Jakizle Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I had the opportunity to visit Wet 'n' Wild Sydney a few weeks ago when I was visiting Amber in Australia. The park just opened on December 12th and we visited on the 27th (only day we had the chance) and enjoyed the park despite reaching capacity. It was brand new, so there was many growing pains and issues they have to sort out, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I'll explain throughout my photos The park is located somewhat far from downtown Sydney, but is easily reached by public transport. You can normally take a North shore and Western line train from Central Station out west towards Richmond or Emu Plains and get off at Paramatta. This direct line (only a few stops) was under construction when we visited, so we had to take the Airport line down to Glenfield to transfer to the Cumberland line up towards Paramatta (about 1.25 hrs). From Paramatta the park offers a shuttle bus that runs continuously through the day, from an hour before park opening until an hour after park closing. I'll continue with the photos! This is when you know you have arrived! The parking lot is small so make sure you get here early! The park entrance. They were giving out wristbands in exchange for tickets at the turnstiles. This was the current ticket booth. They weren't able to process our gift cards here (not sure if this was their fault or our fault truth be told) but a manager was able to help us out inside the park after I flagged one down at the turnstiles. Once inside, we had to rent a locker for our bags since we were going straight to the airport after. Your wristband acts as your locker key which is nice, but they were not working for anybody, so we all had to wait for an attendant to open and close our locker each time. Once they get the kinks out this will be great! You could also load up cash and use these for food. Out front is the park map! We decided to head towards the Proslide complex first, as Amber has never been on a Tantrum. Wow, this was the line! And you haven't even got to the tower yet. Luckily the wait only took about 45 minutes. We rode the tantrum in the middle. It was really really good! Way better than the version at Aquatica here in Orlando. We also went back and did the "wave" slide (blue) later and loved it! Next door was a White Water racing slide, with both a "twisty" section and helix section. We opted to skip this as it had a huge line and we have done these before. Behind the racers however, were the looping waterslides! Looking back at the main Proslide Complex. It has the "wave" slide, the tantrum, and a tornado. I had never done the "looping" slide, so I decided to give it a shot! It had the smallest wait in the entire park (10 minutes or so). The good news is they give you these back boards so you don't feel the slide at all! However it was over really quickly and you don't really go upside down. It was like any other body slide after the trap door! The racers did actually have clocks that measure your time from top to bottom, to see who was really the fastest! Heading back towards the middle of the park is the beach area and wavepool. They did have nice shaded areas you could lay down under and you could rent cabanas for a fairly reasonable price ($89 for 2-4 people) Looking at the wavepool. Unfortunately the waves were really small and you can't go that deep in the water (only 1.5 meters) We were hungry at this point so set out on the search for food. It happens this is the main complex (and only complex) where meals are offered. The wait was about 45 minutes, but my personal pizza was actually pretty good. The other bummer is the very limited seating. There was a ton of small "stools" under the shaded area, but hardly any tables. The park does sport a pretty big sky coaster and it was fairly price (35-20 bucks based on how many people) and it was really popular all day. They also had this strange giant grass area with a random shade structure towards the back. Room for expansion?!? In the back of the park is the huge White Water structure! It has the tantrum style slide, an enclosed slide, 4 master blaster slides, a half pipe, and a twister slide (far right). We did the master blaster and were fairly let down as it has just one uphill section and 2 drops until it's over. We then did the twister slide and it was pretty typical. We skipped the tantrum and half pipe style slides as we did their counterparts on the Proslide complex. They did have these self service ticket stations, but they weren't ready to go yet. The day starts off with the shuttle bus to the park! Awesome that they offer this free of charge. Temporary queues set up for the White Water complex. Also took about 45 minutes here. The park also sports and up charge, Australian made flow rider. As you can see, the prices were actually pretty fair. No one was riding when I did my photo lap, but it was pretty cool because it creates a wave tunnel like you always see in surfing videos. The parks signage was pretty neat, and points us towards the lazy river. I have to say, I'm not a fan of the lazy river being off to the side all by itself. I love waterparks where the rivers weave in and out of the rides and go through the entire park! Even though the park was at capacity, a large section of the lazy river was shut off. Regardless, still refreshing! The last structure is another complex of Proslide family style slides. The left is a double BOWLSeye, the midde is a quick slide with a double drop (we did this one) and the far right is a twisting style slide. The last section of the park is a kids area, featuring a pretty cool mini tornado! They also had a little kids river area. Overall the kids area has 14 small slides for the little ones to enjoy. The only other area to get snacks was this snack stand by the front of the park and the lockers. There were typical theme park style stands around the park, but this was the only "permanent" structure. Amber guards our bags and we are ready to go after a long day in the sun! The exit! I will also say the tiles used for the walkways can be quite painful and hot, so some sort of water footwear is recommended We did notice that in the gift shop they sold these bands that can also be used for lockers, cash, and act as your season pass. So for those that come frequently, you could literally come to the park with just one of these and be able to do everything! Thanks for reading and leave your comments/questions below The park does not currently have a ticket booth, and there was large line up in the temporary queue to buy day tickets. It took about an hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza29 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Great photos! Both the Proslide and WhiteWater towers look fantastic, and the kids area seems pretty solid as well (especially the mini tornado!). I agree that the lazy river looks a bit sad - the greenery definitely needs some time to "grow in". It seems like most of the issues this park is experiencing at the moment are your typical "brand new park" problems, with some parts clearly not 100% ready. Hopefully the park will sort themselves out once the summer rush is over and get the locker/ticket/wristband infrastructure all fixed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 (edited) Thanks for the look at the world's newest water park, Jake. The lack of a ticket booth is interesting. Are they building one? Edited January 6, 2014 by cfc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakizle Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 ^No idea! Great photos! Both the Proslide and WhiteWater towers look fantastic, and the kids area seems pretty solid as well (especially the mini tornado!). I agree that the lazy river looks a bit sad - the greenery definitely needs some time to "grow in". It seems like most of the issues this park is experiencing at the moment are your typical "brand new park" problems, with some parts clearly not 100% ready. Hopefully the park will sort themselves out once the summer rush is over and get the fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo/ticket/wristband infrastructure all fixed up. Yeah, once they get everything sorted out I'm sure things will get much better. It just doesn't seem able to handle the big crowds it's going to draw. At least for the sake of the park I hope it continues to get big numbers coming in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattnz Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Thanks for sharing. Hope the park sorts out their 'teething problems' soon. Your review of the looping slide nails it! It's over so quickly you don't notice you're going upside down (which you don't really do anyway!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6flagsbrad Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Man it looked packed there. They have a great selection of slides though! Thanks for the great pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 What an awesome photo report! I still don't understand how they can build a brad new huge park without a play structure! It also seems like they should of built more slides. After all they are projecting that this park will get 900 000 visitors every season. They also sold 150 000 season pass, so there will be a lot of people in the park on most days, and popularity will probably not slow down after the first season. Hopefully they will do a Calypso Water Park, and expand big time, right after the first season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Wow! This is a very nice water park! Thanks for the TR, Jake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrlittle Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Looks like they already need to expand. The park water slides look great but it does look like the park maybe open a little to early. It could just be, they weren't expecting that kind of business at first. Hopefully they can work out the kinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 It does look like an amazing park, but without an actual ticket booth and working lockers I'm surprised they opened the park. Honestly I wouldn't wait an hour to get into the park to wait an hour for the waterslides. Once they have things worked out, I would be happy to visit! The Wet n Wild in Brisbane is pretty epic, so I know this one is right up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alilstronger Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Awesome update! Park seems to be off to a good start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodie Warrior Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 The park looks nice and has a good amount of slides (14 kiddie slides!). They just have a few kinks to work out, but every new park does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakizle Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 I did count, and they did have 40 slides. However this is counting the racer all as 8, the looping slides as 4, and the master blasters as 4 as well as the 14 kiddie slides. Other than that though, the only options are the weak wave pool and lazy river tucked away in the far corner. I like the ones that are going through the park because you can get in at any place in the park and not have to walk all the way across the hot and painful ground just to relax! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastercrazy216 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Did you see the supposed kiddy bowl slide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Did you see the supposed kiddy bowl slide? 1,50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 To me it looks like they just did the 'Oh crap, hurry up and get to a point we can safely open the park and we'll work on better infrastructure later' routine that's very common these days. I'm sure the kinks will work out once the season dies down a bit and we'll see more great stuff for next year. Love the kiddie slides! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TyRush Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Holy people! It looks so cool. I love all the funky complex slides and the "looping" slide. They have lots of expansion room too. Hopefully a water coaster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yay101 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I like how there's a SkyCoaster in a waterpark! And great photo report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakizle Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 To me it looks like they just did the 'Oh crap, hurry up and get to a point we can safely open the park and we'll work on better infrastructure later' routine that's very common these days. I'm sure the kinks will work out once the season dies down a bit and we'll see more great stuff for next year. Love the kiddie slides! Absolutely! All of the problems are easily fixable with time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downunder Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 We won't go anywhere near this place until February at the earliest. I'm not a big water park fan, so it's no big deal if I never go. I'd be more interested if they get lo-q at some stage. I'm hoping this gives Village Roadshow impetus to add an amusement park and perhaps develop a whole precinct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza29 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 To me it looks like they just did the 'Oh crap, hurry up and get to a point we can safely open the park and we'll work on better infrastructure later' routine that's very common these days. I'm sure the kinks will work out once the season dies down a bit and we'll see more great stuff for next year. Love the kiddie slides! This was my impression too - and even if they'd had all the ticketing infrastructure in place I doubt the lines would have been much shorter, given that there are 155,000 season passholders who need to get their passes processed. Would not be surprised if the next addition is a play structure - kind of seems like a glaring omission at the moment, given how well they absorb crowds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
australianalex Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Great TR, the park looks pretty nice, and I'm sure it'll be great once the problems are worked out. It seems to have a better, more up to date slide collection than the Gold Coast's Wet n Wild, but I can't help but think that, as a park, it doesn't look as nice as the Gold Coast one. However, I'll have to visit it myself before judging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I love the creative signage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ftdude16 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I love the creative signage. That is EXACTLY what I was thinking when I saw those awesome signs! They are just so cool and stylish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArizonaGuy Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Nice pics Jake. Thanks for posting. Looks like they have a little bit to go with getting things together but overall the park looks really fun. The signage looks pretty cool too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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