the date of the post and open in a new tab, then copypasta the URL.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Gazza

[Gazza]

There is a great photo on the Hair Raiser Facebook page taken from the top of the tower- I can't work out how to copy it to post here...

Click share.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

or right-click, save-as and then upload to post...

or right click, copy URL, paste URL here...

many options available for your convenience!

[Ranger Dude]

Here it is

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

good shot...

i wonder what 'logo' they're putting on the coathanger this year.

[jjuttp]

If you look at the Lighthouse, theyve started to deconstruct that too.

Also, with the bridge, it looks like just a bunch of circles. From a distance it looks like a spider, but as you get closer it starts to look like the Vitruvian Man.

I went yesterday to the park, they wernt testing the ride, and it looks exactly the same as it does in the previous pictures (no queue or machines) and theres no temp attractions up as of yet. I also noticed that it felt like the Spider was on a bit of a more violent cycle.

[Ranger Dude]

Spider has been running much faster since its last annual outage. Cars were refurbed too so it's looking a lot better & has new restraints. Perhaps that has something to do with the speed increase?

[JulieLovis]

Post on LPS Facebook page… a "bunch of extra rides opening Boxing Day" including "Freak Out" (googled it, a KMG ride, haven't seen this before), not sure what other rides are included in this "bunch"… Does anyone know if the Hair Raiser is open yet??? I'm assuming it isn't as there has been no 'announcement' and it hasn't been added to their website yet, other than on the 'Coming Soon' page.