Melbourne's Luna Park
Location	St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia,
Website	www.lunapark.com.au
Owner	Linfox, Virtual Communities and Liberty Petrol
Opened	1912
Operating season	All year round
Rides	16 total 3 roller coasters
Slogan	Just For Fun

For other amusement parks of the same name, see Luna Park; for other uses of the phrase, see Luna Park (disambiguation)

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Melbourne's Luna Park is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Victoria, which is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Designed and developed by Frederick Ingersoll, it opened in 1912 and has been operating ever since. It is the first of two Luna Parks still operating in Australia; the other is on Sydney Harbour.

The main historic features of the park include the iconic "Mr Moon" gateway (1912, restored 1999), the Scenic Railway (1912) which is the oldest continuously-operating roller coaster in the world, and the US built carousel (1913 restored 2000). Other historic attractions include the Ghost Train dating from 1934, and the fairytale castle-style Dodgem's Building constructed to house the newly patented ride in 1927 (the ride itself was relocated from the first floor of this building to the ground level in the late 1990s).

The park also includes many modern attractions such as the Metropolis roller-coaster, the Spider, a Ferris wheel, and other mechanical thrill-rides. The park remains popular with children and their parents who have fond memories of the park from their youth.

A consortium headed by Melbourne transport magnate Lindsay Fox bought Luna Park in early 2005, pledging to restore it to the glory he remembers from his 1940s youth, spent in nearby Windsor. Since the multi-million dollar purchase, there has been no major overhaul, but the Scenic Railway Station was given a facelift, popular temporary attractions such as the Lara Croft Tomb Raider experience have been presented, and a major section of the Scenic railway itself underwent major repairs between December 2007 and June 2008.

Melbourne Luna Park

The park's triangular beachfront site is on government land, bounded by the O'Donnell Gardens on one side and Cavell Street on the other. Across this street is a larger triangle of foreshore crown land known as the 'Triangle Site', occupied by the grand 1920s Palais Theatre, the 1970s Palace nightclub (burned down in 2007), and carparking. The City of Port Phillip in consultation with the Victorian State Government ran a tender process in 2007 to restore the Palais Theatre and redevelop the remainder of the site. Lindsay Fox was part of a consortium that submitted a proposal which was unsuccessful. Melbourne's Luna Park is said to be more popular in general than Sydney's Luna Park, as Sydney's has no large rollercoaster, and Melbourne's is more authentic.

The park has featured on several occasions in the popular Australian soap opera Neighbours

Luna Park as a whole is listed by the National Trust of Australia, and the main heritage features are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

[edit] Full list of rides

The Scenic Railway, the world's oldest continually-operating rollercoaster

• Roller coasters
  • Silly Serpent
  • Scenic Railway - built in 1912, the Scenic Railway is the oldest continually-operating roller coaster in the world, and one of only 2 in existence requiring a brakesman to stand in the middle of the train. For these reasons, it is regarded as an ACE Coaster Classic.^[1]
  • Metropolis - a Galaxi roller coaster (Mouse Trap)
• Other rides
  • Ferris wheel
  • Twin Dragon - a Pirate ship type ride
  • Red Baron
  • The Ghost Train - a ghost train which retains its 1936 tracks.
  • G Force
  • Street Legal Dodgems - a Dodgem cars pavilion
  • Shock Drop
  • The Enterprise - popular Enterprise ride
  • Arabian Merry
  • Magical Carousel - a heritage Carousel built in 1913 by the renouned Philadelphia Toboggan Company in the United States. This is one of the few examples of their work outside the USA and as with the Scenic Railway of heritage value to the culture of theme parks in the United States as well as in Australia
  • Spider
  • Pharaoh's Curse - a Kamikaze-style double-arm ranger (Scissors)

[edit] Past attractions

• Prison Break: Live! (temporary ride)
• Kikki the Clown
• Whip (demolished circa 1981)
• Jack'n'Jill (demolished circa 1970)
• Noah's Arc (demolished circa 1970)
• Rotor (1955-circa 1980)
• River Caves (demolished circa 1980)
• Giggle Palace (destroyed by fire, 1980)
• Gravitron (1984-2001)
• Zipper (1989-1991)
• Scat (1993-2001)
• Big Dipper (demolished in 1989^[2])
• Lara Croft - Tomb Raider Anniversary: Live! (temporary ride)

[edit] Photo gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Luna Park, Melbourne

Luna Park from a distance showing part of the Scenic Railway

Inside Luna Park

The construction of Luna Park in 1912

[edit] External links

• Official Luna Park Melbourne website
• Luna Park Melbourne - accessibility
• St Kilda Historical Society article
• Luna Park, Melbourne is at 37°52′05″S 144°58′35″E / 37.868036°S 144.976369°E / -37.868036; 144.976369Coordinates: 37°52′05″S 144°58′35″E / 37.868036°S 144.976369°E / -37.868036; 144.976369

[edit] References