GoGoBoy

Let me just say that I am aware that a very small number of staff did 'make use' of the park during the party. This included running around the entire park in pitch darkness in a semi-drunken state. Many areas were accessed, even all the way down at Snowy River, without any intervention from security. I believe there wasn't any damage done or anything like that... it was just all in good fun and a way to say a final goodbye. I know a lot of people that have been devastated by Wonderland's closure and a number of staff who do not have new jobs to go to. It's a very sad time for anyone or anything associated with the park and I think the ramifications are a lot bigger than most people realise. Zordmaker - I think your campaign website would be a great idea. It would be good to get the various contacts for those key people in the State Government

joz was just joking wonderbus. He was having a go at the various 'last ride' claims being made in this thread. He actually lives in QLD and works at the Gold Coast parks. That's the trouble with the internet, it's hard to tell when someone's joking

I've got one - Centrifuge. I hope that's not it but it is a C word with 3 syllables

New struggle for axed fun park stalwarts By Jim O'Rourke April 25, 2004 The Sun-Herald The more than 400 workers who will lose their jobs when the Wonderland Sydney amusement park closes tomorrow are struggling to find new work. Most of the employees are young and had been working as long-term casuals at the Eastern Creek park. A large number of casuals - those with less than three years' service - missed out on redundancy packages, even though Wonderland is being sold for more than $50 million, Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union state secretary Annie Owens said yesterday. There are not a lot of similar jobs up for grabs in Sydney, she said. The sale comes in a difficult time for fun parks with the closure of Old Sydney Town, the Fox Studios Backlot and Sega World at Darling Harbour in recent years. Only the reopening of Luna Park at Milsons Point provided theme park job opportunities, but Ms Owns said she understood only a handful of Wonderland workers had been able to secure work there. Earlier this year, Wonderland's Malaysian-based owner, Sunway City Berhad, announced it was selling the 58-hectacre property for $52.5 million after 19 years in the city's western suburbs. Wonderland was bought by ING Industrial Fund and its joint-venture partner, privately owned construction company the PacLib Group. They will turn the site into an industrial estate with access to the M4 Motorway and the proposed M7. Sunway City said it was forced to sell because Wonderland was no longer "commercially viable", due to falling patronage caused by the September 11 terror attacks, the Bali bombings, SARS and the collapses of insurance giant HIH and Ansett. It also blamed the Asian bird flu outbreak. After the union took the matter to the Industrial Relations Commission, and a negotiation process, the full-time workers at the park managed to win eight weeks' pay in redundancy packages. But the 270 casuals, some of whom have been working at the park since it opened, had to fight harder and longer. Those who had been working at Wonderland for three years or more received five weeks' pay. The rest of the casuals missed out. Ms Owens criticised management's attitude to the redundancy and severance payouts. "It is our view the company's excuses about why it wanted to sell don't hold water," Ms Owens said. "It simply wanted to make a big bag of money. "The company has a $52.5 million pot of gold so it's not a big ask for it to reach into its pocket and share some of it with the workforce, many of whom have been there for 19 years. "A lot of our members are battlers, single parents, young people buying their first homes." The union did concede management is assisting some workers with training for work in the hospitality industry, and is helping them look for new jobs. But Ms Owens said job vacancies in hospitality are not high in the western suburbs

The park was busy even before people found out it was closing. Saturday nights have always done well. Considering what was on offer I think attendance at the park has been consistently large. I would like to see people throwing their support behind theme parks that actually deserve the support... like after adding a new multi-million dollar attraction. Not just when they are closing down. So when Dreamworld opens their new thrill ride this year, I hope all of you that have spent hundreds of dollars at Wonderland in the last few months will fork out a few more dollars and take a trip to QLD

zordmaker - you referred to 'SWRFM' - what does that mean?

I will be very annoyed if DW plonks this ride down in the middle of Ocean Parade and doesn't give it an ocean or related theme. Unless they are going to say it is actually a part of Main Street?! DW needs to start looking at consistency. Next clue please Obstructure. Not enough information yet

Give us a hint Obstructure. Is it Ocean themed? Many thanks for the news by the way. This is exciting stuff. They are starting early! I'm surprised to hear it wasn't busy today... that's unusual isn't it?

Yeah but there's a difference between being realistic and having a defeatist attitude. I totally agree that there is almost a 100% chance that the business park will go ahead. HOWEVER that doesn't mean that people should just sit back and go "oh well, it's going to happen anyway, so why bother saying anything". It is important to let your opinions be known to the people that count. Just send a quick message saying you are not happy about it. It all counts. Don't let them get away with it without a murmur or else they will think everything is perfect and nobody cares. This has all just gone too smoothly for Sunway. If anything, the people on this board are the first ones who should be kicking up a bit of a stink in support of the Australian theme park inudstry

Very funny guys. It better have an ocean theme if it's going to be in Ocean Parade. Something like 'Typhoon' to fit in nicely next to Cyclone

From what I have been told it's actually a farewell party, not a reunion. So don't feel too sad Daniel

There was a big picture in the 2nd page of the Herald the other day of 2 girls on Snowy River. The caption mentioned that "you can now take the Wonderland ride home with you" and had a quote from the corporate manager saying that if anyone wants anything at the park they can now buy it. On another note I noticed that CityRail have updated their website with an animated banner at the top of the page advertising WS closing - www.cityrail.info

And can you believe it - apparantley Wonderland is supplying free alcohol for the party. Wonders never cease. No doubt staff will try and ensure guests are well and truly out of the park once 5:00pm hits on Monday. The party is supposedly starting at 6:00pm in Billabong Grove

Actually I believe the re-zoning has not yet happened. Only the areas surrounding Wonderland have been re-zoned. ING has some sort of put and call option thingy in place with Sunway so if the proposal is not approved by relevant councils and the state government, the sale more than likely won't go ahead. They are being very presumptuous which is sneaky because it stops people from saying anything, thinking the deal has already been done. I am fairly sure that they will get approval granted but that shouldn't stop anyone from voicing their opinion. Community voice can be a powerful thing and it has certainly won fights in the past

The park will be packed and as there is nothing additional happening on the day you will be lucky to get on many of the rides. If you are happy just to have one last look around then go for it but I'm warning you now, the lines will be crazy

Well if every single park on the gold coast is opening later then Wonderland should be doing the same thing. I think the rule should be across the board and don't see why tourist attractions should be any different. In regards to sending emails and letters to Blacktown Council I think it is important, regardless of what the outcome will be. I realise that it probably won't change anything but it is important for them to know what people think... otherwise they get away with it all scot free

If you guys want to write a quick email to express your disappointment over the closure of Wonderland, send it to council@blacktown.nsw.gov.au The more emails they get, the harder it will be for Sunway to get rezoning approved. We should try and put up a bit of a fight at least otherwise it has been too easy for them

Does anyone know who we can complain to about this Anzac Day issue? Industrial relations? From what I know, on a day to day basis the few shows and rides that are left at Wonderland are not usually 'cancelled'. All shows and rides that were running when the closure was announced are still pretty much running every day. This has been achieved using drastic measures such as putting cast in shows who haven't rehearsed properly and training food & bev and guest relations staff on how to operate rides (they've fast-tracked the training I guess). The problem is that there really was not much left anyway... certainly not enough to support the thousands of people visiting the park every day. No hannah barbera land, no beastie, less kiddie rides, no skyhawk, no cable car, no dragon's flight, no tazzie devil, no mountain cascades, no action man show, no magic show, no special holiday entertainment. I was there the other day and it is obvious that the crowds are starved for entertainment. One costumed marvel character came out (not for a show or anything) and hundreds of people gathered around watching like it was the most amazing thing ever. In normal circumstances I don't think visitors would tolerate the current lack of offerings at the park but I guess exceptions are made because it is closing. Management could probably do anything and still get people through the gates on full price tickets

I just realised that Anzac Day actually falls on the Sunday which is 25th April. Wonderland should open later on Sunday but I don't think they are going to

Just looked over their respective websites and all of the QLD parks are opening around 1:00-1:30pm on Anzay Day

I was just reading thunder's post in the Dreamworld forum regarding the QLD parks opening later on Anzac Day. With this in mind, does anyone know what Wonderland is planning on doing? From any info I can gather I think the park is planning to open as usual from 10:00am. I hope this is not the case as it would be an extremely disrespectful thing to do. I believe there are also fines associated with ignoring this rule?! No doubt there will be a number of families at the gate wanting to get into the park at 10:00am who have no regard for Anzac Day but they should be forced to wait. I know at this point the park isn't planning to stay open later on the monday as there is going to be a large staff-only farewell party in the park, commencing at 6:00pm

I sure hope so. There is so much talk in Dreamworld's releases and financial reports suggesting that they are doing their best not to spend any capital. They are making it sound like their future direction is to continue drawing crowds with cheap attractions like the Tomb Raider walk-thru and Farmyard Friends. It is getting me worried. Come on DW, bring on the serious capital expenditure!

That all sounds very positive for Dreamworld. Glad to hear they seem to be heading in the right direction. A new and improved water park would be an excellent and logical addition (as we have all discussed previously). I am happy to hear that it may actually be quite large... it will help to soak up some of the crowds. Looking forward to the new themed land too. Hopefully it will be a whole new area rather than an expansion of Ocean Parade as that area is already quite big as it is. I think it would be great if certain theme park execs read over these boards and picked up an idea or too. It is the perfect site to gather honest opinions from people who are passionate about the Aussie industry. I personally hope most theme park management teams are aware of this site

Haha nice post Wonderbus! Made me laugh. "miscellaneous language" ... so true. I like the fact you did a bit of research and linked to some of those other posts too. Good job

One major problem I can see with your idea is that I believe ING paid all that money just for the land and not for the rides and attractions. It is my understanding that Sunway still owns the rides and is trying to sell off each and every one of them (plus all of the remaining smaller assets). There has been no consideration on their part that some sort of fun park may remain. The other point is that unfortunately Sunway is not gone completely. They are retaining an interest in the new business park through their 'Australian' registered company - Hartford Lane. Therefore, they are still very much involved with the new developments out there... now and into the future. Sunway's only interest is to turn the place into industry which equals faster profits. They have had the local government wrapped around their little finger up until this point so I do not see what will change