Big dip in Sega World customers sees roller-coaster
up for auction
Theme park anybody? Sega World's assets,
worth about $1 million, will be auctioned on Sunday. Photos: Tamara
Dean
By Linda Morris
It's not every day that an indoor roller-coaster comes
up for auction. Certainly not one complete with time tunnel,
prehistoric rain forest, ice cave and a scary monster.
But then, this is no ordinary sale.
On Sunday, the complete assets of Sega World at Darling Harbour,
worth an estimated $1 million, will go under the auctioneer's
hammer.
Representatives of theme parks and resorts from as far afield
as the United States, Thailand and Sri Lanka are expected to
bid for the roller-coaster, 70 amusement machines and 10 pool
tables.
"Very infrequently would a theme park go into the auction market,"
said Mr Cameron Poolman, director of the industrial auction
company Gray Eisdell Timms. "Generally, we get individual rides,
not an entire theme park that has been so recently updated."
Sega World at Darling Harbour closed in November after the
Olympics failed to deliver the customer boost it needed to continue
operating.
A major review of uses of the city end of Darling Harbour,
including the Sega World complex, is now under way.
Among major attractions up for auction are an Indy 500-car
racing simulator, and a 30-seat Magic Motion theatre complex,
fitted with wind fans, 3-D projectors and hydraulic seats.
For the individual collector, there is a prop biplane and a
space shuttle, video equipment including video players, speakers,
television monitors, and lighting equipment including strobes
and fog machines.
When Sega World opened in 1997, it was expected to attract
800,000 people a year to its electronic theme park, but it lured
only half that number in the past year.
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