It really is sad

[Guest MissMelanie]

Hi there, I know this has been said before and is all old news, but i cant stop thinking about how the place is no longer there. I remember it being built, and now im going to remember being torn down....that sucks. Then again (and im no expert) if management pulled their fingers out of their cracks, the place may of lasted. I finished working there in late 2002 and the place was going to the crapper then and i saw it all comming a mile away. I have to admit though, i wasnt all to keen on being a attraction operator, i would of prefered to be in the entertainment their, because i hated having that responsibility and i had (as im sure everyone did) so many friggen idiots on them that could of easily killed themselfs that thats the reason i ended up leaving. I had one person when i was on galleons (and yes, its a kiddy ride but all the same) jump out near the end of the cycle, as it was lowering, it was about 2-3 mtrs off the ground(if memory serves me right) and he triped and if i didnt push the ES in time, the thing would of landed on top of him. Now im sure there are worse stories out there than that, but that was enough (among many others in my time there) to really put me off. When i first started working there someone had just gotten fired for putting a mother and her 2 kids in bounty and sending them up with their chest bars behind them. Anyhow, thought i would add alittle of my own 2 cents worth. Its great to have this site, the only real memory left of the place. PS, does anyone know how to contact current site management?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

LOL. we get lots of stories about poor safety on the rides Melanie, but that bounty story is one I haven't heard before. On a sidenote, inserting 2 cents is my trademark! but i suppose you can use it... I know how you feel though, as far as it being sad to see it go. You only have to read the posts in this subtopic to see how we all feel about the park going. Incidentally if you are interested, or have something to contribute, there are currently a few members you can speak with. Wonderbuzz is our closest link to the current management. As far as I know, the park is no longer staffed, as the handover is imminent to ING. He was however, one of the last surviving staff members at the park. send him a PM, he is on very often, if you would like to find out anything about the site at present. Mickazee is our resident Web Wiz, and is currently constructing a site about Wonderland, at www.----URL removed for non-compliance with Community Guidelines----.com . visit the site to have a look around (very sparse at the moment but its a work in progress) And should you have any information, stories, insider detail, or videospicturesliterature about the park, please see his "contribute" section. Paul Hollibone and Liam Schembri (Flea) are our master movie makers, and between them have made some very interesting videos on the park. you can find some of them on this site, and links to others within threads on this site as well. For further information, its best to contact them directly. For other operators of the park rides, you can't go past Wonderbus2003 or Daniel. So theres my two cents. so now we're up to 4 cents. anyone else care to add some, all proceeds to the tsunami relief effort... lol.

[Bussy]

Welcome Missy. You must scare easily if that was all it took to leave Wonderland. Anyway, that incident you talk about did happen but it was two teenage girls not a family that it happened to. The operator didn't even realise what he had done until the ride had finished and the girls went and asked him what the harnesses were for. He then found out that they didn't have them on for the entire ride. "The Bus is now leaving for Cape Missiessy, South Australia"

[Wonderbuzz]

Gee, that's one way to add thrill to Bounty's! As for current management, well there isn't any now. There isn't anything or anyone to manage. The last few remaining staff finished up and cleared out just before Christmas. There is only the CEO and his assistant finishing up the paper trail and possible sale of Space Probe, Zodiac and I guess the Bush Beast and Beastie trains. Last I heard they were restricted to a small office in the admin building to work out of.

[Daniel]

To his credit, he dobbed himself in. It was your mate Alex. Remember the picture of the guy you sent asking if I knew him??? It was him. What's there to be scared about? If you do what you were trained to do and are confident, what can go wrong? The place was going to the crapper before the end of 2002 old girl. Should have let Galleons come down. Stuff him. He'd have learned his lesson.

[Nebuchanezzar]

Jeez Daniel, you kinda turned me off going to theme parks with that comment, lol.

[ripcurlboy_81]

Wonderbuzz, did you manage to find the missing spaceprobe sign in all the carnage that was left, also did snowy river get filled in with landfill?

[Wonderbuzz]

No, we never did find the missing sign. I'm not there anymore so I can't say what's happening right now. The park area was fenced off and became a restricted area during my 2 weeks or so.

[ScReAMmachine!]

 I had one person when i was on galleons (and yes, its a kiddy ride but all the same) jump out near the end of the cycle, as it was lowering, it was about 2-3 mtrs off the ground(if memory serves me right) and he triped and if i didnt push the ES in time, the thing would of landed on top of him.

Hi Melanie! I know who you are but doubt you know me. If you remember operating Galleons, you will remember that when the ride is 2-3 metres off the ground, the ride stops. The 'Lower after Stopping' button must be depressed and held until the ride rests on the ground. You need to be re-trained!! just kidding!

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Daniel, was that **** ** ****** in the photo i sent you, i've got a funny feeling it was ****, *** ****... man he was a tops op. One of the best Ops I have seen, at any theme park, anywhere...

[Daniel]

Not appropriate to say here Alex. Standby for PM. There's a story about both of them. ScReAM, tell us how you know Melanie old son!

[Bussy]

man he was a tops op. One of the best Ops I have seen, at any theme park, anywhere...

See my previous post in this thread to see how good he was. Yes he was great with the guests but sometimes that is just not enough. Curly are you talking about the mini probe sign that was out the front of the ride? "The Bus is now leaving for Mini Mini Range, NSW"

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

bus, i know its a situation where nobody wants to admit its true, but sometimes operators make mistakes. and the sad truth is that the safety of the guests at wonderland was on a backseat to the hip pockets of the operations managers, who would not fork out the extra money to staff the attractions the way they are supposed to. A single ride rotation per day was not enough. out of everything that happened, this was thef irst mistake he made, and he was at the park longer than i was, and one of the first cast members I met in my quest to secure employment there. Everyone makes mistakes. but yes, he should have checked those harnesses. fatigue and boredom can simply get to a point where you would just assume the guests would have worked out the OTSR's on Bounty need to go over your head. im not condoning what he did. its downright scary to think of it happening... but as soon as he found out.. what did he do? he phoned it in, shut down the ride, and gave full detail on what he had done. he lost his job over it... but he was honest. Putting aside what happened on bounty that day, i won't stand to hear a bad word said about him.

[Daniel]

At least he's not in gaol which is where he could have been off to. Could have been giving Bubba his kindest regards in the Big House. That's definitely summary dismissal in itself but there was at least one other prior event. Anyway, who cares? Assume is a very dangerous word when it comes to safety Alex.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Wonderland would never have made it a legal dispute. Doing that would turn it into a full scale safety investigation of the park, the operations and maintenance staff and management, and the rides themselves. they knew full well that they were not providing a program, roster or system that adequately covered the safety requirements necessary. they would have opened up a much deeper can of worms, which ultimately could have closed the park even earlier than they did. Can you imagine the safety inspectors coming across coathanger wire on demon? what about a poorly patched up job on one of space probes controllers? cable ties holding parts to a ride that spins round and round or goes very fast? insufficient rest time for operators insufficient maintenance all sorts of badly worked fixes over the years that would be picked up in a heart beat. Wonderland would never risk that.

[Daniel]

They wouldn't have had a say in it if something happened old son.

[Bussy]

Don't get me wrong the person in question was a really good bloke and I was very good friends with him. However let’s get a couple of things straight about this case first. It was mid week, non-peak period and there were only two guests on the ride at the time, how many staff do you want operating the ride? One was enough. There was never a one ride rotation everyone was swapped around during the day, yes it may have only been once but they still rotated. This incident happened on the second cycle back after a break so unless he had a very short attention span he was not bored. Yes he did the right thing by informing the supervisor of what had happened. It was also the guests that told him what had happened so if they hadn't said anything nobody would have been any wiser. The supervisors and managers did the right thing by dismissing him, yes he was a fantastic operator and everyone liked him but a safety breach of that magnitude could not result and any other out come. Of course Wonderland would not have made it a legal dispute but it’s rather hard to hide a death or serious injury from the authorities (Police, Ambo's, WorkCover). WorkCover did come in several times and did inspections and found no major problems, yes they issued improvement notices but they were for minor things. Also the rides had an annual inspection by a WorkCover employee to certify that the ride was in working order. These annual inspections started after several accidents and deaths on carnie rides around the country. Insufficent rest periods? What other workplace where machinery is used do the workers have an hour rest break during the day? Some places provide 45 minutes tops but most give 30 minutes. "The Bus is now leaving for Big Break, Western Australia"

[ScReAMmachine!]

Yes he did the right thing by informing the supervisor of what had happened. The supervisors and managers did the right thing by dismissing him

Yes Bus. I agree And Danny, I think I know Melanie the same way you do mate.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

A single ride rotation per day was not enough.

There was never a one ride rotation everyone was swapped around during the day, yes it may have only been once but they still rotated.

Its not pertinent to the discussion, but I just want to point out that what i said was intended to be ONE swap... eg, the rotation was only performed ONCE - eg : a single ride ROTATION meaning the ops generally had TWO rides in one day.

[Mickazee]

The ride operators must be pretty used to seeing things like wallets, sunglasses, mobile phones falling off the bountry... I bet the ride operator would have been surprised to have seen an adult fall from the ride... am i rite guys?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

even without the OTSR, i dont think with a seat belt and a lap bar that it would have caused too much of an issue. i know the otsr's are still vital, but didnt Schwartzkoff persuade american safety officials that his lap bars were sufficient on his loopers by holding them upside down for more than a minute with nothing but a lap bar?

[Wonderbuzz]

The ride operators must be pretty used to seeing things like wallets, sunglasses, mobile phones falling off the bountry...

And credit cards, Wonderpasses, drivers licenses, hair clips, loose change....... from what I saw after they drained the lake.

[Mickazee]

Ok fess up, what's the weirdest thing you've found that's fallen from the ride? Has anyone thrown up mid air and caused an in-air-collision? *inquiring mind wants to know*

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

owww man I would have liked to see all that stuff come out of the lake! there'd be Drivers Licenses in there from like 85.... imagine all that crap... be interesting to see it...

[Wonderbuzz]

I didn't really take much interest when I looked, just what's been listed already. As for mid air throw up, I never heard of it ever happening. But I could imagine it would be pretty gross if the riders copped it on the way back down! I did hear of someone drinking a big blue slurpy before going on HMS Endevour, and just as the ride was finishing it's cycle and rotating to align the gates, he let loose over the edge leaving an almost perfect blue circle on the ground below!