GoGoBoy

Stephen Galbraith told staff during the 'closure meeting' that a number of staff would be staying on board after the park closes to keep the park maintained. He said something like this would include keeping the rides in good condition and looking after the gardens. I am not quite sure why he wanted to do this but it could possibly have something to do with their responsibilities ie. they may not be allowed to let the park waste away until all re-zoning approvals have been met

I love the Boomerang Bay water parks in the US and would be very happy to see Dreamworld get a similar park. I agree that some of the names could have been a bit more appropriate for the style of rides but they still appeal to me. As far as water parks go, I think Boomerang Bay's overall theming is great. Certainly nice and colourful at the very least. They have one attraction called 'Coolangatta Racers'... now that'd be appropriate for DW. You might also find that DW would do even better with the inbound tourist market by playing up the Aussie theme even more than they already do

In reality both of the waterparks at DW and SW are rather dodgy and extremely outdated by todays standards. Both parks are reminiscent of the late 70's/early 80's (obviously because they were built around this time). I'm not saying that the parks aren't functional or fun because obviously some people still get a lot of enjoyment out of them. But there is no denying that they are very outdated. When you taken into consideration the fact that a majority of the attractions in the other areas of the theme parks are top quality world class attractions, it is easy to see that the water parks are certainly not living up to this standard

Paul read the thread properly next time before commenting please. He was referring to Sea World's WATER PARK being more thrilling than Dreamworld's water park. He wasn't comparing the entire theme park and rides

I Dreamworld friday too. It good. Richard the site looks excellent. The layout and graphics are fantastic. Now I just think you should jazz up the design of roller-coaster.com.au a bit

Apparantley there is a new kids ride in Nick Central. After looking over the current dodgy Dreamworld website I noticed there is no available information on it besides a brief mention on the homepage. Hopefully this will all be fixed when the new marketing manager overhauls the site

I have also heard a rumour that the Snowy River trough has been refurbed and resealed or something along those lines

Great news. Sounds like this guy couldn't be more suitable to the position. It will be good to see DW's website get a bit of an overhaul too. I'm also glad that Dreamworld is now able to claim the title of 'Australia's largest theme park'. Wonderland was using that tag but they did not deserve it as it was more to do with the size of the land rather than number of attractions

Sean - I'm guessing from what people have already been discussing in this forum that the park is Magic Kingdom in Lansvale. Do you have a scanner? I'd love to see those photos

Clint let me know if you're planning to go for a drive and check out some of these defunct parks as I would love to tag along. We can make it a field trip. I didn't realise it was O'Neils that ran Adventureland. Considering they are a fairly reputable company I'm surprised they let it get into such bad shape. Remind me not to go on any of their travelling rides. It would make sense for them to sell the land as the area is probably worth more now. Same with Magic Kingdom. Maybe these poor guys will finally make the profit they've been waiting soo long for

A few years ago I visited a park in Sydney called 'Adventure Land - Carnival on the farm'. I'm a bit confused because it sounds exactly like this Magic Kingdom place. Is it possible that it is the same park and they changed their name at some stage? Anyway, checking out Adventure Land turned out to be very interesting so I'll give you a little trip report... It was like a park out of a horror movie. We drove into the parking lot which was deserted. There was this little canteen area where the whole family that runs the place were sitting. They stared at us as we approached in amazement. They told us if we wanted to go on any rides to let them know and they would turn them on. We were the only ones in the park. The park was actually quite large. An old rusted railway track circled the entire perimeter. There was a lake/river which obviously used to be some kind of boat ride but it was totally overgrown. The boats were covered in weeds and bushes. You could just picture the place in its heyday with the train chugging along the track and the boats cruising down the river. There were a few portable rides like a Ferris Wheel and Cha-Cha. There was also an in-ground waterslide winding down the hill. A massive yellow dry slide (similar to the ones you see at the Easter Show) was supposedly still in operation but upon closer inspection I noticed the base of the slide was covered with redback spiders. My guess is that you'd end up with a rather sore behind after riding that one. From what I could tell the park had once been lots of fun, I'm guessing before Wonderland opened. I think the operators also ran a portable ride business which was probably their main income 'cause they certainly wouldn't have been making much cash from Adventure Land

In regards to the admin facilities and renting out nearby space to accomodate them (ie. not actually in the park itself). I have a feeling that Luna Park does this. I know they do have a smallish admin building on site behind the Flying Saucer but I think they might also rent out some offices up the road. Not totally sure about this but I think it might be the case

Hey Shifty I'd delete that post if I was you. Could be considered very offensive. What do you have against gay people? How do you know there aren't any gay people or north shore people on these forums for that matter? Any tiny little shred I had of respect for you (there really wasn't much to begin with) is now gone. By the way I do live on the North Shore and have never had a latte in my life. I don't drink any kind of coffee. I'd be glad to join you for a VB in one of your dirty western suburbs pubs any day thanks Dan

I can't believe the crap the teachers get away with passing as learning. Is there a set number of excursions teachers have to take kids on per year? Or are they just allowed to head out whenever they like and avoid a day in the classroom? Sounds to me like the teachers get their kicks out of going to these parks. I always thought they'd be devastated when Wonderland closed but I guess LPS has become a good replacement for them. I am very bitter and twisted about this as when I was at school we would only go on maybe 1 or 2 per year from what I remember (and never to an amusement park). I guess you just can't keep teachers in the classroom anymore what with all the strikes and trips to fun parks

I think your Demon exclusion is a wise choice. Do we have a map image of Wonderland on one of these forums? You could just use the illustrated map from the old brochures as a reference but unfortunately I don't have a scanner. Would be interesting to see an expansion of the The Beach area as this is one of the few areas I feel could be viable (agreeing with one of joz's earlier comments I think). So basically the infrastructure you'd be looking at keeping would be the existing beach slides and pools, bush beast, snowy river rampage and maybe some of the pathways and existing shops, food outlets and toilets. Anything I'm missing? You could then add in a number of the rides and attractions you created for your park, keeping the space constraints in mind. Also a new entrance and associated buildings would be needed. This could be fun. Mind you though I am only interested in this for the sake of alleviating my boredom and am not thinking it could become a reality (sorry zordy!)

When I mentioned unrealistic I was referring to things like the viability of the park (there would be huge set up costs with all those rides to start with not to mention the staff to run them) plus the operations of the park. In particular what you mentioned about crowd levels. You would need massive crowds to keep a park like that profitable. But apart from that I really like it as I said so don't take my thoughts as a criticism. It would be interesting to discuss whether a park like this could work. We're on the subject of 'Mini Wonderland' though so it would be interesting to see plans for a park similar to the one you have created but set on Zordmaker's proposed 'Mini Wonderland' site. You would have to take into account the existing attractions and infrastructure that are to be re-used and maybe expand on that with some of the attractions and designs you came up with. Grab a map of Wonderland and use that as a reference. Just a suggestion but I'd be interested to see it

Nice use of space there Gazza. I love looking over your drawings, no matter how unrealistic they might be. Obviously there would be a lot of issues to look at with that park but it does show you how a lack of space can be worked around. It makes you realise that the Luna Park's can't really use 'space' as an argument for not installing decent rides. Even though we know they have already used that argument in the past

I agree that one of the issues with the rides currently in the park is that they are all spin and spew rides. I wouldn't go on half of them, purely for the sick factor. They also really need to do something about that simulator. I'm sure there are better portable rides out there with a small footprint. You can even see a sign on the back 'Simulator for hire'. Definitely a bit cheap and nasty but that doesn't seem to stop people lining up for it on a busy day. Guess they don't know 'till they've ridden it. And what's with all the school kids you were talking about shifty? Have the schools already started taking kids their for excursions? It always used to shock me how many schools would visit Wonderland. It really is a bit of an excuse for the teachers to do nothing... I mean there can't be that much educational value in an amusement park no matter how much they try and dress it up. How come when I was at school we were never taken on all these bludgey excurions? Oh well, I guess it's good for the park

Because if we don't aim for a high standard we will never achieve it. The parks are great but there is so much potential. If it were up to people like willsy and shifty, we'd end up with a bunch of crappy parks with 20 year old attractions and low capacities, regardless of demand. I know both of you guys are happy to line up for hours on an end for an old ride which you have been on thousands of times, but not me. It's that kind of "it's better than nothing" complacency among Sydneysiders that probably allowed Wonderland to stay open for the last 10 years without doing jack-all to the park. I'd personally like to strive for something a little better than that

Please let it rest Scott, please. Richard - make him stop!

With Australia's current rate and standard of adding new attractions (hardly ever... even our main parks only seem to add something remotely noteworthy every 3 or more years) this gyro swing WILL be a major new exciting addition... unfortunately

With this 'Mini Wonderland' park you're essentially offering the public an attraction which has a lot LESS to offer than Wonderland did. As Richard said, it was not a particularly special theme park in its complete form. The park needed expansion and additional new attractions to compete. 'Mini Wonderland' is a proposal which does the complete opposite of this and shrinks the park down and reduces attractions. You should also take into account that during the quiet mid-weeks for Wonderland, the Wildlife Park drew in constant masses of tourists. You wouldn't even have this to keep the park going anymore. Zordmaker - you compared 'Mini Wonderland' to Luna Park. Keep in mind that Luna Park has had to create extensive new function, theatre and office accomodation facilities to make the amusement park aspect of the site fiancially viable (mostly due to the small size of the park and its apparent inability to compete with the big parks). 'Mini Wonderland' would be unable to do this. I think it's great that you voiced your opinions over the site Zordmaker and think it's an important thing to do. I took action and let my voice be heard when I still thought there was a chance of stopping Sunway from going ahead with the sale and therefore keeping the park running as a whole. I do agree with many others on this site that a small amusement park like 'Mini Wonderland' which doesn't offer anything new or compelling to visitors would be a financial failure. I would then be worried that this would once again hurt the Sydney leisure industry and make Sydney's prospects for a decent theme park in the future seem even more limited. People don't usually consider the details of why a park failed but simply generalise by saying - "Theme parks don't work in Sydney"

LOVE your avatar Sean M. Especially the font/logo - very accurate. Not sure what that 'T' thing is behind it though

I agree with a lot of the statements above. The time to take action would have been when Sunway was trying to sell the site, not as a going concern but as an industrial park. In typical sneaky Sunway style they made this transaction quickly and quietly before anyone could say a thing. It's too late now. The entire area is becoming industrial and will not suit leisure activities. As Daniel said the best thing to do now is focus energies onto a new site. Zordmaker - it would be great to see you put some of your initiative towards a whole new Sydney theme park rather than the leftover remnants of a defunct park. There is obviously a demand out there. We need prospective park operators to realise that one of the main reasons these types of ventures have failed in Sydney in the past is because they simply haven't been good enough. Build something big and decent and I'm sure you'd find over 4 million Sydney residents and loads of tourists would lap it up

It seems very strange to me that someone working for a big company would post on this website to see if they can organise an amusement park gift voucher for a competition. As Richard has politely pointed out, wouldn't contacting the amusement park directly be the logical thing to do?