Luna Park, Sydney 7/9/25

"P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney"

My kiddo was in an honors band that was playing at the Sydney Opera House, so we made a 2.5 week family trip out of it. We saw (and held and fed) every animal (Kangaroo, Pademelon, Wombat, Quokka, Platypus, Wallaby, Koala, Echidna) and explored a lot of cultural and scenic sites. We arrived on Sunday morning and actually were not terribly jetlagged (slept pretty much the entire flight). Having seen the aquarium, zoo, and Blue Mountains region, we had a "free" day on Wednesday, so I snuck away from the family for a quick solo visit to Luna Park which is just on the opposite side of the harbor pretty much directly under the famous harbor bridge.

I took the fast, cheap, and super convenient ferry made it for a 10:00 opening and paid $75 AUS ($50 US) to get in. It would have been $65 if I had bought it two days before, but I just forgot.

Seeing the pictures, my wife described it as "where horror movies happen" and she's basically not wrong. The front gate is a giant clown face whose mouth you pass through, the boardwalk has beautiful views, but is kind of run down, and there are a lot of dated attractions that could use a coat of paint or a refresh. When I entered the park, nothing was open and all the staff said, "we're still doing the last checks to make sure everything is safe." I wandered for a solid 15 minutes before the Wild Mouse opened, which was my 450th credit. RCDB lists this as wood and I've heard people refer to it as "a wooden wild mouse" but I don't understand why. The track was steel, the supports were steel, and the only parts that looked to be wood were walkways and the boardwalk under it. The ride was surprisingly fun with some forceful turns and decent pops of air on the lower section. There were one or two uncomfortable jolts, but this would definitely be worth a reride if I had the time.

Next was a walk on to the Vekoma family boomerang aptly named "Boomerang." I give the park a pass for the unoriginal name, though, because if you're actually in Australia, Boomerang makes a lot of sense. The ride had some decent forces to the point that I was feeling a little queasy, but mostly uneventful. I don't especially like going through helices backwards.

Finally, Big Dipper (one of only two operating Intamin Hot Racers) opened. It is so named because it replaced an Arrow Looper which replaced an old school woodie, all of the same name. Apparently, they've had problems with noise complaints throughout their history and I can understand why. The ride goes right past neighboring apartment buildings. I got two rides, once in front and once in back and I really like this ride. The course is compact and very forceful, as is expected from a single rail coaster, but the tire launch was quite fun and the layout felt longer than it looked. I would best describe it as "punchy" with some sharp transitions and quick turns. Sadly, they were only running one train of 7 passengers, so by the time I got off my second ride, the line looked to be about an hour long.

About 75 minutes after walking through the gates, I called it a day, happy to have tried some new coasters and gotten some time alone. Not the best park and definitely overpriced for what it is, but I'm glad I went, nonetheless.