Wet 'n' Wild Sydney Construction

[Julys Aquila]

Hello Parkz, this is already on wet'n'wild sydney website if you havnt already seen it:

Parra-to-Park

The park offers a free Parra-to-Park shuttle from the Parramatta Transit Centre. Pick-up and drop-off is located on Darcy St. The shuttle will operate daily from 12 December – 31 December and Friday thru Monday 1 January – 28 January.

The first pick-up will begin at 9:00am with departures running every hour on the hour until 1 hour prior to park closing. Returns will depart the park every hour on the half hour until just after park closing.

Shuttle times subject to change without notice, please check our website prior to your visit for the latest information regarding the Parra-to-Park Shuttle Service.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Julys Aquila

[GoGoBoy]

Their website is HOPELESS - it doesn't have any info on it and it is so hard to navigate. Annoyed that the shuttle bus is not starting till the 12th as me and my flatmate wanted to go to a preview day. But we don't drive so can't get there!

[Daniel Shorten]

I was lucky enough to get an invite to the Roadshow family and friends day today. The park is great, and was of course nice at only about 20% capacity!

I didn't get to every ride, but of the ones I did I thought the picks were - T5, Bombora, Riptide and 360 Rush.

The wavepool ran in a few different patterns, including what you could almost call a surfable wave. The Surf Deck was running but the Sky Coaster was not, everything else was open. The surprise was Wet n Wild Jnr - that will be awesome for kids - it looked great.

[Keegs]

Daniel, by any chance did you see if lockers were available to hire? I'm going tomorrow morning and still have no idea if I'll be able to hire one or not.

[Daniel Shorten]

The lockers were operating on a complimentary basis today, and maybe the same tomorrow. Either way they were present and working! So you should be fine.

[Keegs]

Oh thank god. I'm going alone so I was worried I'd have to keep going to my car all day.

So how many rides did you end up going on? And was missing out on some due to wait times or simply not going for every slide?

[GoGoBoy]

I was lucky enough to get an invite to the Roadshow family and friends day today. The park is great, and was of course nice at only about 20% capacity!

I didn't get to every ride, but of the ones I did I thought the picks were - T5, Bombora, Riptide and 360 Rush.

The wavepool ran in a few different patterns, including what you could almost call a surfable wave. The Surf Deck was running but the Sky Coaster was not, everything else was open. The surprise was Wet n Wild Jnr - that will be awesome for kids - it looked great.

Interesting that you picked out Riptide as one of the best. Is that the blue one or the green one? Did you go on the other family raft rides too?

Edited December 8, 2013 by GoGoBoy

[Daniel Shorten]

I went on - H2Go Racers(x2), 360 Rush(x2), Bombora, T5, Tantrum, Riptide(x2), and the HalfPipe. Part of my time was taken up with spending some time with a friends family, but there was also queues in the vicinity of 10 minutes for most of the "extreme" rides. I expect that wait time will blow out badly come launch day.

The Riptide was the green family slide and the reason I list it was mostly because of the huge momentum and speed you build up in the 2nd half before hitting the pool.. you really fly. I rode it with 4ppl and 5ppl, and it was awesome both times.

In the end i'm happy that I still have 9 different slides to still try!!

Food was actually decent. The surf club has Chicken Burgers, Beef Burgers and Pizza. The lil fins food area has sandwiches and hotdogs. Combo meals from the surf club were around $15, I had the Double Beef Cheeseburger with Chips and Drink. A discount was applied to the RRP for the meals and it came out around $12, im hoping that is the same discount to be had for Gold season pass holders.

I also picked up a couple of new coloured bands for the season passes, and these were $10 each. (They come in 3 different sizes and around 8 colours)

I recommend getting Bombora/T5 out of the way early if you can to avoid a lengthy wait! Also midway through the day they had a fault on 2 of the 360 Rush pods so were running at 50% capacity, which led to long wait times on that ride.

[Gazza]

Their website is HOPELESS - it doesn't have any info on it and it is so hard to navigate. Annoyed that the shuttle bus is not starting till the 12th as me and my flatmate wanted to go to a preview day. But we don't drive so can't get there!

Could get a train to Blacktown and Taxi it?

Out of interest, are the burgers at the Surf Club the same "prime burgers" that WnW/SW/MW have:

http://movieworld.com.au/~/media/Images/VRTP%20Images/MovieWorld-New/Dining/Prime%20Burgers/vrtpD1208987_Prime_Burgers_Online_520-x-249.ashx?mh=249&mw=520

The Riptide was the green family slide and the reason I list it was mostly because of the huge momentum and speed you build up in the 2nd half before hitting the pool.. you really fly. I rode it with 4ppl and 5ppl, and it was awesome both times.

They can be scarily fast. On my only ride of the Whitewater West version at Aquatica our raft managed to flip when we hit the landing pool. All I remember is barreling along, and then one second later finding myself in the water and bit shaken up lol.

In other news, there will be a Nickelodeon Meet n Greet at WnWSyd:

http://www.blooloop.com/news/nickelodeon-gets-water-park-deal-in-australia/25647

Edited December 8, 2013 by Gazza

[Santa07]

Um... is there something wrong with the website? Because the Tantrum page shows pictures of Bombora and vice versa.

[Keegs]

Just got back from my session. Park wasn't too busy, only about a third of the car park was full.

Tantrum: Rode it first, was pretty fun. Gets you nice and soaked.

T5: Went on this twice, was awesome both times. Drop is great and the closed funnel somehow makes it more exciting. Plus that final helix gets you riding up the wall like crazy.

Bombora: One ride on this, you almost fly down that drop.

Breakers: Was lining up for the Half Pipe but ended up on this. For the short ride it is, I enjoyed it. Final drop is nice.

Riptide: Really enjoyed this one, you really do fly down those hills at the end.

Double Bowlseye: Wasn't really impressed by this. Went pretty slow around the bowls.

The Curler: Another average slide. More suitable for families. I'd only ride this and the bowling alley if they had no lines.

360Rush: Highlight of the day. Rode it 3 or 4 times and loved it every time. Best part was that I never had to line up for more than 5 minutes.

H2Go Racers: Rode these a couple of times, best racer slides I've ever ridden on. Would be awesome with a group of mates racing each other.

Food was pretty nice as well.

I might head back either later this week or early next week. Before school ends, hopefully it isn't as busy as I think it will be.

Edited December 9, 2013 by Keegs

[jjuttp]

What colours are the bands? And do they take your photo and link it to the band or just cause you have the band they just let you through?

[Keegs]

The bands you get by default are blue. You can change them in the park (I think for $10) in other sizes and colours. As for photos, I had to upload my photo to my band on the WnW website before visiting. I think if you don't do that, they take a picture when you first visit.

[GoGoBoy]

I also went to the 9am-2pm preview session today. We caught the train to Blacktown and then the 812 bus from stand 5. The closest stop to the park is still a 20-25 min walk, and for part of the walk there is no foot path so you are walking on grass median strips n stuff, but it's do-able. Though we were the only ones doing it. The park is great overall. Definitely nicely presented, although there is no theming, so the fact that they refer to themselves as a water THEME park is a bit wrong. It's a water park. Kinda like the Dreamworld or Six Flags of waterparks. But as I said, it all looks nice.

Surprisingly for me, it was the WhiteWater (as in the manufacturer) slides that were my favourite. The WhiteWater multi-slide complex was brilliant - you just keep going back for more with so many different slides to choose from. The Breakers were fun, neat launch conveyor, but would be great if they were full-sized with multiple uphill sections. The Typhoon was interesting; after the first chamber your raft turns backwards (pretty much everyone's does) and you do the rest of the slide, and the last chamber, backwards. Very interesting! The Aqua Tube was the least popular - hardly anyone was going on it. BUT that's a mistake because it was wicked! PITCH black. Not even a slither of light, and very fast. The highlight was probably the Half Pipe though. You absolutely FLY down the drop and pick up incredible speed into the bottom of the drop. SO fast. You then make it most of the way up the half pipe - we made it to the top. Total weightlessness. Then you zoom back and hit the camel hump. It's really intense!

I was also a big fan of WhiteWater's H2Go Racers. Definitely the best racing slide I've been on. The tunnels are so fast and the rainbow lighting effect is neat! I came screaming out of the tunnel and smashed the other riders. I think it's thanks to the technique that I learned exclusively on Parkz - lift the front of your mat up a bit the whole time. It works for me!

We didn't have time to do all the slides as it was a shortened day but got a ride on the T5 and the Tantrum. They were okay, pretty good - but I still preferred the WhiteWater offerings. Also jumped on the Riptide (green family raft ride) which requires a minimum of 4 people, so you have to team up with strangers if you have less than this. I was surprised at the intensity of this slide. I was thinking 'family raft ride', but no, it's got G forces and the final drop is super fast.

Not sure what was going on with Boomerang Bay, we didn't get time to go on it. But it definitely looked LAZY. I couldn't see any 'action' section and even the normal flow looked way slower than normal lazy rivers. Maybe it's not fully up and running yet.

The ride signage was ok-ish, done quite cutely, the structures are all designed to look like mini waterslides. But there is NO individual theming or branding for the individual slides. And they need signage on the stairs to tell people what they are lining up for because it was a s*** show. You had no idea which stairs led to what. Everyone was confused. Maybe that's still to come.

Looking forward to going back again. And a hot night session would be very fun I'd imagine. Overall I'd like to see more ride signage, way more plantings and taller trees and palms (there is mulch as far as the eye can see, but not too many plantings). And in the future I'd love to see more longer-cycle rides like maybe a full length master blaster stretching along behind the lazy river and Sky Coaster. That'll do for now - feel free to ask questions, and I'm sure I'll think of even more later.

Edited December 9, 2013 by GoGoBoy

[Keegs]

What confused me a bit was when I first went to line up for the Half Pipe, I grabbed a 2 person raft assuming you could ride 1 or 2 people (since I was by myself). The guy at the bottom of the stairs saw me alone, asked which slide I was headed for and directed me there (and I still managed to go the wrong way). When I get to the top I'm told you need 2 people to ride any of those slides. So I waited a good 10 minutes before a group of 3 rocked up.

I agree the park could definitely use some more larger trees. Way too much mulch. And the stairs definitely need some signage. I saw so many people lining up in the wrong side of 360Rush/H2Go and heard plenty more people pointing at stairs on the proslide towers wondering where the hell they went.

[Bussy]

I find it strange that no one has uploaded any photos from the preview sessions. So here are some photos a friend of mine took at tonights nights session. "The Bus is now leaving for Photo Creek, Northern Territory"

[Julys Aquila]

I find it strange that no one has uploaded any photos from the preview sessions.

Maybe because in their terms and conditions this is also included:

• Photographs or videos taken by you must be for your own personal use and enjoyment and not for any commercial purpose. We may use any photographs or video that we take of you for our commercial purposes without payment to you.

[joz]

Posting here isn't a commercial purpose, just in case anyone is wondering. Commercial purpose is profiting from the photos, say by turning them into a postcard and selling them.

[GoGoBoy]

I intended to take lots of pics but as it was a preview day the park was only open 9-2. We got there around 10 then had to spend 45 minutes trying to sort out myband issues (teething problems). I took a few pics of the entry area and park map board on my phone (which I've sent to Gazza - he might upload soon). But the rest of the time we needed to actually get on the rides (and we still didn't get time to do them all!). My buddy would have killed me if I'd spent ages walking around taking pics. But I do plan to do it on my next full day visit, if someone else hasn't first.

In the meantime... I wrote a trip review above giving my thoughts about the park and all the attractions ^.

Edited December 9, 2013 by GoGoBoy

[Bussy]

The Daily Telegraph has a story with some nice photos here.

"The Bus is now leaving for Telegraph Swamp, NSW"

[GoGoBoy]

They are getting quite a bit of positive feedback on social media from people who have visited the park. It seems that most of the complaints are coming from people who are still having trouble getting in touch with the customer service team or buying tickets, and also that hideous, non-functioning website. Basically everyone that has visited the park seems to be raving about it, with any previous concerns forgotten. That's what happens when you install decent, proven attractions - people will have fun and forgive most sins.

[Julys Aquila]

Posting here isn't a commercial purpose, just in case anyone is wondering. Commercial purpose is profiting from the photos, say by turning them into a postcard and selling them.

thank you for confirming that Joz, i will be taking alot of photo's while i'm there tomorrow buddy.... and uploading them on here tomorrow aswell.... and here is my latest video Part 40 ... enjoy Parkz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivfoODeic8I

Edited December 10, 2013 by Julys Aquila

[GoGoBoy]

thank you for confirming that Joz, i will be taking alot of photo's while i'm there tomorrow buddy.... and uploading them on here tomorrow aswell.... and here is my latest video Part 40 ... enjoy Parkz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivfoODeic8I

Thanks Julys. Looks like the lazy river is actually flowing in this video, although still no sign of the 'action river'?!

[danaant]

Went to preview last night and it was great though there were a few teething issues.

I arrived at 5.30pm and managed to get on 6 rides. There were apparently 7000+ there last night so wait time was about 40 minutes for most rides. Issue is the way the towers are set up. For instance the Whitewater multi-slide complex has 5 seperate slides (including the four lane Breakkers). Now everyone was lining up to go on The Rattler and The Halfpipe and there was no line to get on The Breakers or the other two but you couldnt get past the people and their tubes to get on them until you were three quarters up the tower then it was pretty much walk straight on. I hope they can look at changing the entry point for these rides. There was also the usual kids who get to the very top via their pushy parents and then freak out lol

The T5 was broken down the whole night I believe so lineup was huge for the other two. I overheard there is also a weight restriction on the tower complex so they only let so many people onto the actual stairs at a time. That whole 'T5' complex was down for about an hour and a half too.

Half pipe and H2GO racers were great but highlight was 360 Rush. Though the guy two before me split his leg open...

Will go back again soon I just fear what it will be like at capacity of 20,000

Lastly the carpark at night was so dark. They need a few more floodlights in there and also would love to see them put up some signage along the roads directing people to the park.

Other than that though its awesome and should be fantastic once they have had a month or so of operations.

Edited December 10, 2013 by danaant

[GoGoBoy]

THIS:

Issue is the way the towers are set up. For instance the Whitewater multi-slide complex has 5 seperate slides (including the four lane Breakkers). Now everyone was lining up to go on The Rattler and The Halfpipe and there was no line to get on The Breakers or the other two but you couldnt get past the people and their tubes to get on them until you were three quarters up the tower then it was pretty much walk straight on. I hope they can look at changing the entry point for these rides.

Needs signage and better organisation!

Half pipe and H2GO racers were great but highlight was 360 Rush. Though the guy two before me split his leg open...

Split his leg open? Are you serious? How did that happen? More details please.