So I went to Carnivale tonight, the second time I’ve ever been (the last being two years ago). Overall, it was a very enjoyable night and there seemed to be a lot of good improvements. There was plenty of street entertainment and performers the entire night throughout the park. It just didn’t stop and it was fantastic. Created a great atmosphere, especially with so many of them. The park was decorated well (nothing majorly different compared to two years ago), but there was some nice lighting across the park. I must say that I do really enjoy SW at night. The types of lighting that matches areas of the park, signage and attraction lighting and watching the creatures within Shark Bay when they’re most active is really enjoyable. 

Parking two years ago was a nightmare. Navigating your way through the carpark was horrible and it took over an hour to get out. This year however they had traffic control which made the process a lot easier. My advice would be to just not park in the SW carpark at all and park on the street. The traffic to get into the carpark at the start of the night was crazy, so unless you arrive really early, don’t park in there. Both entrances were open (but I would recommend going to the straight ahead one rather than the usual pass holder one, it seemed to be much quicker).

Side note: The main entrance looked different above the ticket booths, so it seems like they are undergoing a refurbishment.

As soon as we entered the park at 5:45, the party had already started with entertainment everywhere, but also a lot of people. The crowds were very very big and this lead to probably one of the biggest issues with the event. Because of SWs long design, navigating your way through the park, especially with the park through the new Atlantis now open yet, makes the main path very crowded. Crowds in and around the plaza were also crazy and this isn’t helped by the placement of the food stands. Because they are at the front, queues extend across the path and cause bottlenecking to occur. I think reorganising the placement of these would be helpful. The entertainment under the plaza was fantastic and constant. Really felt like a part under there. The food also all looked really good and there was some variety. Definitely not up to standard of variety of Carnivale back when it was at MW, but still some good choice.

Obviously the main part of the event is now the Aquacolour Spectacular. This year the show has a story. The water effects weren’t as spectacular as last time, mostly because they weren’t as big or as many. But with lighting, fire, projection and even fireworks. I found it to be a really enjoyable show. Just watched out for the creepy baby and the PS2 graphics. The incorporation of dancers, a float and the story didn’t feel cheesy (unlike the Thunder Lake Show) and I thought really added to the event bringing it all together. My partner didn’t find the show as enjoyable because she felt the story wasn’t necessary and things didn’t flow as well. She preferred the much bigger and dramatic fountains and water effects. Also, you will get wet if you’re sat on the seating. There is an announcement before the show letting the audience know they may get wet, but I can assure you, you will definitely get wet. It is only a mist, but this is because the fountains are much closer to the shoreline this year. 

Overall I found the event to be an improvement on my last visit two years ago and I would recommend checking it out, especially if you haven’t been in a while.

Thanks for the review! 
looking forward to heading along next Thursday night which I am hoping will be quieter than fri/sat nights.

I always park in Phillip park carpark across the road from the entrance. Holds about 80-100 cars and I’ve never Had an issue getting a park around 5:15-5:30. It’s only a few mins walk, and then it takes all of about 2 mins to get out at the end of the night. 

Also forgot to add they hand out a map and cardboard glasses, which I thought was a nice touch. 
and here’s a look at the Aquacolour Spectacular set up 

Wait so does this look like shit from the grass hill?

55 minutes ago, joz said:

Wait so does this look like shit from the grass hill?

Yep, it’s great when your sat on the seating, but because it’s so close to the shoreline, it isn’t great when your anywhere else 

We went to carnival tonight and the family and I loved the park experience performers everywhere food stalls were great too. We looked around and enjoyed ourselves before heading over to watch the main show. That’s sadly where our enjoyment of the night ended. We were bored the kids were bored the “story” terrible, lots of water with basically flashing lights on it very basic timing with music and a big setup for dancers to walk into hide for 10min and come dancing out. 
the fly boarders weren’t in sync with each other or the show. We loved the night but the show left us disappointed, I knew it wouldn’t be world of color but I had high hopes.