Raging Waters Sydney new waterslide update

[Mc coaster]

I had an update and didn’t find a dedicated topic so thought I would create one. 

Last night drove past RW and the slide has gone vertical with what looks like the whole support structure complete. I couldn’t see an slide pieces from the M7 but I assume they are all there. There were also a few containers in the car park. 

They have now also started to replace the WNW road signs around the area with new RW ones.

Sorry for the bad quality photos I took them quickly as we were driving past.

[TomiJ]

These were uploaded on their Facebook page

September 6

August 22

Edited September 9, 2019 by TomiJ

[Jobe]

Looking good!!! Despite its obvious design shortcomings ( a big letdown from the first concept art released) this park COULD be a great waterpark. A slide like this is definitely needed - the Aqualoop it replaced was rarely used and this makes much more sense and better utilisation of the space. This will help to disperse crowds that much more with another attraction to filter crowds off to. 

Lets hope that Parques Reunidos , with their vast experience running international parks, can bring about a far improved and consistent experience to the site. Hopefully , we will not see a return of the Season Pass debacle that plagued Wet 'N"Wild in their opening years. 

Its all looking positive for this park , for now.

 

[A.H]

I could be mistaken but The new water slide could be called 'Raging Xpress'

[blurrybilly]

4 hours ago, A.H said:

I could be mistaken but The new water slide could be called 'Raging Xpress'

that’s just the new name for raging waters express queue, like fast passes 

[Flynn_Smith]

4 hours ago, A.H said:

I could be mistaken but The new water slide could be called 'Raging Xpress'

New slide is called 'Whirlwind'

[Alex Berriman]

Grabbed a few snaps of the slide pieces from the entrance while picking up my season pass

[A.H]

Seems to be confirmed to be a 2 Person tube 

[Gazza]

I'd say it's confirmed to be a 1 or 2 person tube.

[TomiJ]

A couple of photos posted on their Facebook page:

Oct 1st

And Oct 6th 

Edited October 6, 2019 by TomiJ
Got rid of double image

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

On 01/10/2019 at 11:31 PM, Gazza said:

I'd say it's confirmed to be a 1 or 2 person tube.

Which is important because the hydro coaster at WWW needs to have two people.

[themagician]

Im not loving that colour scheme. The red and yellow don't work. But anyways... great to see they are investing into this park.

[Mc coaster]

Honestly though most of RW slides have weird colours that don’t really go well together so I don’t think it’s a big deal. Personally I don’t mind it I think it’s big and bold and will grab peoples attention driving’s past.

[Flynn_Smith]

1 hour ago, Mc coaster said:

Honestly though most of RW slides have weird colours that don’t really go well together so I don’t think it’s a big deal. Personally I don’t mind it I think it’s big and bold and will grab peoples attention driving’s past.

I believe the red is only on the inside of the turn around sections, so the only visible colours to motorists/guests who aren't riding, will be the different shades of blue, and yellow. Shouldn't look too bad.

[Gazza]

On 06/10/2019 at 6:35 PM, Flynn_Smith said:

/guests who aren't riding

But to be up on the tower you'd be riding?

[blurrybilly]

Whirlwind opens on Saturday the 9th of November! 

[TomiJ]

https://www.facebook.com/512833322076077/posts/4606885012670867/?sfnsn=mo

 

[Mc coaster]

Whirlwind has now officially opened. I found a few pics of their Facebook page.

Looks like a fun slide. I’m going to try get out there later in the season and give it a ride.

[Charity00]

I went to Raging Waters last weekend to try Whirlwind. Being from Sydney I really want this park to do well. There does appear to be some new decorations, more shade and it looks less rundown than last year. Overall the energy felt very positive.
 

Whirlwind was not a great ride experience but it was long and colourful and I can see families liking it. Was a very quiet day. Whirlwind had a 20 minute line and everything else was a walk on. Can see it being a very long line in Summer.
 

However the biggest change I encountered was the T5/Bombora/Tantrum complex ONLY allows 4 people now. So you cannot go in groups of 3 or 2 like previous years (strangely, the other cloverleaf complex Riptide/Double Bowlseye/Curler still allows 2 or 3 riders and nobody could answer why). I was in a pair so it was pretty easy for us to just go with another pair but I saw some groups of 3 struggling to find a 4th person. I actually made a complaint to customer relations because it was one of the most disorganised things I’ve ever seen at the entrance to those slides - people confused, yelling at workers, and what I learnt from a supervisor - WORKERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HELP PUT GROUPS TOGETHER. So you had groups of 3 standing around confused and a young lady doing nothing to help and was fighting with people and turning them away. No customer service, no lines of “groups of 3” “groups of 2” “single riders”, just no common sense at all in how that area is designed. Sad seeing so many frustrated customers being turned away without help. 
 

As I said I want the new Raging Waters to do well but this new change potentially could alienate a lot of customers considering these are the park’s most popular slides.

[themagician]

Why was Whrilwind not a great ride experience?

[A.H]

2 hours ago, Charity00 said:

However the biggest change I encountered was the T5/Bombora/Tantrum complex ONLY allows 4 people now. So you cannot go in groups of 3 or 2 like previous years (strangely, the other cloverleaf complex Riptide/Double Bowlseye/Curler still allows 2 or 3 riders and nobody could answer why). I was in a pair so it was pretty easy for us to just go with another pair but I saw some groups of 3 struggling to find a 4th person. I actually made a complaint to customer relations because it was one of the most disorganised things I’ve ever seen at the entrance to those slides - people confused, yelling at workers, and what I learnt from a supervisor - WORKERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HELP PUT GROUPS TOGETHER. So you had groups of 3 standing around confused and a young lady doing nothing to help and was fighting with people and turning them away. No customer service, no lines of “groups of 3” “groups of 2” “single riders”, just no common sense at all in how that area is designed. Sad seeing so many frustrated customers being turned away without help. 

The group of Four rule is to help with capacity issues. That tower is really crowded as it is the most Popular slides in the park so the new owners are trying to get as many people on and off the tower as soon as possible. 

I can certainly see why you are frustrated as the staff seem very rude.    A group of Three rule would work much better as teams of 2 can team up and 3 people is still much better capacity than before.

[joz]

If that's truly the motivation then that is bonkers. 

[Gazza]

Yes that is one sure fire way to help with capacity issues, just deny large numbers of people from riding, thereby reducing demand on the attractions.

[iwerks]

One time Adventure World was doing a similar thing with Kraken. They claimed it was the new raft type. Eventually, they relaxed that rule.

[Charity00]

The Facebook reviews are full of upset visitors who were in a group of 3 but were turned away from these slides. There aren’t enough single riders around to accomodate groups of 3. 

These slides also have the standard 320kg cloverleaf weight maximum so a couple that weighs 100kg each would have a very embarrassingly difficult time finding 2 others that are light enough to ride with. Every group is herded onto a scale with a red or green light before they are allowed up the staircase.

If the rule change was because of capacity reasons, they have failed because of the amount of time wasting and fussing that occurs at the entrance to form the necessary groups. The supervisor on duty claimed the change was the result of safety assessments that were conducted, but I find it odd that THREE slides changed (safety issues on 3 slides???), and the three less busy cloverleaf slides didn’t change.