Why has New Zealand’s best theme park been closed all summer?

PHOTO: Action Ninja World. SUPPLIED

Thousands of kids should have spent their summer holidays training to become trapeze-swinging action heroes. What happened?

It should have been a summer like no other. After spending its first year in action suffering Covid-enforced closures, a brand new theme park north of Auckland was ready to swing into 2022 in style. Trapeze swings were set up. A ninja warrior course was imported from China. Climbing walls, Zorb balls, inflatable trampolines and a huge water slide were ready for punters eager to get hot and sweaty.

Matakana Country Park’s excellent Action Ninja World was waiting to entertain Aucklanders emerging from a five-month lockdown. Plans were in place to limit numbers to stick to social distancing rules. But there was still room for plenty of kids — and many adults — to swing, jump, run, bounce, climb, fall and climb again until their limbs begged for forgiveness.

Instead, the gates are locked, the “closed” sign is up, every available blow-up obstacle is deflated, and Zorb balls sit still. From afar, all that can be seen are frames and scaffolding. Venture closer and you’ll find red flamingo statues keeping watch over an empty park. The screams of happy, tired punters paying $25 to $35 a pop to become real life action heroes haven’t been heard here in months. No end to the park’s closure is in sight.

On December 1, I published 1000 words raving about Action Ninja World, Auckland’s newest and most exciting theme park. I praised its variety, its versatility, and the hold it had on my children after a brief visit turned into a five-hour exercise marathon. Those same kids have talked about it ever since, demanding to return. That’s normal, say organisers. Some kids return so often they’ve been asking for season passes.

In the rave review, I called it a “brilliant, addictive and occasionally scary experience” and concluded: “In a world awash with copycat playgrounds pared back to be as safe as possible, maybe that sense of danger is what makes Action Ninja World so good.”

The following day, less than 24 hours after that story was published, Action Ninja World was shuttered. In a message still visible on its website, “unforeseen circumstances” were blamed. It reads: “We are working hard behind the scenes with the Auckland Council to make this experience available as soon as we can.” Requests at the time for more information went unanswered.

It’s nearly April. Autumn leaves are falling. The temperature’s dropping. Action Ninja World hasn’t been open for four months. My kids still complain about it.