TR - Wet n' Wild

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Ok so we were a bit stuffed after two days straight at parks, we took thursday off and decided after consulting the weather report to do Wet n Wild on friday. We packed off again at 9.20 to arrive at about 9.45. WnW's gate system is a little inadequate for the amount of guests they had on friday, and one can imagine during summer how much busier it would get. something could be done to improve this... So we headed off for the wave pool to grab some deckchairs and pick up our free tubes, courtesy of the 3 Park Superpass. then we realised that $6000 worth of camera equipment wasn't suited for the astroturf poolside, so we grabbed a locker. THIS is probably the best idea i've seen in a while.... $7 for a waterproof wristband that opens your locker.... no more lost keys! woo hoo! Ok so WNW is a waterpark... and its a hot day, so no-one's going to complain about a few queues right? yeah well i still would have liked to... Queue length on pretty much everything was just way too long. Calypso Beach and the Wavepool were pretty much the only things we could just get straight into. sorry but standing on a large tower in bathers freezing in the wind for a 20 second waterslide is just not my thing... we ended up on twister, riptide, and we rode mountain river and mountain falls once each... we caught a final ride on terror canyon II, just as they had shut down terror canyon 1 for some reason...and that about sums up wet n wild... good for a sun tan and that was about it... So how did Wet N Wild fare? Quality of Rides, Shows and Attractions: 8/10 Quantity of Rides, Shows and Attractions: 8/10 Cast Service: 6.5/10 Capacity and Staffing Levels: 4/10 Overall: 6.5/10 Comments: the park in itself is great. if you were the only person in the park and had free reign of all its attractions, i think it would be great... but it is not capable of handling a large crowd and allowing everyone to ride everything... i suppose for safety reasons, you can't really increase capacity or speed of operations on the slides, but it would have been nice if the queue lines were shorter. some staff did not meet the standards we had come to expect after SW and WBMW. not badly, just general blase' feelings we got from some of them, like they didnt really care and were only there for the paycheck... all in all we still enjoyed WnW, but it couldn't rate up there with SW and WBMW, and that is still taking into consideration that they are different parks. i enjoy water parks and water slides... but this just didnt do it for me, for capacity mainly... DreamWorld will follow tomorrow... and boy is it gunna be a long one... Cheers, Alex.

[joz]

Fair review I think there. WnW in the last few years has had an attendance explosion, which unfortunately is putting huge strain on the parks infrastructure. They're at the rather unfortunate stage now where if they add anything else, the extra capacity gained will be out weighed by the increase in attendance. To give you some idea the gates out the front were replaced about 5 or 6 years ago, and already can't cope. The toilets were upgraded a year or two back, and more lockers and chairs seem to be added every year. Now, if anyone's reading all this thinking "Holy crap, I'm not going there if that's what the crowds going to be like!" then don't fear, there is a very good way to avoid the crowds. Simply visit the park any day there is a 'Dive in movie'. The movies begin at around 7pm, and rides normally operate until 9pm, allowing you (more or less) 2 hours of ERT. During the day check out the wavepool and Calypso beach (which by design never have a queue) and the Aqua racer, which has a pretty good capacity for a slide. Or just do as I do and don't turn up too the park until 3pm, which is also good for avoiding the big crush to get in.

[scott]

Good advice there Joz,thanks.

[mandajk13]

I went with Alex to Wet n' Wild...I think we had to convince him to let us have a day off to rest after Sea World and MovieWorld! ;-) I enjoyed the wave pool and calypso beach - I pretty much lived there most of the day. BF and I (not being very brave) were coerced into riding mountain river and mountain falls and apart from shivering in the queue they were enjoyable. The one complaint I do have is the cost of the food - compared to the other parks, Wet n' Wild was more expensive. That about sums up my day at WNW - I did get a tan out of it, so that's better than nothing!

[Obstructure]

Would I be wrong in saying that they are also the ONLY park on the Gold Coast which does not offer pass outs? I went there a year or so ago, maybe longer, can't remember, and boy was I annoyed. It will cost you about $10 to eat anything, and you can't leave the park and go down the road to eat somewhere cheaper, or go outside and eat your own food from the car. Plus you can't take any of your own stuff in, like the other parks.

[Gazza]

Yeah, arent there a few fast food outlets across the way? Id rather eat there anyway

[joz]

Obstructure, this from the Wet 'n' Wild Website: "You are allowed to bring a picnic lunch into Wet'n'Wild Water World however, no commercially prepared food or alcohol can be brought into the park. Due to safety regulations, glassware of any kind is also prohibited. Coin operated Barbecue facilities are available as well as plenty of shady retreats to enjoy your lunch." Personally I can't be bothered leaving a park in the middle of the day, be it Dreamworld, Seaworld, Movieworld or Wet 'n' Wild. I mean, its a huge waste of time, and its not as if you save that much money anyway.