Wobbies World
Encyclopedia
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
which operated from about 1970 to the late 1990s in the Melbourne suburb of Forest Hill
Forest Hill, Victoria
Forest Hill is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 18 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Whitehorse. At the 2006 Census, Forest Hill had a population of 9315.-History:...
, Australia.
The park was quite small in area and targeted mainly to the simple expectations of young children. The park consisted of many custom-built attractions, most very slow moving.
The park had some characteristic modes of transport including a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
"Whirliebird" monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
circuit, mower motor driven 6 wheeler ATVs, a real Bell helicopter refurbished as a ground-mounted simulator, a "Splashdown" mini log ride, a mini-golf course, trampoline
Trampoline
A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched over a steel frame using many coiled springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes....
s, a ball pit
Ball pit
A ball pit is a pit, usually rectangular and padded, filled with small colorful hollow plastic balls...
, several food and drink kiosks, a miniature train circuit, a miniature car circuit, 4 Melbourne W2 class trams and a large Vickers Viscount
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...
propeller plane fitted out as a movie-projector simulator. The plane now resides at the Australian National Aviation Museum
Australian National Aviation Museum
The Australian National Aviation Museum is an aviation museum at the Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1962 as the Australian Aircraft Restoration Group, an attempt to maintain a World War II-era aircraft. It later formed into a museum, and was originally named...
, in Moorabbin, while the Bell Helicopter is dismantled and currently sitting in a paddock on Dandenong - Frankston Road 38.06576°N 145.200458°W. One of the Whirliebird helicopter vehicles now resides in the front yard of a private residence near Healesville (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Fire+Department&sll=-37.680203,145.534451&sspn=0.003125,0.008234&ie=UTF8&t=h&rq=1&ev=p&radius=0.27&split=1&hq=Fire+Department&hnear=&layer=c&cbll=-37.674027,145.531929&panoid=Cg6yGCL_AXbBj5hOfagJJA&cbp=12,32.09,,0,5.31&ll=-37.676824,145.535502&spn=0,0.065875&z=15)
Despite memorable television advertisements over the decades, the park slowly deteriorated in the mid to late 1990s and later closed down by the end of the decade. Its demise has been linked to the high entrance fee for the time ($36 for a family of four as of 1994) and separate fees to use some of the attractions.
A plant nursery now resides on the Springvale Road site as well as the Saxon Wood town house estate, with the entrance gate (without road), concrete castle, bridges, a train station, the Birthday Room and the miniature golf course still remaining (within the nursery) from the former amusement park.