While I had previously listed Luna Park Sydney under the miscellaneous tab, a revamp of the iconic amusement park in 2021 warrants a page of its own.
I have visited Luna Park Sydney on many occasions, and in the past had always felt that it lacked prestige, entertainment and value for money for one of Australia’s oldest amusement parks. Opening in 1935, the park has had numerous ups and downs. From the deaths of 7 people in the 1979 ghost train fire, lengthy closures, deaths and injuries on the original wooden Big Dipper, spats with local residents over noise, and the forced closure of the steel Big Dipper rollercoaster, Luna Park really embodies the spirit of the “little Aussie battler.”
In 2021, nine new rides opened at Luna Park, completely transforming the soul and appear of the place. Happily, three of these new rides were rollercoasters: Boomerang, Little Nipper and Big Dipper. Upon opening, I took my niece on the iconic Murray’s bus trip to Sydney to see what all the buzz was about.
With a wet and cloudy day, we enjoyed zero queues and went straight to Big Dipper. However its opening was delayed due to technical difficulties. Instead we went to the new area at the back, which was much better than anticipated! My first impression was how the residents of the nearby apartments felt about having rollercoasters and screaming patrons literally next to their bedroom windows. Hopefully they invested in double glazing…
Secondly, it felt like a whole new fun park had been built just in this little section. It didn’t feel like the old Luna Park, but that was ok! This is where the bulk of the new rides were stationed like a mini drop/bounce tower called Loopy Lighthouse (surprisingly fun) and a mini ferris wheel called Bug. Sledgehammer was also located here. Similar to the Claw at Dreamworld, this pendulum ride was great fun. My niece and I opted to do the 360 degrees version of the ride, which goes right over the top. Sydney Harbour looked interesting upside down. Patrons can also opt to ride the 180 degrees version if they want a tamer experience.
The Boomerang rollercoaster was situated in this new section and was a fun little track suitable for all family members. This was a good progression from kiddy coasters to something a bit more adventurous without resulting in tears. Once you completed the forward section ending at an incline, you then travelled backwards to the station.
The Little Nipper kiddy coaster was also closed, so we headed back to the old part of the park for a classic: the Wild Mouse. This was as bumpy as I remembered, but a bit of old school fun.
Big Dipper was still out of action, which was rather annoying as it was the main attraction we had come to ride. Staff mentioned that due to Covid they were short staffed. Unfortunately they only had a small maintenance crew in, and they were busy working on some of the other rides.
Never mind, we had plenty to keep us entertained at Coney Island. I think this indoor section is underrated. I love the old fashioned giant wooden slides, turkey trot and joy wheel. With the cartoon cut outs and wooden infrastructure, it feels like you have stepped back in time to the 1930s.
After an hour or so at Coney Island, we went on the drop tower known as Hair Raiser. This has been around awhile (since 2013), so I knew what to expect. My niece was keen to ride so I accompanied her out of obligation and guilt. This has got to be one of the most uncomfortable drop towers I have ridden. Not just because the increasing width of my hips makes it hard to fit in the seat, but also because there is a bizarre amount of pressure on the drop. I get embarrassed every time because I make involuntary grunting noises on the way down. I am not sure what it is that causes the pressure, but I have not experienced this level of discomfort on other drop towers before!
We had given up on Big Dipper opening at this point, and the chair swing called Volare was also closed. So that just left Rotor, which my niece was keen to try. I intentionally left this one until last as I know my tolerance for spinning rides is almost down to zero these days! You have to admire the heritage of the ride. Like an early model of a gravitron, the centrifugal force keeps you stuck to the wall while the floor drops away. It is weird looking up and seeing the ride operator standing in the middle, with the crowd watching you from above. At the end, you are meant to slide down naturally as the floor re-joins you. However I was wearing trackies which would not let me slide. I ended up peeling myself off and jumping about 1 metre to the floor. My niece thought this was hilarious. I felt nauseous afterwards, so was glad to be heading off.
As a result of Big Dipper not being open, I returned in early 2022 for another crack. This time I travelled with a former roller derby buddy Allison her two eldest kids. I re-rode everything except for the Wild Mouse which happened to be closed this time round. Volare was opened, so we had a go on the chair swing which provided some nice views over the harbour.
We also had a turn on Little Nipper. This shark themed coaster is a standard kiddy model that does three laps of a tiny track.
Hallelujah, Big Dipper was opened too! I loved the ride queue area, and how the barriers displayed the history of the Big Dipper name. Starting with a wooden rollercoaster, upgrading to steel, being banished to Dreamworld, and now came a stellar Intamin multi-launch coaster! For a compact coaster, it used the space brilliant to include a twisted hill, corkscrew and some great air time near the end. The train features 7 individual seats which was a novelty. We were fortunate to visit on another relatively quiet day, as wait times were only around 30 minutes. With the length of the queuing system, I can only imagine the horror of a 2-3 hour wait on a busy day, especially due to the very small number of guests that can ride at once! We did find that the shortest queues occurred first thing in the morning, and early evening. I would recommend avoiding the busy middle of the day times!
I would have been quite happy to sit on this rollercoaster all day. Congratulations Luna Park, this was a fantastic investment and has rocketed the park away from a temporary carnival feel to something special!
Traditionally, Luna Park has been a 2-3 hour visit for me. However we ended up spending about 9 hours there, with the kids sleeping soundly on the drive home. It used to be possible to buy individual ride passes, which reflected the lack of rides. These days you purchase one pass for whole day, and ride as much as you like.
Luna Park will always hold a special place in my heart. I love the history of the place, and am grateful to those community members who fought to get its heritage status recognised. Terror, my favourite ride buddy in the world also got married at Luna Park. She got some epic wedding shots in her beautiful gown on the rides, and it was just such a happy place for the ceremony and celebration.
Summary
Ticket prices:
One day pass: $80 for people aged 14+, or $75 if you book early online.
Number of rollercoasters as of 2023: four
Roller Coaster Ramble 