Article about the future of Melbournes luna park.

[Morphix]

There was an opinionative article in Yesterdays Saturday Heldsun about the future of luna park, Its in the Editoral section and takes up a whole page. I can get it up on this site in the next day or too unless someone beats me.

[Gazza]

Yeah, I saw that Its a pretty bit article but its just a bunch of opinions of what various buisnessmen would like to see happen with the park.

[HussRainbow]

I hope they remove it, and put a nice thrill ride in its spot *cough*Rainbow*cough* it would look soo good there, facing down the esplanade... great views

[lisalila]

If they do put a thrill ride there I hope it's definately not the rainbow, heaps better rides to put there than the rainbow!

[Gazza]

I hope they remove it, and put a nice thrill ride in its spot *cough*Rainbow*cough* it would look soo good there, facing down the esplanade... great views

"It" Being??? Personally, this is what I think they should do. First of all, get rid of all the parks current rides except for the carousel, the scenic raliway and the house of horros because they are heratiage listed. So basically the whole park is a clear site. Next they should replace all the removed attractions with newer ones that sit nicley with the park. Have a look at DCA and paradise pier, it tries to achive the same thing by doing a sort of old style plesure pier, but with some newer rides in there too. They should bring back the rotor, fun house and the river caves, but do em all nice. Prehaps the river caves could have a drop at the end. The rest of the park would be a few flat rides (Park Model) A kids roller coaster, a spinning mouse coaster to replace metropolis and kids flat rides. All the rides would be given a 1930s feel with the use of nice facades, lights and signage in the style of that era. In terms of thrill rides. I was thinking along the lines of a space shot type ride. For a thrilling coaster, a possibility could be an accelerator, since it could be made fairly compact, and be of a similar style to california screamin' as a tribute to twister style woodies.

[dr_teeth]

and let me guess gazza your putting up the ca$h for it all?

[Gazza]

Yeah, I know, I know. But the are going to have to do something if they want the park to remain popular. Still, i dont think they are too limited in what they can do. They have gotten away with simulators and UFOs and they arent exactly very historical.

[HussRainbow]

If they do put a thrill ride there I hope it's definately not the rainbow, heaps better rides to put there than the rainbow!

Rainbow would be great for the views. It was mean't to go to LPM for a while, but Wittingslow didn't end up taking it there, and kept it travelling. But the Huss Ranger (now at LPS) operated at LPM for a while, along with Wittingslow's Zipper

[lisalila]

Views? you can [or could] get a fab view on the scenic railway, the ferris wheel or even the metropolis. The rainbow is a good ride and I'm not saying it's not, just there are heaps more rides that are 10x better than the rainbow. It's a carni ride, not a luna park ride in my opinion.

[Gazza]

Yeah, i think that Rainbow would be a step backward. The park is already full of carnie rides, it needs to move away from that if they want to stay afloat.

[Nebuchanezzar]

Nah, carny rides are great for places like Luna Park, I just think they need some more original and cool looking ones, and to make the park look even more outrageously...outrageous! and buy a Moveit32...yes, let them do that!

[GoGoBoy]

Yeah that's a big problem with both Luna Park Melbourne and Luna Park Sydney... they just don't look that great. Certainly not like they used to anyway. In the old days you would step into either park and feel like you had been transported into another world. This led to a major factor in the success of the old parks - ATMOSPHERE. Everything was themed and nothing looked normal. You can't just stick a few portable rides around the place and get the same effect

[Gazza]

Yeah, they lack atmosphere a bit. Another thing is that there is no plant life at all in the park, which makes it less inviting. All it is now is basically a ashphalt carpark with carnie rides set up. IMO the parks only redeeming factors is the scenic railway, carousel, Mr Moon and to a lesser extent the ghost train. Everthing else I would happily see removed. Just wondering too, does anyone know where I could find a plan/map of LPM.

[T-bone]

Gazza, there used to be one on the LPM website. However I am not sure of that status now.

[lisalila]

Yeah that's a big problem with both Luna Park Melbourne and Luna Park Sydney... they just don't look that great. Certainly not like they used to anyway. In the old days you would step into either park and feel like you had been transported into another world. This led to a major factor in the success of the old parks - ATMOSPHERE. Everything was themed and nothing looked normal. You can't just stick a few portable rides around the place and get the same effect

I use to love going to luna park when I was a kid, definately felt like I was in another world, go across the road to maccas, have lunch and than back over to luna park and ride the dragon ride 3 or 4 times. I think they have become more about money than entertaining their guests now.

[HussRainbow]

Yeah, i think that Rainbow would be a step backward. The park is already full of carnie rides, it needs to move away from that if they want to stay afloat.

Enterprise is an ex-road model..... and so Is the GForce and Spider LPS have more ex-roads than Melbourne. They really need to get rid of Pharo's Curse, Metropolis, and Twin Dragon..... Rainbow would do well there, but it wouldn't go, so theres no point in pushing that arguement.

[Gazza]

Im with you on that one huss. The thing with LPS is that at least it has plenty of nice old attractions to balance it out such as Coney Island, Tango Train, Rotor, Carousel, The Wild Mouse etc. But at LPM all there is just the Carousel, The scenic railway and a poorly maintained ghost train in terms of historic rides, the rest is just rather cheap filler. Yeah, i suppose rainbow would do ok, but probably not much better than what is already there since your average person would just think of it as "just another ride".

[HussRainbow]

Enterprise is my favourite ride there, and since the absence of Wittingslow's travelling model, it's good to know I can come and ride this anytime I please.. Id love to do that with Rainbow!

[GoGoBoy]

The Tango Train at LPS could not be considered an historic or particularly old ride. Also, like most of the other rides it is an ex-road model too. When they were doing some maintenance on it you could see the trailer underneath the platform. It was built around the 70's I think and has only been at LPS since 1995

[Jobe]

Goboi, The Tango train first appeared at LPS in the 1980 incarnation. Along with the "Octopus"(which has since been moved to Aussie World) it was the only ride from the 1982-88 era to survive to the 1995 re-opening.(Apart from Coney Island ,of course.) You are correct in it being a ex-road model however. I am not sure though where it was sourced from or even the manufacturer of the ride.(Anyone??) If some major re-investment was spent on the LPM it could once again be a very atmospeheric and enjoyable park to visit. Filling the park with 2nd hand ex road model rides however is NOT the answer. They do need a 2nd DECENT coaster,maybe a re-imagining or newly built copy of the old Big Dipper. By looking back to their history, they should find the perfect medium between the past and the future to settle upon the perfect mix,which unfortunately isnt up to standard at the moment. Cheers Jobe

[GoGoBoy]

Jobe, you are not entirely correct. This is where people get the Tango Train confused. It is a common belief that it is the same ride that was at the park during the 1980's... but it is not. The ride you are thinking of was similar in design to the Tango Train (although the carriages were quite different and the overall design scheme was different). This ride never returned to the park once the 1980's park closed. It is worth noting that there are a very large number of these type of rides around, a lot of them made by different manafacturers. They are very common but they come in quite a few variations. The Tango Train now at LPS was manafactured by Mack and is a trailerised 'Musik Express' model. It spent quite a few years at Darling Harbour's old amusement park where it was called 'Disco Train'. The only ride that still exists from the 1980's era of Luna Park is the Ferris Wheel. On another point, I strongly believe that Luna Park Melbourne has a number of really significant heritage features. The face and towers although refurbished are the originals whereas Sydney's were completely rebuilt. The Scenic Railway is one of the oldest surviving wooden roller coasters in the world - that is a big claim. The Ghost Train was built in the 1930's and a large proportion of the ride and structure is original which makes it pretty special. And then there is the Carousel... also an original feature of the park. While a number of these features are in very poor condition and the rest of the park is below average, you still can't deny the huge historical value within the park

[GoGoBoy]

Jobe, you are not entirely correct. This is where people get the Tango Train confused. It is a common belief that it is the same ride that was at the park during the 1980's... but it is not. The ride you are thinking of was similar in design to the Tango Train (although the carriages were quite different and the overall design scheme was different). This ride never returned to the park once the 1980's park closed. It is worth noting that there are a very large number of these type of rides around, a lot of them made by different manafacturers. They are very common but they come in quite a few variations. The Tango Train now at LPS was manafactured by Mack and is a trailerised 'Musik Express' model. It spent quite a few years at Darling Harbour's old amusement park where it was called 'Disco Train'. The only ride that still exists from the 1980's era of Luna Park is the Ferris Wheel. On another point, I strongly believe that Luna Park Melbourne has a number of really significant heritage features. The face and towers although refurbished are the originals whereas Sydney's were completely rebuilt. The Scenic Railway is one of the oldest surviving wooden roller coasters in the world - that is a big claim. The Ghost Train was built in the 1930's and a large proportion of the ride and structure is original which makes it pretty special. And then there is the Carousel... also an original feature of the park. While a number of these features are in very poor condition and the rest of the park is below average, you still can't deny the huge historical value within the park

[Gazza]

My Bad , looking at pics of the ride I thought that it was an old ride.

[ScReAMmachine!]

Its a shame that a cloud of uncertainty hovers over the two remaining Luna Parks in Australia

[Zamperla]

The Tango train first appeared at LPS in the 1980 incarnation. Along with the "Octopus"(which has since been moved to Aussie World) it was the only ride from the 1982-88 era to survive to the 1995 re-opening.(Apart from Coney Island ,of course.) You are correct in it being a ex-road model however. I am not sure though where it was sourced from or even the manufacturer of the ride.(Anyone??)

Goboi, You beat me to it. Yes, the Tango Train that is now at Luna Park was not the original one that was there. (the original one that was there is now owned by O'Neils and was last seen operating in Melbourne 2005 Moomba back in March as 'Love Express') I can upload some photo's of it if you're interested. The Tango was brought out from Germany by Wittingslow, and was on Darling Harbour for sometime as Musik Express. (I also have a photo of it, and from the photo, IMO it looked much better then than it does now) I would say the majority of rides at LPS were ex-Wittingslow rides, which were left there after Wittingslow departed their ownership after the Luna Park redevelopment in the mid 1990's. (rides that come to mind that they owned include: Breakdance, Ranger, UFO, Tango, Troika, and that NASA kiddy ride)