Remember This? Luna Park Unlimited Rides Ad (1987)

Back in 2019, I posted a 1986 newspaper advertisement for Luna Park offering $6.50 Unlimited Rides Passes for the May School Holiday Period (at the time, NSW had three terms in a school year instead of four). The following year, the same passes were on offer for $5 during the July School Holiday break. 

1987 was the first year that NSW Schools adopted a four-term year, with School Holidays of two weeks in Autumn, Winter and Spring, alongside the six-week summer break. Prior to that, there was no winter holiday period; school holidays fell in May and August.

According to the RBA Inflation Calculator, the unlimited rides pass would cost the equivalent of $15 today.

As of January 2026, Unlimited Rides passes cost $55 and can be purchased online. Like visiting more than three times a year, an annual pass will set one back $149.

  

Source: Luna Park. 1987. "Luna Park. Just For Fun, Just for $5!" (Advertisement). The Sun, July 2: 15.

Remember This? Australia's Wonderland Daypass Special (1986)

Last year, I shared a preview feature from 1985 of Australia's Wonderland at Eastern Creek as published in The Daily Telegraph.

This week, I share an advertisement from its first season of operation where a day pass was available for just $10.95.  It is equivalent to $27.95 in today's money according to the RBA Inflation Calculator. Good value even though you could only visit on a Saturday or Sunday.

Source: Australia's Wonderland. 1986. "Hurry! Only 2 Weekends To Go." (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, May 29: 12. 

1985: Rare Preview Feature on Australia's Wonderland

Just three months before Australia's Wonderland opened in 1985, The Daily Telegraph went inside "the Down Under version of Disneyland".

Source: Coombs, R. 1985. "A Down Under land of wonder". The Daily Telegraph, August 24: 23 & 23. 

Australia's Wonderland traded until April 24, when the site was redeveloped into a business park. There are plans for the theme park to be resurrected at a site in Western Sydney. 

It never evolved into the Aussie Disneyland that was envisioned. 

As a bonus, below is a video containing rare footage from opening day in December 1985, plus a short history of the theme park. It was presented as Seven News Flashback Report by Mark Ferguson in 2013 on Seven News.