GoGoBoy

I'm surprised to hear this feedback. Most of the people that have ridden it so far have said there are plenty of effects, even without the fire.

I also went to the 9am-2pm preview session today. We caught the train to Blacktown and then the 812 bus from stand 5. The closest stop to the park is still a 20-25 min walk, and for part of the walk there is no foot path so you are walking on grass median strips n stuff, but it's do-able. Though we were the only ones doing it. The park is great overall. Definitely nicely presented, although there is no theming, so the fact that they refer to themselves as a water THEME park is a bit wrong. It's a water park. Kinda like the Dreamworld or Six Flags of waterparks. But as I said, it all looks nice. Surprisingly for me, it was the WhiteWater (as in the manufacturer) slides that were my favourite. The WhiteWater multi-slide complex was brilliant - you just keep going back for more with so many different slides to choose from. The Breakers were fun, neat launch conveyor, but would be great if they were full-sized with multiple uphill sections. The Typhoon was interesting; after the first chamber your raft turns backwards (pretty much everyone's does) and you do the rest of the slide, and the last chamber, backwards. Very interesting! The Aqua Tube was the least popular - hardly anyone was going on it. BUT that's a mistake because it was wicked! PITCH black. Not even a slither of light, and very fast. The highlight was probably the Half Pipe though. You absolutely FLY down the drop and pick up incredible speed into the bottom of the drop. SO fast. You then make it most of the way up the half pipe - we made it to the top. Total weightlessness. Then you zoom back and hit the camel hump. It's really intense! I was also a big fan of WhiteWater's H2Go Racers. Definitely the best racing slide I've been on. The tunnels are so fast and the rainbow lighting effect is neat! I came screaming out of the tunnel and smashed the other riders. I think it's thanks to the technique that I learned exclusively on Parkz - lift the front of your mat up a bit the whole time. It works for me! We didn't have time to do all the slides as it was a shortened day but got a ride on the T5 and the Tantrum. They were okay, pretty good - but I still preferred the WhiteWater offerings. Also jumped on the Riptide (green family raft ride) which requires a minimum of 4 people, so you have to team up with strangers if you have less than this. I was surprised at the intensity of this slide. I was thinking 'family raft ride', but no, it's got G forces and the final drop is super fast. Not sure what was going on with Boomerang Bay, we didn't get time to go on it. But it definitely looked LAZY. I couldn't see any 'action' section and even the normal flow looked way slower than normal lazy rivers. Maybe it's not fully up and running yet. The ride signage was ok-ish, done quite cutely, the structures are all designed to look like mini waterslides. But there is NO individual theming or branding for the individual slides. And they need signage on the stairs to tell people what they are lining up for because it was a s*** show. You had no idea which stairs led to what. Everyone was confused. Maybe that's still to come. Looking forward to going back again. And a hot night session would be very fun I'd imagine. Overall I'd like to see more ride signage, way more plantings and taller trees and palms (there is mulch as far as the eye can see, but not too many plantings). And in the future I'd love to see more longer-cycle rides like maybe a full length master blaster stretching along behind the lazy river and Sky Coaster. That'll do for now - feel free to ask questions, and I'm sure I'll think of even more later.

Interesting that you picked out Riptide as one of the best. Is that the blue one or the green one? Did you go on the other family raft rides too?

Their website is HOPELESS - it doesn't have any info on it and it is so hard to navigate. Annoyed that the shuttle bus is not starting till the 12th as me and my flatmate wanted to go to a preview day. But we don't drive so can't get there!

The extra building on the side of Bermuda was, as Gazza said, essentially an extension that housed the full splashdown. Once you made that first turn, you were then inside the main building. For Storm, most of the splashdown occurs within the main building (another reason why there is not as much room now). They did build a smaller angled building extension for part of the Storm's splashdown, made from steel and concrete and using more shipping containers as a facade. The queue entry and initial flume section before the drop are just containers I believe, rather than actual building extensions.

Also don't forget the show building is now being used as a guest-accessible area for the first time, with the ride entry, exit and queuing/loading. Gazza that layout I believe was a guesstimation put together by a forum member. May not be entirely accurate

I am all for ride stories but I don't think that would be necessary in this case. It's pretty clear from just looking around the ride area (and even the name of the ride) that there has been (or is) a big storm, and it has affected a shipping yard/container port. What more do you need to know?

Wow, that's great to hear. And that's even before the fire effects!

I'm in the same boat.

I'm also really glad to see they added a whole bunch of detail to the outside area, and particularly to the building facade, over the last few days. The row of shipping containers was looking a bit too neat, but now with all the random junk sticking out at various angles, it looks way better.

Being a sucker for theming and detail, GoGoBoy is most happy about:

The fire might be yet to come.... ie. still working on it

More details please, if you don't mind! How was the indoor part? As well themed as in the video? Any other scenes besides the one we see in the clip above?

BRILLIANT. Bring on all the steam, fire and explosions! A very neat simulation.

Your turbine comment gave me a good laugh Alex! I was actually wondering about the porthole; it looks good but I'm not sure how it's going to be used. From the positioning, I was wondering if the portholes are part of the adjacent queue/station, allowing guests to see into the dark ride section? That'd be a bit strange as it would give the surprise away. Anyway, I guess we'll find out soon!

Sounds great. Glad to hear the turbine is spinning, and with water coming off it. Let's hope it keeps spinning

That's so awful for tall people. How limiting!

According to SW's facebook page it has a MAX height of 196cm. If I were 6cms taller I'd miss out! I wonder why there is a max limit?

I like the version of the lazy river shown in that animation (obviously an earlier plan that was changed). It looks like it takes a much more interesting and meandering course, and actually has theming in the form of a cave that you pass through.

The logo and colour scheme are almost identical too.

A warm summer expected for Sydney. Great news for Wet 'n' Wild: http://m.smh.com.au/environment/weather/summer-warmth-ahead-to-cap-sydneys-hottest-year-20131127-2y9kh.html

The Theme Park Capital ads are POOR. No thought put into them whatsoever. All they do is rattle of a list of OLD attractions like Tiger Island, Superman Escape and the Tower of Terror (yes, the voiceover just refers to TOT & doesn't even mention the fact it is now TOT2 with a whole new experience, although there is a quick shot of the new logo). Considering these ads are targeting interstate visitors who may not have been to the parks for a while, why wouldn't you mention all of the new rides? Green Lantern, Arkham, Justice League, Buzzsaw etc....

I have heard that the ride is definitely permanent (nice work Luna Park Sydney!) and it is a Larson tower. So good news for those who had their fingers crossed hoping it'd be a Larson.

It makes no sense to be open till 11pm in the weeks leading up to Xmas and then reducing the hours in the weeks immediately following. In my theme park experience it is the weeks leading up to Xmas that are really quiet followed by a huge leap in visitation levels in the weeks following

I agree MickeyD. I really think VRTP's marketing department needs a good clean out. They should be pushing the fact that this ride is a WATERCOASTER. That alone makes it something special and unique in Australia. Based on the marketing so far, people will think this is just another coaster, not a hybrid coaster AND boat ride