AusLeisure

Victorian theme park Gumbuya World has announced a significant expansion with the impending opening of two new rollercoasters and its acquisition of adjacent land for future development.

After spending $2.6 million in September on a 44.5 hectare parcel of land next door to the attraction south east of Melbourne, Gumbuya World Chief Executive, Ron Weinzierl told Melbourne’s Herald Sun that two new rollercoasters, worth a combined $40 million, are just weeks away from opening.

The new rides are the 46 metre-high Project Zero, which will have riders pulling up to 5Gs, and the more family-friendly TNT rollercoaster that will hit speeds up to 67km/ph along its 453 metre length.

Weinzierl told the Herald Sun “these coasters makes us the leader in the theme park industry here in Victoria.

“And on land size we are the biggest theme park in Victoria, if not Australia.

“We are now competing up against those leading theme parks on the Gold Coast.”

LJ Hooker Pakenham’s Sam Paynter brokered the latest acquisition and said Gumbuya was also now competing with the biggest dairy farms in the region, and that any expansion to the theme park was a “massive boost for the area”.

Weinzierl said the eco-friendly theme park, which is involved in a number of conservation projects including efforts to re-establish the critically endangered mountain pygmy possum, was considering renewing some of the latest acquisition to suit native wildlife once the rose farm currently operating at it reaches the end of its lease in seven years.

He added “it’s an opportunity to make sure that nature and the fauna on the site stays the way it should.

“We now have 660 acres (287 hectares) to be developed alongside the community in as far as what we do and what we put here.”

Gumbuya World’s wildlife attractions are expected to get a lift in the near future, having recently added a tree kangaroo from Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, they’re now investigating bringing in meerkats and monkeys.

With the attraction having experienced its busiest ever February earlier this year the new rides are expected to bring in the biggest crowds yet with up to 5000 people on peak days over summer and total visitors as high as 500,000 a year.

Gumbuya World replaced Gumbuya Park in 2018, with the completion of its new rides concluding the third stage of a five-phase masterplan to overhaul it.

Phase four is expected to deliver accommodation, most likely eco-friendly spaces.

Weinzierl added “the goal is that people will come down, spend a day at Gumbuya and then the next day go to a winery or Phillip Island.”

Gumbuya World’s total landholdings now stand at 287 hectares - believed to be the biggest landmass owned by a theme park in Australia.

Images: Artist’s concept showing plans for Gumbuya World's new TNT (top) and Project Zero (below) rides.

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