Wet 'n' Wild Sydney Construction

[themeparkgc]

That looks like a video promoting the previous iteration of the design (It seems as if the park has gone through 3 full redesigns through the whole process).

In previous versions, it seemed as if only Whitewater West were doing the slides, so it had a Ratter instead of a Tornado for instance.

I agree with this, I think it is just an old video from before the park opened. Also, the original plans for the park were drafted by WhiteWater West, hence all the rides by them. I believe the final plans were done by Water Technology Inc.

[Flea]

It also features a lazy river that serves somewhat of a purpose with slides in the middle. Much prefer the look of that than what was built. Re the strange operating hours, it seems management are only interested in opening the park when they know it'll be slammed. Makes me wonder if they're even remotely interested in targetting the domestic/international market. I know I wouldn't travel 45 - 90 mins (peak starts at around 3 in Sydney and you don't want to be on the M4 then) for a few hours at a park

[Bussy]

I think the 3pm to 8pm hours are very smart as long as they reduce the ticket price, which I imagine they will. Think about it, they will get the kids who have finished the day at school but the biggest advantage of this is staffing, they only need one shift of staff and don't have to provide breaks as it's a 5 hour shift (anything longer requires a minimum of a 30 minute break).

"The Bus is now leaving for Staffhouse Creek, Tasmania"

[joz]

I think it's pretty piss poor to say "You asked, we listened" when what they're doing is reducing the operating hours. Very poor, though I suppose it's good to see Village Roadshow making pissing off all the locals a priority, rather than just an unintended side effect like in the past. Makes watching the mess from QLD all the more interesting.

[JulieLovis]

I agree with GoGoBoy & Joz… the 3pm to 8pm days are just plain weird and are more in line with what you'd expect from a small, family run arcade not a "world class" water park. And I agree the "you asked, we listened" line is very piss poor indeed. It seems like another knee jerk reaction.

You would think that opening 3-8 is not going to attract any new business except for the season pass holders due to reasons outlined above. I doubt they would discount the gate admission - this would be a crazy move considering the park's demand… but who knows… knowing the track record, I wouldn't put it past them….!

[GoGoBoy]

The saga continues: http://m.smh.com.au/nsw/wetnwild-security-chief-quits-after-revelation-he-lives-with-successful-tenderer-20140118-311l8.html

[danaant]

I agree with most on here, the 3pm to 8pm hours are just plain dumb. They will attract only the season pass holders during this time (of which I am one). Why would you not try to attract more visitors, word of mouth and most importantly for them more revenue by having 10-5 or 10-8 in Feb. I understand that school goes back end of Jan but so what, its still a Summer month, there are 6 million people in Sydney let alone tourists and surrounds and they seem to be just catering towards people who go there every day. I had organised to take a day off work in Feb to get on most attractions but 5 hours in afternoon I will get on 4 rides in that time lol.

I would have thought that a park in its first season of operating would be trialling things. How do they know that numbers will slow down, yes they could base it on their other establishments around the world but we are a pretty big city, who knows what numbers they may attract in Feb unless they trial it one year. Let alone that we are charged full price for a season pass and yet the season only began mid December. Its crazy!

I went last Thursday (my third time) arriving at 6pm staying to close and did the Surf Deck for 45 mins + 6 rides. I still haven't gotten on the T5 as it was broken down again when I tried to line up. This has happened all 3 times I have been there

The queuing system still sucks and needs major fixing in the off season. Now with the fast pass on 2 of the towers they take up half of the stairs. On the towers the fast pass lane should be just wide enough for one person. The T5 Tower should have a dedicated line right from the beginning with a person manning it on beginning entry to the line and at bottom of the stairs. Amount of people just using it to walk halfway up the tower is crazy. We also had the usual kids trying to do the old 'my friends are up there' and push in on the non-fast pass line (they weren't going past us lol).

Boomerang Bay is just sad, way too small, too boring. Why not build something like the Atlantis Current, there's is 1 mile long, excellent theming with action currents, waterfalls etc and able to go on rides. I would like to see Sydney's wrap around at least half of the towers, you could go around the outskirts with exits that are near each of the queues. Anyways I'm just hoping Jamberoo's Giant Action River gets built over the offseason.

Lastly like others I cannot imagine any work other than minor improvements will be done in the off season, surely with Sydney planning they would have had to have the development application in by now and as far as I can see there is nothing new as yet.

[fred]

A couple of interesting things to note as of my last visit on Sunday.

The Family Raft tower is now using clover leaf rafts so maximum people is 4 ... Not sure why they have changed ,maybe it is because these rafts do not fly across the pool like the other rafts did . I quite like them as they are great fun on The Riptide where you really go up high on the wall now.

The Bombora was closed for "Maintenance" , but having heard a few thing from lifeguards and various people at the park that there have been a lot of injuries including a couple people being taken away on a stretcher (one kid was knocked out cold apparently) ,I am wondering if there is a particular design fault with this installation and if we will actually ever see it open again . Having been on it a few times it can be very dangerous (but great fun ) if you do not hold on tight to the raft, as when you come back down from the wall at speed it hits the water in slide hard, and if you are not holding on tight on the right hand side you could easily fall out and hit your head on the side of the slide.

I have been going from 8pm at night and you have no issues getting on rides then because the fast-pass stops at 8pm. They have really pissed off a lot of people with the fast pass by allowing the fast pass people to hog the slides and not letting other people having a go and with the poorly designed towers the lines having been terrible in the day. My Daughter was there all day with her friends and managed to get on 3 rides.

There has been a lot of negative comments about the park and all are justified , you would have thought it would have been smart to get some experienced people from the Gold Coast to run things. But I will congratulate them by opening the park until 11pm it means you can get on all the slides if you are prepared to stay to the end.

Cheers

[jjuttp]

It did get entertaining though watching the op's in the pool catch the rafts off Riptide. 2 guys when i last went would play a game that if they didn't stop that raft they'd switch and look after the Curler's riders. Although you could also see that they would fly out with a great deal of speed, to the point that a really buff guy was jumping out of the water and taking most of the impact with his chest and arms.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1. The Family Raft tower is now using clover leaf rafts so maximum people is 4 ... Not sure why they have changed

2. I am wondering if there is a particular design fault with this installation and if we will actually ever see it open again .

1. Wasn't it always planned to run cloverleaf? Didn't they just run two-person rafts because the conveyor broke down?

2. Like other installations, dangerous slides causing injuries are usually a liability that the manufacturer takes responsibility for - they'll be required to re-engineer it to a level that will prevent the injuries.

[Gazza]

1. Wasn't it always planned to run cloverleaf? Didn't they just run two-person rafts because the conveyor broke down?

Nah, it was planned to run 5 person mammoth rafts (And indeed has been till this point ) which allow for a slightly lower height limit. So jjuttp, does that mean you are the only member who has ridden Riptide with 3 types of rafts in the space of a couple of months ?

Edited January 21, 2014 by Gazza

[jjuttp]

Nah, it was planned to run 5 person mammoth rafts (And indeed has been till this point ) which allow for a slightly lower height limit. So jjuttp, does that mean you are the only member who has ridden Riptide with 3 types of rafts in the space of a couple of months ?

The Curler, yes.

And i much prefer the doubles as i find there to be way more speed. It makes things like the curler feel like the Tropical Cyclone/Constrictor on a larger scale.

[fred]

Further to my post about the bombora being closed - here is why...

http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/story/2034831/bathurst-girl-falls-off-wet-n-wild-ride/

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

For those who are too lazy to click:

A BATHURST family’s fun day out to the Wet ‘n’ Wild Sydney theme park ended at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead on Sunday.

Eight-year-old Alisha Merchant spent much of the day in hospital after she injured herself as she was coming down one of the theme park’s water attractions.

Her father Sherry Merchant said she was on the Bombora Wall ride with her three sisters when she fell out of the rubber raft.

“Four people sit on a rubber ring, with a handle on each side, but they have to put their feet straight in the middle,” he said. “You go around a tube and then near the end of the ride there was a hump. The force of it made her let go and she flew off the ring.”

Luckily for Alisha, she landed back down on her bottom and did not receive any serious injuries.

“When she got down, she complained about back pains, so we took her to Westmead,” he said. “They did x-rays and luckily there were no spinal injuries.

“Then a couple of hours later, another couple brought their daughter into the hospital who hurt herself on the same ride.”

Bidwell resident Dianne Leggett brought her eight-year-old daughter Mia Gore into the hospital after she also fell off the rubber raft.

Ms Leggett said the ride was shut down after the incident as her daughter had to be carried off on a back board because she couldn’t walk at the time.

“She has ligament damage to the back of her neck. She has to go back to Westmead in a few weeks,” she said.

“From the stories I’ve heard, my daughter is lucky she is still walking.”

She added that while Wet ‘n’ Wild was a good place for kids, she had a lot of safety concerns. Mr Merchant agreed and said it was worrying that such an accident had happened twice in the one day on the same ride. He noted that he would like to see a harness or belt put on the raft to improve safety and ensure that young ride goers did not fall off.

“My girls didn’t mess up, they weren’t jumping up and down on the thing,” he said. “I’m worried about what could happen if people land on their neck or head. They could be seriously injured, end up a quadriplegic.”

Since the Village Roadshow Theme Parks’ venue opened in December last year, more than two million rides have been taken at Wet ‘n’ Wild, and corporate communication manager Darrin Davies says the safety and comfort of guests is the park’s number one priority.

“This incident is under review and all aspects of the ride will be looked at. Furthermore, the ride won’t re-open until that review is complete,” he said.

“We have at least two medical staff on site each day, including a registered nurse and a paramedic.

“If there is any doubt whatsoever, we call an ambulance,” Mr Davies said.

Fair enough - and closing the ride is the obvious decision in this case, to review the safety of the ride as well as safety procedures around it - Proslide are probably going to have to modify the slide if they can't fix the problem....

What i'm concerned about though is how much thought people put into their critique:

He noted that he would like to see a harness or belt put on the raft to improve safety

Oh sure - so when the raft accidentally flips in the splashdown pool, they're tied to the bloody raft and drown.

I'm confused what they're referring to? Is it where the raft meets standing water (like at the bottom of Kamikaze)? Or is it a physical part of the slide that they're hitting?

Of course, with ProSlide walls, the ride path is 100% predictable and riders move to the next thrill flawlessly.

(http://www.proslide.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/TornadoWAVE.pdf)

Is there any video or photo of exactly what or where this is happening?

[fred]

The problem occurs when you come off the wall and hit the standing water (the way the water runs is that it all meets up on the right hand side of the slide just off the wall ). It really hits the water and jolts the raft so if you are not expecting it you can come off very easily if you are facing backwards and are on the right hand side . I would suggest it may just be that there is too much water pressure on the slide and that the amount of standing water is bigger than the design.

These have been installed at a number of water parks so I would doubt it is an actual design fault.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Ok so what you're describing is very similar to the Kamikaze... although the Kamikaze basically has a 'lounge chair' style seat... I can imagine a clover leaf (or even a whirlywheel) would be difficult to remain seated when hitting that water (I believe it is intended as a braking mechanism)...

It doesn't make sense that there'd be many other installs not having the same issues - the pieces all bolt together to the same specs, don't they?

I don't think the 'water pressure' thing answers the question - the standing water would have to reach a 'critical mass' before it starts to drain... it should be 'self levelling' to a certain level regardless of the flow-rate. This should be the same on all installations of this type.

[GoGoBoy]

A couple of interesting things to note as of my last visit on Sunday.

The Family Raft tower is now using clover leaf rafts so maximum people is 4 ... Not sure why they have changed ,maybe it is because these rafts do not fly across the pool like the other rafts did . I quite like them as they are great fun on The Riptide where you really go up high on the wall now.

Well that's stupid. The whole point of a family raft slide is that it's a family RAFT slide. Now it's turning into some weird hybrid. Seems like ProSlide have really stuffed up here. Although I do wonder if WnW is being overly cautious in the case of the family slides?

[Flea]

Visited the park for the first time today. Got there shortly after opening and left at around 3. In that time we managed to get on 6 slides which I suppose isn't horrible - the carpark was probably 90% full. It's a bit too late to write up a proper review but just a few random notes:

Breakers - the public has certainly spoken on this one. Only 2 of the 4 slides were running and it was either a walk on or very short wait the few times I went up that tower. Just seems to be a real wasted opportunity. I hadn't really been following this park's construction but was really disappointed that it only featured one uphill part. General consensus is that it's boring.

Double BOWLSeye - again, no one likes it. It just doesn't gain enough speed for the bowl sections to be thrilling. Rafts would crawl around them (at least from what I saw). This would be literally a walk on if you didn't have to wait in the same queue for Riptide/The Curler which brings me to...

Fastpass/Line Management - this seriously needs to be properly addressed in the off season. Small scattered ziptied A4 signs isn't good enough, proper signage and line division is needed. As mentioned above people were waiting 30-45 mins in line for the BOWLSeye even though it was a walk on.

The T5/Tantrum/Bombora tower queue was crawling as Fastpass would always have priority. From base of stairs to the top was over an hour. We reached the front of the queue but waited for 2 loads as a couple groups with Fastpass came up. Not good. I don't mind the QLD fastpass - pay $20 for the top 5 attractions, but you can only ride each once. That's fair. We saw the same group of 4 ride Tantrum 3 times before us.

Food isn't horrible. Definitely edible and not ridiculously expensive after the gold pass discount ($14 for burger/chips/drink).

The main issue I have with the park is that it lacks atmosphere. It really does feel like a super generic water park. Slides, concrete and generic shade cloth. Don't get me wrong, the slides are fantastic and it's something Sydney desperately needed but I would've loved to see a few million thrown at dressing the place up a bit. Perhaps once the greenery grows in a bit it'll feel a little less basic!

[Dig]

Well that's stupid. The whole point of a family raft slide is that it's a family RAFT slide. Now it's turning into some weird hybrid. Seems like ProSlide have really stuffed up here. Although I do wonder if WnW is being overly cautious in the case of the family slides?

I went there for my second time last week, there were a few changes since my initial visit in December. The slide operator told us that the cloverleaf style tubes work better on the conveyor belt as it kept malfunctioning with the purple rafts. Those slides had some issues when I went, so I just decided to steer clear and line up for T5 instead. I'm not sure if they're going to bring the rafts back or just use the yellow ones from now on (the purple ones were a little less uncomfortable). The park is great fun but I don't feel it's worthy of being called a Theme Park, as there is no themeing and it has such a generic feeling to it. The sticky tar from the rushed car park surfacing sticks to your thongs as you proceed to the entrance. The wood chips around the park have also made their way into the sand and on the footpaths along with the sticky tar. Lots of different textures to walk on. A lot of people are just leaving their thongs and towels on the fencing at the bottom of the slides now. Fast Pass, both according to the people that bought them and the people who wish they bought them say that it is "so worth it" which it is, because it is so unfair. They need to regulate this somehow. The normal line barely moves and the fast pass lines are constantly soaked with water (everyone in the normal line is dry). I look forward to seeing the gardens and desperately planted bamboo get grown or even overgrown around the lazy river etc. But the lazy river is just so boring and short; It's a bit of a disappointment, so is the wave pool. They should really stop saying "Biggest'n'Best". But I am just glad that Sydney now has a decent water park, no matter how poorly run it is (considering the company history and the already existing water parks around the world they had to base it off).

[Gazza]

http://wetnwildsydney.com.au/plan-my-day.aspx#!

Park has extended to 10-8pm in first half of feb, with 11pm closing on friday and sat...Boo-ya!

Edited February 1, 2014 by Gazza

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

They should just extend these hours a month at a time. These constant changes have got to be pissing some people off.

[Bussy]

I don't know if I missed it or not but did anyone else notice that the NYE party that was cancelled and rescheduled for Australia Day was cancelled again and refunds were given and advice to contact Consumer Affairs with any further problems was made?

"The Bus is now leaving for Party Bore and Tank, Western Australia"

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The rescheduling to Australia day was shortlived - The first week of January, the uproar was so great, I think they nixed any idea of pushing ahead with it.

[bern1992]

I was on exchange in the USA for all of 2013, so have only recently started taking notice of Wet 'n' Wild Sydney, and can't help but notice the abundance of features similar to MyMagic+ at Walt Disney World in Orlando, and have to wonder just how close they get to infringing on patents owned by Disney. Firstly, MyBand is obviously "inspired" by the MagicBand at Walt Disney World, for park admission and making purchases using RFID technology. I'm very familiar with the MagicBand at Walt Disney World, and it certainly is a convenient method particularly for making purchases. Fast Pass? "Inspired" by... Disney's FASTPASS System. They even used the same name! From what it sounds, as it stands at Wet 'n' Wild Sydney, it's very unfair unlike Disney's system, so I hope they can sort that out, and I hope they change the name. I can't imagine Disney would be super thrilled about their name being used in a (somewhat) competitor park, particularly with a system that requires additional payment. MemoryMaker of MyMagic+ makes an appearance as MyMemories, to gain photographs taken during your day at the park.

I think the thing I find probably most bothering is that Wet 'n' Wild are even combining the words and using camel case exactly like Disney are doing. Surely it won't be too long until they're hearing something from Disney, wouldn't you think?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm inclined to think the RFID band technology was not developed by Disney, but rather was sold TO them. If the company that developed this technology sold it to WnWS too, that'd be out of Disney's reach.

Fastpass is the only thing I can see that potentially has an issue, but any 'jump the queue' system these days is colloquially referred to as a 'fastpass' system, so i'm not sure a legal case, in a different jurisdiction, in a country where Disney has no theme park foothold, i don't think would succeed.