GoGoBoy

Yeah the photo you are talking about was not actually from inside Sega World. It is a little water feature playground which is in on the lake in Darling Walk; the retail complex which used to house Sega World. The park never really made any money from what I can gather. The management were hoping the olympics would boost the trade but it never happened. They also tried upgrading the park over the last few months... spending millions on new attractions. This didn't work either. Eventually the owners decided it was time to pull the plug. The former owner of Sega World is now running a business called Brilliant Digital at http://www.brilliantdigital.com and is closely associated with Kazaa, a popular file swapping program which is run by the old CEO from Sega World - Nikki Hemming.

You can go on a speed slide or free fall slide at just about any water park... they are a very standard attraction with the same configuration everywhere. An old concept really. I like Wet n Wild's new upgraded version of the old speed slide - speed coaster. I personally love the Aqua Tube. Lots of fun. The only problem is the queue to get on it is soo long during peak periods because there are just not enough attractions in The Beach to keep people busy.

Apparantley it's The Beach's 10th bday. I would have thought the new slide/s would be built in time for this years season opening sometime in September. I doubt that's going to happen though. So maybe you're right... IF it's going to happen it's more likely to be xmas. I can't believe The Beach has been there for 10 years without a single addition or change. There really is not much to it in its present state - 2 basic pools, one enclosed flume and a standard speed and free fall slide.

If you haven't already, make sure you visit the following site - http://worldwidejeb.org/words/2001/12/13/ Although it's slightly out of date, it's a very funny review of amusement parks around Australia. It includes all the main parks and also a lot of lesser known parks... some I didn't even realise existed!

I am now sure that the work being done on the slide tower is soley for refurbishing purposes and has nothing to do with any new addition. Also, the large area next to The Beach which is being cleared has recently had an Australand banner placed on the outer fence. I assume this means the area is being cleared for a business park related addition and again nothing to do with The Beach. So my question is... where and when is this rumoured new slide happening?

If you had read my post properly Former, you would understand that I was saying that upper management are NOT always reliable (refer to the example I give in the post). However, upper management are far more aware of future park developments than operational supervisors/staff. It's as simple as that.

The funny thing is that any of you could be right. The fact is that Wonderland's upper management have also said in the past that Wonderland would be getting a wave pool, a hotel, a golf course and a new bungee style ride. None of this happened at the time (several years ago). So it just shows that even when management tells you something, it may not neccesarily actually end up happening, as history shows. I think that is also one of the main reasons why they don't like info leaking out, because often stuff does not end up going ahead for various reasons. I do believe Thunder has a good contact in upper management and that is about as reliable as it gets. Operational staff (including supervisors) usually don't find out 'till the last second. Still, in saying this, nobody knows for sure but I have my fingers crossed once again.

I think the last post is correct UNFORTUNATELY! Upon closer observation it looks as if they are simply reinforcing the structure. IF the beach is getting a new slide I don't think it will have anything to do with the work they are currently doing on the tower. Very dissapointing but certainly not surprising.

There was also a serious stabbing at Wonderland... I thought this resulted in a fatality but I'm not totally sure. I believe it happened in the car park. The toddler drowning at The Beach was fairly well publicised at the time. I know of plenty of other incidents too... not sure about fatalities though.

The construction on the tower seems to be getting more intense with a big plastic lining down one side and levels of scaffolding branching out on the other side. I have heard from a few different sources that they are just re-flooring each level to make it safer. It seems like a lot of work just for a bit of refurbishing though. I certainly hope something bigger is happening!

Flea you should pass those comments along to the park. I'm sure they would want to know about it so they can perhaps attempt to fix it.

I think jaggie is probably right. It is extremely unlikely that Wonderland would close TBB for annual maintenance during a holiday period. Ride attendants are sworn to secrecy when it comes to certain things, particularly incidents which might have occured in the park. It can cost them their jobs otherwise. I know for a fact that Wonderland is quite good at keeping things quiet when accidents occur. Most parks do this otherwise it can damage their reputation. I know of at least 2 fatalities at Wonderland which happened a few years back. Neither of these were due to ride faults.

Flea & coasterfreak - your descriptions of Rail Chase are a combination of the original ride confused with the new upgraded version of the ride. When I have some more time I will post a full ride description of the new Rail Chase before the park closed. Also, most of the above photos are from the 'Future' themed area of the park and only give you a limited idea of what the park was like. Does anyone have any photos from the 'Present' and 'Past' themed areas? I always thought 'the Past' had the best theme. It was also where Rail Chase was located.

...And those pics only really give you a small idea. The park was actually very large, the size of 3 football fields. It had 9 major rides which a lot of people didn't realise... definitely not only arcade games.

Wow that IS a sad price. Just before Sega World closed they spent close to $2 million upgrading Rail Chase. I don't know if any of you got a chance to ride it after it was upgraded? It was much better. The entire ride was completely rethemed and relaunched. Some of the new features included things like extra visual effects, an ice cave, a lava-filled gold mine and a misty waterfall that riders would travel through. After Rail Chase was upgraded, the park then fully refurbished the Iwerks Magic Motion ride and rethemed the entry facade and queue area. They also demolished the original kids area and built a really colourful and quite large tubular playland. They were also in the process of adding a new ice rink to the complex called 'Ice World' but shortly after construction started, the park closed down. It was quite sad as a lot of the additions and improvements were very cool.

Isnt it still school holidays? I find it very strange that Wonderland would close any major ride during their most busy period unless there was a very serious reason for it. It would certainly be in their best interest to have all rides up and running during any holiday periods (even towards the end of the holidays). I think there must be some fairly serious probs.

I haven't been on TBB for years but I remember it used to be a great fun ride. Sad to hear it is so horrible now. Has it really become that rough? There is really no excuse for letting something go like that. What is the point of spending millions of dollars on a ride if they can't maintain it? Wonderland should be especially careful with their maintenace considering the fact they hardly ever add new attractions... they really need all their rides to last a lifetime. By the way Flea, you are a great information resource on park developments (especially when you stick to the topic). You are certainly providing a lot more new info than anyone else on this forum. Keep it up!

Thunder, the above sentence speaks for itself. Perhaps you didn't actually mean that The Beach is not getting a new attraction this year but surely you can see how the above sentence could be misunderstood to seem like you were implying that. No need to go and get the #$%@# with me (or anyone else).

Boring... I hope it's not a flat ride. So if The Beach is not getting any new attractions this year (as according to thunder) can anyone explain the digging in that area? By the way I am under the impression that Wonderland does not have any park map brochures at the moment. Normally they hand them out to every guest at the park entrance. This could mean they are holding off on printing new park maps because things are (hopefully) changing in the park and new additions being made. They may not want to print maps only to have to redo them again shortly. Just a thought.

I liked the tropical plants and theming around the mountain cascades but apart from that it was a very very basic water slide. What did you guys like so much about it? It was just one open flume, no longer than a few metres, that winds down a small slope into a splash pool. It amazes me though that it has not been operational for the last few years. That leaves virtually nothing at The Beach! I really hope Wonderland fixes The Beach up this year (as discussed in another forum)... it NEEDS it.

The pic doesn't show too much. Is the cow still hanging there or is there now nothing?

You guys are so right about the roughness. Since my last visit to Dreamworld to try the Cyclone at its new home, I had been suspecting that I was just hallucinating about how rough the ride had become. I'm glad to hear that others agree. I think it is disgraceful what Dreamworld has done! Would this ever happen in a big American park? The last post was right regarding some of the ambience being lost due to the fact that the cyclone is now just plonked in an open area rather than strategically placed as it was in Sydney. You would think that they would therefore go to all efforts to retain the smoothness of the ride. What is it about Australia and roughness??

Hmm I'm interested to see but for some reason the image is coming up as broken on my screen... it won't open

Psycho... the only time Paramount owned Wonderland was at the very beginning. The map you have is from when James Hardie owned the park. I have a really old map too which is similar to the one above but BEFORE Space Probe. In my map the Demon is bigger. When the Space Probe was added they used the same map image but decreased the size of the Demon and overlayed the illustration of the Space Probe (as above). That is why the SP looks so small compared to everything else. I don't have a scanner unfortunately. I also have an old brochure which has a small disclaimer on the front page saying 'Tallest, fastest ride in the world opening soon!' (referring to Space Probe 7). I personally would love to see a map from the really early days.

Hmm interesting... I didn't realise there was digging going on actually inside the park itself, I thought it was just on the outside in the car park areas and adjacent to The Beach. Boycotta - your facts are wrong once again. Wonderland DOES own the Wonderland Business Park. To be more accurate, it is a joint venture between Sunway (owners of Wonderland) and Australand. The connection between the theme park and the business park becomes even more obvious when you walk into the theme parks administration office reception area. There is a room next to the reception desk with glass walls and a big 'Wonderland Business Park' logo painted on the glass. Inside is a 3D model of the proposal and various plans.