The magical shopping centre every older millennial growing up in Adelaide has fond memories of, and anyone young at heart in the 90’s in South Australia. Maybe you’re from interstate and visited the complex on holiday. When you visit the heart of the city of Adelaide, you will remember the rooftop roller coaster if you grew up in the 90s in Adelaide. The screams filtered down below as you shopped the various retail oulets.
My grandparents would often take us to Dazzeland, put me on a couple of rides, and check out the Lego Expo, always buying a few lego sets while there.

Dazzleland was in The Myer Centre. This complex still sits in the middle of Rundle Mall, in the heart of Adelaide. It was built between 1988 and 1991 at a whopping cost of $1 billion dollars (over $2 billion today). Funding the Theme Park shopping centre was one of the reasons the then SA government-run “State Bank” collapsed.

It was meant to be the “shopping complex of the future” Boy, did that statement age poorly.

It officially opened in 1991, with the slogan “Australia’s Premier Indoor Theme Park”.

The major attraction of the indoor theme park was a rollercoaster named “Jazz Junction.” It was mounted metres from the roof of the five-level complex.

Initially, Dazzland occupied two floors of The Myer Centre. However, in its final years, it was reduced to only one floor at the top.

First to get to Dazzeland, you enter at the bottom level of the Myer Centre. Then, you need to ride these futuristic glass lifts to the top levels.

The whole complex had a musical theme and even had its own set of characters. There was a “magic kingdom” for children to visit, called Bedazzelus, which included the characters King Kang and Kate Koala.

Apart from the iconic roof rollercoaster, another fond memory of Dazzeland you may share is the the music fountain, it was a water fountain with musical instruments with black and white tiles.

The first level of Dazzland (Level 4) was targeted at younger audiences and included a Carousel, “Giddy Kiddy Carousel,” a Shooting Gallery, a Video Game Arcade, “Abracrada Arcade,” Remote-Controlled Cars, and a huge permanent Lego Expo that took up nearly half the level.

This level also had numerous shops in it including the Sweethouse, Exotica, Glass Craft, Plaza Put Centre, Famous Friends, Frog Prince, Burger Court, Pets Paradise Animal Farm, Dazzel Dogs, The Toy Factory, Balloons Gallore, The Baby Shop, T-Shirt World, Plaze Icecream, Dazzeland Coffee Shop.

The second level of Dazzeland (Level 5), targeting older children, consisted of the major attraction, the “Jazz Junction” roof rollercoaster, a second smaller rollercoaster “Blues Bullet”, Dodgem Cars “Fourth Dimension, a train “Midnight Express”, with a spooky tunnel “Spooky Hollow”, Red Barron Bi-planes “Imagine Airlines”, Samba Helicopters “Imagine Airlines”, Kiddies Playground “Mount Olympus Playground”, and sideshows including Beat The Clock, Smart Ball, Good Luck Crane, Shoot Out The Stars, Aqua Soccer, Knockdown Boomball, Redemption Score, Birthday Party Room, Kentucky Derby, Basketball.The top level only had a couple of shops including the Alcazzam Soda Shoppe, and The Fun Factory, and a Souvenir Shop.

Dazzle Land ran on a token system initially, and many Adelaide millennials still store unused tokens today. Two tokens cost $1.50 ($3.10 today), five tokens $5.00 ($11.50 today), and twelve tokens $8.20 ($17 today). You could also earn tickets for prices.

Tokens varied depending on the amusement, with the Biplanes and Helicopters costing 2 tokens and the Kiddy Playground taking 4 tokens.

Day Passes were also available for $12.50 ($26 today), and became cheaper the more you purchased. They were specials often run for access to all rides and food for $5 per person, and later $8.

There are many rumours and theories about its closure in 1998, ranging from money being stolen by the manager who was having an affair, to the complex being built on an underground river and the rollercoaster damaging the foundations of the complex each time it ran. It was probably the simple fact it just didn’t generate enough income, and as a whole the entire complex was a failure that still struggles to attract retailers to this day due to its odd design.
Another major issue of Dazzleland was that it targeted children exclusively, so if you were older than 13, there was not much to do there except the major rollercoaster.
The other reason it was most likely removed, is that having a Theme Park inside a shopping centre, simply just made an unpleasant shopping experience. No one wanted to hear the screams of kids on a rollercoaster while shopping.