GoGoBoy

They are starting construction pretty early then. Does this mean we could be looking at an April or June/July opening?

I just noticed the World Pass now costs $99. I am pretty sure it was previously $106. It makes more sense at this new price as you are actually getting a discount compared to buying Dreamworld and WhiteWater World entry separately. Definitely a good move along with the other modifications they have made to the ticketing but I really think it should have been like this from when the park opened. My guess is that the marketing department was being way too ambitious

This is where I disagree but I guess it's more of a personal thing. I think clever/effective signage and basic theming elements are a must at any facility that could be referred to as a theme park. I personally really appreciate these efforts when I visit a park. I understand that parks like Dreamworld are not going for the full immersive theming experience but I think they can still create an atmosphere with smaller theming elements. Examples are Gold Rush Country and Ocean Parade which I feel carry this off nicely. Without this stuff the place wouldn't look any different to a travelling carnival or a Luna Park (Sydney especially). I think the presentation at WWW even though it's not considered immersive theming, really helps create a good atmosphere at the park. There is evidence of this from all the users on the site who have visited the park and have commented on this particular aspect. As I said WnW went through a stage where their attractions had some nice theming and presentation elements to them such as White Water Mountain, Calypso Beach etc. However from what I saw in April last year their latest attempt, H20 Zone, falls short of the mark. It is obvious that it was a rushed addition with as little funds as possible injected into it. Just some slides shoved into the back corner of the park with nothing more than turf for landscaping and a few temporary shade tents. Even the signage is beyond basic

My understanding is that the ride is 2nd hand. This would explain why they have gone with a type of ride that is not entirely appropriate for WnW. I think it's more a case of they got a cheap deal on a ride so they just have to find somewhere to put it. If they were going to buy a new coaster for WnW then surely they'd go for something water based as has been discussed such as a roller soaker. By the way Gazza in regards to your Calypso Beach comment I agree entirely. I was so impressed when the park originally added this attraction with all that great theming and landscaping. At the same time they re-themed some other areas of the park to give it a more carribean/tropical feel. But in the last few years this level of presentation has been completely dropped and they are now simply plonking new slides down on patches of grass and asphalt. Unfortunately though it would appear the Australian public does not give a crap about presentation and as long as the place could be considered 'big' that's all that matters

Oh by the way I forgot to add my opinion on WnW's decision to add the Halfpipe - I think it's a shocker! It's so obvious Village have simply thought "hmm, where can we plonk another one of these second hand attractions we have lying around?". And as has been suggested, plonking it down is exactly what they'll do with it with little thought for presentation. It's just another random hand-me-down attraction really

Luckily this is only supposedly 'Phase 1' of WhiteWater World, with the second phase hopefully around the corner. I think they'd be wise to fast track this future expansion to avoid WWW getting stuck with the "small" tag which it will have trouble getting rid of if it's not careful

Richard - in response to your comments regarding Wet 'n' Wild receiving record attendance levels this season, I have to say I am quite surprised. I don't doubt what you are saying at all and in fact I have heard similar reports. However it would seem to me that if any year was going to see a drop in WnW's attendance levels it would be the year that a brand new competing waterpark opens down the road. It just doesn't make sense to me that WhiteWater World didn't hurt WnW's visitation at all. I wasn't expecting to see a massive drop but considering the high standard of WWW I certainly didn't think WnW would be recording such huge numbers. Does this mean that WWW didn't do as well in it's opening season as was hoped? Or is there just such a demand for waterparks that both facilities had great summer seasons? I'm hoping part of this question will be answered when Macquarie Lesiure comes out with their half yearly report or something similar

No that article was referring to December 2006 not 2007, in other words the 'Nightmares' attraction

Have they taken away the smoke effect when the train 'smashes' through the building? It didn't appear to have it in that video

Lisalila you'd make a great theme park character suit worker. There are quite a few costumes that require the performer to be of a similar height to you. And Tony - you are massive! I'm 6'3" and I thought that was tall enough. Hope everyone has a good time at WWW/Screamworld and don't forget those photos or at least trip reviews

I'm hoping this means they are going to improve the actual ride experience. I'm yet to hear one person say that the ride is anything particularly special. The overall ride reviews have been pretty average. And from the video footage I have seen I can sort of see why. With a tower of that height - the ride program and experience should be nothing short of thrilling

It's the way they keep repeating stuff that I find funny. It's done on purpose. I just think it's been edited well to fit with the music... unlike so many Youtube videos. I also like the tigers - so random

Not sure if you guys have seen this clip yet but I find it very entertaining. It gets funnier as it goes on. Perfect music for it too. Here's the link

If the coaster does actually end up going over the lake and across to the island as we have heard is a possibility, then that alone is a reason to be very excited. Just another small piece of news - as with most of DW's latest additions, the coaster is going to be themed by Atomiq. So you can expect the theming to be fairly decent

Brilliant pics and trip report! Thanks for sharing with us. Once again I have to say how impressed I am with WhiteWater World's presentation which is definitely at a level above and beyond Wet 'n' Wild's of recent times. I love the way they even focus on small details like colour coding the attendants shade umbrellas at each ride eg. green for Green Room and orange/red for Supertubes

Sounds like WhiteWater World is doing well. That's good to hear... I was a little worried for a while there based on a couple of members who said the park was quiet. From what I can gather the park has been pretty consistently busy since around the start of January (as it should be!)

How very untrusting of you rappa. I think you should take into consideration the reputation of the individual members before making assumptions that the info is false. My information (regarding the rides location) came from my source who was involved with WhiteWater World. He proved to be a very reliable source. Richard and Gazza can back me up on this one as I relayed plenty of accurate information to them in private messages well before any of WWW's rides were revealed. You can also count on the info from mattcrombie regarding the rides layout. It will certainly be info at least that matt has received from his own contacts who work at the park

I heard today from an inside source who actually managed to get a quick peek at the plans for the new rollercoaster. Gazza you're right, it is going to be built around the vintage cars area (an area I have also suggested previously would be perfect for a new coaster). My source reckoned it looked pretty wussy though, a relatively small layout with only 3 'circles'. That's all the info I could get. I am certainly pleased that Dreamworld is finally adding a new ride. However I don't think a small motorbike coaster is enough after a 3 year absence of any new ride. We should be seeing a hyper coaster being built in this area and going out over the lake. I don't know a lot about these motorbike coasters but I don't really understand why people get so excited about them. They just look so damn small and unimpressive. To me it is the sort of ride Dreamworld should be adding AFTER they have already added a significant number of other larger coasters and are running out of ideas

I agree with your post regarding Dreamworld. I've never understood how people can like it SO much more than Movie World. However I totally disagree with your comment about WWW. It is a top notch waterpark even in its current state plus it is only aiming to attract about half as many people as WnW at the moment. And yes they do have room for new rides they have already announced they will consider expanding into the current staff car park area

You are right that Dreamworld says it is trying to become an "experience park" in relation to new attractions. But I can tell you this is just a term they use to weasel out of spending the big bucks on a real ride. Both the FlowRider and Nightmares can be considered experience attractions and both of these would have been damn cheap. Let's hope DW steers away from their 'experience' buzz word this year and actually build a new ride or 2

I agree that bus loads of school kids can ruin a day at a park. The problem is that the teachers gernerally just let them run wild while they go off for a cup of coffee etc. I've always said that these 'excursions' to theme parks are just an excuse for the teachers to have a semi day off. Particularly considering the teachers essentially dump the kids on the ride operators as if they are running a child care centre. They should be at school not at fun parks or else the teachers should be closely supervising them! And linking this back to the topic - I wonder if WhiteWater World will attract many school groups mid week?

Ok I can see your point there. I will edit my other post and re-word it so it's not such a generalisation. Obviously there are both good and bad operators out there. I guess what I was getting at is that by bringing in temporary rides, Luna Park is leaving itself open to more potential issues. They (Luna Park) just don't have that same control over safety standards and staff training as they would if they only used their own rides. They are basically just relying on the ride's owner/operator to do the right thing

I would certainly agree that you may have more knowledge of the actual mechanical parts of the ride etc. The problem with portable rides coming into a permanent park is that there are too many variables. The park doesn't have the same control over the safety standards and training. It would all depend on each individual owner of the different rides. Whereas you would have some owners that are extremely strict on safety and train their staff appropriately, there are others that simply don't have these same standards. I have seen with my own eyes some of the temporary rides that come into Luna Park and the way the staff work on them. And I can tell you that a large number of them treat the rides very casually ie. hanging off moving parts, jumping onto platforms when they haven't finished moving, standing in dangerous areas etc. I'm not sure if it's just because they spend so much time with the ride that a certain aloofnes sets in. You do not find this same behaviour with permanent park staff and if you do it gets nipped in the bud very quickly. By the way ozshowkid feel free to argue your points I am very interested to hear. It would be better if you didn't call me an 'idiot' or 'stupid' though as you will find that's not the way we treat each other on these boards

They have added some more ride pics to the WhiteWater World website on each of the rides' individual pages. I think this is a good move as the pics are quite decent and show some wider shots of the actual attractions instead of just close ups of people in tubes. I think this is important as WWW should be showcasing their rides considering they are of such a high standard. They are also one of the few parks to display so many attraction photos on their website, I'd like to see more parks do the same. They still don't have any more pics of Supertubes on the site though which is a bit strange

Found out a little more about this. The incident occured on the Extreme Speed Machine. The ride attendant is in a very bad way, believed to be in a coma. For anyone that has seen the ride you would know that if it struck you, you wouldn't get out of it easily. This is one of the problems with Luna Park Sydney bringing in these temporary rides for the holidays. In some cases the staff that run them MAY not have the same level of training as Luna Park staff, particularly in terms of a strict emphasis on safety. This obviously all depends on the individual rides' owner/operator. We don't know the full details regarding this incident but either way I hope for the person involved and his family that he can somehow pull through this