NEW OPENING
within reach’, as people living in the western suburbs don’t have easy access to the beach.” With this lack of access in mind,
Warhurst says they’ve been working hard to develop its community links, so that youngsters nearby can use it on a regular basis, rather than as an occasional treat, and get to enjoy a beach lifestyle. “There’s a big surf lifesaving movement
in Australia, with children’s after-school and weekend clubs called Nippers. So we approached the organisation and gained permission to create an offi cial Nippers club at Wet ‘n’ Wild. “We now have more than 400 children
enrolled and it’s created a great community around the park, which of course brings both our business and the guests great benefi ts,” says Warhurst.
Sustainable practices Another particular feature of the water- park is that it’s been designed for optimum staffi ng levels to keep operating costs down. Warhurst says: “Australia has a very high labour rate when compared to countries like the UK and US. We worked with the designers to ensure that rides could have the maximum throughput using minimum staffi ng levels, without any compromises on safety of course.” Currently the park employs 450 staff
on a seasonal basis, which includes 92 lifeguards and aquatic attendants. Sustainability best practices have been applied both in construction and operations. All rainwater across the site is harvested and retained irrigation and general wash down. Neptune Benson supplied the fi ltration technology, which when used with perlite media saves more than 6.5 million litres per season com- pared to traditional sand fi lters.
ABOUT VILLAGE ROADSHOW
Village Roadshow Theme Parks (VRTP) is a wholly-owned division of Village Roadshow, which is Australia’s largest theme park operator. The company has its headquar- ters on the Gold Coast, Australia’s holiday playground, where it operates Warner Bros Movie World, Sea World, Wet’n’Wild Water World, Paradise Country and Australian Outback Spectacular.
The group also owns Sea World Resort &
Water Park, a 405-room hotel adjacent to Sea World. Collectively, Village Roadshow’s leisure and theme parks attract around
76
fi ve million guests per year – with its latest site, Wet ‘n’ Wild Sydney, looking likely to signifi cantly boost those numbers. Overseas, the company has a majority
ownership in Wet ‘n’ Wild Las Vegas, but recently divested of its Wet ‘n’ Wild parks in Hawaii and Phoenix to raise capital for expansion in the UK, US and Australia. In partnership with Guangzhou R&F
properties, Village Roadshow’s currently designing, constructing and managing a large marine park on Hainan Island in China, scheduled to open in January 2015.
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WhiteWater West’s 91m-long, two-person ride Typhoon is Australia’s fi rst Rattler ride
“There’s a big surf lifesaving movement, with children’s after-school and weekend clubs called Nippers. We approached the organisation and got permission to create an official Nippers club at Wet’n’Wild”
Wet ‘n’ Wild’s user experience has been
further enhanced with the use of water- proof RFID wristbands. Guests receive them on entry – either as temporary bands for day admissions or more robust silicon bands for the season pass holders. The MyBand wristbands, using technol-
ogy from Omni software, can be used to access the park, use lockers for a fee and make purchases from the catering and retail areas – dispensing of the guests’
need to carry around credit cards, cash or tickets. Guests can manage their Myband account online, link in park photography to their social media accounts and eas- ily pre-book experiences or cabanas or lockers for their next visit. For a VIP experience, a certain number
of higher-priced Fast Pass wristbands are on sale each day giving the user quicker, no-queue access to most of the slides and rides. At a cost of AUS$50 (US$46, E33.50, £27.55) on top of entry price, it’s a premium offer that produces healthy returns for the business. For greater comfort and luxury still, 50
exclusive cabanas are available through- out the waterpark on an all-day hire basis. Visitors can choose from a beach view cabana, a family cabana or a VIP cabana. The VIP offer includes a lounge with a television and stocked refrigerator, and access to a shared cabana concierge. Covering a total area of 60 acres,
Warhurst says there’s plenty of scope for expansion at the site, and there are already various planning permissions in place for new developments – giving Wet ‘n’ Wild’s domestic and overseas visitors even more reasons to come back. ●
AM 2 2014 ©Cybertrek 2014
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