Dazzeland was a two-storey

family entertainment centre A family entertainment center (FEC) in the entertainment industry, also known as an indoor amusement park, family amusement center, family fun center, soft play, or simply fun center, is a small amusement park marketed towards families with small ...

occupying the top levels of the REMM Myer Centre in

Rundle Mall Rundle Mall is a pedestrian street mall located in Adelaide, South Australia. It was opened as a pedestrian mall in September 1976 after the closing of the western section of Rundle Street between King William Street and Pulteney Street, to ...

, a major shopping mall in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The centre was built between 1988 and 1991, at a cost of $1 billion. Some years later, the centre was sold for $140 million, contributing to the collapse of the

State Bank of South Australia The State Bank of South Australia was a bank created in 1896 and owned by the Government of South Australia. The bank became the subject of a two-year South Australian Royal Commission upon its collapse in 1991. The surviving part of the bank ...

. The park's signature attraction was a figure 8

roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

named "Jazz Junction", its track running overhead along the fifth level. Other attractions included

dodgem cars Bumper cars or dodgems are the generic names for a type of flat amusement ride consisting of multiple small electrically powered cars which draw power from the floor or ceiling, and which are turned on and off remotely by an operator. They are ...

, a

carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

, a

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

Expo, giant playground, musical fountain, and train. With the park's closure on 31 January 1998, an attempt was made to fill the upper levels with smaller, higher paying retail tenants. This soon proved unsuccessful in luring the necessary foot traffic, whereby the upper level remained vacant for many years. The remains of Jazz Junction were removed during 2003 as part of the renovation of the Myer Centre. A Fernwood Fitness Centre gym was located in part of the space during the early 2000s; as of December 2009, Fernwood had relocated to the Renaissance Centre (primarily occupied by

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1948 in Washington, D.C.; its first store was built in April 1948, with i ...

until its closure in early 2012, being renovated to what is now

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

, which had opened late November of that year), leaving level 4 entirely empty and closed-off to the public. In March 2013, the centre had commenced an upgrade. In August of that year, the escalators (sealed off from levels 4 and 5 since the park's closure) were removed completely, as part of the upgrade. In late 2015, it was announced that Dazzeland will return in 2016 as a venue for the Adelaide Festival of Arts. In early 2019, part of level 4 became the new location of CDW Studios, which had previously been on level 3 alongside

Lincraft Lincraft is a retail chain in Australia that specialises in the sale of homewares, including crafts, material, and patterns. As of October 2022, it has 48 locations around Australia and New Zealand. Lincraft (formerly Suzanne Silks) was nurtured ...

. In mid-2021, Adelaide experimental artist Kintsugist released Dazzeland, a

Vaporwave Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...

Concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

that takes the listener on a journey through the amusement park on its opening day as experienced by through the distractible ears of a child. In 2024, Adelaide filmmaker Alex Duerr began work on a full digital recreation of the Myer Centre and Dazzeland for an upcoming

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

series.

References

External links

* - Features news reports, past commercials and footage of Dazzeland. * {{Australian Theme Parks Defunct amusement parks in Australia Amusement parks in South Australia Indoor amusement parks 1988 establishments in Australia 1998 disestablishments in Australia Buildings and structures in Adelaide Amusement parks closed in 1998