COM: Water World Upgrade

[ghs]

Prices seem reasonable. Are we talking about a space bowl here as well as the one at the Marion centre? If so that would be incredible!

Mate, you are going to be very disappointed in a couple of months, spacebowls are nothing special.

These slides don't have space bowls. If you look at the pics there are two slides with no turns. They go down to
the ground. By the time the person reaches the bottom of the slide they will be travelling at a reasonable speed. So the
slide doesn't stop, there's like an open horizontal slide which you go along for 10 metres or so.

[pushbutton]

To me a space-bowl in Adelaide will indeed be something special. Yes I know a lot of other places in the world pretty much take them for granted, but Adelaide is, well, Adelaide! Anything that offers the opportunity to enjoy ones leisure time in a fun way is something special in Adelaide!

I will be using the space bowl at Marion very frequently I can assure you.

I just wish they'd called the Marion centre something like Waterworld, instead of "State Aquatic Centre". How incredibly boring does that sound! Still, maybe they will wake up and change the name. It certainly looks like the facilities will be far better than the name implies.

How about:
- "Marion Splash!"
- "SwimSplash SA"
- "Marion Waterworld" (yes I know it's sort of copying the other waterworld but hey, with Marion in front of it)
- "Adelaide Aqualand"

That's just a few off the top of my head, having given it merely a few seconds thought per name. I'm sure whoever was actually paid to come up with the name could have done better than "State aquatic centre" for heavens sake! I just shake my head in disbelief sometimes.

Anyway the space bowl will be special to me.

[crawf]

Space bowls don't excite me I'm afraid, no do I believe majority of Adelaidians will even care.

As it has been pointed out countless times, the Marion complex was never designed to be Wallys Water World. It has been designed to attract major national and international aquatic sporting events to the state, aswell be a training ground for elite athletes. Hence there is nothing wrong with the name 'State Aquatic Centre '

The current Adelaide Aquatic Centre in North Adelaide would be better suited to become a leisure aquatic complex, even maybe add a wave pool and these fabulous outstanding space bowls. Hell even change the name to Adelaide Splash!

[pushbutton]

and indeed I think that is more or less the long term plan for Adelaide Aquatic Centre. It will probably take many years to become anything like a proper waterpark though, if it ever does, as it is run by the council who as we all know don't like to make any decisions in a hurry.

As for changing the name of Adelaide Aquatic Centre, I'm actually going to write to them and suggest they do (and of course that they put in a wave pool and some decent flumes).

As for the "State Aquatic Centre" well yes I realise it was built promarily to attract sporting events, but I strongly feel that it should have been built primarily as a fun venue for families and individuals to enjoy their leisure time. Surely that's a hell of a lot more beneficial to the majority of people than a complex catering for elite athletes. However I am impressed that it will include a space bowl, another flume, and a leisure pool.

[The Scooter Guy]

The weather was poor last week, so I'll go out tomorrow, or on Friday and take some pics of the final touches.
Shadecloths up and slides completed as viewed from Golden Grove Road.
The former Gully Gusher area should be levelled out in order to make WW easier to see!
BTW, I've changed the thread name to 'New' Water World as a new era will begin in the December School Holidays!

[The Scooter Guy]

More from yesterday & today:

[The Scooter Guy]

Finishing touches from Thursday:

[The Scooter Guy]

New entry sign:


Onsite cabins leaving. Take a look at that 10-legger!

























Screening installed on fence, to let everyone know that the Gully Gusher area will be out of bounds!

[The Scooter Guy]

4 days to go until opening day!

[The Scooter Guy]

Waterworld's new season is open!!

[pushbutton]

Well I went up for a visit last week with my 11 year old nephew and neice and here are my initial impressions.

Basically the place seems to have a fair bit of potential, limited mainly by the lack of space for expansion. However there is some space where the old waterslide is / was that could be used, and there is an oval next to it that potentially could be aquired maybe?

Anyway as an overall first impression it's a pretty good stage one with a nice enough design offering fairly good value for money.

The new entrance structure looks unfinished and although modern doesn't really look all that good.

The funpool area is very good indeed but we were very disappointed when lifeguards told us it is ONLY for use by under 5s! Why? This is something anyone should be able to enjoy surely!

The waterslides closed at 4pm (which just happened to be when we arrived). Again why? Also apparently they're only open on weekends, school holidays and public holidays or something like that. Surely they should be open whenever the complex is open.

The complex has a limited season ending in May. Surely Adelaides weather is not so cold that it couldn't open virtually all year round.

The waterslides are subject to an additional cost ($10 for 15 rides). On the plus side this does mean it's fairly cheapish to enter but who would enter and not want to use the waterslides? There should be one, all-inclusive price.

There are currently no lockers, although this wasn't a problem as staff were happy to mind the bags behind the reception desk. I just hope when lockers are installed that they will be free (where you put a deposit in and get it back), otherwise it would make the overall cost of going to Water world too much for me to consider good value really. If there must be a charge for lockers it should be no more than $1 per hour.

Anyway at this stage I plan to visit fairly often. My nephew and neice were quite impressed and had a good time (aside from being told they can't use the funpool area). I look forward to seeing how this develops over the next few years.

Are there any further stages already planned yet?

[The Scooter Guy]

Well I went up for a visit last week with my 11 year old nephew and neice and here are my initial impressions.

Basically the place seems to have a fair bit of potential, limited mainly by the lack of space for expansion. However there is some space where the old waterslide is / was that could be used, and there is an oval next to it that potentially could be aquired maybe?

Anyway as an overall first impression it's a pretty good stage one with a nice enough design offering fairly good value for money.

The new entrance structure looks unfinished and although modern doesn't really look all that good.

The funpool area is very good indeed but we were very disappointed when lifeguards told us it is ONLY for use by under 5s! Why? This is something anyone should be able to enjoy surely!

The waterslides closed at 4pm (which just happened to be when we arrived). Again why? Also apparently they're only open on weekends, school holidays and public holidays or something like that. Surely they should be open whenever the complex is open.

The complex has a limited season ending in May. Surely Adelaides weather is not so cold that it couldn't open virtually all year round.

The waterslides are subject to an additional cost ($10 for 15 rides). On the plus side this does mean it's fairly cheapish to enter but who would enter and not want to use the waterslides? There should be one, all-inclusive price.

There are currently no lockers, although this wasn't a problem as staff were happy to mind the bags behind the reception desk. I just hope when lockers are installed that they will be free (where you put a deposit in and get it back), otherwise it would make the overall cost of going to Water world too much for me to consider good value really. If there must be a charge for lockers it should be no more than $1 per hour.

Anyway at this stage I plan to visit fairly often. My nephew and neice were quite impressed and had a good time (aside from being told they can't use the funpool area). I look forward to seeing how this develops over the next few years.

Are there any further stages already planned yet?

I think I remember when the mid-size pool (between the Olympic & Toddler pools) has a small slide on the side! But that dissappeared like a mirage somewhere in the late 1990s.
What were the 3 new slides like? Does anyone have any pics of the Gully Gusher during it's last days of operation & removal? It's a shame to see such old waterslides dissappear like a mirage!
The new Water World sign is placed in the Gully Gusher area. Lockers would be beneficial. Water World would also like to have a hot tub area for persons 16 & over.

[ghs]

Waterslides can be dangerous and as a result there needs to be people supervising them. I remember
seeing on YouTube in the U.S. a few years back a few kids stopped themselves at the top of a waterslide
to form a train and then the waterslide collapsed because it could not handle the weight. From memory
at least one of the kids died.

I think at waterwold they would need to have at least one person at the top of the slides
and possibly another at the bottom. It just wouldn't be worth having to pay these people
during the week, when the slides are not being used that much.

Overall the waterslides look pretty lame. Obviously the kids would enjoy them but I don't think
they are overly exciting. Hopefully the ones at the new swimming centre will be better.

[peas_and_corn]

OK, my thoughts.

I personally quite like it. Me and my other half had fun in the kids' area, we weren't told to get out- though by that time, there were no kids around so I suppose that could have been a factor. My guess is that if there are children around they discourage people outside the age bracket from using because it could prevent kids from wanting to use it. Eh, it's a theory.

I agree the lack of lockers is an oversight. They did have some time to get them installed, but I suppose the construction went down to the wire from what I gathered. The staff were really nice though, so that helped with the issues there.

Extra for the slides is a bit much. I don't think they're that poor from looking at them, though I didn't ride them. Next time I visit I'll get some rides.

I'll probably get a half season pass (to get me to May) because I plan to go there regularly (I want to get fit/lose some weight) and it'll be worth it to go down that route.

[The Scooter Guy]

Tried to go there today, but there was a really long queue!! When is the best time to go when the queues are less likely?