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Village doesn't own the Wet'n'Wild name in the US so that's a different set of circumstances. The Sydney local market directly impacts the Gold Coast tourism market unlike regional US water parks that have no bearing whatsoever on each other. Maintaining complete ownership of the Wet'n'Wild name in Australia would have been very important to Village in this deal. Not sure why anyone would feel disappointed about losing the WNW name in Sydney. VRTP did their very best to destroy the brand and associated goodwill with that park. It's just a name, logically it was always going to happen and it's in everyone's best interests. Village can restore faith in the WNW brand by investing at the Gold Coast (we're waiting...), Parques Reunidos can draw a line in the sand and operate Raging Waters without the baggage of six failed seasons (they get to disappoint people on their own terms).

What if I told you that the reason the mazes are less surprising/fun isn't because the mazes are worse, it's because you're getting older and you've seen it all before?

Stationery Train Stationary Train Stationary Tractor

It would be too problematic having different companies using the same name in a market as small as Australia. Also, whoever the social media manager is at both parks will have to be constantly reminding guests "No sorry, we have the same name but are different ownership, please direct your comment elsewhere, no your pass isn't valid here either" It would be like the SeaWorld / Sea World "no we don't have orcas" thing.

I'm hoping that this year's event feels less 'cheap'. Last year the mazes felt pretty bland, predictable, and at worst not even scary. 'Precincts' lacked atmosphere and felt like a copy-paste of previous years. I love getting scared, and I especially love having an event like Fright Nights that's nearby, but you lose me as a patron when you become stagnant and every scare is obvious. A joke loses most impact when the punchline is obvious, it just so happens that scares are the same.

This. With every other property on the coast getting some love in one form or another (including Paradise Country), Wet N Wild Gold Coast is the elephant in the room that everyone at VRTP is hoping so desperately that we'll just ignore. The park is literally littered with failed previous attempts at investment - Mach 5 tower still stands rusting. WnW Buggy is abandoned (at least the beach volleyball court looked like it was available to use if you came prepared) The Flying Fox sticks out like a sore thumb Whirlpool Springs is a shadow of what it once was - no reason was ever given by the park for keeping it in Winter mode year-round. Black Hole - assuming a similar age to Mach 5 and Sidewinders continues without a shade sail, indicative that it's been abandoned, and will likely succumb as soon as it is deemed too expensive to continue running. Even Dive In Movies - the screen still sits atop the wave pool, gently rusting away. This would be something that could be reinstated very quickly with the acquisition of a new projector... or better yet with the modern technology for daylight LED screens, perhaps they could install a big screen they could use during the day as well - and show an afternoon \ early evening dive in movie before the usual sunset timeslot, meaning the park could open longer in summer, but not as long as they used to? Start the screening at 4:30pm, so the film is done by 6:30 for those with little kids, with the park closed by 7? WhiteWater Mountain and Constrictor sit atop an old tower (that reeks of piss) at the top of a hill whose path is too steep to walk, and divided between the two attractions, which should have been overhauled when constrictor was built. There is so much land in the Extreme H2O zone that it's such a missed opportunity to build an entirely new 'precinct' out there with the latest and greatest technology. its a blank canvas, and yet, we continue to pretend Wet N Wild doesn't exist. Everyone laughed at Dreamworld announcing a new 'shaded seating area' - but wet n wild has so much shaded seating - some with a cost (cabanas everywhere) and others not (marquees with picnic tables and BBQ facilities). There are so many of them the park has actually removed some marquees that simply don't get used, leaving a concrete slab filled with picnic tables out in the sun. Whoops. this didn't start out as a rant, but god dammit I wish they'd do something with this park, and after this many years of neglect - a single slide isn't going to cut it - they need a whole new area with several slides, and they need it now.

I saw the evening parade tonight. First (and best) part was the Batman 80th anniversary celebration. As each successive Batmobile made its way up Main Street, a bit of movie footage appeared on the screen showing that Batmobile. A very nice touch, and a good example of how Movie World should be!

The train is stationery at the front station, with the audio from the robbery playing (and the train full of passengers). I don't know if staff have the ability to stop this, but there's two of them here. Show spoilt for numerous families on school holidays. I did record this but can't upload due to file size. The audio was played from the full show.

The good old autocorrect excuse! I sent my missus a msg yesterday that said “I love and appreciate you” and somehow my iPhone autocorrected it to “make me a sandwich” before I realised and hit send... f**king weird...

Now THAT is scary!!!!! And very true.........

I think you've seen it all before because every year even the 'new mazes' are just the same scares, tech, concept with a new overlay. The Overseas parks are really pushing the envelope now and evolving the product where as Movie Worlds product has kind of stagnated.

I think where @Zanstabar is coming from is having been spoiled by Orlando based scares, the gold coast seems tame. But the argument is double edged - because if Orlando, and hollywood, and so on keep churning out such a popular product, its a bit of a cop-out to say the gold coast mazes aren't getting worse, and its just down to age and experience.

I'll gloss over the Aqua Racer replacement, as it really was like for like. The last slide installation was Constrictor, in 2012. It replaced Terror Canyon I & II WNW JR opened in 2014, it replaced the previous kids slides that (despite a 2005 refurbishment) had been around for decades Aqualoop arrived in 2010, replacing both speed coaster and twister. Prior to these, Kamikaze was the last slide installation that didn't replace something else, which opened in October 2008. For those who can't math, that was almost 11 years ago. Prior to that, we got river rapids - a revamped white water mountain - but effectively another like-for-like, in 2007. 2006 gave us the extreme H2O zone - opening Mach 5, BlackHole and Tornado. 2 second hand slides - already very old tech, and one new one. Only one of these is likely to survive for much longer. 2005 saw the closure of the double screamer to make more room for buccaneer bay (now also replaced), the change to Mammoth from "plunge" to "river" (with Plunge moving to Sea World, now removed) which served to duplicate the existing 'river' on the other side of the tower, increasing capacity rather than introducing something new, and also in 2005 was the reopening of the refurbished buccaneer bay. Whirlpool arrived in 2002. In the 17 years since Whirlpool, we have seen 2 new slides that aren't either refurbishments, substitutes or replacements for old or aging infrastructure - Kamikaze and Tornado (and 2 "not new" slide sets - Mach 5 and Blackhole. Excluding the kids slide area, we've had 7 slide sets in total added, and 7 slide sets closed or removed. The park has trod water. From 2005 to 2012, something new arrived every year, with the exception of 2009. Since 2012, we've had a new kids area. Don't tell me the place isn't stagnating, and isn't screaming for investment. One thing I do agree with you on though - is the standard of the changing rooms and showers. It really shouldn't be that hard for them to bring in some demountable shower blocks and toilets, and to shut down the old block changerooms for a complete overhaul. This is the problem. it's the same - nothing significant since 2012. Been there, done that. what's new to bring people back, or to offer something different? It is abundantly clear that you are not thick skinned.

I said it 2 days ago and I'm willing to say it again.

You would need to see the movie yourself to know that there is far more to it than a Posessed doll.

As the only major water park in the sydney metro area, i don't think they'll need to market it too heavily. As for the name - I would suggest VRTP owns the rights to WnW in Aus, and probably wouldn't want them leveraging the name - it also prevents confusion for people who hold passes to "wet n wild". WNWS has had its share of bad media - from the New Years Party disaster just after opening, to paid parking, outside food issues, and poor queue management, among others - a new name indicates a change, and may encourage locals to give it another go. The challenge for them is to make significant changes to their operations fast so that those giving them another chance can see that 'under new management' actually means something positive.