Not for Nippers

[Family Guy]

Parents, if you want to take a small, non-swimming child alone to a theme park, avoid White Water World, especially Wiggle Bay's water slides. Parent's can not use the slides so you will have to leave your child unattended while you walk about 50 metres down a ramp, past a high "safety" fence and then wade across the pool. This would be OK if the staff could be trusted to supervise children at the top of the slides but, in my experience, they are totally useless in fulfilling this simple task. I was not able to get close to being in a position where I could assist my little girl when she went head first down the slide and in to the pool. Thankfully, a member of the public was there to pull my daughter from the water. She told me later that she actually saw the "guard" put my daughter on the slide. Unbelievable! Afterwards, the staff were largely dismissive of my complaints. To me, this park will always be ****e Water World. Oh, and take your own food. Seriously !

[Gold Coaster]

Lucky there's a Family Guy... *dances with top hat and cane* Wow, I find it silly that something allowed at Wet'n'Wild isn't at WWW. Fair enough parents can't go DOWN the slide due to the dimensions but to not even be able to walk them to the top or wait at the bottom is a joke. Particularly when the staff don't do their job. So what does food cost there these days? Haven't been there in awhile but remember the pizza etc being more expensive for the same thing as next door.

[joz]

If I were you, I'd be sending an official complaint to the park, calmly explaining your situation, and you should be able to get a much more positive result that way then you would complaining to staff member in question at the time or posting about it online. Clearly this is an issue that prevented you enjoying your day, and you should get a positive response from the park. In any case let us know the response.

[sonic123488]

I've had some problems with WWW too. My mum had bought a cup of coffee and was sipping it while reading a book harmlessly at the entrance. When one of the staff come up and says "You can't sit here if you haven't bought any food!" My mum told her that she had bought the coffee, and there were about a million free seats there. I was once in the nickelodeon pipeline with my friend spraying people with water. People come on the ride to get wet, right? Obviously not cause I spray this man accidentally, the staff were watching, he then come up and hit me into one of the bars and says "oh that was an accident". The staff watched the whole thing.

[TheMightyBoosh]

Hmm well this is one persons experience at WWW and it's unfortunate it has been negative. Since I have been to WWW by myself with my young child I can offer a different and more positive comment. I often play at wiggle bay with my daughter and at first I was a little disappointed that I couldn't ride the slide with her. But after chatting to the lifesaver on duty I found out a number of useful pieces of information. Firstly that there is some health and safety law preventing tandem riding on waterslides without a suitable tube and that there are signs on the top of wiggle bay slides that also remind riders. I am not sure if they are QLD state laws or whatever but the lifesavers/ slide operators are trained not to allow tandem riding. Another thing is that the pool is very shallow and an adult riding (even behind a child) can injure their legs or bottom when they splash down. I have witnessed poor staff putting up with riders yelling at them over these rules but I have also seen adults sneak down the slides and lose some skin! And to correct sonic(etc.) the ramp is more like 5-10m from pool to slide rather than 50m. Finally I constantly keep an eye on my daughter while she is in the pool and I think that is the role of all parents. I have actually observed parents yelling at lifesavers when they wouldn't catch their child at the bottom of the slide! I mean come on! It's obvious to me that if a lifesaver spends their time catching children then they are ignoring the rest of the kids/adults in the pool. I often watch parents putting their infants (who can't sit up on their own!) down the slide and then complain when the child falls face first or falls back and bumps their head. Why an adult of sound mind would want to put their infant down a waterslide is beyond belief! It's not like the infant will remember anything. I have just as much fun with my daughter in the wave pool, in the wiggles pool or meeting the nik/wiggles characters without jumping on slides. If your going by yourself with your young child you can have a great time but you just have to understand their are a few things you won't be able to do as a 'responsible' adult (depending on how young your child is). The only problems I have with WWW is (also) the price and quality of food, but I have that problem at all the Gold Coast theme parks. And probably that at times they could put more slide operators on to increase safety and to get the queues moving faster. Last time I checked WWW turned over a $6 mill. + profit! I would hate that profit to be at the expense of rider safety and customer service quality! I have had issues with certain rules at WWW but after discussing them openly with the lifesavers I can understand they are put in place for the safety of everyone (duh) by the ride manufacturers and WWW itself. It would be great to get a WWW lifesavers opinion on the opening comment in this thread. The majority of them are very helpful and I bet they don't fill up their message with stories about how many whinging, irresponsible, uninformed and closed minded parents they have to deal with on a daily basis! TMB

[aussienetman]

and if the guards start catching little kids at the bottom of the rides, watch the lawsuits start rolling in!

[Gazza]

Perhaps the answer could be for wiggle bay to have even smaller slides, like these ones at Typhoon Lagoon. These sort don't need any extra plumbing or anything...they just get attached to the bottom of the pool, and at least with these a parent can stand right beside it and grab their child at any time.

I am not sure if they are QLD state laws or whatever but the lifesavers/ slide operators are trained not to allow tandem riding

The orange slide at Buccaneer Bay at WnW allows tandem riding.

[sonic123488]

^^^ I've seen parents being told not to slide with their toddlers before I don't know where you get that impression.

[TheMightyBoosh]

I do think a tandem slide would be a positive inclusion to wiggle bay. Although it would have to account for such a shallow splash down area. As long as no laws/rules are broken I don't see a problem with such an investment. TMB