Wet'n'Wild: New 2007 Attraction

[mattcrombie]

Wet N Wild will be getting the Half Pipe Coaster this year It will be Located Behind the Whirlpool They have started to test for Noise Pollution in the past week.

[aidan]

I think that is the most silly thing they have ever done... what the hell its wet'n'wild waterworld its not a themepark with rides. Thankyou Mattcrombie for telling us NON-SUBSCRIBERS.

Edited February 9, 2007 by aidan

[djsupersleuth]

Well as unusual as it is it does make some sense. I think it is a direct response towards WhiteWater World to try to take some of the gloss off there newfound success???

[WalleyWorld]

I posted this up in another topic, but it seems more appropriate here: This is um, a really strange choice for WVTP's? .I'm just really suprised that they are going to put a dry ride into a massive waterpark. Mabey they changed the Half Pipe from Seaworld to WnW becuase of the rocket slide and all the other new attractions at WWW. And the only way to top/beat that (but without copying WWW's idea of the rocket slide) they had to bring in something BIG to beat WWW at it's game. So they are now bringing in a dry ride. . I really think this is a funny attraction to put in a waterpark and I think they should fire who ever thought up this Idea. However, they could customize it to make it a very wet ride that does need bathers. Mabey it's going to have water sprays and jets that hit you as you fly up and down the half-pipe. And WVTP's could also have talked to the manufacturer, so that the seats can be waterprof and also the carriges. What are your guys thoughts on this new attraction? CoasterBoy6

Edited February 9, 2007 by Coaster Boy 8

[Richard]

There seems to be a bit of a misconception floating around that Wet'n'Wild isn't performing well since WhiteWater World opened, or that they're in trouble with the advent of the new park. The fact is Wet'n'Wild has come off the back of one their strongest summer periods ever. Over the course of the holidays attendance was consistently 2-3 times (and higher for a few days) greater than WhiteWater World's maximum daily capacity, including some record-breaking days. Macquarie Leisure chose to develop WWW as a park that is identical to WnW in terms of the basic concept. They offered nothing that WnW didn't already offer; from a overall business perspective, different styles of water slides wouldn't be considered product differentiation. So WnW has been put in a position where they need to create points of difference, that allow consumers to make better and more informed choices about which product they will choose. Currently it's "newest" (WWW) versus "biggest" (WnW). WnW has also been cashing in on a number of auxilliary attractions such as skate displays, beach volleyball and teen-oriented night events while WWW continues to pitch itself as a new generation of the generic water park. Their goal is to diversify so as to minimise competition. If they were to reposition their product to create perhaps more of a "water-based activity park" (with slides, pools, rides and other activities) rather than a conventional "water park", then there won't be any competition with WhiteWater World anymore because the two offer vastly different things.

[WalleyWorld]

^So what your saying Richard, is that WnW could be turning into a:

"water-based activity park"

Or even better , mabey MW and WnW are going to join, making more room for expansion for MW. They could also do what all the major parks in America are doing: Adding the waterpark name to the dry park name. E.G: Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. Anyway, whatever WnW wants to do with this I don't really care. However, what ever they are trying to do, so that they can seperate themselves from WWW, better turn out innovative or WnW will be back to square one. CoasterBoy6

[myk]

Sounds great. I hope they install it whilst I still have my pass. Why is everyone upset about this? I think it's a great move. More variety now. How good is the capacity on these?

[Hugh_gazzz]

Or even better , mabey MW and WnW are going to join, making more room for expansion for MW. why would you want them to join, the tickets would be like $100.00 each. Who would pay that.

[Gazza]

mabey (sic) MW and WnW are going to join, making more room for expansion for MW

^Exactly Hugh, ticket prices would have to rise if they were a single park, and that would suck for people that only want to visit the waterpark for example. that and the fact the parks are very far apart, i think from memory its about 1km from WWF to the extreme H20 zone. They are both full day attractions (John Menzies said this himself in an interview) so we wont ever see them become the same park.

I think they should fire who ever thought up this Idea

Though the thought of firing someone for the decision to do this sounds a bit stupid, i mean it would have been aproved by the board, and at the end of the day they would most likely have had more thought put into the decision than the opinion of a forum poster who heard of this news one day ago. These guys have detailed info on who visits and market trends, so i reckon the pointers would have had to have been pretty strong for them to abandon building it at SW.

And WVTP's could also have talked to the manufacturer, so that the seats can be waterprof (sic) and also the carriges (sic).

Nah, no need, rides are built to be waterproof since they operate outdoors and in rain. Plus the seats are plastic. But I think it is sort of the right direction to become a sort of activities park, i could imagine them putting in a few extreme experience things (sky swing, bungee for example, i cant think of any others) WnW are sort of in a postion where there arent a lot of other attractions they can add to their lineup (They would be duplicating WWW with the few avaliable options) so perhaps diversifying is the way to go. And hey, if DW can put a flowrider water park ride in, then WnW can put in a surf rider* *An Ride Trade surf rider is the product they are recieving, so lets all stop calling it a halfpipe.

[WalleyWorld]

Ok, after reading your post Gazza, i can now realize how stupid I was in saying to join the parks!! . And the thing about firing staff, i really didn't mean it, it sort of came out because I just heard about where the "surf rider" is going. Woops! And the coment that I made about the seats being water proof, I was thinking of the seats that have padding. Like the head rests on Lethal Weapon. To end on a positive note, I think that adding a flat ride to a water park is a very good way in seperating themselves from their competition. Especially if the ride is avaible to ride in bathers!! CoasterBoy6 P.S: Sorry if I've confused or have offended anybody in my previous post.

[aidan]

Coaster boy 8 you dont need to apologise, if someone got offended over that they have problems.

[Gazza]

LOL yeah, no need to apoligise, i was just debunking a few of the things that came up, nobody would have been offended or confused or anything.

[myk]

I went to Wet'n'Wild last night and the area behind the Whirlpool has been blocked off by that red plastic fence stuff. It's not a very big space, but I'm sure it will have to fit somehow. I really hope it's in by early December. :S What's the bet it opens Boxing Day.

[Spotty]

Hmmm... very interesting, and not something I was expecting, Myk, if it opens boxing day i'll give you 50c!

[Gold Coaster]

Did you hear that? 50 cents! You can go to Orlando on that!

[iggy05]

Here's a good idea of one in Denver http://www.coaster-net.com/pics/sfeg/halfp...aelingerson.JPG It looks to me almost a similar ride to the pendulum-style The Claw at Dreamworld in that it sends riders back and forth in a U shape while rotating their seating throughout the ride. I rode The Claw and loved it - it would be interesting to see if the half pipe coaster is anything like it.

[GoGoBoy]

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

Edited February 11, 2007 by GoGoBoy

[Richard]

Anecdotal evidence would suggest that WWW has underperformed over the summer. It's too early for official reports, but a few things point to this:

• The introduction of $10 return passes midway through the holiday period.
• Annual passes being extended to 12 months.
• The DW/WWW gate wasn't planned to open until after the peak season.

Initially they were very cautious about the park's capacity and had planned some very strange things for holidays in this regard. Most of these things seem to have been lifted, which suggests that the period was not as strong as had been anticipated. The public is biased towards WnW because it is an established icon that everyone knows well. WnW advertising was increased to coincide with WWW. Both parks advertised like crazy over the holidays, creating a general buzz for water parks - putting the idea of going one in a lot of people's heads. A lot of people will simply visit WnW because it's a proven park and their ads highlighted two very important things which will ultimately win over many people - the size and the quality. Water parks to me are not like theme parks. Getting wet and staying cool while having fun is the first priority. WWW has a lot going for it, but it doesn't have size, which to many people is a key deciding factor. Spending half the day - or more - queuing at a theme park is part of the experience. Spending the half the day queuing at a water park isn't what most people want. It'll be capacity monsters like Calypso Beach in particular that keep WnW in front, no matter how cutting edge the rides elsewhere are.

[GoGoBoy]

WWW has a lot going for it, but it doesn't have size, which to many people is a key deciding factor. It'll be capacity monsters like Calypso Beach in particular that keep WnW in front, no matter how cutting edge the rides elsewhere are.

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

[Gazza]

Perhaps WnW hasn't suffered an attendance reduction simply because Steven Gregg wasn't lying when he said that the waterpark would attract new vistors. If anyone hyped up this big "battle of the waterparks" where one would fail and the other would flourish, is was us here on this webiste , I guess it turned out to be a bit of a non event and both parks are just plodding along nicley. And while WWW is all new, people still need to remeber that WnW still has Tornado as a 'new' attraction, and has had its first full summer with the extreme H20 zone finished so the attendance boost from this may have been a delayed onset. (If i remember correctly Mach 5 was the only part of extreme H20 opened in the summer holidays -5 days before they ended- ) And at the end of the day, people are going to go for the cheaper, bigger park even if it means having to forego a toilet bowl and an uphill slide.

[Richard]

Perhaps WnW hasn't suffered an attendance reduction simply because Steven Gregg wasn't lying when he said that the waterpark would attract new vistors. If anyone hyped up this big "battle of the waterparks" where one would fail and the other would flourish, is was us here on this webiste , I guess it turned out to be a bit of a non event and both parks are just plodding along nicley.

I think it's still far too early to determine the effects - negative or positive - of the new water park. This is the first time in the Gold Coast's theme park history that an attraction has been doubled up. Up until this point, every time a new park was built, it's contributed something different such that each park was value-adding to the Gold Coast experience. At the moment the market has been blitzed with ceaseless commercials for both parks so the true damage (or lack thereof) that the introduction of a park that directly competes with another isn't known yet. I'm not sure we'll ever see any negative effects because WnW are being smart about it by branching out in ways that WWW simply can't. I think it's a bit disappointing to see WnW have to modify their overall strategy because a competitor chooses to copy their existing one, but that's business and obviously on the plus side we'll see WnW become a better park than it ever possibly could have been without this kind of nudge. One of the primary goals with WWW was to facilitate the sale of multi-park tickets. The reason they want to sell these is because they were previously losing a lot of patronage to holidayers who purchase the WVTP three-park pass and then don't visit Dreamworld because they've already spent so much on theme park tickets. Regardless of what's been said in press releases etc., their goal is to capture a portion of a market dominated by WVTP up until now.

[myk]

I think WnW should close for about a month next winter season and spend the money on revamping their paving, gardens etc. and just make the place look newer and feel more clean. I saw a rat the other night and I can't say the slides are really non-slimy. Seriously just a big makeover on the park would be well worth the money rather than this halfpipe.

[aidan]

One month of a complete closure they would lose so much money and what about people jobs? It would just be easier to close off sections and do them section by section.

[dreamworld_rulz]

I think WnW should close for about a month next winter season and spend the money on revamping their paving, gardens etc.

So i guess your going to pay all the employees their bills, rent, mortgage, food, etc etc?

[Gazza]

A few points with regard to this suggestion -Overseas parks close in winter, heck even at Disneyworld for a period in the cooler months one of the water parks closes for a period while the other one is open, and then they switch and the one that was closed opens and the one that was open closes. Its not such a stupid suggestion -Full/Part time employees would be able to have annual leave during the refurb, and many would still be in a job (maintenance dept in paticular) as their job might require them to undertake some of the works. -Casual employees would be in a similar situation to what happens at the end of the holidays, as many of them wouldnt be permanent anyway. While a complete closure could help get stuff done quicker, it would be quite possible to do it stage by stage as suggested. IMO the most important part to redo would be the main path that runs along the front of the park from mammoth to white water mountain. It wouldnt be hard to rip up half the pavers and redo it, and then do the other half.