Wet N wild Sydney Trip Report

[JulieLovis]

I took my neices to Wet n Wild today. I was surprised to find that somehow it's become even more disorganized and chaotic than last season. The entry is a shambles, people seemingly just walking in without passes, a massive line for day passes, people arguing out the front amongst themselves and with the staff, complete chaos in the queues, no signage, queues for food that don't move, rubbish everywhere, people smoking, people complaining about EVERYTHING (some warranted, some not!), then topped off with a nice big fight / brawl right in front of the girls in the afternoon - blood all over the place... Not good! At this point I decided it was time for us to up and leave. I really wanted this park to be wonderful, but I must confess based on my 2 and only visits.... It's horrible!!! Not sure I can do it again! Take me to Wet n Wild on the Gold Coast any day!

Is it just me? Please tell me this is not the norm...

[Jobe]

Wow not good Julielovis! I haven not been there yet either but this is really making me think twice- I do not want my family to see scenes like this! Think I will stick to our annual trip to Jamberoo-been going there for the last 3 years and we have not been disappointed yet!

[mickey_079]

I feel as though the park is earning a bad rep for itself, from the people I speak to, trip reports I see on here, reviews on travel websites and even news articles!

While I am typing I may as well ask if anyone knows the height requirements for the Wet n Wild Junior slides? My sister would like to take her son (almost 3) and since he has to pay no matter what to get in she would like to make sure he can actually enjoy some slides.

[themagician]

For WnW GC it says on the website under 140cm and under the age of 10.

[Reanimated35]

How did they do so well worth the coast parks but seem to do so badly with the Sydney ones?

[AUSTHEMEPARKS]

How did they do so well worth the coast parks but seem to do so badly with the Sydney ones?

Think of it like video games. Watch Dogs and Destiny got way too overhyped and people were hating on them. That's the same with Wet'N'Wild Sydney. It was too overhyped because we didn't have any water park or theme park since the closure of wonderland and Village Roadshow hurried up to get wet n wild opened.

[Reanimated35]

That's their own fault though. They had plenty of time and no competition. They could have held off another year and still would have been the first

[mickey_079]

I don't think it has to do with hype. Lots of people say the slides are great (what they manage to get on). The pattern of complaints seems to be poor organisation, excessive costs, no signage, and of course crowds, not much you can do about crowds though. I am still unsure why they aren't open on weekdays out of school holidays though.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

There is plenty they can do about crowds... limit park capacity. Of course - it's a financially limiting decision, and for that reason they won't... but the park clearly isn't designed to handle the capacity they currently have set - so it should be reduced.

WWW recognised this and frequently hit capacity in it's early days. I think WnWS underestimated the interest in the park (and as we all know - oversold dramatically on their season passes).

[mickey_079]

I completely agree. Hopefully things will improve in the future.

I'm heading out on the 19th so I guess I'll get to see if it really is what people say it is.

[AUSTHEMEPARKS]

I completely agree. Hopefully things will improve in the future.

I'm heading out on the 19th so I guess I'll get to see if it really is what people say it is.

Expect the rides to be awesome though! The Tantrum and Half Pipe are musts.

[GoGoBoy]

I took my neices to Wet n Wild today. I was surprised to find that somehow it's become even more disorganized and chaotic than last season. The entry is a shambles, people seemingly just walking in without passes, a massive line for day passes, people arguing out the front amongst themselves and with the staff, complete chaos in the queues, no signage, queues for food that don't move, rubbish everywhere, people smoking, people complaining about EVERYTHING (some warranted, some not!), then topped off with a nice big fight / brawl right in front of the girls in the afternoon - blood all over the place... Not good! At this point I decided it was time for us to up and leave. I really wanted this park to be wonderful, but I must confess based on my 2 and only visits.... It's horrible!!! Not sure I can do it again! Take me to Wet n Wild on the Gold Coast any day!

Is it just me? Please tell me this is not the norm...

Don't let the experience with the fight put you off JulieLovis. I think that's a very rare event and you just happened to be there when it happened. There was lots of talk on WnW's facebook page about it, so it clearly isn't happening all the time. What ISN'T excusable is how disorganised things still are this season. The lack-of-signage situation on the stairs and the resulting queuing system is beyond ridiculous. When I visited last season, I even remember seeing the managing director, Chris Warhurst, walking up the stairs himself and telling people which side was for which line ("this one's for the red slide; that one's for the green slide"). You'd think after this he'd know they needed to install signs for this season!!

[Brad2912]

If anyone has a News Limited subscription (I've used all my free articles) there is a story about WnWS on the front page of the DT website

[Flea]

Terrible article. Their main gripe was with the hour long queues.

Part of me is starting to believe that the lack of a theme park in Sydney for a number of years (and well, a lack of a truly busy park for almost 2 decades) has resulted in locals forgetting that good theme parks attract queues. I can't speak for queue management this season as I've yet to visit, but regardless - it is a brand spanking new park in a city of over 4 million and you're complaining that it's busy during the opening week of a new season during school holidays? Please.

[Brad2912]

Sounds like a ridiculous story to me!

[AUSTHEMEPARKS]

Terrible article. Their main gripe was with the hour long queues.

Part of me is starting to believe that the lack of a theme park in Sydney for a number of years (and well, a lack of a truly busy park for almost 2 decades) has resulted in locals forgetting that good theme parks attract queues. I can't speak for queue management this season as I've yet to visit, but regardless - it is a brand spanking new park in a city of over 4 million and you're complaining that it's busy during the opening week of a new season during school holidays? Please.

Actually the queues only go up to 40 minutes now. Some rides are only 10 minute waits.

[KingdaKa]

If all rides had hour long queues, that would be pretty bad for a waterpark...

[Brad2912]

Sounds like a typical water park in peak summer season to me..

[mickey_079]

If all rides had hour long queues, that would be pretty bad for a waterpark...

Pretty normal really. Adventure Cove on Sentosa Island had 1.5 hour long queues when I was there, it was during the middle of the week, school was in and there was no public holiday. Luckily the tickets were cheap though.

[Gazza]

So, I was here on Monday the 22nd and had a pretty good day. I arrived around 10:30 and was out by 3:30 (At that point in the afternoon a cool change/storm was clearly coming through, and warnings were played over the PA, but I'd done everything by that point so didnt feel the need to stick around)

The week before Christmas is actually a good time for any Australian water park it seems. WnW GC wasn't busy, and in Sydney only the top car park was full, and it wasnt until late arvo that cars started filling the first couple of rows on the bottom one.

So it wasn't dead quiet or anything, but it was I think pretty bearable considering it was holidays and very good weather.

So with a lap on each slide, a couple of walks across the wave pool and a stopover for a Chicken Salad at lunch I think that means I was averaging a slide every 20 mins roughly. Tantrum/T5/Bombora are far and away the most popular, on the other hand the H2Go and 360Rush were more or less a walk on. For the 8 Whitewater west slides there was no wait for tubes, and pretty minimal waits for each slide. The complex really does suck up people, though Tropical Cyclone and Aquatube suffer a bit from their location. Halfpipe and Typhoon are far and away the most popular slides but the other two afformentioned slides often sit empty as people work their way around the main queue.

But hey, people tend to ride the breakers a bit more than previously!

Just on that, at the base of all towers are overhead signs for each slide which are coloured to match the slide (New signs are also beside where each slide flushes out), and new dividing rails which keep each queue separate. On the Two proslide towers and the racer tower it works quite well. On the whitewater tower it mostly works, but on the last flight of stairs people still get mixed up (To the point that the queues for Typhoon and Aquatube were "crossing over") so I reckon all that is needed is a 2nd set of confirmatory signs and coloured lines on the ground to keep the final stage of each queue in order.

The new Nick theming in WnW Jr Nickelodeon Beach is pretty nifty, mostly just static sculpts, including a Spongebob Pineapple House, Patrick, Spongebob, the 4 ninja turtles (Each in various poses, one taking a photo, another doing a skateboard trick, one standing and laughing, and another lying, covered in sand with shells and seaweed positioned and sand patterned as if to be pretending to be a mermaid... and the bubble guppies (que?)

Food wise, I had a Caesar Salad, Chips and drinks from the bottom terrace of the surf club, and the speed of service seemed way faster than what you get on the GC...The massive kitchen obviously helps a lot!

As for my thoughts on the rides since a year ago.

-Double Bowlseye is still a bit better than what it looks. Dont focus on the bowls being slow, focus on the enclosed spirals and drops out of the bowls.

-Had a fully loaded ride on Curler, was OK, but I rate bowlseye ahead of it.

-Riptide Is a bit of a gem, just because of how much speed it picks up.

-Tantrum I still like the best, just because it goes for ages and is properly wild.

-T5, 2nd favourite, but not a lot in it. Runs the best out of All the Australian Tornados since it doesnt have as much of a "bump" of water compared to the others...Plus it's dark.

-Bombora, well, I wish we'd hurry up and see one on the GC since it looks so different to anything else here. The dark spiralling drop is pretty cool.

-H2Go is great fun, and the placing system was going on each lane. I managed 2nd place.

-Is 360Rush too intimidating for Sydneysiders? It never had a queue, but the GC one always seems to. Still prefer it to the GC version due to the see through trapdoor, smoother ride, and less water spray.

-Tropical Cyclone wasn't as fast as I remember, but still leaves your head spinning.

-Halfpipe seemed better than I remember, and is more or less on par with Bombora, not as big, but the smoothness and "drifting" you do makes up for it.

-Aquatube. This is another really underrated slide. Deserves more love, it's brilliant!

-Typhoon isn't consistently spinning rafts backwards like it used to...Seems 50/50. Again, pretty good, and the oscilations in each barrel are nice and smooth.

-The Breakers. I think they're passable, but I wonder if it would make sense to pull two of them off and send them up to the Gold Coast, and then use the remaining space for a couple of new slides to add variety. Say a couple of toilet bowls or something?

[AUSTHEMEPARKS]

So, I was here on Monday the 22nd and had a pretty good day. I arrived around 10:30 and was out by 3:30 (At that point in the afternoon a cool change/storm was clearly coming through, and warnings were played over the PA, but I'd done everything by that point so didnt feel the need to stick around)

The week before Christmas is actually a good time for any Australian water park it seems. WnW GC wasn't busy, and in Sydney only the top car park was full, and it wasnt until late arvo that cars started filling the first couple of rows on the bottom one.

So it wasn't dead quiet or anything, but it was I think pretty bearable considering it was holidays and very good weather.

So with a lap on each slide, a couple of walks across the wave pool and a stopover for a Chicken Salad at lunch I think that means I was averaging a slide every 20 mins roughly. Tantrum/T5/Bombora are far and away the most popular, on the other hand the H2Go and 360Rush were more or less a walk on. For the 8 Whitewater west slides there was no wait for tubes, and pretty minimal waits for each slide. The complex really does suck up people, though Tropical Cyclone and Aquatube suffer a bit from their location. Halfpipe and Typhoon are far and away the most popular slides but the other two afformentioned slides often sit empty as people work their way around the main queue.

But hey, people tend to ride the breakers a bit more than previously!

Just on that, at the base of all towers are overhead signs for each slide which are coloured to match the slide (New signs are also beside where each slide flushes out), and new dividing rails which keep each queue separate. On the Two proslide towers and the racer tower it works quite well. On the whitewater tower it mostly works, but on the last flight of stairs people still get mixed up (To the point that the queues for Typhoon and Aquatube were "crossing over") so I reckon all that is needed is a 2nd set of confirmatory signs and coloured lines on the ground to keep the final stage of each queue in order.

The new Nick theming in WnW Jr Nickelodeon Beach is pretty nifty, mostly just static sculpts, including a Spongebob Pineapple House, Patrick, Spongebob, the 4 ninja turtles (Each in various poses, one taking a photo, another doing a skateboard trick, one standing and laughing, and another lying, covered in sand with shells and seaweed positioned and sand patterned as if to be pretending to be a mermaid... and the bubble guppies (que?)

Food wise, I had a Caesar Salad, Chips and drinks from the bottom terrace of the surf club, and the speed of service seemed way faster than what you get on the GC...The massive kitchen obviously helps a lot!

As for my thoughts on the rides since a year ago.

-Double Bowlseye is still a bit better than what it looks. Dont focus on the bowls being slow, focus on the enclosed spirals and drops out of the bowls.

-Had a fully loaded ride on Curler, was OK, but I rate bowlseye ahead of it.

-Riptide Is a bit of a gem, just because of how much speed it picks up.

-Tantrum I still like the best, just because it goes for ages and is properly wild.

-T5, 2nd favourite, but not a lot in it. Runs the best out of All the Australian Tornados since it doesnt have as much of a "bump" of water compared to the others...Plus it's dark.

-Bombora, well, I wish we'd hurry up and see one on the GC since it looks so different to anything else here. The dark spiralling drop is pretty cool.

-H2Go is great fun, and the placing system was going on each lane. I managed 2nd place.

-Is 360Rush too intimidating for Sydneysiders? It never had a queue, but the GC one always seems to. Still prefer it to the GC version due to the see through trapdoor, smoother ride, and less water spray.

-Tropical Cyclone wasn't as fast as I remember, but still leaves your head spinning.

-Halfpipe seemed better than I remember, and is more or less on par with Bombora, not as big, but the smoothness and "drifting" you do makes up for it.

-Aquatube. This is another really underrated slide. Deserves more love, it's brilliant!

-Typhoon isn't consistently spinning rafts backwards like it used to...Seems 50/50. Again, pretty good, and the oscilations in each barrel are nice and smooth.

-The Breakers. I think they're passable, but I wonder if it would make sense to pull two of them off and send them up to the Gold Coast, and then use the remaining space for a couple of new slides to add variety. Say a couple of toilet bowls or something?

Nice trip report gazza. Wet N wild Sydney is a really good place. You think they still have room to put another slide tower? Maybe a kamikaze style attraction or a speed slide. They should pull 2 of the breakers out and send them to the coast. Hmmm we'll see what they will do next year?

[Gazza]

The park could probably put in another 4 slide towers in all honesty... the park is quite spread out.

[GoGoBoy]

So, I was here on Monday the 22nd and had a pretty good day. I arrived around 10:30 and was out by 3:30 (At that point in the afternoon a cool change/storm was clearly coming through, and warnings were played over the PA, but I'd done everything by that point so didnt feel the need to stick around)

The week before Christmas is actually a good time for any Australian water park it seems. WnW GC wasn't busy, and in Sydney only the top car park was full, and it wasnt until late arvo that cars started filling the first couple of rows on the bottom one.

So it wasn't dead quiet or anything, but it was I think pretty bearable considering it was holidays and very good weather.

So with a lap on each slide, a couple of walks across the wave pool and a stopover for a Chicken Salad at lunch I think that means I was averaging a slide every 20 mins roughly. Tantrum/T5/Bombora are far and away the most popular, on the other hand the H2Go and 360Rush were more or less a walk on. For the 8 Whitewater west slides there was no wait for tubes, and pretty minimal waits for each slide. The complex really does suck up people, though Tropical Cyclone and Aquatube suffer a bit from their location. Halfpipe and Typhoon are far and away the most popular slides but the other two afformentioned slides often sit empty as people work their way around the main queue.

But hey, people tend to ride the breakers a bit more than previously!

Just on that, at the base of all towers are overhead signs for each slide which are coloured to match the slide (New signs are also beside where each slide flushes out), and new dividing rails which keep each queue separate. On the Two proslide towers and the racer tower it works quite well. On the whitewater tower it mostly works, but on the last flight of stairs people still get mixed up (To the point that the queues for Typhoon and Aquatube were "crossing over") so I reckon all that is needed is a 2nd set of confirmatory signs and coloured lines on the ground to keep the final stage of each queue in order.

The new Nick theming in WnW Jr Nickelodeon Beach is pretty nifty, mostly just static sculpts, including a Spongebob Pineapple House, Patrick, Spongebob, the 4 ninja turtles (Each in various poses, one taking a photo, another doing a skateboard trick, one standing and laughing, and another lying, covered in sand with shells and seaweed positioned and sand patterned as if to be pretending to be a mermaid... and the bubble guppies (que?)

Food wise, I had a Caesar Salad, Chips and drinks from the bottom terrace of the surf club, and the speed of service seemed way faster than what you get on the GC...The massive kitchen obviously helps a lot!

As for my thoughts on the rides since a year ago.

-Double Bowlseye is still a bit better than what it looks. Dont focus on the bowls being slow, focus on the enclosed spirals and drops out of the bowls.

-Had a fully loaded ride on Curler, was OK, but I rate bowlseye ahead of it.

-Riptide Is a bit of a gem, just because of how much speed it picks up.

-Tantrum I still like the best, just because it goes for ages and is properly wild.

-T5, 2nd favourite, but not a lot in it. Runs the best out of All the Australian Tornados since it doesnt have as much of a "bump" of water compared to the others...Plus it's dark.

-Bombora, well, I wish we'd hurry up and see one on the GC since it looks so different to anything else here. The dark spiralling drop is pretty cool.

-H2Go is great fun, and the placing system was going on each lane. I managed 2nd place.

-Is 360Rush too intimidating for Sydneysiders? It never had a queue, but the GC one always seems to. Still prefer it to the GC version due to the see through trapdoor, smoother ride, and less water spray.

-Tropical Cyclone wasn't as fast as I remember, but still leaves your head spinning.

-Halfpipe seemed better than I remember, and is more or less on par with Bombora, not as big, but the smoothness and "drifting" you do makes up for it.

-Aquatube. This is another really underrated slide. Deserves more love, it's brilliant!

-Typhoon isn't consistently spinning rafts backwards like it used to...Seems 50/50. Again, pretty good, and the oscilations in each barrel are nice and smooth.

-The Breakers. I think they're passable, but I wonder if it would make sense to pull two of them off and send them up to the Gold Coast, and then use the remaining space for a couple of new slides to add variety. Say a couple of toilet bowls or something?

Brilliant trip report Gazza, thanks for taking the time. I heartily agree with just about everything you said. Aquatube is indeed underrated - that slide is just plain fun. Interesting to hear that Typhoon isn't turning rafts around anymore. I think that's a good thing, but any idea why that's the case? Would they have made some intentional modifications? Totally agree with your call about ripping two of the Breakers slides out. They could then market two new slides heavily for the next season.

I'm really pleased to hear they have mostly fixed up the signage and queuing situation. So many people complained about it last season, and it was causing so many issues, that it was ridiculous that nothing had been done about it. Also good to hear about Nick Beach. WnW Sydney has been, until the intro of this area, utterly devoid of theming or decent presentation, so anything that helps with this is welcome.

[pushbutton]

Money. That's the answer. They don't wanna invest in simple basic things because they do cost some money.

So they need to charge a bit more for annual passes rather than cut out the things that make the parks what they should be.

[Gazza]

New pics of WnW Syd:

http://www.parkz.com.au/parks/AU/Sydney/Wet_n_Wild_Sydney/photos

Nickelodeon Beach in particular:

http://www.parkz.com.au/parks/AU/Sydney/Wet_n_Wild_Sydney/photos/ride/1598