What are the crowds like - worth going?

[clone_tk422]

Hi All, I already have my pass to visit WWW in the next 3 months but seeing as I live on the coast, I thought it best to wait until the school holidays are over but now I am thinking, I really want to go and see what the place is like so wondering if anyone can please tell me if you have been threre over the last few weekends what the crowds are like on a saturday and a sunday and if its worth going or waiting? Thanks!

[dreamworld_rulz]

Why can't you just turn up suss out the queue lines and if it's packed just go home? After all you do have a pass so the only thing your going to waste is bus fare.

[lisalila]

Unless you drive then you've wasted fuel but it would have been quicker to just go there and suss it out hehe. Hoping the crowds are not that bad when I go next month.

[myk]

Go really early and get on all the slides. At least you can say you've been on them all.

[Gold Coaster]

Was at WWW today - very busy all day - in particular the lines for Super Tubes Hydrocoaster & The Green Room so do those first 2-3 times so you have the credits early on in the day.

[stardust]

was on the cyclone today so saw WWW.. lines were the biggest i'd seen yet. but all were short. but the hydrocoaster thingy and the bowl thingy.. but shorter than WnW

[sonic123488]

I went to WnW on tuesday of the last week of school and it took 1and a half hours to go on the tornado because of all the schools there

[dreamworld_rulz]

I went to WnW on tuesday of the last week of school and it took 1and a half hours to go on the tornado because of all the schools there

I hate going to a theme park and it's full of school kids. My sisters and i went to Adventure world in Geelong. There was like 10 schools so it was packed as.

[lisalila]

Adventure Park isn't in Geelong

[dreamworld_rulz]

Adventure Park isn't in Geelong

Ok it isn't in Geelong. It's about 15kms away.

[joz]

Yeah, don't all these kids realise that theme parks are places for adults?

[lisalila]

Well there's nothing at Adventure Park so the kids can keep it in my opinion.

[GoGoBoy]

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?

[joz]

Probably, its all about anything that gets extra bodies through the gate that time of year. I kinda agree with the bad talk on school groups, for the most part the kids do go a bit crazy and can get really annoying to guests and staff alike. The only good thing is they tend to leave by 2pm. It does vary though, there are good schools and teachers. I've had teachers come up to a ride and announce that the school would be at the ride soon, and wanted to know what size groups to break the kids into to make things easier when they got to the ride. On the flip side I've also had days where I've been dealing with nothing but poorly supervised kids, to then have a group of teachers (complete with badges) go on a ride like they were a group of friends on a get together. Still, as much as school kids are somewhat inevitable, I doubt you'd get many school groups in WnW at the moment given its Xmas hols.

[Gazza]

I have always wondered what educational value a lot of these school trips hold, i can imagine the SW one has merit for students doing biology, and the DW one for students doing Physics. But really, it seems like these activity trails are pretty light on the educational content, and essentially reading comprehension in the context of a theme park. Kids can do highly educational activities such as: -"Write a newspaper headline to describe your exursion so far" -"Draw the batman emblem" -"Create a tombstone obituary for yourself (at boot hill)" -"What is the spookiest part of the ride for you and reflect on why (SDSC)" -"What is the minumum height of riders (At Roadrunner) -"Draw the trajectory of the ride in 3d (LW)" But in paticular, i love this. Firstly, read their rather exciting sounding description of their programs:

Warner Bros. Movie World is the perfect destination for school groups, with a unique Activity Trail to make learning fun!

Students and teachers are encouraged to participate in this innovative and interactive educational program which brings mathematics, physics and creativity to life in a unique environment where learning is strictly hands-on!

Pretty casual lauguage you might say. But look how the tone changes when asked about the educational merit of one of their programmes:

Learning implies a state of physical, mental and/or emotional change through the observation and restructuring process needed to alter social, behavioural and intellectual norms. Through adventure education and activity trails, exposure to risk, which is normal in our daily lives and essential to our education, promotes student motivation, interest and preparedness to undergo more complex forms of behavioural change which can assist the development of self esteem. To stimulate creativity, interface between the individual and the physical, mental and emotional environment is essential. A visit to a theme park provides the creative environment that oozes enjoyment, stimulation and socialisation, while the activity trail challenges the thinking skills of the students through introspection and reflection of their experiences. The relaxed environment motivates students to demonstrate and present curriculum-based skills through personal interpretation of set tasks.

Whoever is responsible for spinning that crap deserves a medal. Edited January 7, 2007 by Gazza

[stardust]

Hehe. Well since yr 10 and above finish before yr 8 and 9.. at my school we would go to dreamworld in the 2nd last day of the yr. we had activities all week anyway, and thursday is the last day, teachers dont teach anyway. but yeah since they are not primary school kids the teachers let everyone go and they're like meet back at the busses at 2. and the teachers do just go off on rides. but it is fun. by the way i am not in year 8 or 9, I'm in year 11. Just to make sure

[lisalila]

The kids we had at Adventure Park when I went were soo crazy, the teachers were sitting down chatting away to each other, having cuppas and eating ice cream (well trying to eat it before it melted) and you had all of these school kids not only go straight for the water slides but they were like "oi mate come join me in the que over here!" They ended up having three and four operators at the que line, two were getting the rafts as they came out of the slides and the other two were keeping an eye on the que line and kept kicking the kids to the back of the line when they pushed in; even if they were joining mates. A lot of the kids argued "but they were keeping my place" but they sent them to the back of the line lol. My kind of ride op! DW is the worst one for school kids. On my last trip there we had a group of four school kids tell us that they were better than us and deserved to go on the claw before us because they appreciated the ride more than us but couldn't even tell us how fast it goes

Edited January 11, 2007 by lisalila