Laser Shows

Over the years, Australia’s Wonderland presented a number of spectacular laser shows as part of its evening entertainment and special events. These productions combined laser lighting, music and, in some cases, fireworks and pyrotechnics to create displays across different areas of the park.

At least three different laser shows are remembered, including an early production that used mirrors mounted around Bounty’s Revenge, a Halloween presentation involving a pirate ship, and the large-scale laser and fireworks spectacular introduced with the opening of Space Probe 7 in November 1995.

The Early Laser Shows

One of Wonderland’s earlier laser productions used a series of mirrors mounted on the support structure of Bounty’s Revenge. The mirrors allowed laser beams to be redirected around the area as part of the presentation.

The show is remembered by former staff as possibly being called Ogarthrum, although the exact spelling has not been established. It may have featured a storyline connected to the construction of the Demon roller coaster.

The date of the production and the details of its storyline have yet to be confirmed.

A separate laser show was also staged for a Halloween event around a pirate ship. This presentation similarly made use of multiple mirrors to redirect the laser beams around the performance area. The year of the event and further details of the production remain unknown.

Space Probe 7 Laser and Fireworks Show, 1995

When Space Probe 7 opened on 4 November 1995, Wonderland introduced an ambitious new laser and fireworks spectacular centred around the tower.

The show was designed around a War of the Worlds style alien invasion, with the distinctive top of Space Probe representing an alien spacecraft attacking the park.

Laser beams were projected from the top of the tower towards different locations around Wonderland, with synchronised pyrotechnic explosions simulating the destruction caused by the alien weapons. The presentation was accompanied by an audio soundtrack broadcast throughout the park’s public address system.

The storyline culminated in a final confrontation in which ground forces fought back against the alien invaders, apparently destroying the Space Probe tower in a spectacular fireworks finale.

The laser installation and production were undertaken by Oracle Laser, with the fireworks supplied by Howard & Sons.

The Laser Installation

The Space Probe installation presented several technical challenges, particularly because there was insufficient room at the top of the tower to accommodate the large laser equipment.

Oracle Laser designed a system that allowed the laser itself to remain at ground level while its light was transmitted to the top of the tower using fibre-optic cables.

A 20-watt argon laser was installed inside a dustproof enclosure at the base of Space Probe. Two custom-built, remotely controlled fibre-optic scanning heads were installed at the top of the tower, connected to the laser by two 100-metre-long, 50-micron optical fibres.

Installing the system was a difficult undertaking. Technicians had to carry the scanning heads up the 100-metre ladder inside the tower. As the ride was being commissioned, grease from the newly lubricated counterweight system made the ladder increasingly difficult to climb.

The scanning heads were eventually installed and aligned while technicians worked in safety harnesses, suspended high above the ground.

A Last-Minute Disaster

Although the system had been installed, tested and was ready for operation, disaster struck shortly before the opening show.

A workman accidentally cut through the optical fibres at the base of the Space Probe tower. The specialised laser power transmission fibres could not simply be spliced back together, leaving the system without a means of delivering the laser beams to the top of the tower.

With no time to install replacement cables, Oracle Laser came up with a temporary solution. The laser was moved into the ride’s boarding area, where guests were walking around the equipment as they entered and exited Space Probe.

Although far from ideal, the temporary arrangement allowed the opening show to proceed.

The following week, two new 100-metre fibre-optic cables were installed, restoring the original system.

Big Night Out

The Space Probe laser show became a major part of Wonderland’s Big Night Out summer entertainment programme.

During the summer of 1995-96, Wonderland opened on Saturday evenings from 5 pm until 10 pm, featuring live performances by contemporary dance acts together with the laser and light spectacular from Space Probe 7.

An advertisement published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 14 December 1995 promoted Big Night Out and the laser show as one of Wonderland’s major summer attractions.

According to Oracle Laser, the production operated for 15 weeks on Saturday nights and attracted audiences of more than 5,000 people.

How the Show Was Controlled

The entire production was synchronised using a four-track Tascam tape deck.

Two tracks carried the show’s audio, while another carried SMPTE timecode. This timecode was fed into both the laser and pyrotechnic control systems, allowing the laser movements and fireworks to be precisely synchronised with the soundtrack.

By combining lasers, audio and pyrotechnics, Wonderland was able to create a coordinated night-time spectacular across the park, using Space Probe 7 as the centrepiece of an alien invasion.

The production remains one of the more technically ambitious special entertainment installations presented at Australia’s Wonderland.