Wet 'n' Wild Sydney Construction

[Flea]

Had a look at the new Atura hotel over the weekend. It's directly behind the drive in's, 4-5 minute walk to the park. Quite nice too - the lobby, restaurant and bar is all in one big open space as soon as you walk in but I think it works well. Beautiful funky pool area. I imagine it'll be constantly booked out once the park opens.

[_koppen]

Here's a flyover!

I still find it strange how they can build what theyself claim to be the biggest water park in the world, and not have a play structure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh7xfv7T4T4

[GoGoBoy]

Sydney is looking pretty wet over the next week or so. I wonder if this will be an issue for them. They've had a pretty good run up till now weather-wise so I hope they didn't leave anything to the last minute. Latest pics & vids still showed plenty of dirt piles & unfinished bits & pieces

Edited November 11, 2013 by GoGoBoy

[Alex Berriman]

Sydney is looking pretty wet over the next week or so. I wonder if this will be an issue for them. They've had a pretty good run up till now weather-wise so I hope they didn't leave anything to the last minute. Latest pics & vids still showed plenty of dirt piles & unfinished bits & pieces

Hopefully it doesn't hold them up too much. I don't think they would have left anything too major for now unless it was necessary.

Anyone with access to nearmaps, is it possible to get the latest images?

[Daniel Shorten]

Here's a flyover!

I still find it strange how they can build what theyself claim to be the biggest water park in the world, and not have a play structure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh7xfv7T4T4

Working link - http://youtu.be/fAB8La2zcAk

Looking almost done from the air.

Also some slide testing footage -

[zacsta_1997]

Working link - http://youtu.be/fAB8La2zcAk Looking almost done from the air. Also some slide testing footage - http://youtu.be/n7bnlBM3r9c

Thanks for the videos

[zacsta_1997]

I found a news segment about WnWS about the nippers club. They show the wave pool, and some of the slides and even a POV of the water coaster. The news lady even presents a small talk inside one of the slides. Here is the link ... http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b6RRinkt5fo Can't wait for opening

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Sydney is looking pretty wet over the next week or so. I wonder if this will be an issue for them. They've had a pretty good run up till now weather-wise so I hope they didn't leave anything to the last minute. Latest pics & vids still showed plenty of dirt piles & unfinished bits & pieces

I think at this stage it may actually help them. By this stage in the game, they'd have to be done with most of the attractions - or at least the footings etc. They'd be turning to fit-out and polishing, landscaping and painting by now I would presume - most of that sort of thing can be done in the wet, and in particular - landscaping is a little easier with some dampened soil, as opposed to dried out cracked clay...

[GoGoBoy]

Channel 7 has uploaded a Go Pro POV of the dark tornado, tantrum and tornado wave (although one of them is more of a hairy-leg POV) - https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/video/watch/19814910/wetnwild-go-pro/

The dark tornado is actually not dark at all on the inside; it's got plenty of light. And there finally appears to be an explanation for that off-coloured piece on the last 'bulb' of the tantrum: it appears to be a translucent section. So perhaps not a manufacturing problem afterall (I thought that'd be weird for Proslide to let that one slip).

Anyway, I have to say overall the slides look like CRAZY FUN! Can't wait!

[_koppen]

Hopefully the drop on the Tornado works, and Proslide have learnt it's lesson of building it to agressive.

The Tornado in Lalandia Denmark, which opened in 2012, was the first Tornado to have a downward helix drop into the funnel.

The only problem was that the really heavy rafts overflipped during the downward helix down into the slide, resulting in quaite a lot of people going to the hospital. The park had to set a limit of max 2 persons per raft, and then Proslide rebuilt it.

This the original slide:

And this is after the rebuild. It's a shame really, as the ride before was one of the most awesome water slide I've ever been on.

Edited November 13, 2013 by _koppen

[Gazza]

The Lalandia one appears to lack the "water trim brake" a few newer ones have, and Im reasonably certain WnW Sydneys has that segment before the drop, so hopefully that stops rafts going out of control.

[GoGoBoy]

The Lalandia one appears to lack the "water trim brake" a few newer ones have, and Im reasonably certain WnW Sydneys has that segment before the drop, so hopefully that stops rafts going out of control.

What is this water trim brake you refer to Gazza? Thanks for sharing that koppen. It's a reminder of the serious engineering that is involved in the creation of an effective (yet safe) waterslide

[Gazza]

Check out the pics of Funnel Web on here. Before the drop are a couple of water outlets that pump extra water into the slide, causing the raft to slow down a bit. A couple of meters later there are slotted drains that get rid of the excess water, and then you go down the drop.

[jjuttp]

Went by today, the park has definitely grown since both the flyover and my drive by 2 weeks ago. I'm going to attempt some decent photos either tomorrow or Sunday. Also, i spoke to my friend who's an "Aquatic Attendant" at the park, and there has been no news so far on soft openings.

[GoGoBoy]

The Lalandia one appears to lack the "water trim brake" a few newer ones have, and Im reasonably certain WnW Sydneys has that segment before the drop, so hopefully that stops rafts going out of control.

The Tornado Wave appears to have a similar helix into the drop as Lalandia's original attempt, although possibly even worse; so you'd think if raft tipping was a problem, it'd be a problem for the wave. Unless it has that break system you referred to Gazza. I just can't imagine Proslide building slides that would lead to a good chance of people being hospitalised.

[_koppen]

The Lalandia one appears to lack the "water trim brake" a few newer ones have, and Im reasonably certain WnW Sydneys has that segment before the drop, so hopefully that stops rafts going out of control.

I think adding a water break to the one in Denmark would have been in effective, the problem was not over speeding before the drop, the problem was that the drop go to steep to early in the helix, making the raft accelerate faster than desired and go to high up on the wall. They did try to add an "edge" or a small wall (I'm not sure how to explain it) in the drop preventing the rafts to go to high up, but this only proved effective when the rafts was not fully loaded, which is why they only allowed two persons in the raft before the rebuild.

The few photos I have seen from the drop on the one in Sydney appears that the descent doesn't start as soon in the helix as the one in Denmark, it also dosen't get to steep before the last 90 degrees of the helix.

They could probably have done this to the one in Denmark as well, but I think that would have been a bigger rebuild than what they did now, since they would of have to change the in run to fit the new angles. They took the easy fix. Lalandia probably wanted a guaranteed solution as well.

It's a shame really, as the drop was insane before the rebuild, as long as you were two. Easily the best Tornado I've ridden.

The Tornado Wave appears to have a similar helix into the drop as Lalandia's original attempt, although possibly even worse; so you'd think if raft tipping was a problem, it'd be a problem for the wave. Unless it has that break system you referred to Gazza. I just can't imagine Proslide building slides that would lead to a good chance of people being hospitalised.

Well the Tornado wave is a different ride, I think the main reason they don't over flip is because at the bottom of the drop the tube expands and become wider, as well as more flat bottomed.

The over flipping in the one in Denmark happened at the bottom of the drop, just before entering the Tornado.

And no, I don't think Proslide intended to build a ride that hospitalized people either, it just didn't turn out the way they excepted, and now they have fixed it.

Edited November 14, 2013 by _koppen

[Keegs]

Really cool video showing the amount of work going into finishing the park

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFRQOy5DGS0

[Bussy]

Wet'n'Wild Sydney may open in winter.

I hope they don't do this, it'll kill the park in my opinion. The fourth photo out of the six at the top of the article has two ex-Wonderland employees in it.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Agree - the December -April (and next year probably October-April) season would be something to look forward to each year... people would count down the days until it opened.

it'd allow a good solid 6 months for maintenance, and would allow them to reduce staffing to skeleton crews in winter for essential maintenance and admin.

If they commit to opening in Winter - then they've just killed the pricepoint they started with for the season passes - offering the park for a longer period without charging more.

They priced this thing based on 6 months of operation only - people whinged and complained about the price, so they cheapened it by offering buy 3 get one free - people still whinged about it, so, before they even open the park and see what kind of visitation they get - the outcry from the noisy minority has got them scared and they're slashing prices before they even start.

Waterparks in California - the pinnacle of sunny theme-park going weather don't open all year round - Knott's Soak City didn't open until MAY (our November). The only thing that WnWS has going for it to run a winter season is the fact that it's the ONLY large-scale entertainment in the west of Sydney... it won't attract families, it'll attract teens who don't care about feeling cold...

And they may choose to open for the demand, but they might have the demand there at the end of april because of easter holidays, so then they go "we're open in MAY!", so they staff everyone on, keep the pumps running - but everyone disappears because it's too cold - and there goes all that summer revenue you just made... but you can't close on May 7 because nobody's there - because you've just advertised 'OPEN IN MAY!'

[joz]

I think the phrase "If the demand is there" is doing quite a lot of work in this story. Of course they'll open if there's shown to be demand. Given there probably won't be though, I think it's a long shot that they'll be open, even for weekend only trade.

Edited November 19, 2013 by joz

[jjuttp]

Roughly how long before the advertised and official opening dates, are the soft openings? Working literally 2 minutes down the road and finishing close to midday has it's perks.

[Gazza]

^If you are a gold pass holder (Uncertain wether silver pass holders get in on it too), they are intending on sending out an email.

[Keegs]

Pretty sure only Gold passholders are invited to the soft opening.

[Daniel Shorten]

SBS news story - http://youtu.be/iMujxGrSli0

Interesting final comment, they are expecting 20,000 on opening day.

A 2nd SBS video, with a quick interview with one of the slide techs - http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/11/20/wetnwild-sydney-spark-theme-park-boom

[Daniel Shorten]

Julys newest Youtube update shows the wave pool, certainly doesn't look like it will generate a surfable wave.