Luna Park Melbourne

There are a small number of brakeman operated scenic railways in the world and only two elude me. The one in Spain and the one in Melbourne. It was a glorious day for a day out so we headed out early to the city's Luna Park for more riding. After a delicious breakfast at Phamish across from the entrance we made our way over.

The two Luna Parks in Oz both have the big face entrance first seen at the park in Colney Island NY. You really know you're going into a great theme park when you see the love and attention that has been put into just the entrance.

It's worth giving a shout to the equally impressive old theatre across the lot too.

The attention to detail continues within the park too. Really really pretty.

First coaster of the day was the kiddy powered coaster. Tick! time to move on.

Next up was the Scenic Railway, which was celebrating it's 100th year of operation; quite amazing. The train was in great condition. It's not 100 years old having been maintained quite a bit in its lifetime. The look and style was definitely old school though.

The coaster runs around the perimeter of the park and completes two laps around it. Quite a lengthy track considering how small the park is.

Being polite I think it's fair to say the ride rides like a 100 year old coaster. The drops are perfectly designed to crunch the spine or genitals depending on how you sit :) I had a couple of rides on it but as the morning went on I started to feel quite ill and spent more time sitting on the toilet than on any of the rides (too much information I know)

The park is beautiful though, and I was really impressed with how it looked and how well everything had been maintained. The surge ride was the new attraction for this year.

The final coaster is Metropolis a clunky Galaxy ride that run well. The ride op here was really good.

Aside from the coasters my favourite ride was the Ghost Train. An old style ride with hairpin turns and quite a lot of track compressed into a small footprint. Unfortunately the ride broke down whilst I was in it. I did get to walk through the final few scenes when evacuated however.

Luna Park Melbourne is beautiful and I was taken by the old school charm that it runs throughout it. This park is a stark reminder of how the seaside parks in the UK could and should be. It's a shame that they're struggling to remain open and how they are no longer the entertainment meccas they used to be decades ago. Old can still rule!

This next park may be wheely good!