Magic Mountain Glenelg

[Jobe]

Hey guys,

 

Just stunbled across this little video on Youtube of Glenelg's former attraction Magic Mountain. I am pretty sure this has not been shared before  so i thought i would proffer it here for anyone that is interested. Having not been to Adelaide before, this offers a fascinating insight into an obviously much loved former attraction. Interestingly, this was built on the same site that Luna Park Glenelg was situated on in 1930 before it was packed up and shipped to Milson's Point to become Luna Park Sydney.

Nowadays it is home to a small attraction called The Beachouse.

Here are some pics of when Luna Park was situated at Glenelg.

For comparison, here is some images of the Beachouse, the attraction that currently resides in this spot.

There were plans at some stage to expand The Beachouse with a larger water park facility but I am not sure what happened with that proposal. Seems like a great little attraction for the family by the sea. It would be great if it could be expanded in some way to increase its patronage and importance as an attraction for the town. Hopefully , one day I get to visit and have a look in person.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Jobe

[Gazza]

From outside it looks like the slides are the coolest thing ever weaving in and out of the rockwork, but inside it was unthemed and all the slides were open air so it was basically just like a giant warehouse.

Did look impressive though!

[Zac Beckwith]

On 15/09/2020 at 12:18 PM, Jobe said:

Beachouse, the attraction that currently resides in this spot.

 

FYI, the beach house is an arcade centre now, that just so happens to have water slides and mini golf, not just one attraction. 

Not worth a visit in my opinion

Edited September 16, 2020 by Zac Beckwith

[Gazza]

45 minutes ago, Zac Beckwith said:

FYI, the beach house is an arcade centre now, that just so happens to have water slides and mini golf, not just one attraction. 

Not worth a visit in my opinion

Doesn't it basically have the same attraction lineup as the old Magic Mountain, with the one difference being it has dodgem cars and the ferris wheel in lieu of the sky cycles?

[Zac Beckwith]

10 minutes ago, Gazza said:

Doesn't it basically have the same attraction lineup as the old Magic Mountain, with the one difference being it has dodgem cars and the ferris wheel in lieu of the sky cycles?

Pretty sure the whole thing got demolished in 2004, correct me if i'm wrong. There are now 3 water slides, one called dual, one called fast, and one where you go on a tube, not sure if these are the correct names however. The slides are different to the ones that were in magic mountain, and now it is more of an arcade centre than a themepark.

 

not to mention that the ferris wheel hasn't operated for a while 

Edited September 16, 2020 by Zac Beckwith

[Gazza]

What I’m saying is that in terms of the types of attractions on offer, things are pretty much the same between the new and the old one (Having visited both)

Obviously the new one has new ride equipment (apart from the old carousel) and the slides have a different layout.

 

The old Magic Mountain was never a “theme park”, it had:

1. 4x Slides (All body slides)
2. Sky Cycle
3. Carousel
4. Bumper Boats
5. Arcade Games
6. Mini Golf

 

The Beachouse has

1. 3x Slides (1 raft, 1 body side, 1 turbo tunnel)
2. Mini Train
3. Bumper Cars
4. Bumper Boats
5. Arcade Games
6. Mini Golf
7. Ferris Wheel
8. Indoor Playground

Edited September 16, 2020 by Gazza

[Jobe]

6 hours ago, Gazza said:

What I’m saying is that in terms of the types of attractions on offer, things are pretty much the same between the new and the old one (Having visited both)

Obviously the new one has new ride equipment (apart from the old carousel) and the slides have a different layout.

 

The old Magic Mountain was never a “theme park”, it had:

1. 4x Slides (All body slides)
2. Sky Cycle
3. Carousel
4. Bumper Boats
5. Arcade Games
6. Mini Golf

 

The Beachouse has

1. 3x Slides (1 raft, 1 body side, 1 turbo tunnel)
2. Mini Train
3. Bumper Cars
4. Bumper Boats
5. Arcade Games
6. Mini Golf
7. Ferris Wheel
8. Indoor Playground

Yes this was basically my conclusion as well. Having never visited either attraction, I can only go on what i can see in the pictures and info I have resarched. For mine The Beachouse is nearly exactly the same as the former Magic Mountain with updated equipment and a slightly larger attraction offering. 

In terms of size, are they roughly equal to each other though? Or is The Beachhouse slightly bigger?

[T-bone]

From a square footage point of view, using Google Maps, I measured 3,385SQM for Magic Mountain, and 2,980SQM for the Beachhouse. That said,  the Beachhouse appears to be better setup to utilise vertical space when compared to Magic Mountain. Magic Mountain was basically a hollow shell, with any levels above ground being to access the slides for example rather than being multi level, if that makes sense. When you compare the size of the building, then multiply by the 3 standard levels of the building, the Beachhouse comes out at 8,940SQM. This is all from rough Google Earth measurements.

[diesal11]

I've been to both numerous times. Perhaps it's just childhood nostalgia, but Magic Mountain was so much better. The Beach House never seems to be anywhere near as popular as Magic Mountain ever was.

On paper the offerings are very similar but in reality Magic Mountain had a much better version of each ride imo. I remember there being more attractions than what The Beach House offers, and I also remember the slides being longer?, but my memory might be letting me down on any/all of these. I only visited Magic Mountain 2 or 3 times when I was fairly young.

The Beach house is actually 5 levels. But only 2 really of them are part of the attractions. Lower Ground is an Underground Car park. First and Second levels are arcades, water slide ends & the various other attractions. Level 3 holds a private function room looking over Glenelg and Level 4 is the top of the slides.

Dump of other random fun facts:

• They restored and kept the Carousel from The Mountain for The Beach House
• Magic Mountain had it's own Tokens you used to pay for the Arcades & Rides.
• When the Mountain opened in 1982 the Water Slides were the longest in the Southern Hemisphere.
• There was an old popular urban myth school kids used to spread to scare each other, that a group of misfits liked to sneak into the Mountain when it was closed and stick Razor Blades to the water slides with Blu-Tak. Made some of the younger kids particularly scared of the slides. Was obviously never true.
• The Ferris Wheel at Beach House barely runs nowadays. The local council normally set-up a much larger temporary Wheel at the start of the Jetty during busy periods which is much nicer.
• The Mountain was demolished for silly political/council zoning reasons and is generally considered a bad decision in hindsight. (Although it depends who you ask). Due to redevelopments in the area there wasn't enough "Free Park Space" and so the Council owned Mountain had to be demolished to free up some space.
• The mountain was meant to be covered in more greenery but this never happened.

Quote

There were plans at some stage to expand The Beachouse with a larger water park facility but I am not sure what happened with that proposal.

It was canned because of sub par performance I believe. Beach House seems to do well enough to stay afloat but it's never been quite as Busy as Magic Mountain used to be.

Bonus pic (not mine) of Magic Mountain from the beach side looking from the Glenelg Jetty.

[Gazza]

Yeah agreed, despite having less attractions, the whimsy of a giant mountain and the longer slides made it better IMO.

The current one is a bit soulless.