Adventure World castle fire

[Tim Dasco]

The castle at Adventure world which was there from the start in 1981 has gone up in flames. Fire in 2-storey Castle at Adventure World sustained $500,000 Damage overnight. Fire was sparked by fireworks. Another article. ADVENTURE World's iconic castle has been destroyed by fire overnight. Firefighters were called to the park at 11.50pm with reports the fibreglass castle was alight. About 20 officers battled to bring the blaze under control, which caused $500,000 damage. No guests were in the park at the time. A Department of Fire and Emergency Services spokesman said investigators had determined the blaze was caused by the fireworks lit that night for the park's second Fright Night Halloween celebrations. The final Fright Night will go ahead tonight, but the fireworks have been cancelled. The castle was one of the original attractions in the park, which was opened 31-years-ago. Adventure World chief executive officer Mark Shaw said there had been plans to redevelop some of the older exhibits, but he could not confirm what would be done with the castle.

Edited November 3, 2013 by Tim Dasco

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Adventure World chief executive officer Mark Shaw said there had been plans to redevelop some of the older exhibits, but he could not confirm what would be done with the castle.

*cough* insurance job *cough*...

No. I don't really mean that. it's a possibility though - the park is growing and the castle looks like something out of the Pirate Movie... it probably needed to go either way... at least this way they might get some money to fund another expansion...

[Tim Dasco]

Adventure World did say the where going to do up and fix the area where the castle is and around it.

[iwerks]

Some people are suggesting that the next rollercoaster should start from there.

To better times..

[iwerks]

Found one of those great Facebook pages with photos from the early days of Adventure World (before the park began?).

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.505068999564159.1073741848.483374281733631&type=3

In case you didn't know:

Adventure World was built in an old quarry. It's about 13 ha in size - Perth had about five of these small sized parks at the time. The castle roof wasn't originally purple. There was a miniature train going around the paddle boat lake. You would get on the paddle boats from the island in the middle - you can still see what's left of the dock when you're on the boats today. They used to have a tram that would take you around the park. The first station was underneath the entrance plaza. There are some great pictures of the luge that used to go down the hill - there was an electric 'steeplehorse' type vehicle on a rail to take you back up. There was an 'e-ticket' entry system where each ride had a different price (coloured token). The pool originally had a beach. The lake also used to look a lot healthier. Times have changed.

[iwerks]

A little off topic - but just to prove a point..

Hilarious video featuring the lost park of 'Atlantis'. Awesome choice of music..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecr6Xq8yTME

[iwerks]

The castle still looks pretty fried. They've roped off part of the lagoon. I'm guessing no one's going on the paddle boats for a while.

[iwerks]

The TPR Thread picked up on the indecision of AW with regards to the Castle's replacement.

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=65854&sid=14fa33fe2c91565886cdbc81b96e2bb5&start=130

Perth's Adventure World had reports in the local press over the last two days. Several posts back it was mentioned how their castle accidentally burned down during the fireworks to open the Abyss coaster. Yesterday's story was that they were definitely going to rebuild the castle during the next winter. WA Today But today, they're saying they'll take the insurance payout and may use it elsewhere at the park. WA Today I'm hoping that means another new attraction , but it's not really a lot of money in that context. While the castle was iconic to the park's history/theme, to me it always existed without any real purpose as an attraction; other than a lookout it had nothing else inside and was not the tallest point in the park by any means (the nearby hilltop is currently occupied by a drop tower and speed waterslide). So while I don't like to see it just demolished and the insurance money absorbed into operating costs, I'd be happy if its removal was in order to replace it with something more exciting. I'm just throwing this idea in myself, but while the park is very water-oriented with slides, tubes and pools, Perth doesn't have a River Rapids ride or a Splashdown, which are 2 of my favourite rides!

I'm voting with Ozziboy. Perhaps Adventure World could replace the castle with a larger one of these: