Luna park 9 new rides construction

[smule]

On 29/12/2021 at 5:12 PM, Gtmichaels said:

I love how in the sign, the blue train has only belts on, and the red train has the lap bars. Also two riders per carriage? Just some random thoughts I have while waiting in line 🤷🏻‍♂️

IMG_5300.MOV

I love how the trains are going in opposite directions. Going to be interesting when they get back to the station.😂

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

59 minutes ago, smule said:

I love how the trains are going in opposite directions. Going to be interesting when they get back to the station.😂

Maybe on one of the trains, you can ride it

 

[AheadMatthewawsome]

Hi all, due to a combination of storms and staff shortages. Luna Park Sydney will be CLOSED on January 5th and 6th! Anybody who was going to the park on that day will be issued Flexi Passes to book for another date within 180 days, which you can change at any time. I was lucky to be able to peek in there just before they closed, although having 0 ideas what was happening! There is also another COVID alert for those who visited the park on December 30th 2021. Anybody who was there on that day should monitor for symptoms, and get tested if unwell. I'll be doing a RAT test tonight, to make sure that I'm right. If you have any concerns about your ticket, please contact tickets@lunaparksydney.com More information is available at https://www.lunaparksydney.com/

[joz]

Sucks for them. It's inevitable that sort of thing will happen though. Hopefully their staff are OK and they're back open soon

[Guest 239]

8 minutes ago, Naazon said:

Look at this guy, bragging hes been able to get a RAT test

I was reading the /r/Australia subreddit the other day and somebody was flexing about buying flipping RATs for $20 profit each. The guy got absolutely destroyed considering that there are people who need the tests to go to work but a lot of people are using them to make sure that they can still socialise. 

[Naazon]

1 minute ago, Dom said:

I was reading the /r/Australia subreddit the other day and somebody was flexing about buying flipping RATs for $20 profit each. The guy got absolutely destroyed considering that there are people who need the tests to go to work but a lot of people are using them to make sure that they can still socialise. 

In QLD at least a lot of testing sites are closed because they can't staff them (like LPS and peoples theories on some GC rides) so people are turning to RATs, (myself included) since I'm not lining my young son up for 6+ hours to get a test.

Luckily the RAT shortage is supposed to be short lived with stock arriving this week.

[Guest 239]

I have heard the same. It was similar with masks and fidget spinners that businesses couldn't keep up with demand. Give it a month and they'll be begging people to take them. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I have family about to depart on essential travel who will need a RAT to return home as the current rules stand. Couldn't find anyone that had them in-stock, but asked at the counter and they produced one from underneath. 

Shopkeeper said their corporate office had told them to remove them from display and only sell singles when asked as those buying bulk for profit are unlikely to ask, and if they do, will baulk at requesting more than one anyway.

Smart fricking business in a shortage - They could have sold boxes to the first joe-bloggs with enough cash but instead recognised the need to limit supply in a time of desperation, and for that, we'll remember their willingness to not cash in for profit and to limit supplies for the needy - they're a few minutes extra to drive from our local big-box, but we'll now make the effort to do so even if they are a few cents\dollars extra for most items.

[Guest 239]

2 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Shopkeeper said their corporate office had told them to remove them from display and only sell singles when asked as those buying bulk for profit are unlikely to ask, and if they do, will baulk at requesting more than one anyway.

Great to hear that they're considering the fact that these are a medical necessity for some instead of just placing them on display and dishing them out like they're the latest Xbox game. 

[rappa]

I’ve got 4 RATs in my bag traveling back from interstate today. Up for grabs only $150 a pop, PM me

 

…of course jokes. 

[AheadMatthewawsome]

Hi all, I just want to let you all know that there’s been a few people, including staff spreading rumours about the Big Dipper.

They’ve said that the seats have been ripped out and replaced. And that they removed a “loop” (inversion) on the ride. They did not say what, but I would assume it’s the Flat Spin. The staff member came up to me in a worried state with it apparently being taken apart. Somebody else also said I was wearing a red and white stripe half glove tie in a half Windsor knot. 
 

Oh I am, am I? Is that what you think? Well if that’s what you think, I have something to tell you. Something that may shock and discredit you! I’m not wearing a tie at all! Whoops… 

It’s just not true, it’s just not true! I got all the proof here! SEE?!  I checked around the whole perimeter of the ride today, which was apparently when they were taking the ride down. And nothings changed! Although there’s been quite significant teething issues with the Big Dipper, and the ride has quite a habit of going on strike. Maintenance will be doing just a few little tweaks to make it singa, with the moona and the tuba! I’ve already reported the person making the false rumours on the Luna Park Instagram Page to, well, Instagram. While that staff member has already been reported by myself, and any concerns have been swiftly crushed by management. Fact Checkers, activate!

And even if it was true, it would be extremely expensive, and would take months for the ride to reopen, permanently reducing LPS and Intamin’s reputation.

So please keep an eye out for any of these kinds of rumours. If you don’t think my first hand, or second hand knowledge from management, please contact Guest Relations by phone, email, or live chat though here: https://www.lunaparksydney.com/contact

Thanks

Matthew

[Slick]

With respect @AheadMatthewawsome I don't think you need to report everything you hear to guest services - they've probably got enough on their plate as is being short-staffed during a pandemic.

The general public love a good crazy story about rides going wrong - the amount of times i've heard people say they got stuck upside down on (insert ride here) would be enough to think every ride in the country is doomed to fail. These rides are built and marketed on the illusion that they're scary and dangerous, when in reality they're anything but.

Some great life advice for both this situation and anti-vaxxers is to let people be people and don't get too worked up about  stuff that's clearly nonsense. 🍻

[StingRay]

Decided to visit the park on Sunday with my son. Big Dipper was not running. The guest services team member sighting “technical issues” that need to be resolved and Maintenace is working on rectifying these issues with the manufacture.

We all know new rides have some problems. I just hope they get it fixed within the coming weeks. 

I feel for the park, covid has hit the big time and they've had a few hiccups with some of the new rides. I know the park has amazing potential. I just hope after summer they can hit the ground running with all these little issues put behind them. 

Guest services were handing these out to people who asked about the rides current status. 

Big Dipper sits quietly, while the Wild Mouse is roaring away in the background. 

The netting that's been installed above the walkway to the Glenn Street stairs and the queue line for SledgeHammer 

[Gazza]

I was wondering how long netting would take.

[StingRay]

54 minutes ago, Gazza said:

I was wondering how long netting would take.

I think it went up before the opening day. I hadn't visited the park since early December. It wasn't installed on my last visit. 

 

[Jobe]

2 hours ago, Gazza said:

I was wondering how long netting would take.

Yeah so was I. It makes sense since underneath it is a main thoroughfare and exit to the nearby stairs.

[StingRay]

Word I've heard is that BD might be running again already, can anyone confirm this?. 

[Yyosh]

Can confirm. I was at Luna Park today, it opened at around 1pm.

[jhunt2]

Yep, back up and running, although don't be shocked and outraged if there are a few more stoppages if you visit in the coming days. It seems to be having a few little teething issues here and there. The good news is it's not completely down any more!

[Gtmichaels]

Next up: Sledgehammer’s return of the 360 degree ride cycle 🤞🏻🤞🏻Honestly it was such a difference, hopefully they work it out with Zamperla soon

[Guest 239]

I had the opportunity to ride Big Dipper 3.0 yesterday multiple times.

Firstly; Wow! This coaster is great and is exactly what Luna Park Sydney has needed in the last couple of years. It packs a punch, provides a spectacular view of Sydney, has some incredible elements and its pacing is spot on from start to finish. It is easily the best thrill attraction in the park by a country mile (understandably) and I'd comfortably place it fairly close to Jet Rescue in coaster rankings. 

Going through the entire experience, the queue definitely sets expectations fairly low. Besides the nice murals during the stairs at the start and the old Big Dipper 1.0 coaster train, it is not a nice queue. You climb the aforementioned mural stair cases until you reach the cement platform that tumble bug used to reside on where you now have the option to go right into Foyeur 2 at the big top or straight forward towards Big Dipper. At this point you can you see the holding area for the second train which is interesting considering it's so close you could touch it (and has no covering which is kind of interesting considering how harsh the Australia sun can be) but surrounding the ride footprint are chain wire fences covered in custom fence mesh graphics which combined with the metal staircases and unpainted aluminium railings makes it look like a construction site. 

As you make your way up these stairs and start to realise that this attraction is not at all disability friendly, you come to the controversial metal archway bridge. Legitimately this feels like something you expect to see in a prison and it was not uncommon to hear 'dead man walking' from our group as we meandered over the bridge. You do get an interesting vantage overlooking the attraction but its definitely not nice looking and once again all feels incredibly temporary. 

From here you make your way down from the metal bridge into a small cattle pen that uses similar decking to what we've seen behind the park in Luna Land surrounded by further chain wire fences with custom fence mesh graphics on them. These graphics show the different iterations of Big Dipper through history which is neat but once again it feels like it should be temporary. To help assist with the guest movement they use small modular metal fences which were neatly organised at the start of the day but progressively got shoved into the corner of the cattle pen as the night went on but thankfully all guests were respectful of the queue. There is now one final ramp you ascend before the attraction and then you're ready to board!

 The line honestly moves fairly quickly so thankfully you're not stuck out in the open for too long. The longest we waited was around 10-15 minutes which isn't bad for the parks premier attraction. This is assisted by the fact that they make sure to stage guests as the coaster is cycling which helps to increase flow. Keep in mind that there was only one train running all day.

Once you ascend the ramp you're now greeted to the station which is incredibly barebones and, considering the height, doesn't even provide a good vantage of the park because the station is almost entirely surrounded by solid walls. Instead you get a good vantage of the coaster, expect for the non-inverting loop, which helps to hype you up as you see other riders soaring around. The ride cycle is roughly 30-40 seconds so it's not longer before the next group is back and as they disembark you're ready for your own journey. Before you get harnessed in you must drop off all your loose belongings but there are no lookers are anything provided except for some coloured tubs which still had the labels on them from where they were purchased. They are red and blue which mirrors the ride vehicles but they honestly looked really tacky. 

Sit down, cross your arms and the second ride operator will lower the harness for you. Nobody in our group had a problem with the seat or harness and I found it to be rather comfortable! Though no time to think because before you know it the ride is moving. The first little jolt out of the station is a friendly introduction to the movement of the attraction, before it cranks things up to eleven and you hit the second launch and soar into the non-inverting loop. You don't have a lot of time to think here but the view that you get is spectacular! The forces placed on you through all the elements (on average. I'll get to this later) are strong but not uncomfortable, and you constantly find yourself surprised by how much a punch this coaster is packing. As you leave the non-inverting loop you now enter the mess of track surrounding the queue area and you fly through this area. Even riding it near five times I found it difficult to anticipate where the coaster was going next because it trashes you from left to right and even, at one point, upside down. I'm often not a fan of corkscrew like elements but whatever element is right at the end is really fun!

And, before you know it, the journey is over and you hit the brake run. This is the area where people have their little 'woohoo!' moment as the train coasts into the station and you get ready to disembark. They make you keep your head back and cross your arms during this point because once the harness releases it springs up with some extreme force. I almost saw a kid get their nose clobbered because despite holding the position for a little while, right at the last second they turned around to see their friends reaction and the restraint grazed their face. I will not be surprised if this gives somebody a bloody nose one day.

Gather your belongings, exit to the right, descend the stairs and check out your photo! The experience of Big Dipper is over.

Overall here are my takeaways that I can't figure out how to put into a proper sentence structure:

• It is an incredible coaster presented fairly poorly. It does not feel like the parks premier attraction considering the queue and presentation, but it sure does feel like it when you're on-board. 
• The ride has 'personality' and it changes through the day and where you sit. My first ride was at the back and it is VERY rough! Then our next three rides as a group were at the front and it was spectacular. Though our final ride before park close was at the front and suddenly now the front was rough and it made me feel rather unwell. If you get the choice, ride as close to the front as possible. Usually I'd say the opposite for most launched attractions but this is the exception. Somebody in our group predicted it had to do with the wheel sizes differing from front to back. Hopefully it doesn't degrade with age and operation.
• It goes down a lot. There were several times the ride simply was not running for whatever reason and one of those times it appeared that the train got stuck on the brake run and the guests needed to be evacuated. On top of this the ride also did not open until around midday.
• Operations was pretty good all day except for the end of the night where the ride operated announced shortly towards ten o'clock that they were only doing two more rides and those towards the back of the line would miss out. It came out of nowhere and everybody was really shocked. You need to manage guests expectations in this instance as the last experience of the night should not be them getting kicked out of a line that they've already waited 10-15 minutes in. The park needs an announcement an hour before close telling guests to get their final rides in and that they cannot guarantee that guests in queue will not be able to experience the attractions close to closing time. 
• I hope that some time within the next 12-18 months that they attraction goes down for an extended period of time to improve the queue. It just isn't good and is bad show. If this is not temporary than I will be extremely disappointed as no amount of cutesy paintings will fix this and its polarising compared to the vibrant and colourful park down below. 
• I'm surprised the second train was not running. It was not busy but you would think that they'd want to take the opportunity to get operators used to cycling two trains as much as possible so that they don't panic when crowds return. I can predict that as COVID eases this ride will become more popular and the operations we saw were good, but would struggle under standard school holiday crowds. 
• I would argue that is easily one of the most unique coasters in the world. No where else can you soar through an iconic skyline on such a unique type of roller coaster. Seeing the harbour bridge and the city fly around your vision as you thrash through the coaster course is very memorable and makes the experience extra special.
• If Luna Park Sydney is listening; I want more things like this! You've got plenty of flat rides and now I'd love to see more future additions like this coaster. I have no idea where you'd put them, but at this stage it seems like your only choice is more custom designed coasters considering space limitations. 
• I love how you can see this coaster from so many different angles. There are certain vantages obstructed by Coney Island, but otherwise you've got clear vision on almost all parts of the ride and its great to just sit and watch. 
• It's got an amazing roar! It doesn't carry a lot which is nice for residents, but when you're nearby it really lets you know that it is there. 

That's all I can think of for now. I know it's a lot but TL;DR I really liked it but it's presentation is weak. 

[GoGoBoy]

I just don't think there's any excuse for the lack of presentation. If you've got enough money for 9 new rides, there's surely enough to spend on a bit of theming etc. It's about priorities. They aren't doing the incredible history of the park any justice by ignoring this aspect

[Guest 239]

47 minutes ago, GoGoBoy said:

I just don't think there's any excuse for the lack of presentation. If you've got enough money for 9 new rides, there's surely enough to spend on a bit of theming etc. It's about priorities. They aren't doing the incredible history of the park any justice by ignoring this aspect

I absolutely agree, but this is Luna Park Sydney after all. Beyond a select few experiences, presentation has not been a huge priority for the modern iteration of the park considering that traveling flat rides have been a staple of the park for almost a decade. It is shame because when they put in the effort then they can produce some spectacular results like with Volare. 

My hope is that in the future something will be done to bring these attractions up to par. The park is in an awkward transition stage where it's now much closer to a fully fledged and realised theme park, but they're still treating it like the small boardwalk amusement of yesteryear. It is important for the park to realise that with this expansion and the expensive ticket prices comes greater expectations from guests and their old tactics just aren't going to cut it. I don't doubt the park will mature, but it will take time and we're basically seeing the awkward teenage phase of LPS at the moment.

[GoGoBoy]

19 hours ago, Dom said:

I absolutely agree, but this is Luna Park Sydney after all. Beyond a select few experiences, presentation has not been a huge priority for the modern iteration of the park considering that traveling flat rides have been a staple of the park for almost a decade. It is shame because when they put in the effort then they can produce some spectacular results like with Volare. 

That makes it even more frustrating I think - the fact that they've shown that they can do presentation well, with the new Tango Train and Volare, as well as other park improvements, demonstrating a commitment to aesthetics and atmosphere. That's all been completely lost with this upgrade

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Wasn't there a fairly lengthy discussion during construction when people were picking on the presentation, and the response that came fairly loudly was 'but they're building 9 rides at once and don't have a lot of money' - has that changed?