Yeah that's the conundrum. It begs the question though- they are usually marketed as one ride but when it comes time to count slides in the park, they suddenly count as 4 or 6?? I am of the opinion that it should count as one attraction and one slide.
True, waterslide installations are more prolific, but one or two slides at your local pool does not make a water park. The installations that are being invested into Funfields, Gumbaya World and Adventure Park go a little beyond these sort of one off slides, both in scope and cost. Also, they are mostly being added to existing slide structures to enhance their offering and to expand their footprint, to build a "true" water/theme park, far greater in scale to your local council pool offering.
Yeah you are 100% right about how Gumbuya World is growing and needing to grow more. However, I was referring more to the Victorian parks as a collective being a more attractive proposition than one single entity. Gumbaya World in its present form is a little attraction lite and the new additions will certainly bring it closer to parity with the other 2 parks. This is the reason i never included Gumbuya World on my itinerary on our recent Victorian trip. However, once these additions are built ,( plus the newly added Rebel Yell) it certainly looks a much more attractive proposition and I will certainly be putting it on the to visit list once these are constructed.
Both Funfields and Adventure Park are a little more mature in this aspect and have far more adult offerings to attract teens and above. You are absolutely right that none of these parks by themselves are anywhere a match for MovieWorld and its offerings, however, together they offer a far better proposition. Whilst even together, none can match the coaster offerings of Movieworld, the Victorian Parks offer enough thrills for the locals to enjoy at home and perhaps divert them from the GC to an overseas destination instead? Just a thought.
Absolutely- great point.
For mine its a great representation of where competition breeds activity and investment. We saw this in recent years when Dreamworld was on the ascent and added Whitewater World and other attractions and the various responses for the Village parks
There are other examples- Wet N Wild Sydney opened and Jamberoo responded with installing The Funnel Web and the Perfect Storm.
We already know that both Adventure Park and FunFields have plans for new slide installations and you can bet your bottom dollar that they will already be planning new attractions for after this. The Victorian parks have stepped up their investment because firstly of this competition and secondly, because of strong attendance. Gumbuya World had a huge summer attendance-wise and is the impetus for this new investment announcement. Both Funfields and Adventure Park have also seen very impressive attendance figures for this summer. This indicates strong, local support , which means that more and more Victorian's may not have visited the GC theme parks. The newfound strength of these parks as legitimate options must have some sort of effect on local numbers from Victoria ( not international tourists) heading north.