Major Theme Park for S/W Sydney

[Gazza]

A themed water park sounds fabulous, but maybe we could have some diversity

I think the long term plan is to establish a dry park eventually. The thing is that water parks/water slides cost considerably less to build than dry parks/mechanical rides. I can imagine that they would play it safe and get the water park running first and drawing visitors, and then branch out and establish a theme park next door. This means they can delay the big cash outlay until they have made some actual money. This is of course if this project gets off the ground.

Maybe we could also throw in a themed ride too.

How about theming all of them? I thought the reason people prefer places like MW over DW is because they prefer the atmosphere of a themed environment. Plus at the end of the day 'themed' parks are more popular with the public than generic ones....I know I certainly preferred Disney, Universal, Busch, Alton etc over places like Six Flags, and if you look at worldwide attendance figures then 'themed' parks turn out to be the most popular. Edited September 17, 2009 by Gazza

[T-Rex]

When I said a themed ride, what I meant is a ride that offers an experience, you know, like a haunted house, ghost train. That's what I really meant. I also thought that water parks cost more money than regular amusement parks. Didn't know that it's the other way around.

[Gazza]

They indeed cost less, and the lower capital and running costs are reflected in admission prices (Eg a one day ticket to one of the dry parks on the gold coast is $69, to one of the water parks is $45) To give an example, the Rip at WWW is quoted as costing $1.4 mil, and that is for quite a large slide. http://www.parkz.com.au/parks/AU/Gold_Coas...08-The-Rip.html By comparison, the Claw (A fairly run of the mill, moderatle sized flat ride) next door at Dreamworld cost 4 times as much ($6 Mil) Even a basic roller coaster will set you back around $10 mil these days. Water slides are cheap to construct because they have very few moving parts (Just the pump really), don't need expensive vehicles that run on tracks with saftey harnesses (Just simple mats or inflatable rings), typically aren't built as tall as roller coasters and the support structures don't have to be as heavy duty (Since they are only supporting the loads of a light fibreglass slide and an 80kg rider, rather than a heavy steel track and a train that weighs 20 tonnes exterting strong forces), and are constructed from a 'library' of pedesigned fibreglass parts that fit together to make a slide (By comparison coaster tracks for instance need to be custom fabricated for nearly every job) The cost effectiveness of water slides is one reason Jamberoo's expansion plans consists entirely water slides.

Edited September 17, 2009 by Gazza

[jjuttp]

T-rex; when i was just reading what you had just put on the other page and then it struck me that you were just practically describing dream world and white waterworld( 2 coasters, a themed cafe, a swimming pool, and flat rides that we hadent yet had before.) haha

[T-Rex]

Really? I hadn't thought of that. Talk about weird. I mean, don't most amusement parks have the sort that I'm describing, particularly a water park? With what Gazza told me, I thought maybe it's best that they start with a water park, and then once they have enough money, start constructing a standard amusement park.

[nev]

I think the sooner Whitsy is banned the better....