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Destinations: FUN THEME PARKS

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Queensland

Dreamworld

Opened in 1981, Dreamworld has long been considered Australia's largest and best theme park. The park opened with with several small attractions, including the still standing Imax Theatre and Rocky Hollow Log Ride.
Through the years since it opened, the park has continued to grow massively adding record breaking rides and adding up to 12 different themed lands. These include numerous animal exhibits with tigers and different Australian creatures.
The record breaking rides include the defunct roller coaster "Thunderbolt" which at the time of opening was the worlds longest steel double looping roller coaster. The park also for a short time held the record for the fastest roller coaster in the world with "Tower of Terror" travelling up to speeds of 161 km/h. A year later the park added the "Giant Drop" onto the tower, making it the tallest free fall ride in the world(119 metres), a record which still stands to this date.
More recently the park bought the Luna Park Sydney roller coaster and placed it in the Ocean Parade section of the park, renaming it the "Cyclone". The "Claw" was also added to this section of the park and on the other side of the park, as the "Eureka Mine ride" closed, the "Mick Doohan's Moto-Coaster" opened up. Construction is under the way on Dream World's new V8 simulator attraction.
Roller Coasters: Cyclone, Tower of Terror, Moto-Coaster, Reptar Runaway Coaster.
Major Rides: Giant Drop, Wipe Out, The Claw.

Movie World

Warner Bros. Movie World opened in 1991 with attractions mainly focusing on the show biz side of movies, how to get into them, how to make them and different shows that were shown through out the park. Including the recently cancelled Police Academy Stunt Show.
The park opened its first ride in 1992, the simulator "Batman Adventure" followed three years later by the "Lethal Weapon" Ride an inverted roller coaster with 5 inversions. The park opened up the Looney Tunes section of the park in 1997 followed by the largely themed log flume "Wild Wild West" in 1998 and the redevelopment of the original batman ride in 2001.
2002 saw the beginning of major investment into the park, with "Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster" once voted in the top 30 coaster in the world. The Matrix Exhibition was opened, which was filmed on site and in 2005 Movie World opened two major new attractions, The Shrek 4D Live show and Australia's best roller coaster, the "Superman Escape". Voted in the top 20 roller coasters of the world last year. Another Thrill Attraction was added a year later in 2006, the "Batwing Space Shot" a ride which propels riders up 56 meters at 4.5 g's.
Recently Movie World has added a large roof over it's main street and a new show "Hollywood Stunt Driver" will replace the Police Academy show. Rumours are spreading about another roller coaster/thrill ride as Movie World starts to overtake Dreamworld in the best theme park stakes on the Gold Coast.
Roller coasters: Superman Escape, Lethal Weapon, Scooby Doo Coaster, Road Runner Coaster.
Major Rides: Wild Wild West, Batwing, Batman Adventure 2.

Sea World

Sea World started off as a simple Water Skiing park for over 20 years. Finally in 1971 animal exhibits including sea lions and seals were added. A year later dolphins were added and after Marine Park was bought by Sea World, all the aquatic animals were moved to it's current location.
The first ride was constructed in 1978 which was the Vikings Revenge Flume Ride, still standing today. In 1981, the park added the defunct Wild Waves Roller coaster, the Pirate Ship and a Carousel. The next year saw the addition of the parks biggest attraction to this date, The "Corkscrew" Roller Coaster. This additions saw attendance at the park rise by up to 20%. 1986 saw the opening of Australia's first Monorail, which does a 2km track around the park, connecting to the Sea World Nara Resort which has stood for 20 years. The Bermuda Triangle, a largely themed flume ride, opened in 1994 costing around 10 million dollars.
The park stalled for a number of years, though attendance continued to grow. The park invested more into buying animals with the introduction of the polar bear exhibit and more dolphin facilities. A new kids area was built and the worlds largest man made lagoon "Shark Bay" opened in 2004. Currently the park is constructing a new roller coaster called the "Jetski Rescue" which will be Australia's 3rd launch coaster in the last 4 years. Also a Sting Ray exhibit is being constructed over the defunct roller coaster site.
Roller Coaster: Corkscrew, Jetski Rescue
Major Rides: Pirate Ship, Bermuda Triangle, Vikings Revenge.

Wet n Wild Water world

Australia's largest water park and the third largest water park in the world, Wet n Wild opened in 1981 formerly known as Cade's County. The name was finally changed to what it is in 1987. It was developed for a cost of around 20 million dollars and is one of the few water parks in the world that stays open all year round.
The park holds over 35 different slides and attractions including a wave pool which is also used for dive in movies, a roller coaster called surf rider and a kids play area called buccaneers bay. The most recent additions to the park have been the Extreme H2O zone, the new Surf Rider, another water slide called Kamikaze and changing the design of white water mountain into more of a tree house type design.

White Water World

Dream world's answer to Villages strangle hold on the water park market. This new, modern and colourful park was constructed only a couple of years ago and opened with new technology never before seen in Australia and a beach culture theme. The park currently holds 12 attraction including the world only 8 lane racer that does a full turn, Australia's only hydro coaster which pushes the riders up using magnets and also Australia's only bowl slides The little Rippers and The Rip.
On June 4, 2008, construction went underway for a massive expansion to the park. Upon completion, the park will be nearly double in size. The main feature will be a 25m tall tower featuring three new water slides, including two Mammoth Slides, and also a Tornado Alley, similar to the Green Room, except with a more traditional water slide layout. In addition to the slide tower, the expansion will also feature a lazy rider, meandering around much of the remaining area. It will feature a "wave channel" that provides an added thrill for this typically sedate style of ride. A large water play area will also be added to the area, that also features extensive shade areas, additional food and beverage outlets, and extensive observation areas around the lazy river. The expansion is hoped to be finished in 2009/2010.


New South Wales

Luna Park

Luna Park Sydney is a park filled with a difficult history. It opened in 1935 to great success. The rides were brought from the recently shut Glenelg Luna Park for 60,000 pounds and it took 1000 men to re built the rides and the park. The park was originally closed during winter months, a tradition which stood until 1972. During this time existing attractions were re painted and moved, new attractions were added and the park was given a new feel. During World War 2, the park was caused to turn off all its light in case of attack by the Japanese, and the 50's saw new rides and new technology come to the park and the famous moon face was reconstructed. 60's and 70's saw the adding of new American thrill rides and as the lease expired for the park in 1975, pressure was put on the park to be destroyed for new apartment buildings.
On the 9th of June 1979, the park's Ghost Train caught fire. The fire quickly destroyed the ride, which was understaffed and not adequately covered by the park’s fire hose system, although it was contained before spreading to the nearby Big Dipper and River Caves. Searches of the charred rubble revealed the bodies of six children and one adult. The park was immediately shut down.
The park was bought in 1980 and everything was sold or destroyed besides Coney Island, the Moon Face, The Wild Mouse Coaster and Crystal Palace. The parks still hadn't opened 10 years later and new apartment blocks had been built during the time it was shut. This led to further problems down the track for the park, as these residents started complaining when the park finally re opened in 1995 with a new roller coaster, now known as the Cyclone in Dreamworld. The park was again closed in 1996 and was not opened until 2004 until all the loud rides were taken down, and replaced with cafes, concert halls and function rooms. Legal action was taken again against the park by nearby residents in 2005 and 2007 to completely shut down the park and they were asking for up to 20 million dollars in damages. These were luckily beaten and the park now operates with a descent amount of success and with the closure of Wonderland Sydney due to the corrupt Malaysian business Sunway Group, the park is still New South Wales largest up to 70 years after it opened.

Jamberoo Action Park

Jamberoo, just an hour from Sydney on the scenic NSW South Coast, close to Wollongong, Albion Park and Oak Flats, is home to NSW’s biggest family fun park Jamberoo Action Park. Jamberoo is fun for the whole family - offering as much action or relaxation as you can handle! The range of action packed rides will keep you going all day, with the latest attraction being Jamberoo’s newest ride – The Taipan. The Taipan is all about thrills and spills for you and your friends – and is a first in Australia, being a unique twisting and turning experience completely in the darkness.
An oldie but a goodie is the Mountain Toboggan - and catch a wave in the Outback Bay wave pool or just laze by the sand. Jamberoo has a variety of food outlets to help you get through the day – pick up a burger or fish n’ chips for the kids, or even take a break and relax in The Loft, a healthy café style option. Or you can bring your own picnic and relax in the beautiful landscaped grounds and BBQ area.


Victoria

Luna Park

Luna Park Melbourne opened in 1912 and has stayed open ever since. It opened with the 'Scenic Railway', which still runs today and is the worlds oldest continuously operating roller coaster and one of the 3 roller coasters left in the world which uses a brakeman. The ghost train, which is still there today, the merry go round which was given a face lift in 2000 and the function centre which now holds the arcade and dodgem cars.
The park operated far above it capacity in it's early years drawing up to 10,000 people on a Saturday Night, but at it's peak the park had to shut due to World War 1. It re-opened but nothing had been changed, this led attendance figures going down but was still averaging around 1,400 people per day. The park re-opened after significant re construction with a new wooden roller coaster The 'Big Dipper', Dodgems, a Water Flume ride and other new mechanical rides. The park flourished until world war 2, this time the park wasn't shut, but like its cousin, had to keep all lights off. The depression caused lack of attendance but the park stays open and as the economy recovered, the park made investments again.
Unfortunately for the park, it hasn't received any major up grades since the 60's besides the adding of new carnival rides and the removal of the traditional rides. The "Big Dipper" was taken down due to lack of safety and the park continues to struggle bringing in numbers. Lindsay Fox promised to bring the park back to its former glory when he bought the triangle, but has yet to do anything besides put in plans to build a roof over the area.


Western Australia

Adventure World

When the gates first opened on 11th November 1982, the park was originally called “Edgley’s Adventure World”. Michael Edgley International was behind the creation and funding in building Adventure World; Michael Edgley International owned and managed the park until December 1990. Before Adventure World was built the land was used as an industrial dump. It took 380,000 tonnes of sand to reshape the land contours.
The park is largely unknown outside of Perth, but actually holds numerous thrilling attractions including the "Turbo Mountain" roller coaster, "Rampage" which is comparable to Dreamworld "Wipe Out", Power Surge which has sits connected to mechanical arms which all spin around flipping the rider upside down and spinning around in a circle. The park also has numerous kids' attraction including a Kids' roller coaster "Dragon Express" as well as some water slides and other attractions.