Sea World Expansion

[Troy81]

Todays Sunday Mail mentions that Sea World is looking to double its size and add a water park.  Apparently SeaWorld have been in talks with Crown and Chinese consortium AFS to "expand the theme parks footprint."  It also says that it will become the biggest theme park in the country. 

Didn't see that coming.

[themagician]

Add a water park? It already has one, which they are apparently are adding a new attraction too. Doubling the car park size would be good for the peak periods, as that grassed space fills up pretty quickly too. In regards to becoming the biggest Australian theme park, they aren't actually much smaller than DW when measuring on near maps. DW is approximately 18ha (and that's just the park itself, not including WWW, the carpark or any additional land they own), while SW is approximately 16.4ha (not including the resort or carpark). But they only way they could make it the biggest park is by either expanding the park into the Broadwater, which would be insanely costly and very unlikely due to councils restrictions, or expanding it east into the bushlands area, which I was under the impression was a protected area. So I don't know how they'll do it, but good luck.

[Santa07]

I honestly see absolutely no use of VRTPs having a second major water park. With the casino also being built on the other side of the carpark I see no way for the park to actually expand its land size without reclaiming land into the broadwater (and that's not going to happen). I think it's just another case of reporter bulls**t stretching the truth.

[Theme Park Girl]

I see it as a perfect explanation as to why Sea World's water park has still not been redeveloped after permanent closure a year or two ago. Obviously because they have been in serious negotiations over this alternative. Let's not forget there's plenty of unused land on the other side of the road as well. 

As a former Sea World employee twice over, I'm very excited over this news! The park has desperately needed something brand new and exciting for a while now ??

1 hour ago, themagician said:

Add a water park? It already has one, which they are apparently are adding a new attraction to. 

Not sure where you heard that, but I can confirm that there's no plans for the water park to reopen or add new attractions to. It's pending complete redevelopment, possibly into a completely new and different attraction. 

[themagician]

20 minutes ago, Theme Park Girl said:

Not sure where you heard that, but I can confirm that there's no plans for the water park to reopen or add new attractions to. It's pending complete redevelopment, possibly into a completely new and different attraction. 

SWs maintenance page

Please note that the Water Park including the Plunge Waterslide is officially closed, following plans of an exciting new attraction to feature in this area of the resort.

[Reanimated35]

1 hour ago, themagician said:

SWs maintenance page

Please note that the Water Park including the Plunge Waterslide is officially closed, following plans of an exciting new attraction to feature in this area of the resort.

That doesn't specify new water attraction, just that they're adding an "exciting new attraction to feature in this area of the resort"

Not new water attraction, but it's written as though it will be something for hotel guests only. (Unless you could pay to get to the water park from Sea World?)  

Edited September 4, 2016 by reanimated35

[themagician]

^Yeah, I misread it, thinking it was just a new attraction was being added to the current water park.

[iwerks]

In in case no one has posted the article:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/new-casino-centrepiece-of-3-billion-development/news-story/c4b85077b411773ec098c73d4bdd7bf2

Can someone explain what they think is going on here? Is Sea World getting the money to expand from Packer? Are they selling off part of their land or car park for the new casino or the Chinese consortium and going with a multi-storey car park? Will the new waterpark be across the road or on the other side of the resort? VRTP would have to find a lot of cash all of a sudden to make SW the biggest park in Australia. I hope they have at least one dark ride. 

 

 

[Reanimated35]

4 minutes ago, iwerks said:

In in case no one has posted the article:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/new-casino-centrepiece-of-3-billion-development/news-story/c4b85077b411773ec098c73d4bdd7bf2

 

Please tell me you're not paying for this tabloid shit?

Quote

You've reached a
PREMIUM article

To read this article, subscribe today and get unrestricted access on all your devices.

Although, interesting, if I don't use your link, it's not a paid article. 

If anyone else is having the same issue, try this and click the article that way.

Edited September 4, 2016 by reanimated35

[iwerks]

2 minutes ago, reanimated35 said:

Please tell me you're not paying for this tabloid shit?

 

Yes, because I want to find out all the news in a state I don't even live in!?!? I can read it - thought I would post it for those people who don't have a copy in front of them and don't live in the wonderful state of Queensland, where you have to pay for your articles.

Thanks for swearing, btw.

 

[Reanimated35]

6 minutes ago, iwerks said:

Yes, because I want to find out all the news in a state I don't even live in!?!? I can read it - thought I would post it for those people who don't have a copy in front of them and don't live in the wonderful state of Queensland, where you have to pay for your articles.

Thanks for swearing, btw.

 

Fuck me dead, mate, 'shit' is hardly a swear word these days. 

 

Anyway, I can't see SW really "doubling" in size. Seems a bit much to get approval, but would be pretty cool. Would also be pretty cool to get our own 'Ocean Explorer' attraction

 

[themagician]

If they are increasing the size of the park, I do hope that they don't go and remove/destroy that bushland along the coastline. That is a really important ecosystem for that area, and I feel that would be much better to look at from the beach, then a theme park. But i am fairly sure that land is protected anyways.

[Brad2912]

The Casino consortium still has many many hoops to jump through... 

[Original]

18 minutes ago, themagician said:

If they are increasing the size of the park, I do hope that they don't go and remove/destroy that bushland along the coastline. That is a really important ecosystem for that area, and I feel that would be much better to look at from the beach, then a theme park. But i am fairly sure that land is protected anyways.

It's man made anyway. I don't get this protect the ecosystem and environment stuff  everyone goes on with. It's not natural, it wasn't there to begin with. I'm all for the 3 storey height limit from Marina Mirage on wards, but I think protect some bushland, make some parkland and develop the rest. The Spit is full of unsavoury things, especially in the bushland.

 

I've long championed for SW to expand to the east across the road, I think it would be great if they did! More rides and more animal enclosures. Bring it on! 

[joz]

It's honestly hard to know what to make of this from what's publicly available.  They do specifically mention expanding the footprint, so what options are there?  They can go East towards the beach or they can go into the Beoadwater, or south (Slightly) into the pre exisiting carpark.  

 

Why would they go in any direction?  Well East or West would make sense if the new development of the spit wanted to be wider than what Sea World currently is, and if they got it through then Sea World would be bound by the same rules and could make a claim to the neighbouring land.  So that's why you'd be able to expand east or west.  What about South?

 

Parking is a big issue on the Spit.  What if the plan is for a new carpark for both the new development and the casino.  What if said carpark was built to the South of the new development to guarantee foot traffic through the new area?  That would allow Sea World to expand quite a distance to the South.  Not enough to double the size of the park perhaps, but easily enough to double the amount of used land in the park, which also looks good on a press release.

 

Honestly, I know nothing about this one, I haven't heard a peep out of Sea World for a long time, and this is the first I've heard of a water park.  Given what some of the other proposals for the park have been, my cynical side says that out of the new development, Sea World will get better parking, allowing them to build a second gate inside the park boundary, and a water park is the current thinking.  When they say 'increased footprint' they're mearly referring to the amount of used land.  

 

Be interesting to see how it plays out.

[iwerks]

1 hour ago, reanimated35 said:

Fuck me dead, mate, 'shit' is hardly a swear word these days. 

 

Anyway, I can't see SW really "doubling" in size. Seems a bit much to get approval, but would be pretty cool. Would also be pretty cool to get our own 'Ocean Explorer' attraction

 

Yup, still swearing.  Can we not be 10?

If they did expand across the road, they could extend the monorail to the other part of the park (Push would like that).  Maybe when they say expansion, they meant double the number of attractions or something.  Like Joz, I just think they should make better use of the land they already have.

[joz]

Hey I didn't say I think they should just do that, just that there's a chance that's what they mean. If it were up to me I'd like to see them go full Cedar Point and take over the entire Spit 

[Tim Dasco]

Seems like VRTP is addicted to spending money this year. Seems like with them spending so much cash this year it's going to be quite a long time before they start to see any profit. But it's going to be great for them to show of their new things come commonwealth games.

i just hope if they do a water park they take a page out of AW's book and themes their water slides. 

[iwerks]

Sorry @joz, it's definitely a case of what they probably will do versus what we'd like them to do. So, is the article implying that the funding for the expansion is coming from this deal as opposed to VRTP's Capex budget?

[joz]

To me it sounds like if the new casino goes ahead, Sea World gets extra room to expand as a kind of by product.  All it says in the article is "Sea World would also double in size, add a water park and become the biggest theme park in the country".  Where is the money coming from?  What direction are they expanding?  How much extra land is on the table?  Who knows!  Like I say this one is totally out of left field for me.

[rappa]

I would think logically the theme park would take over the existing car park and parking would be in a new multi level structure that is shared with the casino development. That would make the most sense. 

[Troy81]

From the cgi image in the article it looks as though the hotel/casino is built on the grassed area before you get to SeaWorld.  I was sure Village owned that land.  Quite possibly there would be land reclamation into the broadwater.  3 billion dollars is a lot of money, part of the deal may be the funding of the reclamation for SeaWorld due to offloading the land south.  Who knows?  Is this the major announcement that we all thought was the MW attraction?

[joz]

It's a complex picture, but from memory, Sea World don't own any of the land, it's all Crown land, and Sea World lease it.   The land that Sea World control extends about as far as the Monorail track.  The rest of the car park isn't strictly speaking Sea World's

 

I'd suspect that the carpark plays a big part in all this though.  It's all speculation though, I mean for all we know, maybe the current carpark will be taken over, it'll be taken over, land dredged into the Broadwater to expand the park, and the current vacant land in the park turned into a multistory carpark, and Packer will pay for it because it's a fairly inconsequential amount of money to spend on such a massive project.  It's all speculation at this point.

Edited September 4, 2016 by joz

[Whombex]

If the new multilevel carpark is built in that area, knowing Casinos parking will not be free. Will this see a precedent set for Aussie theme park car parking fees?

[New display name]

jupiters casino is free.