Adventure Park, Geelong, To open Victoria's Only Waterpark In 2007

[Coaster Boy 6]

Ok, this is really cool news, cause I live in Melbourne!! Have a look at the Adventure Park website: Adventure Park Website They will be adding a really compact waterpark for 2007. The attractions listed on the website: 1. Six lane Aqua Racer 2. Lazy River (with waterfalls, rapids) 3. A Kids play area (like Buccaner Bay) They are also bringing the world's Largest inflatable Waterslide for a limited amount of time. (the dates are on their website) This is really exciting, cuase they could expand this new waterpark into something as big a Jamberoo. But I doubt It. What do you guys think about this? CoasterBoy6 Oh Please Note: This has only been posted on R-C.com.au and not any other website.

Edited October 17, 2006 by Coaster Boy 6

[dreamworld_rulz]

That is so cool. Living in Footscray means i'm only a 45 min train ride. Will have to visit in Summer. Good find.

[Gazza]

Good find! Waterparks really do seem to be the flavour of the month, i wonder how long it will be till the next one of our minor parks announce plans to do one. You have to wonder why it has taken so long for operators to cotton on to the fact that waterparks are fairly cheap, yet can pull huge numbers. Its good news though, the 2 existing tube slides have terrible capacity and the place is popular in summer. Might give me a reason to visit Geelong other than for Football. Now, as for the waterpark... The water play zone you can see is one model down from the one at WnW, but i think it is suitable for the size of the park. The lazy river looks nice too, pretty long. And, as for the racer, well we have our 5th one now, but i still dont think it is as good as the one at WWW (well, nothing could really beat that one) Its good we have another player in the waterpark game, its just another source of new attractions, and more competition can only be a good thing. But the similarites between this waterpark and Jamberoo are uncanny. There is a smallish kids area, and it is circumnavigated by a lazy river, and the lazy river goes under the racer, and the racer is on a hillside, and the park had 2 waterslides already... according to my calcuations in around 2 years time the park will have a wave pool, and in around 2009 the park will be announcing a 5 year plan to install Proslide attractions

Edited October 18, 2006 by Gazza

[dreamworld_rulz]

Why do some parks have 12 month passes when their only open for a few months?

[Gazza]

Well, im sure that since it opens for 9 months they felt the price was fair, if it were a year round park the pass would most likely be more expensive. But really, who would want to be doing something outdoors in Geelong during winter, Brrrrr.

[lisalila]

Does anyone know what happened to the other water park that use to be in Geelong? I think it was called Geelong Water World or something...use to be really good..two long and big water slides outside (which only operated if the temp was 27+), outside swimming pools (laps), outside kiddie pools, indoor lap and kiddie pool plus diving area..

[Gazza]

As far as I know it is still there, but wether they operate still is another story. They were ok sorts of slides, nothing special, they both basically started off with a couple of spirals before a "kinked" run to the pool with a few harsh drops chucked in. Good times.

[GoGoBoy]

Great to see a bit of investment in Victoria's leisure industry. In terms of amusement parks, it will be nice to see that there is another choice in Melbourne and the surrounding area other than the currently very crappy Luna Park. A new waterpark is perfect. It's starting off a little small, but I'm sure will quickly expand when they see how successul it will no doubt be. I like the way the design has a massive lazy river with various features on the middle 'island'. They have designed the racer slide to start on the outside of the lazy river with the splashdown pool in the centre area. It's a good use of space. I'm hoping Dreamworld's WhiteWater World will do something similar when they ultimately expand onto the old Thunderbolt site (except with maybe a dark mammoth slide or something similar in the middle of the river, not another racer obviously). As Gazza said, it's good to see that some operators have realised the profit potential of the waterpark industry, something they have been aware of in the States for a long time. I'm just surprised there is nothing similar in Sydney with the warm weather we usually have up here (I should probably count Jameroo but it just seems a bit too far South). So, so, so much warmer than Melbourne

[lisalila]

As far as I know it is still there, but wether they operate still is another story. They were ok sorts of slides, nothing special, they both basically started off with a couple of spirals before a "kinked" run to the pool with a few harsh drops chucked in. Good times.

Good times indeed. Been ages since I was there last. Last time it was 26.9 degrees and they wouldn't operate the waterslide until it hit 27 exactly, cousin had a little hissy fit over it and as we were leaving they were opening the slide up. Loved it there though, not as grat as wnw but for something in Geelong it was great. Eh Melbourne's weather isn't as bad as you interstaters think but it's only a matter of time before there is another park (water or wonderland style) in Sydney.

[Richard]

I think there is enormous potential for Victoria in particular to invest in water parks easily the size of our Gold Coast parks. Victoria, NSW and SA are no less hot in summer than Queensland. Two of the hottest days I experienced over last summer were in Melbourne and Adelaide. Up here in Queensland so many people have pools compared with down south. If we want to cool off we go out to the backyard pool. When I was in Melbourne we either had to take a tram out to St Kilda or drive to the aquatic centre. Right there the huge potential can be seen. It goes without saying that they'd need to be seasonal, but for six months of the year they'd be undeniably packed. Water parks are so completely different from conventional parks, and operators are only just catching onto this now. They are cheaper to build, cheaper to maintain and far easier to get repeat customers because people aren't attracted to the biggest and best new ride, but rather just the idea of having some cool fun on a stinking hot day. It's such a shame that it isn't until now that we see companies like ProSlide making appearances down here. They should have been marketing their recent innovations like crazy in Australian trade publications for the past five years, because if our operators realised the potential and saw that water parks had evolved to be more than just boring old body slides, we could have seen today's resurgence years ago.

[dreamworld_rulz]

I think there is enormous potential for Victoria in particular to invest in water parks easily the size of our Gold Coast parks. Victoria, NSW and SA are no less hot in summer than Queensland. Two of the hottest days I experienced over last summer were in Melbourne and Adelaide. Up here in Queensland so many people have pools compared with down south. If we want to cool off we go out to the backyard pool. When I was in Melbourne we either had to take a tram out to St Kilda or drive to the aquatic centre. Right there the huge potential can be seen. It goes without saying that they'd need to be seasonal, but for six months of the year they'd be undeniably packed. Water parks are so completely different from conventional parks, and operators are only just catching onto this now. They are cheaper to build, cheaper to maintain and far easier to get repeat customers because people aren't attracted to the biggest and best new ride, but rather just the idea of having some cool fun on a stinking hot day. It's such a shame that it isn't until now that we see companies like ProSlide making appearances down here. They should have been marketing their recent innovations like crazy in Australian trade publications for the past five years, because if our operators realised the potential and saw that water parks had evolved to be more than just boring old body slides, we could have seen today's resurgence years ago.

You know the old saying "Better late than never" EDIT : Although it's a large city i wouldn't exactly call Geelong, Melbourne. Where i live i suppose you could call it Melbourne as i'm only a 45 min train trip. But for others it's on the other side of Melbourne Edited October 18, 2006 by dreamworld_rulz

[Gazza]

Yes, I was going to post that, it always makes me laugh how people sort of think of Geelong as a suburb of Melbourne. i guess it would be sort of easy access for most of western and central melbourne, but for those in the east its a long drive around the bay, and for those down Mornington way, it means a ferry trip. But Geelong and the Surf Coast region already get enough tourists so it will be acessible easily to quite a few. As for me its a 3.5 hour drive.

I think there is enormous potential for Victoria in particular to invest in water parks easily the size of our Gold Coast parks. Victoria, NSW and SA are no less hot in summer than Queensland. Two of the hottest days I experienced over last summer were in Melbourne and Adelaide

But I have been making that point for ages, yet was shot down saying Melbourne was too cold for anything to survive....I guess nobody realizes that it doesnt seem as cold to those who live here and would be the primary customers. Edited October 18, 2006 by Gazza

[Richard]

I don't believe the climate down there can sustain a major theme park. Seasonal operation of major parks in Australia hasn't proven itself in the past; our economy and population aren't strong enough to be able to have a park sit closed and running at a loss for six months of the year. Water parks on the other hand are different. as I mentioned above they're cheaper and more profitable so the fact that they don't operate six or more months of the year isn't nearly as much of a hurdle as it is for a major theme park, which will cost easily five or ten times as much for something of similar standard.

[lisalila]

I think a waterpark would be great for Victoria but a full time park wouldn't survive...would be great though. It is a shame ProSlide and siad companies only just realised there is a market down here but wouldn't that also be the parks fault (wnw/www) because dont they have to go to the companies and be like "hey we want a tornado, how much?" or whatever?

[dreamworld_rulz]

Melbourne doesn't have the climate for a 7 day 52 week park. You only have to look at LPM. It's only open Fri-Sun except during the hols. I know it's smaller but could you imagine MW or DW in Melbourne on a weekday during winter? It would be a walk on on all rides. Now that's not a bad thing but the park wouldn't survive.

[lisalila]

Would the rides even operate? most of them are outdoors and don't really operate when it rains and considering it usually does rain during winter they wouldn't be able to keep the rides open.

[rob]

have they started constructing this park yet???? does anyone have anymore information about it??? oh yea im new here too

[BNErider]

The water park is opening September, this year. I'm guessing construction would have started, as we're pretty close to September already.