Fantasy Glades
Encyclopedia
Fantasy Glades was a small theme park which operated until 28 April 2002 in Port Macquarie, Australia
. The park operated for 35 years in its rainforest
setting, catering to a child-friendly clientele.
Fantasy Glades was located at 44 Parklands Cl, Port Macquarie.
On 17 March 2008 the parkland became available to buy . The parkland is the only landsite of its kind in the beach side area of Port Macquarie.
Shane and Karen Hay of Queensland purchased the Fantasy Glades property in 2009 with the intent of re-opening the park in the near future, pending the necessary council approvals and funds permitting.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The park operated for 35 years in its rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
setting, catering to a child-friendly clientele.
History
Fantasy Glades was opened in 1968 by George and Rosemary Whitaker. In 1986 the park was sold to The Spry family and Brian Hutchinson, who operated the park until its closure in 2002 . Some of the rides and attractions have since been purchased by Tony Williams who has plans to reopen the park in a new location on the Hastings River . this idea appears to be on hiatus.Fantasy Glades was located at 44 Parklands Cl, Port Macquarie.
On 17 March 2008 the parkland became available to buy . The parkland is the only landsite of its kind in the beach side area of Port Macquarie.
Shane and Karen Hay of Queensland purchased the Fantasy Glades property in 2009 with the intent of re-opening the park in the near future, pending the necessary council approvals and funds permitting.
Attractions
- Cinderella Castle - a large pink castle with life-size mannequins behind glass depicting the story of Cinderella
- Witch's Cottage - a later addition, this wooden house was full of fun 'booby traps'
- Snow White Diamond Mine - a walk-through mine with motifs of the singing seven dwarves
- Snow White Cottage - a miniature house themed with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves designs
- Crooked House - a later addition, this was similar to the witches house and featured distorting mirrors
- Wishing Well
- Monorail - a later addition, this was a people-powered push-pull monorail which wound through the rainforest
- Dinosaurs - a later addition. A series of Dinosaur sculptures near the Cinderella Castle
- Dragon - a large pink dragon whose eyes flashed and sprayed water and smoke from its nose at passers-by, activated by infrared sensors - a later addition.
- Coin-powered cars - these tiny cars were designed for children to ride around a bitumen area, and could be operated by inserting a 20 cent coin20 cents (Australian)The twenty-cent coin of the Australian decimal currency system was issued with conversion to decimal currency on 14 February 1966, replacing the florin, or two shillings...
- Old Woman's Shoe - this large red shoe (approx 3 metres tall) was designed to represent the nursery rhyme There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a ShoeThere was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe"There Was an Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19132.-Lyrics:The most common version of the rhyme is:There was an old woman who lived in a shoe....
in which children could play - Train - this electric road train circumnavigated the theme park on a loop
- Miniature Chapel - a tiny church.
- Hansel and Gretel - A glass-windowed shopfront depicting the story
- Humpty Dumpty - A large figure a humpty dumpty that, when a button was pressed, fell off his wall
- Little Red Riding Hood's Grandmother's house - with the big bad wolf dressed as grandma in bed.
- Kiddies Corner - a later addition, this was a selection of generic 'shopping mall' coin operated rides
- Wildlife Park - Included Goats, Kangaroos, and Emus.
- Golden Goose - That laid a golden egg.
- Hickory Dickory Dock - A grandfather clock that a mouse would run down.
- Jack in the box - Press a button and he pops out.
- The mouse house - a small house with a cat painted on it, inside were robotic moving mice such as musical mice, fishing mice, dancing mice, mice ornaments, choral mice, family mice and mayor mouse. The mice were adult size, placed behind a glass screen and infrount of a theamed background. Press the button and the mice would move and/or sing.
- Dungeon - Underneath Cinderella's castle
- Doll room - A room filled with a collection of beautifully detailed dolls
- Musical Piano Wall- A wall with touchable piano keys
- The three bears cottage/Blinky bills house
- Various little mushrooms to sit under
- Crocodile bridge - a bridge with a giant sized crocodile under it
- Hand operated miniature monorails
- Pirates corner- a corner near the coin operated cars with various pirate games e.g. -lift the gold out of the well