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Luna Park Melbourne Trip Report January 2019


Jobe
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Thanks for spending the time to create such a well written and comprehensive report. Your photos are beautiful - especially the nighttime shots. If you get a chance I would be more than happy to read about the other attractions you visited. Glad you and your family had a great time at such an iconic park. 

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@Jobe Glad the kids enjoyed the Enterprise... Can't really go past classic HUSS, agree about it needing some TLC, it was down for a while, while they waited for parts from HUSS, but glad its back up and running, it just needs better lighting on the sweeps, the middle cover and better placement in the park... it just seems like such an afterthought in its position.

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6 hours ago, Jobe said:

Not sure if this is the same unit as once resided at Wonderland in its early days.

I doubt it.  It's been there at least 30 years.

6 hours ago, Jobe said:

It is worth noting that that the park now charges $5 for just entering the park

There's another motive there that they don't publish.  The local area has a reputation for attracting some groups of youth who often cause trouble.  This has been seen to keep those elements out of the park.

6 hours ago, Jobe said:

extremely popular with all ages

One of the reasons for this is the low minimum height requirement to ride, which seems pretty random across the park.  For example, my kid is 106cm.  This means he is allowed to ride the Scenic Railway (with me), but is unable to ride Coney Drop (drop ride), the Twin Dragon (pirate ship), the Spider, the Dodgems, or the Sky Rider (Ferris Wheel).  Really odd given he is able to ride the counterparts of at least the dodgems and the ferris wheel in other locations with me.  I know it's about the restraints and all, but most parents just found it strange their little tackers were allowed on the big dawg roller-coaster but not the dodgem cars.

7 hours ago, Jobe said:

due to weather conditions

10m/s is the threshold apparently.

7 hours ago, Jobe said:

Disappointingly, the 1909 vintage Pipe Organ was not running on the day

I don't recall ever having heard it run.

3 hours ago, HussRainbow87 said:

better placement in the park... it just seems like such an afterthought in its position

I dunno about that - it's pretty prominent.  I'm not sure where you'd put it that's more prominent.  The original location (which is where Pharoah's Curse is now) hidden behind the Disco Swing was the real afterthought.

 

I too visited the park a couple of days ago.  The Scenic Railway was an easy highlight and worth visiting for on its own.  Power Surge was a welcome addition, albeit one of limited re-ride value IMHO.  Pharoah's Curse I've never been a real fan of - it's uncomfortable, slow, and short in duration.  The Enterprise is still a great, smooth ride (although it never fails to surprise me how many people are frightened off by the thought that it goes upside down).  The "Holodeck" (simulator) attraction is a bit embarrassing for the park, and they really ought to either do it properly or replace it.  The screen inside it is very low-res (the video it plays can be seen on a monitor at the ops position outside the ride and is good quality) and is full of dead pixels.  The ride motion itself is uncomfortable, shows little resemblance to the video and is very noisy.  The audio quality also needs work.

One thing that struck me though was that with the exception of the Scenic Railway operations were incredibly slow.  It seemed like ride operators were constantly coming and being replaced, and in the process of doing that it would mean all loading would stop for up to five minutes while the operators had a casual chat and a laugh about their plans for the remainder of the weekend.  In other cases where two operators were allocated one would just hang out at the controls and the other would supervise unloading and loading solo.

The park could also do with some drinking fountains around the place.

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Can’t say I really agree, there is far too much dead space in the park and could be utilised far better. The Enterprise is just not given proper justice as you cannot stand in front of it properly. Could have been moved over after the Galaxy removal and used that corner curve, giving space either side for other rides. The placement of the new SBF coaster is terrible. 

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1 hour ago, webslave said:

The "Holodeck" (simulator) attraction is a bit embarrassing for the park, and they really ought to either do it properly or replace it.  The screen inside it is very low-res (the video it plays can be seen on a monitor at the ops position outside the ride and is good quality) and is full of dead pixels.  The ride motion itself is uncomfortable, shows little resemblance to the video and is very noisy.  The audio quality also needs work.

That's honestly a bit of a shame to hear the Holodeck isn't running well. Bear in mind this simulator was developed in 1993 and LPM's model is a 22 year old one originally built for Sega World. Considering Sega has long cut off support for this type of ride I'd probably be seeing them replacing the ride. They could use the opportunity to get a cool VR attraction but I just don't see LPM investing the money into it.

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Thanks for the history on it @Baconjack.  I wasn't aware that was the heritage of it.  I reckon the screen inside it is not original to the attraction, and if that's the case then I wouldn't think replacing it would be too taxing for the park.  Looking at the software that drives it I wouldn't think it would be too hard to tweak the motion timeline if it was needed - but I'd have thought the fix might be a little more mechanical than that.

Even so, a basic vision and audio upgrade is unlikely to be costly or difficult and would make a world of difference.

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10 hours ago, webslave said:

I doubt it.  It's been there at least 30 years.

That would make the timeline perfect then. Wonderland History reports the Funnel Web leaving Wonderland in 1989 where it sat out back in maintenance for a little while and its eventual fate is unknown. On Wiki, it says the Spider was built in 1983. It COULD be the same unit.....

 

10 hours ago, webslave said:

There's another motive there that they don't publish.  The local area has a reputation for attracting some groups of youth who often cause trouble.  This has been seen to keep those elements out of the park.

That's very interesting. I am sure that is a by product of that. Do you have a source for this?

10 hours ago, webslave said:

One of the reasons for this is the low minimum height requirement to ride, which seems pretty random across the park.  For example, my kid is 106cm.  This means he is allowed to ride the Scenic Railway (with me), but is unable to ride Coney Drop (drop ride), the Twin Dragon (pirate ship), the Spider, the Dodgems, or the Sky Rider (Ferris Wheel).  Really odd given he is able to ride the counterparts of at least the dodgems and the ferris wheel in other locations with me.  I know it's about the restraints and all, but most parents just found it strange their little tackers were allowed on the big dawg roller-coaster but not the dodgem cars.

Yeah the Dodgem's height is a bit puzzling. LPS has 85-95cm can ride with an adult for its Dodgem set. The other restrictions I get, looking at the rides. They seem pretty standard across the board with most other parks. As for Scenic Railway, I guess its a function of the ride itself. Its not a very forceful ride and any child 100-110cm can ride with an adult. Riding such a big coaster is such an awesome thing to do for someone at that age so its great they can experience it with the whole family.

 

10 hours ago, webslave said:

I don't recall ever having heard it run.

The Pipe Organ is a historical feature of the carousel and is fairly integral to the overall experience. I have been to LPM on 5 occasions and have heard it play on 2. I was lamenting its silence on this visit- it really adds to the overall atmosphere of the ride.

10 hours ago, webslave said:

The "Holodeck" (simulator) attraction is a bit embarrassing for the park, and they really ought to either do it properly or replace it.  The screen inside it is very low-res (the video it plays can be seen on a monitor at the ops position outside the ride and is good quality) and is full of dead pixels.  The ride motion itself is uncomfortable, shows little resemblance to the video and is very noisy.  The audio quality also needs work.

 

9 hours ago, Baconjack said:

That's honestly a bit of a shame to hear the Holodeck isn't running well. Bear in mind this simulator was developed in 1993 and LPM's model is a 22 year old one originally built for Sega World. Considering Sega has long cut off support for this type of ride I'd probably be seeing them replacing the ride. They could use the opportunity to get a cool VR attraction but I just don't see LPM investing the money into it.

Yeah agree 100% here on the condition of the Holodeck. It was in pretty poor shape for exactly the reasons as Webslave outlined. Like a few other attractions, it needs some love and attention! What a pity LPM didnt pick up Rail Chase at the same time- going for less than $140,000 it would have been an absolute bargain and a great addition to the park!  Also consider if the sale of the Titan had been actually completed from Expo Park in 1989 and this had arrived at the park. I know Boomerangs are old hat now but it would have been a great addition in LPM with its relatively small footprint. It certainly would have made the loss of the Big Dipper a bit easier to swallow.

 

10 hours ago, webslave said:

It seemed like ride operators were constantly coming and being replaced, and in the process of doing that it would mean all loading would stop for up to five minutes while the operators had a casual chat and a laugh about their plans for the remainder of the weekend.  In other cases where two operators were allocated one would just hang out at the controls and the other would supervise unloading and loading solo.

Yep operations overall were not great. Scenic Railway was good, Powersurge and Speedy Beetle was decent and the rest was a bit of a lottery to be honest. However, I thought that the park did a good job of rotating the operators- I saw first hand operators handling the majority of the rides withing their shift- with the exception of the Scenic Railway. This appears to be a more specialised field and was limited to 5 operators for the 8 hours I was there ( including brakemen)

 

10 hours ago, HussRainbow87 said:

Can’t say I really agree, there is far too much dead space in the park and could be utilised far better. The Enterprise is just not given proper justice as you cannot stand in front of it properly. Could have been moved over after the Galaxy removal and used that corner curve, giving space either side for other rides. The placement of the new SBF coaster is terrible. 

I think you are spot on here Huss. There is several spots in the park that seemed "odd placement" for mine and the current layout of rides could definitely be tweaked to be better suited for space management. I think that the SBF Coaster placement is not meant to be a permanent position.

Honestly and realistically, if i was in charge of LPM, with the exceptions of the Carousel, The Ghost Train, the Spider and of course the Scenic Railway, I would gut the park and completely overhaul the ride lineup and alignment and placing. The place has great potential to be a fantastic mix of the best of the historic and the best of the new!!

15 hours ago, mickayel said:

Thanks for spending the time to create such a well written and comprehensive report. Your photos are beautiful - especially the nighttime shots. If you get a chance I would be more than happy to read about the other attractions you visited. Glad you and your family had a great time at such an iconic park. 

 

12 hours ago, iwerks said:

Thanks @Jobe for another excellent report. It's great to see people reporting on parks outside of the Gold Coast. I'm interested to see what you thought about the theming at Werribee too.

Thanks guys- its important that we support the smaller parks in Australia- its not just all about the Gold Coast , even though they are the main focal point of the Australian industry. 

I will complete the other reports in the next couple of days and I look forward to posting them

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