Sega World Sydney

:"See SegaWorld for other amusement parks by the same name."Infobox Amusement park
name = Sega World Sydney


caption = The Sega World Sydney building in 1998
location = Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia
address = 1-25 Harbour Street, Darling Harbour, New South Wales
phone_numbers =
homepage = See External links
owner =
general_manager =
opening_date = March 1997
closing_date = November 2000
previous_names =
season = Year round
area =
rides = 7
coasters = 1
water_rides = No
slogan =

Sega World Sydney was an indoor high-tech amusement park that operated for almost four years, in Sydney, Australia. It is one of several SegaWorld amusement parks that were opened worldwide, designed and themed by gaming company SEGA.

History

Sega World Sydney opened in March 1997, in the Darling Harbour locality. The park was the result of an A$80 million investment, Kidman, Angus (2001). Big dipper. "The Bulletin", December 12, 2001. Retrieved from [http://www.gusworld.com.au/writing/dipper.htm Gusworld Article Archive] 18 October, 2006 ] and was described as "Australia's Interactive Disneyland" by the media. Due to a below-required attendance and constant financial losses, the park was closed in November 2000. Hopes that the influx of tourists travelling to Sydney for the 2000 Summer Olympics would help the park meet its 800,000-visitor breakeven point went unrealised.

The park boasted a large amount of interactivity in its rides. Much of the themeing was based on various SEGA franchises, primarily Sonic the Hedgehog.

In March 2001, the contents of the park were auctioned off. Only 300 people attended the auction, with most of the rides sold off for minimal prices. The two major rides of the park, Rail Chase and Ghost Hunters were sold to foreign buyers, with one of the rides going for A$60,000 less than its intended sale price of A$200,000.

The building the indoor amusement park was located in still stands at Darling Harbour. This building is now used primarily as a furniture exhibition hall for Shanghai Group Australia, with several food vendors, a video arcade, and a Northern Territory tourism centre also occupying the building. Some interior fixtures are still in place as of 2008, covered by backdrops and boarding.

Rides

* Rail Chase - An indoor mine train roller coaster built by Masago Industrial with elaborate scenery and themeing. [cite web|url=http://www.rcdb.com/id1139.htm|title=Rail Chase at Rollercoaster Database]
* Mad Bazooka - A 'tank simulator', with modified bumper cars equipped with a ball cannon. Balls were collected from the floor of the arena by running over them, and then could be fired at targets mounted to the roofs of other cars. The ride was removed in early 2000, to make way for an ice rink.
* Ghost Hunters - An interactive ghost train, with riders provided with laser cannons to shoot targets.
* Magic Motion 4D - A 4-D cinema.
* Nickelodeon TV Machine - A children's play area themed to the TV channel Nickelodeon, which included activities based on the famous Green Slime and featured a climbing jungle, ball pits, and a spiral slide.
* Aqua Nova - A 3-D motion simulator themed around a submarine on an underwater mission.
* AS-1 - A motion simulator ride depicting the futuristic chase of a criminal.

As well as the rides, the park included a fast-food outlet and an extensive coin-op video arcade, featuring over 100 arcade games. This area was converted to free operation at a point in early 2000.

onic Live in Sydney

A 1½ hour live children's show hosted at the park, Sonic Live in Sydney, was set in an alternate timeline based around the Saturday morning Sonic animated series and the "Sonic 3" Mega Drive video game. Doctor Robotnik's Death Egg crash-lands in Australia instead of Angel Island, causing the scientist to attempt a takeover of Sydney, which is foiled by Sonic, Tails, and Sally Acorn at the end of the show. A subplot of this show involved Tails being shown around Sydney's landmarks. There was a large amount of audience interaction in the show.

Most of the music for the show was taken from Masato Nakamura's score on Sonic The Hedgehog 2, with three theme pieces; Sonic's "What Are We Waiting For", Dr. Robotnik's "Give Me Chaos" and "Thank You For Being You" sung by Sally Acorn. A recording without audience was made of the performance.

References

External links

* [http://gaming.chronomagister.com/fanums/sws/archived/segaworld/index.html Archived copy of the Sega World Sydney website]