Lost Sydney: Magic Kingdom
Location: 174 Hollywood Drive, Lansvale, NSWAustralia has a fascination with the Gold Coast and the theme parks it offers, but few of today's generation of theme park lovers people know the rest of Australia has also had a share of theme parks, but sadly, most have shut their doors and since made way for redevelopments and urban renewal. Sydney s outer suburbs were once dotted with amusement parks like the African Lion Safari, El Caballo Blanco, Paradise Gardens, Bullen s Animal World, and the Magic Kingdom. Their tv ads promised adventure, fun and magic, wrapped up in catchy jingles: the early 80s ad for the African Lion Safari culminates in the strange refrain, it s scary but nobody cares . The ad for the Magic Kingdom was soundtracked by the song Magic by Pilot, with its ascending refrain: Oh oh oh it s magic evoking the transcendence promised to visitors.
The end of Hollywood Drive in the Sydney suburb of Lansvale, near Liverpool, was once the entrance to Dizzyland, an early amusement park known for its cheap rides and the hillbilly nights at its Hollywood Country Music Club. Perhaps Hollywood Drive was named because of the once popular attraction at the end of its yellow brick road. Dizzyland salvaged some of the Luna Park rides after the 1979 ghost train fire, and many old carnival horses were stored there. There is no sign of Dizzyland today, just a neat golf course with figures in white trousers strolling the green. Opposite these well manicured lawns of the Liverpool Golf Club lies the remains of the Magic Kingdom.
Magic Kingdom operated from the 1970s through to the early 1990s. Unable to complete against Australia'sWonderland - itself since closed - Magic Kingdom closed its doors not long after Wonderland opened. The park was small, covering about 36 acres (150,000 m2). It featured over 15 rides, a number of slides (Two open water slides (95 metres long) plus a giant dry slide), Radio-controlled cars, a picnic area with barbecue facilities, The Big Shoe and petrol-powered mini-boats on a lake. In the 1990s, not long before its closure, bungy jumping was introduced.
Magic Kingdom was popular but due to its size and location (it could only be accessed by a road which went through an industrial area and residential area, and regularly flooded after heavy rain) the park struggled to remain viable. The land has remained empty, with only the giant dry slide, the big shoe (not a ride), the lake (natural) and toilets (both male and female) remaining. It was put up for sale for redevelopment in September 2013.
During the 1980s, rumours spread about the park being haunted. Whether the rumours of ghosts at Magic Kingdom began because some of its rides came to neighbouring Dizzyland from Lunar Park in the wake of the tragedy, or because there were actual sightings is not known. It was reported that, if you visited the kingdom at day or night, you might hear strange noises or see a white figuire near the big slide. The explanation given was that the spirits of the people who died in the Ghost train are still there.
Long after Magic Kingdom closed its doors, a young man faked his own kidnapping in an abandoned house on the property, to avoid telling his parents he had skipped work to spend time with his girlfriend. He called police emergency saying he was tied up inside the empty house and there they found him, bound and gagged by his own hand. Later, in the hospital, he confessed to have staged it all.
