White Water World new 2007 Expansion

[mattcrombie]

Got some low down today folks on 2 new slides going in this year on the old Thunderbolt site. Not much is said to be what type of slides and when they will open, but just assuming Spring/Summer.

[roxon101]

Not much of a surprise.. they had to do at least something to compete with WnW's rapid growth. I wouldn't mind seeing a Dark Mammoth slide put in!

[Gazza]

Got some low down today folks on 2 new slides going in this year on the old Thunderbolt site. Not much is said to be what type of slides and when they will open, but just assuming Spring/Summer.

What are the odds of one of them taking up the "empty" space on the TOH tower and finishing in the Thunderbolt site?

[myk]

Hmm, maybe Gazza. I know I'm hoping for a dark mammoth - it would certainly be a good competitor for WnW's version. Maybe we could expect a water-based attraction also? It is quite a large space for 2 slides. I think we can certainly rule out a decent lazy river though. Let's hope it keeps to the standard and quality that WWW currently holds.

[saberon]

see told you guys it was going to be expanding in that area.. but no one believed me

[GoGoBoy]

see told you guys it was going to be expanding in that area.. but no one believed me

Thanks for the info mattcrombie. I would certainly like to see the park expand this year and I do think it's necessary. Particularly with the ongoing WnW expansions which will just leave WWW too far behind if nothing is done. However Richard put forward a pretty convincing argument suggesting that WWW will not be expanding this year. It will be very interesting to see what happens

[aidan]

see told you guys it was going to be expanding in that area.. but no one believed me

Actually many people knew that would be the spot to expand if WWW chose too.

[myk]

At least the spot is easy to take photos of from ToH or even the road beside WWW.

[varekai]

Personally I would like to see some speedslides.But i think its good that WhiteWaterWorld is expanding,i just hope the two slides are good!

[GoGoBoy]

I think something along the lines of turbo tunnels or dark mammoths would be ideal but either way the slides should have some significant height and length. WWW really needs at least one selection of slides that offer a reasonably long ride duration. Considering the area is relatively large I think we'll see more than just 2 new slides built there in the long term. Certainly a lazy river surrounding the slides and other attractions would help with capacity

[myk]

Hopefully this means they can flip FlowRider over. And maybe build a nice Dreamworld entrance.

[Gazza]

Hopefully this means they can flip FlowRider over.

LOL, what like in RCT3? Remember, Flowrider is mostly made out of concrete with the exception of the trampoline part that you actually surf on. So you could salvage that, and some of the mechanical equipment, but It would be a bit expensive to rebuild most of it.

[Churros]

^LOL. Yeah. I think they might just leave flowrider as it is. They could re-develop the joint entrance. But that could occur with further expansion. Just a quick question: is the Thunderbolt area where the host their concerts, etc?

[lisalila]

The Thunderbolt area is the big open space of dirt behind the TOH towers and dw/www entrance, you can get a great view going down the emergency exit when you come off Cyclone.

[BNErider]

I have seen the WWW/Dreamworld Entry. Is it big, cool? Anyone got a photo?

[saberon]

Actually many people knew that would be the spot to expand if WWW chose too.

no i mean i was told it was being expanded, and people didn't believe it was being expanded. well until now. not whether that area was suitable, i was told it WILL be expanding as stage 2 development. but anyway I do hope that they eventually put in a large raft ride as well as a lazy river eventually.

[myk]

Who were you told by saberon? I don't think anything has been announced properly yet.

[mattcrombie]

Confirmed its 3 Brand new Slides In Thunderbolt Area. My Source is getting more info on what type to expect.

[Dylaan]

Went to Dreamworld today, and finally got my hands on a Max Action Platinum! Took a bit longer to get than I would've liked seeing though we didn't arrive until about 12:40 but was worth it. I even managed to mess up the photo... Quick summary, I won't bore everyone with a huge trip report, but the park was reasonably full. Cyclone queue was huge, rode once, last ride of the day. There was a huge riot of "one more" although the ride ops said it was against rules... which was followed by more yelling and things such as "rules were meant to be broken" etc. Their solution was to come back again tomorrow, so of course people wanted their tickets paid for. Sun had set and the lights were just coming on, so it was a semi-interesting experience. I shouldn't have ridden back seat though, instant headache which I was really surprised about as I hadn't until then had a bad cyclone experience. Had a peek over the boarded up walls at Eureka, the cars were all in the station and it looked as if nothing was happening, from the outside anyway. The River Rapids were also closed due to 'technical difficulties' ..? Gold Rush is nothing like I remembered sadly. Nothing much has changed with construction of the new coaster, but you will be pleased to know that there is more track in the back of house area, photos later... The day turned out pretty good, met a few friends from school, I wouldn't ride GD as I'm a bit of a wuss. Neither would her friend so I got to wait 45 minutes and talk endlessly about nothing. I figured I'll get on it soon, as I have a MAP and someone will talk me into it sooner or later... I also had the 'joy' of ridding the teacups with friends, it kinda ruins the day when they won't ride anything decent. Almost talked them into WO but no luck... Claw seemed a bit crazier than normal, but probably just me. Now, the reason I'm posting this, and I know I said it wouldn't be too big, is concerning the expansion at WhiteWaterWorld. There's a massive hole in the ground behind ToH and plenty of slide parts in the distance. Colours were pink, purple, blue and orange. Looks like one of the slides is fairly large, weird shaped pieces... I have no idea when it comes to ride parts! I asked a few workers and ops if they knew anything, but it's all kept secret from them... (From what I was told, let me know if not). Most one of them knew was they were putting in "a hydraulic motorbike". Enough is enough, enjoy the pics! Oh, and if anyone wants the link for the in-park flowrider ticket display, click here. Sorry about the thumbnails, dunno what's going on.

[Gazza]

Somebody cut off Daffy Duck's foot! In seriousness though think we are getting Cannon Bowl slides (1 or 2 person raft) and ta for the pics BTW. The oddly shaped saffron coloured section next to the ute (pic 2) and the pink one (pic 3) look like the sections that are placed where the tunnel transitions into the bowl: Since they are both the same we could be up for a dual installation. I would hope though they make them enclosed though to set the ride apart from the rip. In the fourth pic you can barely see this, but behind everything else you can see the flatter sections that would make up the rest of the bowl.

I wouldn't ride GD as I'm a bit of a wuss

Harden up mate Its the only truly extreme ride at the park, and here you are complaining about others not "riding anything decent"

[dreamworld_rulz]

Thanks for posting the pics. It's great to see WWW expanding.

[Churros]

Well, it looks like while no announcement has been made, they are pretty well officially building something in there, and it looks like something pretty cutting edge. WhiteWaterWorld has worked off the back of saying they have the latest in waterpark rides so they are looking to keep up this reputation. It will be interesting to see what WnW up the road is installing on the old mountain site. And WnW_Rocks... I have to say. I went up to Dreamworld today to enquire about a MAPlat and bought one myself. It didn't take too long to take the pic and get the card ready. I really didn't have enough time to go to the park and all today, but probably should have poked my head into WhiteWaterWorld to check out the construction. Had a peak at the turbo bikes, but that's it. All I can say is that by the time WhiteWaterWorld opens these new attractions, Dreamworld has a general spruse up and the bikes are motoring away. This MAPlat's gonna be a good pass. All I hope is that in the next two years they keep up the good work and introduce us to some surprises. PS: I left at about 2:30ish and Cyclone's train was empty and stuck halfway up the lifthill. Did you notice this while you were there?

[GoGoBoy]

Wow this is brilliant news! Thanks so much WnW Rocks for the info and pics! Great job. I'm very happy to see it confirmed that WhiteWater World is expanding already, as most of us thought was necessary. I'm also happy to see they are sticking with their trademark bright colours. I am personally hoping for some dark mammoth slides or something else with a bit of a longer ride time compared to their current attractions. However I can see your point about the bowls Gazza. Considering they already have a Behemoth Bowl I'm not quite sure why they'd need to add more bowls - unless they were adding an entire new complex with a mix of slides - bowls, mammoths, pipelines etc. Either way it is great to see some new slides going into the park... whatever they end up being. Mattcrombie - thanks for being the first to confirm WWW was actually getting new slides this year. Have you been able to dig up any more info about what we can actually expect? And Richard I'd be interested to hear your thoughts now considering you were pretty determined that the park would not be expanding this year

[Richard]

Well I've posted it all before. I've never ruled it out, as in this industry predicting anything on more than a monthly basis is dangerous. They don't yet have the long-term figures to be able to actually see if expansions at this early stage will have any impact whatsoever on attendance. New slides at this stage may drive per capita spend by providing another (much needed) 5 minutes of entertainment to keep people in the park longer (their usual strategy here seems is selling food portions half the size of what you'd get elsewhere for twice the price). It seems to me they may have been held over from the original opening due to budget or time constraints. A forth slide off the Temple of Huey tower was definitely planned. The fact that they already have a Bowl attraction negates almost any unique or marketable factors so to me it's not ringing as an expansion yet, so much as a delayed opening. It's just not coming off as a move to keep the park at the forefront of Australian water parks so much as stretching out their original plans for the park by a year.

[Churros]

You never know, this might just be a part of a two year development plan or something. Perhaps a way of bringing in some funds before adding new attractions and potentially spacing out its construction a little bit. After all, they are building some pretty modern attractions, so opening them all too quickly could potentially decrease the marketability of it. While talking about marketting, I don't really think they would have a problem with advertising a couple of cannon bowls in spite of already having a bowl in place. Unless you are really wise to the current installations, this could in fact look like something new and exciting. After all, when the park opened it wasn't really focussing on The Rip as one of its drawcards. It was more focussed on the overal new nature of the park, and the modern technology associated with the park. And from a visual situation, the biggest attractions that most people are aware of are the ones that they can see from the highway - the Green Room, Supertubes and the Racers. Once it had been finished, I wasn't even aware that The Rip was hiding down there. Personally, I would like to see a complex built with some turbo tunnels and a couple of mammoths. They will eventually have to build some slides that give guests a bit of a variation in ride experience.