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ripcurlboy_81
Its been a long time comming, but on my way to work thismorning i noticed there had been movement at the station....

We all know by now (from reading old posts) that the zodiac hasnt been visible from the M4 for sometime now (due to the hydrolics leveling out and causing the arms to be in the horizonal position), and today was different, as i looked up thru the trees, i thought id be in for the same old regular sight of seeing just the spaceprobe and cablecar towers, but something else was there in my line of sight and that was the eastern arm of the zodiac in the air ( the arm closest to walgrove rd) althou it wasnt in motion, it was still there, as i looked back in the rearveiw mirror it was a great sight seeing the zodiac in the air with the morning sunlight shining on it. Put a huge smile on my face for the rest of the day. I really thought by now that the hydrolics would have siezed by now, but i could be wrong.

I will stop tomorrow to take pics if time permits, if not it will be on saturday.

Also on the return journey from work i looked back at the same spot(traveling westbound this time) and it was very dark, even hard to see the white pod in sky of the top of probe, as i got closer it looked like the ground around the zodiac/SP/demon was lit up with floodlights. Could it be they have started work on disassembling either SP or zodiac and starting with either taking the gondolas off the zodiac or taking the tunnel apart from SP. I dont know what the floodlights were for and im only throwing around possibilities.

When is the demolition for BB going to start? Does anybody still have contacts with the guys from security?

Anyways guys thought i would make a new post as its been a while since we had any new news regarding WLS.
djsupersleuth
They started by putting HMS Endeavour in containers and clearing the overgrown ground around Probe/Zodiac and starting the diesel motor on Zodiac and manually operating the lift cylinders as per evac when no power is available. So yes it has all started, you should see a solid 6 weeks of action and then a noticeable gap in the skyline of Eastern Creek. Will post more as it comes to me.
ripcurlboy_81
thanks djsupersleuth for your valued input to the post, and yes it would be great if you can keep us up to date
RAVER22
i noticed that too the other day and sadly when i took a closer look up Wonderland drive, i didnt like the look of the big bulldozers sitting in the carpark
Mickazee
Driving eastbound yesterday afternoon I did a double take as I saw the arm of the zodiac in the air!

It was so nostalgic looking in the rear view mirror and seeing the spaceprobe and right behind it zodiac.
Bussy
I drove past Wonderland today and can confirm that the eastern arm of Zodiac is indeed up. Also it looks like they have taken down some of the cables from Sky Rider.

However there is bigger news than that Bush Beast is now a pile of fire wood. Everything but the station has been demolished. I have photos and will up load them as soon as I can.


"The Bus is now leaving for Gonella, NSW"
ripcurlboy_81
WOW, that is big news, didnt take them long, i wonder if they would sell me a piece of the timber, does anyone know if it were taken down by the dozers that were in the carpark?

would have been great to see and record on video
LunaParkFanatic
QUOTE(ripcurlboy_81 @ Aug 28 2005, 08:01 AM)
WOW, that is big news, didnt take them long, i wonder if they would sell me a piece of the timber,  does anyone know if it were taken down by the dozers that were in the carpark?

would have been great to see and record on video
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Been great to see?... blink.gif WTF? This was a really good rollercoaster, and shouldnt have been bulldozed.
ripcurlboy_81
there is no point living in the past, the bushbeast had its day, yes i am sad to see it gone as it was my fav coaster, nothing could have saved it, so instead of being pi**ed off that its gone, reflect and enjoy what it used to be.
LunaParkFanatic
Your right! hmm yes, i remeber the day i went there and i was too small to go on it (like 5cm's short) so i cried and they said fine.. and let me on it! biggrin.gif

I love it.... Went on it like 10 times after that.
ripcurlboy_81
one of my first memories of BB was in hte good ole days of when it was $5after5pm, we had just walked down thru goldrush, the themeing was so funky back then where all the staff were in costumes, my whole family were there, was a great family atmosphere, my uncle had dared me to go on it so we walked up the green stairs, i was so nervous as i was used to the rides up an HB, i hadnt even been on the beastie at this stage, hehe so we got into the queue lines and a guy come over with the height pole, at this early stage the height pole was made from the tubing from the queue lines with the height mark engraved.

The ride op asked if it was my 1st time on the Beast and of course nervous me sayed YES, so he sayed i was short by a few cms, and sayed if i wanted to ride all i had to do was lift up my heels when he measures me again...... presto

We then joined the short lines ( those were the days when the 2 trains were in use ) we waited anout 4mins listening to the ride ops on the PA, the days when they made you feel like part of the ride and not some inconvience.

We boarded the train and pulled down the lapbars and started rolling out of the station. By this stage the nerves were on high, was daylight saving and going on dusk. Going upthe hilllift was an amazing feeling, looking out to my right seeing the lights of the cars below as we got higher and higher then once at the top i held onto the lapbar for the rest of what was a truely amazing experience, the niose of the coaster as it was in full speed, as it jerked us left then right. We then came into the braking stage, my uncle then sayed, well dude did you like it my reply was my smile on my face as i was so happy not only had i been on my 1st wooden coaster but the biggest in the Southern hemi.

Walking around the park back then was an amazing feeling, the sounds, the smells, the themed music coming from the speakers, the staff in costumes, listening to the wouldnt it be wonderful theme music as you were walking, was a truely amazing experience.

We all have our 1st memories of the bushbeast and of the park in the early days, it would be great if others could share theirs as well
Bussy
Photos as promised.


"The Bus is now leaving for Promisedland, Queensland"
ripcurlboy_81
Bussy, thanks for the pics muchly appreciated, if anyone else is driving past and can take pics and post them that too would be great, i will do the same during the week
djrappa
Thanks for the update Bus.
Kind of sad to hear that it's just gone, I'll have to go for a drive over there tomorrow and check it out.

Would have loved to know this was coming so I could have gone and watched it come down.

Guess it at least finaly gives some closure to the whole thing!
djrappa
Well I just took a drive over to Wonderland to check this out for myself. Fortunately there is a nice spot of flat gravel beside the westbound turn onto the M4 where I could park my car smile.gif

Attached are some photos I took from the Walgrove Road perimeter fence and also from the top of the M7 overpass (I didn't stick around up there for long).

It's very clear from the wreck that a dozer must have just been put through the old girl because it's just lying in one twisted heap there. I'm certain what you can see is just the big turnaround section that faced the road as it is such a long way from the station which still looks to be completely intact.

Really sort of occured to me last night just how kind of sad it is to see. I mean we all knew it would happen but when you can actually look at a memory from your childhood sitting in a pile of ruins its a bit sad.

It's amazing the amount of development out there now, hard to imagine you used to be able to see the Slide Tower and Beast from all the way back at the water piplines and the brick factory.
It really is a bit of a joke that the council ever allowed it to happen, just shows you how different councils value recreation over direct income differently I guess smile.gif

I think it's a real shame that we didn't know this was coming, I for one would have been extremely interested to see the coaster come down and document it.
Please if someone has or is going to have the info as to when Probe will be taken down let us all know!

[attachmentid=14]
Overview of the main wreckage that is visible to the public.

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This is the main pile of wood that can be seen, one would assume there is more like it scattered over the former bush beast site.

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You can see the station is still standing.

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Closer look at the station.

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Just to prove this isn't just any random pile of firewood, you can see Probe in the background.

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Shouldn't there be a big hill here??

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This is what is now left of the once big turnaround that would face the road.

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From the new freeway overpass you can see the remains of the Rapids holding pond and station.

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It's all very sad don't you think?
ripcurlboy_81
thanks for your update djrappa, your pics are very clear.

i dont blame you for not staying up on the m7 construction for too long.
djsupersleuth
Does anyone think maybe just maybe some sense will prevail and they will keep the BB station as a museum type building which may house all sorts of Wonderland things? Lets hope this is the case and the reason that they have not dozed the station and not because they ran out of diesel. Of course only if this fits in with their planned use of the land, we could'nt have it hold up some warehouse's construction....
joz
That'd be a nice idea actually, though rather then be a stand alone thing would be quite nice to see at one of the main city museums. Would it fit in with any of the city museums? Brisbane Museum had a good thing on Expo, so it could work for Wonderland.
djrappa
I recon it might be something to Power House would take on, they had the old Luna Park face.

What I would like to see is a detailed document history of the park as I am yet to see one anywhere to date.

Just something my father actualy mentioned to me when I was talking to him about bush beast tonight.
Does anyone still have contact with who is managing the site?

I would love to see some photos of the whole wreck, be interested to see if it is kind of still just lying out over it's original foot print...

He sugested if someone was to rock up to security and say that they wanted to take photos for the site they might let them in. I said I highly doubt that however I know a couple of members did have contacts there...
RAVER22
drove past today and saw the carnage! Not good at all. Notcied that they were working to pull down the station around lunch time, guess they just wanted to get the dangerous part of the demolishon done, and now working at the clean up
Shauno
Shocked to see that it was actually on the ground on Monday when i drove past.

What day did they pull it down? on friday moring i could still see it on the way to work .
Shauno
i too would like to to see the complete pictures of the park as it has been demolished. Maybe try contacting someone from the securty if they could take a camera in and take some pictures. Maybe the company carrying out the demolision might be able to help with the pics. also would like to see some pics of the part as it was built

Shaun
T-bone
Regarding the station, it will go.
Jobe
Very sad but not unexpected eh? Fairly inevitable from the time of announcing Wonderland's closure really.

Bussy do you know if the Beastie is still standing and when this will be scheduled for demolition?? It would be a fine idea to attempt to document this demolition since The Bush Beast's slipped underneath the radar.

Cheers
Jobe
Jaggie
That last picture is just saddening. That is a huge area now that everything is gone.
Shauno
im glad to hear someone is documenting the demolition of the park. are we able to obtain the construction of the park photos.
bluman
Has any approaches been made to the current management to see if the train carriages have been retained intact or have they been destroyed? You never know they allow you to have them. Luna park melbourne retained their two Big Dipper carriages when it was pulled out and used them as decoration in the park.

Has anyone got or know of a register of items, equipment and memorabilia related to Wonderland? I know there would be alot of photos around!

A retrospective exhibition is a great idea but the amount of work that is involved is quite high and time consuming. Most exhibition planning can take 18 months to two years from idea to execution. Alot of dollars are also needed if it's to be done properly.

The Powerhouse would be an ideal choice of venue but they would work on a 12 - 24 month ahead schedule. Most institutions operate like that!

With the right planning, approached could be made to the NSW Ministry for the Arts, the Australia Council and local government authorities (local council) for funding support. A corporate sponsor or two may be interesting in coming on board. With proper research a catalogue could compliment the exhibition documenting the 20 years or so of Wonderland.
djsupersleuth
All 14 Bush Beast and 10 beastie carriages should still be out the back stables where I put them just under a year ago. The americans at Visionland wanted to buy them and for me to send them but it all went sour after the Demon/Zoomerang mess.
djrappa
That is great news to hear...
Unfortunately there seems to be something up with the format of your photos, do you think you could re-post as jpegs?

One thing though... why do people have to always persist with this secrecy crap? No one really cares if you have an inside scoop or anything like that.
It's really much more beneficial to the community to be upfront and honest with who you are and how you happen to have photos and what your plans are and that sort of stuff for such a website...

I highly doubt there is a long line of people out to beat you to it all, I am sure though that there is probably a very long line of people who would be willing to get involved and help you out in any way that they can.

Whats the Zoomerang "mess" you speak of DJ?
taronga
I'm sure he meant boomerang as the type of coaster.
djrappa
Woah yet another super informative, contributing post that makes the up most sense from Taronga!
Flasher
So what happened to your pictures Anon................coldfeet? dry.gif
taronga
QUOTE(djrappa @ Sep 1 2005, 06:38 PM)
Woah yet another super informative, contributing post that makes the up most sense from Taronga!
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Well excuse me mr i'm so superior!!
djsupersleuth
I did mean Zoomerang as that is its new name at Visionland. The mess I refer to is to do with the guy who had to be contracted in at the last minute to pull the ride down. He has a demo licence which the original company who came over did not have. He obviously thought he could charge what he wanted (500 an hour to be precise) because there was such urgency to get it down and out. After it was done the original company (Canadians) who were contracted to pull it down decided not to pay this guy his exorbitant fee using the distance between the two countries as a safe haven. This also impacted on Visionland who purchased the ride and they were also chased for payment even though it was outside their contract with the Canadian "experts". They may have made a verbal agreement to get things moving but verbal agreements can have a nasty habit of changing or dissappearing. All this mess and believe me it was an utter mess with lawsuits still to play out helped cause the lateness of the approvals to demo rest of the park which then caused heat for a certain ex-Wonderland CEO therefore damaging the negotiations for the yanks to buy the coaster cars.
djsupersleuth
I did mean Zoomerang as that is its new name at Visionland. The mess I refer to is to do with the guy who had to be contracted in at the last minute to pull the ride down. He has a demo licence which the original company who came over did not have. He obviously thought he could charge what he wanted (500 an hour to be precise) because there was such urgency to get it down and out. After it was done the original company (Canadians) who were contracted to pull it down decided not to pay this guy his exorbitant fee using the distance between the two countries as a safe haven. This also impacted on Visionland who purchased the ride and they were also chased for payment even though it was outside their contract with the Canadian "experts". They may have made a verbal agreement to get things moving but verbal agreements can have a nasty habit of changing or dissappearing. All this mess and believe me it was an utter mess with lawsuits still to play out helped cause the lateness of the approvals to demo rest of the park which then caused heat for a certain ex-Wonderland CEO therefore damaging the negotiations for the yanks to buy the coaster cars.
dr_teeth
QUOTE(Jobe @ Aug 30 2005, 01:45 PM)
Bussy do you know if the Beastie is still standing and when this will be scheduled for demolition?? It would be a fine idea to attempt to document this demolition since The Bush Beast's slipped underneath the radar.

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I dont think it was all that unexpected was it? I mean didnt someone announce on here not long back that remaining rides, including BB and SP would be removed from the park in August....OK SP is still there today, but surely it wont be all that long before its gone too.
RAVER22
just a little bit of news, zodiac now has the western arm in the air, stripped of all its gondolas. Sad to see! Whilst Bush Beast is totally levelled with them just putting everything into big piles and from what i can tell, dumping it in the carpark
Shauno
i noticed that the zodiac was stripped yesterday afternoon. Im guessing that it will disappear from the sky line with in the next few days then the next to go will be the either the beach or space probe.
LunaParkFanatic
Its finally the beginning of the end for Wonderland Sydney after 19yrs of making people happy they close and 1 and half years later they decide to pull her down! sad.gif
PattieBoi
I saw a huge tower crane right next to the SP today, I think it had the hook attached to the dome, I don't know but it was right next to the SP!
ripcurlboy_81
hey guys,

was just at wonderland with some mates and i can confirm that there is a tower crane next to SP. There were 3 guys walking around the very top of the dome of SP. There was a cage attached to the end of the crane, and it was moving up to top where the workmen were then back down to the ground.

I have many pics and will upload them soon. Also im sure my mates will upload their pics.
Bussy
QUOTE("Jobe")
Bussy do you know if the Beastie is still standing and when this will be scheduled for demolition?? It would be a fine idea to attempt to document this demolition since The Bush Beast's slipped underneath the radar.
I am lead to believe that Beastie is also gone and was done either the day before or the day after Bush Beast was brought down.


QUOTE("PattieBoi")
I saw a huge tower crane right next to the SP today, I think it had the hook attached to the dome, I don't know but it was right next to the SP!
The crane that you can see has nothing to do with Probe's deconstruction at this point. It is there for Zodiac. When I drove past on the M4 today the eastern arm was up minus all the gondolas.


"The Bus is now leaving for Cranes Cowal, NSW"
ripcurlboy_81
Bussy,

the crane was used by the workers ontop of the dome on the SP, i was there watching it for about 90mins.
djsupersleuth
I think you will find that thet strategically built the tower crane between both rides and then they can work on both rides simultaniously, wherever the demand for a lift is then the crane swings around. That is the only way they will get the rides down in the limited timeframe they have.
ripcurlboy_81
Dj you made a very good point i didnt even consider, so yer.

The bushbeast lays in her temporary resting place in the carpark outside what we used to know as the wildlife park entrance.
LunaParkFanatic
Will the Zodiac & Space Probe be trashed or sold off?
PattieBoi
Man I hope the SP goes to Movieworld! How mad would that be aye?
Bussy
What I said was that at this point the crane was not being used for Probe. I think you will find that Zodiac will be taken down completely before they start on Probe.


"The Bus is now leaving for Probert Well, Western Australia"
LunaParkFanatic
QUOTE(PattieBoi @ Sep 4 2005, 01:30 AM)
Man I hope the SP goes to Movieworld! How mad would that be aye?
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PattieBoi, That's actually a really good idea! Because they could make another Gremlins ride and use the Space Probe tower for it. biggrin.gif
Jaggie
I have just got back from Wonderland and taken some photos of the Space Probe and a few other things.

The gallery can be found at Billboard[B] Space Probe Photos
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