Luna park 9 new rides construction

[themeparkman]

Hows Luna Park going since it re opened I'm going tomorrow night, whats the age range for the Halo scream event hopefully its not full of 15 year olds.  

[Wil_i_am_not]

Made it out to Luna Park last night for the first night of public operation since lockdown at Halloscream. Crowds were massive and it was great to see so many people coming down to support the park, and as joz said before, it's looking to be a massive summer for the park. Queues were huge for most rides, with the Hair Raiser line spilling onto the midway, and the Boomerang queue being a consistent half an hour wait for most of the night. 

Starting with the new area, it looked... meh. Rides were using temporary fencing and the area just looked a bit cheap. Hoping they can fix it in the coming months and I understand it was opening night so things still needed to be tidied up, but in its current state, Luna Land is looking pretty sad. Sledgehammer was definitely the stand-out in the area, however it was a bit disappointing having that down (obviously due to unforeseen circumstances). Boomerang was quite a good little coaster, with some nice forces, so that's definitely a positive of the night. 

Mazes were fantastic again this year, all of them being hosted under the Big Top. Decaymart was probably my personal favourite, with great sets, props and actors, as well as a solid story, with Outback Slaughterhouse following closely behind. Rain Dead was perhaps the weakest offering - don't know if I just got unlucky, but it felt like there was a lack of sets and actors throughout. 

Staff were friendly as always, as were operations so that was definitely a positive. Was a shame to see many of the rides down, including 2 out of the 3 coasters for a good chunk of the night (Little Nipper had technical problems but did open later on), as well as Tango Train breaking down for the night, but this isn't the parks fault, and hopefully just all teething problems with the new rides.'

I took a few pictures, nothing super amazing but hope everyone enjoys.

Edited October 23, 2021 by Wil_i_am_not

[GoGoBoy]

And that is just wrong because considering how much money they spent on Luna Land, and the extent of the upgrade, it shouldn't look cheap or sad. But it does. And are they really going to fix it in the coming months? They didn't fix Maloney's Corner for 17 years 

[Yyosh]

Pretty sad to hear the park opened like this. It's great that they're is getting a lot of visitors, but two of the park's signature rides (one of them brand new) being closed on its first day is just a bad look. I hope they clean up the new area soon, they did so well with Volare and the new Wild Mouse facade and it's disappointing to see them completely forget that.

I'll try to visit the park soon to form my own opinion. Anyways, I want to keep my hopes up. We've been anticipating this for eleven months.

[Guest 239]

None of this is supported by evidence but I feel like LPS' main objective this year was to get the rides in and then use the money generated from the hype/crowds so that they can continue to develop the area. Considering that the park was meant to be open in July I can imagine that Luna Park were hoping to have cashflow to support Big Dipper as well but very little this year has gone to plan. Still I think it's impressive that for a park literally in the epicentre of what was one of Australia's worst COVID outbreaks that they still managed to pull this off. I'll hold off judgement to see how Luna Park Sydney develops over the next few years because I'm sure that the new rides will pull in some good cash for the park and draw back lucrative patrons like families.

[19Michael96]

2 hours ago, Dom said:

None of this is supported by evidence but I feel like LPS' main objective this year was to get the rides in and then use the money generated from the hype/crowds so that they can continue to develop the area. Considering that the park was meant to be open in July I can imagine that Luna Park were hoping to have cashflow to support Big Dipper as well but very little this year has gone to plan. Still I think it's impressive that for a park literally in the epicentre of what was one of Australia's worst COVID outbreaks that they still managed to pull this off. I'll hold off judgement to see how Luna Park Sydney develops over the next few years because I'm sure that the new rides will pull in some good cash for the park and draw back lucrative patrons like families.

This is exactly my sentiment.

[Yyosh]

I just came back from LPS and I really have to say, it's not as bad as I imagined it would be. I had some annoyances, but I had a great time. The park was pretty empty with the longest line I waited in being the one to get inside and I only had to wait around 1-2 cycles to get on rides.

Getting inside was strange. The Annual Pass entrance was through the gift shop where guests would get their annual passes printed and would receive an unlimited wristband and a badge which they would take back to the entrance and get allowed in. I recall waiting about 15 minutes as there were a few families in front of me. Turnstiles didn't seem to be in use but we still had to scan the wristbands when going on rides.

The only new ride I rode was Boomerang, which was a pretty fun little family coaster. For the kids rides, Little Nipper was closed every time I walked past despite the website saying it was open and the ribbits made by Freaky Frog got annoying while you're waiting in Boomerang's station.

Sadly I don't think there was any maintenance being done on Sledgehammer. From Hair Raiser I could see Wild Mouse was being retracked and its queue was gone so I don't expect we'll see it running anytime soon. Boomerang broke down early into the day but it was up again fairly quickly.

My main annoyance with the new Maloney's Corner/Luna Land was how it was quite ugly. The back of Coney Island is still fading and hasn't been replaced, and you can see the temporary footers on Boomerang from a few areas. The whole area felt cramped and closed off by the large temporary looking fencing. There was still no music playing on the speakers which has always been an annoyance for me as it makes the area feel dead when its not busy compared to the rest of of the park. Fingers crossed they're going to be able to fix this though as the rides themselves are great and staff are still incredibly friendly. Most people didn't seem to be bothered by the closures and families loved the new rides.

[MrLukeCarroll]

Headed along yesterday for the reopening day and Halloscream event at night and was lucky enough to ride the 7 new attractions that were open (before Little Nipper broke while we were on it and Maintenance seemingly just gave up on it). It's a real shame they couldn't get Sledgehammer opened as I've seen videos with it testing whilst guests were on it, hopefully it's up ASAP because with it and Wild Mouse closed and Big Dipper not yet to open there isn't much on offer for even a moderate thrill-seeker.  A number of the rides are individually presented well but there isn't much tying the new area together, with temporary construction fences as queues and a number of smaller things such as the Boomerang station being unfinished truly making it seem like they ran out of money right near the end. 

The standouts of the newly opened rides have to be the Boomerang Coaster which packs a surprising punch for a family ride, especially on the backwards parts as well as Loopy Lighthouse the perfect stepping stone for those not quite confident enough to ride the Hair Raiser.

Halloscream itself was good but just missing some refinement to become truly great. They tied the entire event together with a "Sydney Witches" storyline which could have worked well if it was developed, but then had them just singing and dancing to pop songs as the main show of the event. 

While it was great to get some nights rides on the new attractions the real reason to attend the event was the three scare mazes. The first we tackled was "Rain Dead" and although this one had an interesting backstory where acidic rain essentially turns people back into a primitive state the sets and props didn't carry this theme through the maze. The actors within did the best they could with the material but it felt like there was nowhere near enough of them, with areas that clearly should have had actors left bare. An interesting concept but unfortunately a lacklustre maze to start the night. (Thanks to Will for the heads up in the thread it was the weakest so we got it out of the way first.

Next up we entered into DecayMart 365, a sequel to last years DecaryMart and just like last year this maze did not disappoint. This maze sees you step foot into an abandoned supermarket overtaken by bloody thirsty zombies. While this may sound cliche, the great mix of talented actors, detailed sets and unique scares all culminated in a maze that was the standout attraction for the event for everyone in my party. I walked out with a heart rate of 165bpm so that's as good of a review as you can give a scaremaze.

Our final maze for the night was Outback Slaughterhouse where you step foot into an Australian butchers barn where it turns out you might be the next thing hung up and turned into sausages. This maze's intense performers, confined corridors and special effects made this another don't miss attraction that's close to my heart as it's essentially a sequel to the maze I worked at the event a few years ago.

With a large number of guests let in it felt like 5 hours wasn't quite enough to do everything satisfyingly, with queues for each maze being around 40 minutes consistently throughout the night. Still, it was great to get back to the park after almost 9 months of downtime, get on seven brand new attractions and get some good scares.

Ultimately was it a perfect reopening? No. Is there stuff that could be improved both easily and more difficultly? Of course. Am I glad the park is back welcoming guests with some long overdue new experiences? I sure am! Enjoy some other photos I took over the day that didn't quite fit elsewhere!

 

 

[StingRay]

I finally managed to get out and head to LPS for its first official day of trading plus attend Halloscream for the first time. 

The park was at its covid safe capacity and it was great to see many people enjoying the new offerings along with the classics also. It's hard to judge everything based on it being the first operational day running of the park. Naturally, some things could be better but I put some of this down to new staff finding their feet. Once I picked up my Annual Pass and checked in I headed into the park to meet my friends. The check-in was slightly odd, from talking to the guest relations person, they are using a new ticketing system and staff ars still having to get used to it. To me, that's not a supermassive issue but I was fairly patient also. 

From the ride lineup it seemed the carousel was not running all day, Wildmouse was not running and the same goes for Sledgehammer. I did manage to get onto Little Nipper, I was on it when it went down and the things mentioned above are true and accurate about it going down.  

Luna Land to me feels great. While the theming you'd expect to see at Movieworld is not present the colours selected to make this area vibrant and great for not just families, but anyone. The interaction Boomerang has with the area is great. I can't wait to see Sledgehammer and Big Dipper 3.0 interact with this area. I’ve read some people say the temporary “bike fencing” looks cheap and tacky. It does, but it’s temporary. Outside of peak operation I’d expect to see this removed and sitting inside the Big Top for storage. 

The crew running Boomerang was on point. The average dispatch time was approximately 1:40 at the peak of the day. It's great to see such a high throughput. 

All the new rides allow adults to ride with or without kids, that's right. If you want to ride you can, Got me some cheeky new credits that are for sure. Loopy Lighthouse is my personal pick.  

Big Dipper is looking great. It's odd seeing it in the flesh inside the park. Still trying to figure out how the exit stairs will work, I believe you'll exit next to Coney Island/Funny Land. 
 

I also attended Halloscream, I'm not much of a Horror fan but for this being my first event it was alright. You can tell Covid affects the performers in what they can do and it's a shame but completely understandable as everyone's health is important. Some of the random shows/acts didn't seem to make a lot of sense tho. This could be due to the fact I'm not into horror or the stories being told just didn't engage the audience enough. I'd like to think the second and was the case as it seemed a little too much “cheerleader” dancing was occurring and it had me slightly confused. 

Overall  it’s nice to have the park open again. The rides looked good and over the next few weekends operations will get better. 
 

 

[Ranger]

I went on opening night after rebooking multiple times due to Covid. The park was buzzing and Halloscream was great. I got there a bit before rope drop and there was a lot of people there. We had booked a night session. You honestly couldn't tell the park was capped at 75% but I felt like the park was pretty safe. We had no problem having our vax status checked and you could tell it was a well organized system. This was my first Halloween event at a park and it was really enjoyable. The scare maze I experienced, Outback Slaughterhouse, was a great maze with lots of jump scare's and actors. What impressed me the most was how it smelt like a proper animal slaughterhouse. There was lots of street entertainment but you couldn't hear the actors. Now onto the rides. Now, obviously Sledgehammer was closed which really annoyed me as they had ages to make sure it was going. Maybe they couldn't get it certified in time but seriously, are you going to open a expanded LPS without your signature new attraction. I can maybe excuse that as growing pains but what I can't get past is that two of the other key rides, WM and Rotor were also shut. Like come on, you reopen after eight months of being closed and you can't manage to get your major rides open. Also, the operations on Hair Raiser were awful. The ops were really nice but jeez, they we're slow. Anyway, I had a enjoyable time and I think my criticisms will be ironed out over the coming months.

[Gtmichaels]

I was operating on and attending to Loopy Lighthouse for Halloscream tonight, rained a bit but people had a great time, felt good seeing smiles on young families  Also me and my mate placed bets on when Boomerang would get stuck on the second lift hill again while it was raining, and the queue was dead XD Also, took a bit of footage of Boomerang today, just before I started my shift at 4pm  

[Gtmichaels]

Also, I had about 10-15 people come up and ask me about Sledgehammer and Big Dipper. “Sorry, but Sledgehammer is under maintenance, and Big Dipper is still under construction”. Most people just couldn’t believe that the two star attractions were not open, but I explained the cost of the ticket is attributed to the scare mazes and event. I heard “Wait, they’re BOTH shut?!” too many times haha. 

I think that was the only issue last night, wasn’t great giving the bad news over and over.

[Jim]

From reading the posts written above, I am not surprised some rides are closed. Which is annoying for now but to me it seems like the park is re-opening slowly; even the operating days and hours are heavily limited. Like in November its only open Friday,Saturday & Sunday, but in December it's open nearly every day. So the park is probably still in a bit of a testing phase and then their probably getting rides ready for later this year? Plus with the long lockdown their probably just glad to be open in some capacity. 

But I do agree with the others which is I hope more bridges and signs are added to complete the feel of the park, I think with time that will happen. But their probably really focused on getting the Big Dipper operational as well.

Surely testing for the Big Dipper starts soon? I hope, plus the exit and entrance is still a bit of a guessing game but I am guessing that the entry and exit line may be next to each other? But I am not sure, there's a few possibilities on how that may work.

Anyway as always keen to hear from the others? 

[Gazza]

On 22/10/2021 at 11:52 AM, New display name said:

You can get to Kiama on public transport.

Yeah its the 11km from Kiama to Jamberoo thats the problem.

 

****

I'm surprised they are using temp crowd barricades, normally you'd have stanchions you can drop into holes in the ground for temporary overflow.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 hour ago, Gazza said:

I'm surprised they are using temp crowd barricades, normally you'd have stanchions you can drop into holes in the ground for temporary overflow.

given the current state of everything, and the fact that many people are holding their breath waiting for changes to signs, bridges, theme elements, etc - temporary barriers are probably a simpler off the shelf solution for what is likely to be a temporary problem. Crowds are only ever a problem during major (NYE) events that having a huge stash of stanchions and sockets to put them in (which is likely the more expensive part to do) is probably not worth it. 

[Guest 239]

Beyond special events I agree that Luna Park almost never needs overflow lines. I've been there multiple times on a weekend and almost everything is a one or two cycle wait. Maybe the new rides will change that, but I think they can be cut some slack for not accommodating for something that has never been a necessity in the past.

[Guest 239]

https://www.instagram.com/stories/lunaparksydney/2694226524437815870/?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&utm_medium=copy_link

Sledgehammer is now up and running! Looks like a really fun ride!

[tkk90]

Sledgehammer, little nippers, wild mouse and rotor are all down. 

This is really good enough for a park that's been open only 2 weeks?

Edited November 5, 2021 by tkk90

[joz]

I mean it's not ideal but it happens.

[Yyosh]

43 minutes ago, tkk90 said:

Sledgehammer, little nippers, wild mouse and rotor are all down.

Has Sledgehammer gone back down?? The website doesn't say it's closed, that's disappointing. Though Wild Mouse looks like it's having some pretty extensive (and most likely necessary) maintenance and Rotor I believe is only closed because of COVID and the fact its outside of the temporary entrance. It hasn't operated since early 2020.

[franky]

Its been about 6 months since most of those rides were commissioned, is there like a 6 month mandatory service that rides would need to have happen, regardless of them being used or not?

Edited November 5, 2021 by franky

[BringADecentParkToSydney]

I can understand rotor and wild mouse but I’m surprised LN and Sledgehammer are down considering they’re brand new. 

[Gazza]

New rides often have teething problems but I guess they have 9 rides to deal with at once.

[PapiRides]

They are going to replace Sledgehammer's temporary fencing with the usual red one sometime soon. I visited last weekend for the 4th time this season and Sledgehammer was operating but only with the 240 degree cycle. I did get to ride the 360 cycle many times a couple of weeks ago and it's pretty awesome. The ride has had A LOT of teething issues but they are fixed for now and it should be running with both cycles this weekend. Little Nipper has also had a lot of issues. One time I visited we did once cycle before stopping in the station and we had to sit there for about 15 minutes with those bulky restraints digging into our sides lol. I am the biggest fan of Halloscream and while I still found some flaws with this years event it definitely felt the most complete of all the years so far. I don't know if I just got lucky or something but RainDead was actually my favourite maze with DecayMart close behind. House Of Hex I felt was cool and different but I did prefer last years Doll House experience as the sets for that were incredible. Boomerang is also a very fun little coaster with some of the best operations in the park. I don't mind the look of the new area and thought it was pretty cute. Overall, Luna had quite a weird re-opening but I still enjoyed myself and that's what counts. Wild Mouse will most likely not open till start of next year and Rotor maybe around the same time as Big Dipper.

[Gazza]

Have they actually started cycling trains on Big Dipper?

This is supposed to open in a month or so right