Wonderland Sydney

Wonderland Sydney was a theme park in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The park was the largest one in the southern hemisphere. It remained open for almost nineteen years and was the premier theme park in New South Wales for much of its life, but it closed in 2004. Its final day of trading was the 26th April 2004.

History

Originally known as Australia's Wonderland, it opened on 7 December 1985 with financial backing from the New South Wales State Superannuation Board, James Hardies Industries, Leighton Holdings and TAFT Broadcasting at Eastern Creek NSW, on the junction of Wallgrove Road and the M4 Motorway. The developers sought to provide an alternative to the troubled Luna Park, which had opened and closed multiple times in its recent history. The area would also see the opening of Eastern Creek Raceway in 1990 as the Sydney metropolitan area expanded to the west.

Wonderland opened with three separate themed areas within the park: Goldrush, Medieval Faire (later re-named Old Botany Bay), and Hanna-Barbera Land (later renamed 'Little Wonders Land' in 2001-2002) which featured rides and attractions based on characters from Hanna-Barbera shows such as Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones. The park was modeled heavily around Canada's Wonderland located north of Toronto, not surprising since both parks were constructed by Taft Broadcasting, a company which also owned Hanna-Barbera.

For many years, Wonderland's flagship ride was The Bush Beast which was the largest wooden roller coaster in Australia. Australia's Wonderland also claimed that it was the largest wooden rollercoaster in the Southern Hemisphere. The Beastie, a smaller version of The Bush Beast which catered to younger riders, was also one of the original rides. The park would later add rides such as the Demon (1992) and Space Probe 7 (1995; sponsored by the Seven Network, who bought naming rights to the ride. After this contract expired, the ride dropped the '7' from its name).

Wonderland also had a water park known as The Beach, which first opened in 1988. Unlike the rest of the park, which remained open year-round, The Beach was a seasonal attraction which closed during the "cold" months (April–September). In 1990 Wonderland opened the Australian Wildlife Park. The Outback Woolshed was added in 1995, along with an a-la-carte restaurant.

Eventually, in 1992, all of the Taft Broadcasting Parks were sold to Viacom and re-branded as Paramount Parks.However, Taft only had a minority stake in Australia's Wonderland and sold their stake to other Australian investors. ^[1]Today, the five Paramount Parks continue successful operation, purchased in 2006 by amusement park operator Cedar Fair.

Interestingly, many of Australia's Wonderland's rides correlate to the rides at the former Paramount Parks still in operation today.

• Paramount's Kings Island operates The Beast and a "family" version of the ride, The Beastie (renamed as part of a 2006 overhaul of the kids area).
• Demon is a name shared with the existing roller coaster at Paramount's Great America, and the defunct Demon at Kings Island
• Paramount's Kings Island operated an identical "Zodiac" double ferris wheel.

Edit: The one from Kings Island is exactly the same ride. The Zodiac was dismantled in 1987 after the park closed for the season. It was still being dismantled by the time the park opened for Winterfest during Christmas 1987. It was shipped to Australia and reassembled at Wonderland. It retained the same name, but received a paint job including large white stars, which better fit with its new Australian home.

• The Bush Beast was identical to wooden roller coasters at Canada's Wonderland, Kings Dominion, and Carowinds

The park was sold in 1997 to the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based Sunway Group. Only one ride, Skyrider which was the former cable car at the Sydney Showgrounds, was added between the 1997 takeover and the park's closure.

Closure

Sunway Group stated the 11 September attacks, the 2002 Bali bombings, the collapse of HIH Insurance, the SARS virus, the bird flu virus, "consistent losses" on the Asian financial crisis, the collapse of Ansett Australia, the Iraq war and the 2003 bushfires all contributed to the parks closure.^[2] The Sydney Morning Herald stated : "[Sunway Group] blames Wonderland's demise on everything except poor management".^[2]

The gates shut for the last time on 26 April 2004,^[3] the day after the Anzac Day public holiday, and a complete demolition of the park was undertaken in September 2005. Most of the rides were sold to other amusement parks, while "The Bush Beast", "The Beastie" and "The Snowy River Rampage" were simply demolished. Visit Wonderland History to see demolition pictures. A former employee did make a list of what happened to some of the rides.[1] Two of the park's camels were adopted by a family in Goulburn, New South Wales.^[4]

Rides

Roller coasters

• The Beastie - Opened 1985-2002. Half the size and height of The Bush Beast, The Beastie was a wooden roller coaster designed for younger riders. The ride was 460 metres in length, and ran with two 20-rider trains. The Beastie was located in Little Wonders Land/Hanna-Barbera Land, and was originally to be named the Scooby-Doo Coaster. In 2002, the Little Wonders Land area of the park was permanently closed, as the overall park was too big with rides spaced too far apart.
• The Bush Beast - Opened 1985. A 975 metre long wooden roller coaster designed by Philadelphia Toboggan Company. The roller coaster possessed two trains, each capable of carrying 28 people. It was the tallest wooden roller coaster in the southern hemisphere, until its demolition in 2005.
• The Demon - Opened 1992. A Vekoma Boomerang steel roller coaster. The Demon was installed in 1992, after having previously operated at Expo '88 (under the name Titan). [2] After Wonderland officially closed, it was dismantled and sold to Alabama Adventure where it has operated since (2005) as the Zoomerang.^[5][6][7]

Amusement rides

• Antique Autos - Opened 1985. An electric track used to propel scaled-down Ford Model T cars through themed scenery.
• Bounty's Revenge - Opened 1985. A large inverting pirate ship. Bounty's Revenge could carry 50 riders at a time, in ten rows of five seats. At the time of its opening it was only the second of its kind in the world.
• Dragon's Flight - Opened 1985. A large Wave Swinger (similar to the Chair-O-Planes ride).
• Fred Flintstone's Splashdown - Opened 1994. A log flume ride.
• Galleon's Graveyard - Opened 1987 as "Captain Caveman's Clippers." Given the current name after being relocated to Transylvania, following the closure of Little Wonders Land/Hanna-Barbera Land. Similar to a scaled-down Chair-O-Planes, riders were instead seated in two-seater 'flying boats'.
• Great Balloon Race
• HMS Endeavour - Opened 1985. Originally known as Sea Demon, HMS Endeavour received its later name when the ride was moved in 1990 to the old location of the Funnel Web.
• Jousting Ring - Opened 1985. A dodgem hall.
• Little Monsters Flying School - Opened in 1985 as Dastardly's Flying Circus.
• Magilla Gorilla's Flotillas - Opened 1985. A small lake equipped with paddle boats. Closed in 1990 to make way for the Australian Wildlife Park.
• Ned Kelly's Getaway - Opened 1985. A steep sled slide, finishing in water. Closed in 1998.
• Funnel Web - Opened in 1985, and removed in 1990.
• Scooby's Silly Stix - Opened in 1985. Removed in 2000.
• Skyhawk - Opened 1991. A 'Parachute Tower' built by Vekoma, the Skyhawk consisted of four cars; two for sitting passengers, two for standing. The four cars would be pulled to the top of a 30 metre tower, then released. A parachute would then allow riders to slowly descend to the ground. The ride was sold in 2005 to Fly Coaster, a small Gold Coast park
• Skyway - Opened 1999. The only ride installed after the Sunway Group acquisition of the park, the Skyway was the old cable car from the old Sydney Showgrounds stretching from Goldrush to Hanna-Barbera Land. The ride closed in 2002, three years after it opened.
• Snowy River Rampage - Opened 1985. A 960-metre River Rapid designed by Intamin AG. Riders would sit in a 6-person raft resembling a large tire and float down a wide winding river with occasional water canons which fired straight up in the air when the raft approached. The frequency of water canon fire could be adjusted at the rider's request before they embarked down the river.
• Space Probe - Opened 1995. Originally known as Space Probe 7 (due to sponsorship from the Seven Network). The Intamin AG Giant Drop was installed in 1995 and was similar to the Giant Drop at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. As it's passengers are raised to the top of the tower, the car would enter a fully enclosed area (unique to this type of ride) within, TV screens would display a countdown. The riders were dropped at random - a few seconds before the countdown reached zero, or held till after the countdown had finished. [3]
• Tasmanian Devil - Opened 1985. A large wheel-shaped machine which laid on one of its faces, with several rocking rider cars attached around the circumference. During main operation of the ride, the ride spins so fast that the rider cars rise in the air, so the rider is horizontally parallel to the ground.
• Wizard's Fury - Opened 1985. A Bayern Kurve ride. A long train is propelled around a small circular track. The track passes over a steeply ascending and descending section housed within a themed building. A single ride consisted of twenty to thirty revolutions around the circular track. Removed 2002.
• The Zodiac - Opened 1987. A double Ferris wheel designed by Intamin AG, The Zodiac consisted of 24 gondolas mounted on either end of a large hydraulic arm. The Zodiac would be operated so that while one wheel was rotating at 58 metres in height, the 12 cars of the opposing arm would all be on the ground and taking on riders simultaneously. When loaded, the hydraulic arm would be moved, lowering those who had been in the air back to the ground.

There was a miniature golf course called Top Cat's Putt Putt Park; prior to the installation of Fred Flintstone's Splashdown there was a putting course known as Old McScrappy's Golfing Farm.

The closure of several rides in 2002 was due to the reduction in operational area of the park. Visitors were told that the rides were being relocated to the remaining section, so that they would be closer (as the rides were spaced apart). The rides were never moved and never reopened.

See also

• List of abandoned amusement parks

References

External links

• Wonderland History
• Wonderland in Google Maps