Luna Park Melbourne Pty, a company jointly owned and managed by Lindsay Fox and family, David Goldberger and David Wieland, and Virtual Communities has officially taken ownership of Melbourne’s Luna Park in Australia.
The company bought the park from BCR Asset Management for AUS$7m (US$5.3m, £3m, 4.4m euro) in June and is expected to invest in new attractions for the park over the next few years.
Speaking at the time, Lindsay Fox said: “It is our intention to restore the magic of Luna Park, preserve its status as one of Melbourne’s great cultural icons and ensure its viability into the future.”
Luna Park, and its iconic face, are synonymous with Melbourne and have excited and delighted generations of Melbourne families for nine decades.
The Park opened 93 years ago on 13 December 1912 with live performances from the Luna Park Band, high wire acts, performing animals, acrobats, trick cyclists and a troop of midgets.
Swedish diver, Miss Thelin, topped the day when she dived into a pool from a 50-foot tower into a tub of blazing water with her clothes alight.
Over the last five years, the park has benefited from an AUS$10m (US$7.6m, £4.3m, 6.3m euro) refurbishment, including a major overhaul of its infrastructure, facilities and amenities and the purchase of five new rides as well as a major re-branding campaign.
Today, the heritage-listed park has more than 600,000 visitors per year and attractions include the 15m high Metropolis rollercoaster, Pharoah's Curse which turns visitors upside down and a 90-year-old scenic railway which is the park’s oldest attraction and the oldest continuously operating rollercoaster in the world.
