Hi guys, I am from Melbourne, and have periodically been driving past Luna Park to see construction progress on the new rides, and especially the "Vortex" or now the "Metropolis" rollercoaster...
There was no signs of any coaster other than the scenic railway a couple of weeks ago and last week I passed again and I saw what appeared to be shiny red track!!! I got excited....Firstly i had a peek to see as much as possible of the other rides...They have a new swing ship(not the hussmodel), and what appears to be a vekoma twin hawk(suspended ranger type thingy).... The ferris wheel has been painted violet and is still in the process of being assembled...The other flat rides were too low and I could not get to an elevated enough position to see them.......Now to the really sucky news....The coaster had just begun construction...The red coaster track i saw seemed very familiar....At first I was a little disappointed because from a distance I was sure it was a zyklon loop...I remember the australian fairground model zyklon or "python" loop was red...Ah well, I thought, anything is better then the galaxy, and I had ridden the python loop in Moomba here in Melbourne years ago and for a portable, it was ok.....I guess...But then I got closer and realised what it was!!!!!!!!!!!!only the lift hill, the first drop and second drop and the first helix were built, but so far it looked EXACTLY like the galaxy!!!! I had a bad feeling about this, and was praying inside that even if it was a dreaded galaxy, maybe it would be a newer model with more drops or something..So I waited a week and drove past today, Sunday 9 sep at 4.p.m and I saw it..finished..it IS the same galaxy the park had, exactly the same track design, only red...There are three options here..but either way this coaster is not brand new because there are ALOT of wheel markings on the rails, and there were also last week before the coaster had been assembled.
The first option is that they bought a "new", second hand galaxy....the second, and most likely option, is that they painted the old galaxy in a shiny new red colour and renamed it...The third, and HIGHLY doubtful option is,that this is a "bonus" 3rd coaster. and the other coaster hasn't even begun construction yet....I say unlikely, because, if they are getting yet another coaster, where the hell are they going to put it??????This must be the smallest park in the world!!!(but it doesn't mean it couldn't be cool if someone got their act together).
I drove away bitter, wondering where the hell the 10 or 12 million dollars went..guys, believe me, I hope I am wrong.....
This brings me to another point about aussie parks...What the hell is wrong behind the poeple in the department of attraction choosing, especially rollercoasters???
Luna Park Melbourne has been a sad failure for many many years now and it seems that this will not change....The fact is, you HAVE to have a half decent coaster in any themepark to attract a crowd....Luna Park has no excuse because this was going to be the refurbishment that put them back on the map and make them world class. yeah right....Even if they were hell bent on a transportable coaster,probably because they are usually compact, why oh why the galaxy????There's a heap of better options..look at any ride manufacturer's website, or for that matter, look at the german fairs....I also feel sorry for the guy who owns luna Park in that he is stuck with the scenic railway as it is part of national trust....this coaster must suck more than any other I have ever ridden..Rough, boring and SLOOOOW. Imagine what a brand new CCI could do around the border of Luna Park, using the same basic design of double out and back as the scenic railway, but with higher and steep drops..It would WORK.People would GO there...But you'd think they would have the brains to install a second better coaster, but no, they choose the galaxy...So although I feel sorry, it serves him right for being such a twit IMHO. It seems as if us coaster lovers would be the ones to design the ultimate aussie park LOL....
I'll finish up by making a point about the other aussie parks...
Firslt i will say that although I am not a huge fan of Arrow coasters( I rode lots in the US while on vacation) I rode the dipper in Sydney years ago when it was brand spankers and it was a cool ride..nice g's on the helix before the sidewinder..so i am glad Dreamworld bought that.....it seems as Dreamworld is catching on slowly to the rest of the world and adding some cool rides(giant drop, tot, wipeout, dipper), but to leave the thunderbolt there is ludicrous..This is the second worst coaster I have ever ridden besides scenic railway....and it would have to be the roughest steel coaster in the back seat..period.
Seaworld has the horrible galaxy and the not so bad corkscrew...again for an arrow the corkscrew is smooth and a little bit fun..but why oh why the galaxy???It's not as if our parks have plenty of coasters like the USA parks and can afford to have a crap one here and there....get my point? Even movie world piss me off..they pick for their signature, major ride, a vekoma headbanger!!!!!There were so many other choices they could have made!!!And wonderland, well, their woodies are the 3rd worst coasters I have ever ridden(Hercules at Dorney Park is a close 4th).....
Which brings me to believe that aussie parks haven't a clue about roller coasters, or how important they are to a successful park.....
oK, i have ranted and gotten this off my chest...no flames thanks..but I would love some poeple's thoughts on this info!!!
Cheers,
PAZ
p.s. Superman UE at Six Flags Ohio ROCKS THE HOUSE

There is no new model of Galaxi, that is currently out of production, and they cost a mere $600000 US second hand in case you were wondering, so that other money has gone somewhere, they would have probably bought a looper from Pinfari, but it should be here, if they ordered it a while ago, as they take between about 2 a nd 6 months to deliver from Italy. A cheap new Pinfari looper only costs around 1 mil US, and all those thrill rides they have would cost probably 2 mil (aus) in total, so, they have spend 2 mil on thrill rides, lets say 500 000 on Scenic Railway (after new cars etc etc) another 1-2mil on facelifting the park, so that leaves what, a max of 5 mil of their total, so there could possibly be another something on its way their.

Thanks Auscoasterman for the reply...I hope you are right man but i tell you why my gut says there is no new coaster....
The main reason is, if you look at Lunapark's website, where they list all the rides when the park will reopen, they still include current ones they are not getting rid of for example the Spider, scenic railway, dragon kiddie coaster...The galaxy is nowhere to be seen there but I can guarantee you what they have just assembled is the same old galaxy.....I still can't figure out for the life of me even if they have ordered another coaster where they will put it...the park looks pretty full to me...I would actually now go with the theory that the original galxy was falling apart so they ordered another one...same spot, different colour...
Also the park looks to be almost complete, and they still mainatin on their billboard they are reopening this month..so again, what are the real chances of another coaster still coming??I say pretty low....
PAZ

An impulse would fit wouldn't it?? That would be great! Oh I forgot, this is Australia we are talking about :( I got a bit carried away, sorry. lol

Apology accepted, dr moof. We can all get that way... ;)

Dr Moof, damn an Impulse would be cool..Alot of people may disagree with me, but I think they are the BOMB!!!
Even better, thinking about it, scrap my previous suggestion of a CCI to replace the Scenic Railway....I now reckon a TA2K would take the cake..and that COULD be done in LPM..Imagine the gorgeous views of stkilda beach as you are at the peak then get ready to plunge face down.....when I was in the states I missed Kings Dominion(dont ask, I drove right past it lol), so I didn't get to ride TA2K, but I got the feeling of being completely 90 degrees looking at the ground from Superman Impulse, and wow was it cool...We need a thrill like that here in OZ.....I think aussies would go for it....the biggest queues in all of dreamworld when I was there was for the GD and TOT....proves that us aussies like the thrills....
Oh and btw, I have a question to ask...I would just like to get the opinions of some fellow aussies.....
Would anyone here OBJECT to having the scenic railway at LPM removed...i.e. because it is part of national trust etc..or do you have the attitude"screw pride, it's only a terrible coaster" and would rather see it gone?????
We have lost the title of world's oldest operating coaster to Leap the Dips in PA anyway...so it's no big deal IMO....

Well, I really don't know where they got a replacement galaxy from, the only one Pinfari had for sale when I last asked them was a second hand one from Ireland, which I dont think they purchased. Also, do you know when its reopening? I think I might be able to get down there late January.

I drove past LPM last night and it had a big new sign on the front saying Luna Park is reopening in 10 days..It also had a map of the "new" park on the front.....sorry guys no new coaster, vortex, metropolis and galaxy are one and the same!!!!
Anyway, of course I will go to see what flat rides they have...I tend to like some good spin and spew's!!LOL
Cheers,
PAZ

i thought luna park had closed for good....why did they get rid of the big dipper, it looks like a cool coaster. austrailia sounds as if it deserves some new coasters more than anywhere.

Two theme parks in Australia (or about 20% of all Australian parks... how depressing is that???) are called Luna Park. One of them is in Sydney and the other one is in Melbourne. The one in Sydney had the Big Dipper but sold it to Dreamworld (see [url]http://www.coasterforum.com/boards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10321[/url] ) Cheers

BTW, my prayers are with everyone affected by the recent events which have seen Luna Park Bring back the Pinfari Galaxy model.

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So long as Scenic Railway has new PTC trains, and some automatic brakes, plus a track reprofiling, I will be happy. I cant believe they spent 2.2 million on the Carosel. I mean what have they done? Payed a secondhand car salesman to do it or gold plate the ponies?

Well, Sunday Morning here.23rd Sep...drove past Luna Park last night to get an update...
Ok, the sign saying Luna Park will be reopening in.....is now blank, wheras last week it said ten days...hmmmm
i rang up the info line yesterday...no updates at all, the website has not been updated at all I think till before they closed...
Although the map was large and visible last week when I drove by, I didn't get out to see it closeup because of parking issues...last night i managed to get a spot, jumped out with a torch and examined the map of the "new" Luna Park in detail.....
OK, yes definitely, 100%, the metropolis coaster is a galaxy...i saw the name on the map myself, referring to the recently constructed red galaxy..it's in EXACTLY the same spot the blue one was..one can only hope they at least run two car trains instead of one as they used to, at least there will be some mild airtime that way...oh well..bummer(i hoped in the back of my mind for something new, although I knew it was just hope).
The twin "super tomahawk", as they call it,which I saw the peaks of before, is not a zamperla or vekoma hawk as I had thought/hoped...just a bog standard everyday, carnival twin ranger..!!!!How OOOOOLD
They had a picture of a "drop" ride, which on the map was lower in height than the coaster pic....
i couldn't see any high peaks anyway that resembled a drop tower and then i worked it out from the drawing....it's a kiddie froghopper!
The "arabian merry" they talk about on the website is some sort of childrens circle ride also...
The enterprise remains, albeit relocated front left.Same deal with the spider...There is definitely a new swing ship, I forget the name....Then one other flat ride called "gforce" from the pic on the map it seems to be low and spinning..i couldn't see anything of it at all in the flesh by looking through the gates....
oh and there was something called indy 500 grand prix in the castle dogdem buliding..one can only guess new dodgem cars or go karts(doubtful)
The ferris wheel is still called ferris wheel, also in the exact same spot as always....same again with the ghost train, and of course, the ever brilliant*evil grin* scenic railway.....

ok so we have 2 new kiddie rides, a repainted galaxy, a swing ship and ranger, a refurbished carousel and scenic railway and ferris wheel,bumper cars and the rest is the same...
10 million dollars huh?? Sorry but what a load of bs....They claim on the website the park is going into the 21st century, becoming a world class attraction etc...more bs...it's just a load of crap park that offers NOTHING more than one could get at a small carnival......it's a nothing, it has never made money, it will fail, and i am sorry for being negative, but there is absolutely no reason why the majority of people won't have expected something more than what has been done...why bother going there, when for example you can go to the royal melbourne show and get literally ten times the amount of rides????
Luna Park should have been more thoughtfully planned, as in such a small space they must clearly concentrate on variet and quality, not quantity, to attract people...
Ok, now following is my opinion of what they should have done..Please everone post your thoughts also....
1)First I would like to talk about a wonderful wooden coaster that once existed at LPM, the big dipper(please dont get confused by the arrow steelie built at LPS)
They let this coaster fall to pieces many years ago, but I got to ride it when I was 10(18 years ago).After having no maintenance, the track basically just fell apart, and was completely demolished, with the scenic railway being the choice to keep...probably cause it borders the park......
Well, it proves that a compact and wild woddie can be fitted into the park..As I remember the big dipper it rain on the inside of much of the scnic railway...Looking at the approximate cost of a WILD LARGE BRAND NEW CCI woodie coming in at about aus $6m, there is no reason why something much cheaper and smaller that still provided thrills couldn't have been built...
2) I just can't understand the scenic railway being such an important part of our history.It is crap and if anything, no. 1 could be applied to no .2 for a brilliant solution.
3)The Spider is an ok choice to keep..a carni ride that seems to please families as well as mild thrill seekers.. should be repainted to look new.
Always had a queue at the "old" Luna Park
4) Ditch the swing ship, put in a huss frisbee
5) kill the horrible and outdated enterprise, put in a zamperla power surge or similar
6) Keep the kiddie rides as is - works well
7) Make over the effects on the ghost train to at least a slightly higher standard, rather then just glow paint and streamers hanging from the ceiling.
8) Of course keep the carousel-should be stunning
9) Keep the bumber cars-always a huge favourite
10)Put in a zamperla twin hawk instead of the ranger...
11) DEFINITELY have a rainbow, or the wilder lower variant such as conestoga at hershey park..this would provide great views, and is So economical on space
12) Umm, the ferris wheel, if a rainbow was put in the ferriswheel could be scrapped...I think ferris wheels are important but this particular one is uncomfortable(kiddie seats), low and boring with shocking view location...If there was room for a bigger one I would agree to have that...but alas to get height they need compact in that park, and the rainbow seems to fit the bill
13)Where I am absolutely even more shocked then the fact of no new coaster..that there is no drop or shot ride!!!!!!!!NO EXCUSE....the easiest ride on space and an addition that would have attracted ALOT of people..for crying out loud so many people make themm...huss make a quick standard solution shot n drop ride at 150 feet high...better than nothing!!!!!!Zamperla offer something similar!!So do Chance!!!!
14) a water ride for crying out loud!!!Park attendance would double in summer!!!
15) Instead of the awful galaxy almost any other compact coaster!!Geez there are a lot to choose from...the rverchon compact spinnings...they have a new compact suspended....a pinfari inverted....an ARRWOBATIC(dare to dream),ANYTHING, just kill the galaxy!!!!!!!
16) A huss TopSpin, or Zamperla Wind Shear(similar to the vekoma wipeout variant at dreamworld)
17) An ever popular family ride, the huss breakdance.....

Remember some great condition second hand rides can be found also...

ok, i've ranted and raved...i'm pissed and will not be going to LPM...I feel that the people behind the planning of the park must have very feeble minds if that's all they could come up with with 10 million and all this time....
Any thoughts??????
Auscoasterman, what do you think of my suggestions?????
Peace
PAZ

The fact Australia is such a big place and that is doesnt have many parks means the owners can sit back on what they have and not have the need to invest. If one park got a TA2K then B&M's and the like would spring up all voer the place to keep the parks competitive, you just need one park to take the initiative.

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Exactly Pazzap!

Although if there was one thing they should have done to the park, its a tower/freefall ride.

I know you said a Huss/Chance/Zamperla one. but if they really wanted to get crowds, there is one thing to say -- S&S Power. Put in twin 200ft Towers, one space shot, one turbo drop. That would have put this park over the edge, made it worth my while to travel down from Queensland to go to this park.

S&S towers are relatively cheap, they could have got at least one and still had plenty left. I am hoping that something new comes with revenue made by the park over the next few years.

They could have put in something decent instead of the Galaxy, these. like all the rides there, are things of the past.

Gareth, true, although Dreamworld has already taken the intiative, Dreamworld installed Tower of Terror, which really put them back into a definate number 1, and they still havent been shown.

Im waiting for a 4 tower Space Shot/ Turbo Drop to show up at Movieworld.

Although, the park that could do with something new is obviously Luna Park. and its disappointing to hear that they blew their one chance to put the park on the map

[quote]I wrote a letter to Luna Park recently, here is a copy of it

I have seen the new Luna Park, and I would just like to say that for the most part, I am disappointed in the face lift this park had recieved, or at least, attempted to recieve. I am an amusement park and rollercoaster enthusiasts, and while I know that your park is trying to to appeal to the broadest range possible, I think that it would have been much nicer if you retired many of the old "carnival" rides which Luna Park seems to have an abundance of.

The first thing that developers should have done on the park is firstly, to sell a majority of the older flat rides, which are looking sad and dilapidated. Also, the old Pinfari Galaxy shouldn't be there. These rides pick up AU$1,200,00 and the ride could have been replaced with a compact Pinfari, Schwarzkopf of other looping coaster. What Luna Park lacks is good rollercoasters. There are 17 rollercoasters in Australia, and amazingly enough, aroung 5 or 6 of these are Pinfari Galaxy's. They aren't exactly the sort of ride someone would go out of their way to ride, knowing that they have ridden an identical ride during the Royal Show, or when they visited Seaworld in Queensland.

I am glad however, that so much has been spent on the old PTC Carosel, and this will really open peoples hearts to this beautiful old classic carosel. The Scenic Railway seems to be virtually the same, but I hope that either the trains have been replaced, or they have been revamped, to remove the old "brake seat". This ride is basically the only thing that would really attract people to Luna Park, and I hope that some of the rough spots of track have been replaced, and that it got a nice new coat of paint.

I think it was a shame to keep all of the aging "carnival" rides which are around the park. These rides are old, and rather booring and nauseating. I would suggest you replaced the older of these rides with new age flat rides. Perhaps the best choice any park can ever make is to put in a Tower ride. These rides are what really attract people. I know that Dreamworld in Queensland was not exactly the greatest park in Australia before they installed the Giant Drop and Tower of Terror. Now that park is undoubtedly Australia's fore runner in giant amusement parks. Same must be said about Wonderland, Sydney. This park was doing rather poorly until in 1994 they installed the Space Probe 7, which tremendously boosted the popularity of this park.

Two companies make top quality permanent freefall, tower type rides. Intamin AG ([url]http://www.intaminworldwide.com[/url]) specialise in the Freefall towers, ranging from roughly 180-400 ft tall. This company's rides would probably not fit in too well with the other rides at Luna Park, and they are rather expensive. The other main company who specialises in towers is S&S Power ([url]http://s-spower.com[/url]), there rides are considerably cheaper than the Intamin towers, and would fit in with the carnival type feel of Luna Park. Whats more, people would be able to see a 200 odd ft tower from a long way away, and it would eventually turn into an icon of Melbourne, and Luna Park, which can only be a good thing for both Victorian Tourism, and Luna Park.

I do believe that around 20 years ago, Luna Park had another wooden rollercoaster. The Big Dipper. This ride proved that Luna Park could some how fit another decent sized rollercoaster in, while making it look good. Another wooden rollercoaster would work wonders for Luna Park. At the moment, there are only four wooden rollercoasters in Australia. Two of them are recognised world wide as "ACE coaster classics", one of these rides is Luna Park's Scenic Railway. What Australia needs is reall good wooden rollercoasters. Currrently, the newest wooden rollercoasters are getting on 16 years old. If Luna Park got a new wooden rollercoaster, a CCI ([url]http://customcoasters.com[/url]) would make a perfect choice. These rides are amazingly smooth, while giving riders the lateral G forces and air time they need, and with the roar of a wooden coaster. Wooden rollercoasters are very cheap compared to steel coasters. A good new wooden rollercoaster at Luna Park would bring guests to the park, as it would set a new standard for rollercoasters in Australia.

What also wouldn't hurt, is something very new. Currently, there are only about three "Vertigo" rides in the world. These rides are generally pay per ride, and are the new step up from slingshot bungee and Skycoasters. These too are made by S&S Power make this ride as well. And they are certainly rides that attract people, as well as make lots of money. They stand at 265ft and take 6 people on at a time.

I really hope that I help improve the park in any way, and that Luna Park does succeed. I would hate to loose this park which my family has visited for three generations.

Regards,

Richard Wilson.
[/quote]

And it turns out it is not all bad news. They have plans for a looping coaster in the next few years; here is their reply.

[quote]Dear Richard,

You are obviously quite an enthusiast! Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed e-mail. I certainly agree with your comments and hopefully more of these attractions can be added over the years to come. We are currently looking into a Pinfari looping coaster and have looked over a number of overseas models during the renovation period.

We have three Scenic Rail trains and all of them are being fully refurbished, one complete now and the other returning over the next two weeks.

I hope you can come to the grand re-opening of our magnificent Carousel.

Thanks again

Daniel Boyle
OPERATIONS MANAGER
[/quote]

So they are definately looking for something good for years to come, I suppose that $10m doesnt go as far as I thought it would.

Wow! I'm impressed. We were just talking about how good Wonderland's public relations was, and then Luna Park:

A. Replies (that’s a good start and a lot of places I can imagine wouldn't even do that).

B. Tell you what ride they are looking at installing. (Seemingly without any hesitation)

Good on Luna Park. I only hope they do what they say, and do it well. Maybe the future of the park isn't as bleak as we all feared.

Good work to Richard to for that. Its the most interesting thing I've seen online all night

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Hi everyone, sorry I have taken so long to post updates on this, I have been so busy at work, especially trying to catch up for that day I took off to go to LPM's opening:))))
Yes, I ended up going, even though I said I wouldn't, I guess being a ride junkie I just couldn't control myself...
Firstly, to Richard: I totally agree with you about s&s being one of the best towers.....the reason I mentioned the other brands, was because i presumed that s&s were the cream of the crop and the most expensive...As I knew LPM were on a tight budget, that's why i recommended one of the portables, I thought"well it'll still attract crowds at least in melbourne" Seems reading a couple of your posts that I was wrong, and S&S are indeed reasonable priced....I agree then, LPM GET ONE!!!!!!They ROCK!!!!!!!
I got to the park just after lunch on Monday 1st October...
It was PACKED....
Well basically what follows is my personal impressions, as well as some info I got from a decent conversation with Daniel Boyle while I was there.....
The swing ship is called the "twin dragon", it is a themed one, not a patch on huss's super scary swing ship we have all come to know and love but it WAS much nicer to look at.......It was only about a 10 minute wait for that...a little tight on legroom for me (6'4"), but heck, swing ships are fun, so I managed to get a smile on my face......
The spider is just behind this repainted black with the seats a nice read colour...i guess to look like a red back spider....I could never understand why they called this ride the spider LOL because it only has six legs, and unless I am wrong, don't arachnids have eight?????
Behind that was the enterprise, repaired and repainted..it actually looked brand new....didn't bother going on it though coz I hate it....very small queues though..
Oh before I forget, it's free admission and $6.50 PER adult RIDE!!!!!WOW that's steep, however you can buy a "ride to your hearts content" for $29.95 incl GST.
I did want to ride the spider for nostalgia's sake but it broke down for almost an hour:(
Now, to the galaxy, er sorry, metropolis....they have some funny theming in shape of a backboard with city skyline painted all over it....oh well at least they did something.!!!! No seriously, man, the turnover on this thing was SLOW....the queue was quite large, and was taking forever, I decided to give it a miss, as I have ridden galaxy's a gazillion times, so will just post my thoughts from observation.....
They have in fact chained two cars together, for a total of eight passenger's per train....The cars look repainted and reupholstered.....Then, the shock!!! ONLY ONE TRAIN will ever operate at any time on the track!!!!They wait for the other to arrive at the station, then send the next loaded car off...There were 6 cars or 3 trains, but one train was out of action...
This would not have been TOO bad as the galaxy is short, except for one thing.....The lift hill has been slowed down to about 20% of its original speed...No I am not joking....They just crawl up there, and when they get to the top they JUST make it around the turnaround before the first drop...it was unbelievable...the line was just not moving, hence my decision not to wait...Oh, and trims on the second drop, and in fact a new splattering of trims throughout the ride, this does not say much about it's safety LOL..
Though, they never come into action until the very end, as the trains are going so slowly through the course anyway!!(it just clicked to me why they are using double car trains now..to make it around the course!!!!!)
Honestly, it's abysmal, and unacceptable.......

Now a break from the "rides review" to talk about other changes...the new toilets are nice and EXTREMELY clean and hygenic..I was very impressed.....The food was incredibly average..the new "world class cuisine" was just a small cafe in a tent with limited menu..We waited 45 MINUTES in a queue that should have taken about 10!!!however, it is only the first day, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt........
Also, the "paving" that they were talking about through their website that was going to make the park look first class, is just plain old large slabs of grey concrete.its fine, it's new, and it's clean, but I am starting to really struggle to work out where the 10 million went.....
The staff have a nice new puply coloued uniform which looked smart...the staff on a whole were friendly, and there were hilarious maps that so many people were carrying..man if you get lost in this place, you have enough problems of your own LOL

Ok, back to the rides......
Where the castle stilll stands is a new function room upstairs which was incomplete I think..also the carousel had still not been finished by the time of opening...The ferris wheel is exactly the same ever so slightly refurbished....
At the base of the castle is a brand new, small dogdem track with really groovy looking bumper cars...shame it's so SLOOOOOOW:((
To the right of this at the base of the castle is still the arcade room with a few games....and the indy 500....In case anyone is wondering what happened to Sega world's rides in Sydney once it closed down, well I can confirm that two of them have landed here in LPM...the 8 car "indy 500" Racing game, and the really awful As1 simulator, which had 50 people waiting for it!!!!!!!!!
Just behind the castle was the "gforce", one of those spin and spews identical to the tassie devil at wonderland....it was repainted, and looked ok.....it has always been there though....
To the right of this, stood the twin ranger, which is EXACTLY where the tower SHOULD have been*eg*
I went as it was only a 15 minute wait, and I sorta dont mind rangers cause there is no OTSR's and you get some nice head rushes without making you sick...This ranger was definitely second hand as there was a little vandalism present inside the left train we were on, som jagged upholstery, etc..shame they couldn't have made it look up to scratch... Now working our way bak to the entrance, we have the scenic railway...Undoubtedly the largest queue in the park and only operating one train....As you can imagine turnover was attrocious, No i din't bother waiting because it was exactly the same ride as always, but with now TWo operators in the middle seat..maybe they were trainging..However, SORRY Richard, but the "renovation" of the carriages is NOTHING more than new green paint on the outside and new vinyl on the seating....It's exactly the same manual operated train, and I watched it a little around the circuit and it looked very rough, i.e., the same... Also,laughable, on a few runs up the lift hill, the operator jumped out of the train and ran with it up the side of the lift hill, help pushing it!!!!!
Then, spring drop, a kiddie frog hopper...
then, the dragon kiddie coaster as always, just painted green...Not operating yet....
Then to the ghost train, HUGE queues and as I thought, it would be the same old ghost train, so i didn't bother, but ghost trains are always worth a ride if there's no queue....
Oh, and the arabian merry, a very small circular childrens ride, like the one's you find in shopping centres.......

Sorry guys, I have been looking at my past few posts on this topic and they have been rather negative, and i di HATE being negative....but they have sc****d this one up BIG time.....

I asked to speak to someone in management position, and they sent me Daniel Boyle, whose comments I will now cover in detail...
My first comment was "Mr Boyle, what the heck is the deal with the galaxy!!!!!!"
He said they always had plans to put some italian brand looper in(I jumped in to say "pinfari" and he said "yes that's it")
He said they had nothing but problesm getting it here and it was drama after drama and at the last minute in desperation they had to "renovate" the old galaxy....(obviusly just to get it running lol)
Obviusly to LPM they don't know that other people beside's Pinfari make rollercoasters!*evil grin*
I then asked him about the carousel and he said it would be open next week, so I presume that has happened by now....
I then talked about how simple the overhaul on the scenic railway looked and he commented that they were not ALLOWED to do a whole lot with it..because of this part of the nation trust thing...
I then of course mentioned then why the heck not a drop ride, cause there was actually plenty of space to add one even now!!
he said, that the council would not allow the park to put anything that exceeds the height of the scenic railway!!!He said it was unbelievable what hell they went through...What a shame to have such a narrow minded st kilda council, as a tower would only enhance the skylin 10 fold, and provide stunning views anywhere it is placed.....
Then i mentioned a water ride, I didn;t get really a response, he was busy....
So, what it looks like, is that we have a combination of things working in unison towards the death of LPM...
If it is indeed true, and nothing could be higher than the scenic railway, that does really limit the scope of development, as the scenic railway itself can't be altered.....Of course, there are thingsthat could be done about this, i am sure...maybe not about altering the scenic railway, but to build attractions higher than it...
So what we are left with is still the fact that if even the above were true, the managers had the opportunity to do the best they could within a limited scenario...and my friends, they have FAILED...I believe you always just do the best you can even in the worst of situations, but honestly, on the report I have presented, (100% accuarate I promise) does it sound to ANYONE like they have bothered doing anything??The only actually "new" rides were The ranger, and the swing ship, the two sega world rides,the bumper cars,the kiddy frog hopper and the arabian merry....of course some juggling around in the placement of the rides and some paint here or there, not to mention the carousel which i can not comment on yet as to my opinion......
The park was packed because it was warm and it was opening day..I give it a year at best....

I somehow don't believe the thing about not being able to build above Scenic Railway. The Ferris Wheel is taller than this ride is it not? And I'm sure that some of the flat rides exceed the height of it. Well, a small Pinfari looper, which is what they would get, probably Zyclon-Loop Z47L or Z42L, both of which are under 12.5m (one 12.4, other 11)

I don't think after all that that we should expect too much from any new rides, with these alleged laws preventing them from building high and the lack of space.

If they get a looper, it will be one of the two pictured below. These are both Zyclon-Loop class rides.

This first one is the Z42L, it is their smallest looper. It has a drop height of 11m and costs $910,000 US, which is about $1.8 million Australian.
[IMG]http://coastertalk.netfirms.com/z42la.jpg[/IMG]
The other model they could possibly get is the Z47L, it looks a lot like a Galaxy with an inversion, it has the usual helixes and stuff happening.
[IMG]http://coastertalk.netfirms.com/z47l.jpg[/IMG]

The top one looks like a more realistic buy for them it has a smaller footprint, and is probably cheaper. I'm not sure of the Z47L's price, but I will find out if possible.

Well Richard, I agree with you about the height thing maybe being bs...I am positive that the ranger exceeds the height of the scenic railway, in fact driving towards the park it is the first thing you notice.....I am not sure about the ferris wheel, I can't remember, it is small though!!!!!!!
I have actually ridden the small model pinfari looper you have a pic of(the top one) at the moomba carnival here in melbourne, about 8 years or so ago..it was decent fun, with 3 car trains and although the first drop was small, it crapped all over the galaxy and in the back seat had a decent "lunge" feeling, not to mention it was smooth.....
What the heck ever happened to it???It ran at moomba 2 consecutive years then disappeared....I definitely saw it at Darling Harbour in Sydney quite a few years back..it has gone long ago from there also, and seems to have vanished...nonetheless, there was, without a doubt, a pinfari looper travelling australia that has disappeared:(
It's a shame LPM made the mistakes they did....but that park has a history of a long string of failure after failure(shame)....
Me being a rides enthusiast, and having a park only 20 mins drive away, and no desire to go now and again even for a half hour for a "quick fix", is pretty sad.......i mean even a pinfari looper would entice me to for a ride every month or so, but there is just nothing even semi exciting there....if i want to on the ranger ever again, i can go on the model that travels throughout melbourne frequently
and appears in msny street fairs...i mean i wouldn't go to one of these events just to ride the ranger, but they have plenty more than rides to offer, and its a case of "well it's here I'll ride it"...
but LPM's attraction is SUPPOSED to be rides, i mean 98% is just rides......shame they aren't good.....
what u think Richard??are you, overall, disappointed, especially about the scenic railway not having new trains and still using the ol' lever??????
Do you have any idea of pricing on any other manufacturer's small models??????I didn't realise pinfari loopers were so cheap...they definitely could have fitted it into their budget....how much are s&s towers???If I'm ever rich, I will make sure to put a decent small coaster and an s&s tower in my backyard *grin* I'll just have to live somewhere remote LOL
Cheers
PAZ

Pinfari would make the cheapest loopers. The second hand ones mught go as low as $500,000 US.

That email I got from Daniel initially boosted my impression of Luna Park. But now after you said its nowhere near as good as he made it sound, I feel disappointed big time. I really don't know why they kept those trains in the first place. I understand fully that they are National Trust or whatever, and they should never be tampered with. But why didn't they do what so many other parks did with their old trains. Put them in a museum in the park, I mean, that park has had so much history, plus they could put in even more with LPS as well.

Does it look like they have redone the Scenic Railway's track at all? Even if they have only painted the track with a nice new white, it would look so much better.

Also, pazzap I am just curious, would you be interested in reviewing Luna Park Melbourne for [URL=http://www.thrillnetwork.com]ThrillNetwork[/URL]? That would be really helpful seeing as I'm not going to Melbourne in the near future. PM me for some more details if you'd like :) otherwise, dont worry about it

Funny you should mention that...After my 2 month coaster trip to the states this year, I decided i had ridden enough coasters and been to enough parks to start a website strictly for reviews...
Work has been so busy and crazy and I have already been back from the trip 3 months and haven't even looked at starting the website, and realised that I'd probably be better just to contribute as much as possible to a good site like thrillnetwork.com...
I'd be more than happy to do a review of LPM, and in fact last month I needed a fix as I was going nuts and drove to Surfers!!!just for a day at each of the parks, and i basically went on every ride at every park so i would be more than happy to do a review of Seaworld, Dreamworld, and Movieworld also...I promise they will be more positive than what LPM is going to get LOL!!!
In all honesty thoug, to be fair to LPM, I won't do a review until I have been on at least both coasters since the rehab otherwise it's not fair...Daniel is giving me freebies next time, as I explained to him about the website which was still going ahead back then, and told him it was so packed could I come back another day, and he said no probs....So I will try to get there next weekend if not definitely the one after...I was going to offer while I am there, if you would like, to take some photos for you personal website.....Let me know...
If by PM you meant private mail (i wasn't sure, i am still not up to scratch with internet abbrev.) then sorry, but you will read this anyway...Get my email off the site and email me if you like....
Will I be able to use my own method of rating, as ofcourse I have already designed that as my main method for my now defunct website idea.....it's an out of 10 thing, but very specific and precise.....
Anyway, let me know,
Cheers,
PAZ

i forgot to say, yes it looks as if the scenic railway has been repainted, and I do rememember alot of scaffolding going on when i used to drive past LPM during construction.....

And do you personally have any idea where that pinfari looper diappeared to??It's one of those things that has been drivin' me nuts!!!!!
Cheers

I did some research. It appears this coaster was moved from England back around 1995, where it was called Python Looping Coaster. I would not have a clue where it is now but, pretty much definately not in Australia.

It was a very old coaster (early 1980's) and its back in England now, operating as Klondike Old Mine, with themed cars and stuff.

[img]http://www.andybs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/photos/draytonmanorpark/klondikeoldmine_04.jpg[/img]

Oh, and yes, PM is private mail, you can see the link to PM me under every one of my posts, just as with everyone else here :)

Richard