This is my first post in the forum - I've normally referred to it for info, but never posted - so here goes!
I just returned to Melbourne from a week on the Gold Coast and I must say that WWW was the highlight of my trip.
What surprised me is that it looks much smaller than WnW, has less slides, but offered a more pleasant experience.
Maybe it is because everything is so brand spanking new, but I thought that WWW had an atmosphere about it that WnW didn't.
For the record, this past week was the first time I had visited both WWW and WnW, and I was more pumped about WnW particularly after our STA travel agent recommended it above WWW, and forum activity on this site seemed to sway that way.
The WWW park itself is small, but in my opinion that is an attribute in WWW's favour.
By contrast I found WnW too big, and that I was spending too much time walking to rides, and then climbing stairs or ramps, instead of just worrying about the latter. This was particularly frustrating at WnW because it was a hot day, and walking barefoot on those paths for long distances burnt my feet beyond what they've ever felt (heck, I'm Victorian, it's usually cold here).
The slides at WWW are amazing, with the Green Room my favourite - that drop into the funnel is hair raising! The four-person clover raft then careers up the funnel until you are almost vertical, offering an awesome view of the funnel, and really showing off its vastness.
The Rip - a giant bowl that four people on one clover raft fall into and swirl around before being spat out down another tunnel - has a similar first drop, albeit you enter it within less time than the Green Room so the suspense isn't as great.
Aside from those two rides, the Hydrocoaster is amazing, although it was shut down for several hours due to rafts getting stuck towards the ride's bottom exit. It is also a popular ride because of its unique ability to pull you up an incline in similar fashion to a conventional rollercoaster, and that popularity means long waiting times even during off peak.
The Blue Ring Octopus (BRO) is a spectacular improvement over WnW's Aqua Racer, which I found underwhelming. Instead of a plain-jane trip down a single lane, the BRO first takes you through a winding tube before spitting you out and down a traditional racer slide.
The BRO's mats are also brand new, and not mangy and torn like WnW's racer mats. Surely WnW could afford to upgrade to newer mats!! It is supposed to be Australia's premier water park!
I must admit, however, that the BRO lacks the electronic timing of WnW's racer, which is arguably the crux of the ride - finding out whether you beat the opposition!
The Temple of Huey has three flume slides, all enclosed. I can't really recommend them, except for Broken Headz, which is WWW's slightly smaller answer to WnW's Black Hole. It was fast, had a few twists and turns that threw you around, and is worth multiple rides.
But Cut Snake and Screamin Right Hander failed to impress me. They're great fun for one run, and excellent for families and younger kids, but not enough to impress adrenalin junkies.
As for the Cave of Waves wavepool - you can take inflatable rings into WWW's wavepool, but seeing I was literally a short walk from the Gold Coast surf, I could only ever recommend wavepools for young children or families who don't want to risk the natural dangers associated with surf beaches. The trade off is they're not as exciting for anyone who actually wants to 'catch' a wave. However, the theming with Huey the Surf God above, and water cascading down the main wall of the pool, was very impressive.
On this note, the Nickelodeon Pipeline Plunge was a surprise hit. It is a water-playground for kids and early teens, kind of like WnW's Buccaneer Bay.
But because of the WWW park's design, you could walk from the Green Room to the BRO and cool your feet by walking through the Pipeline Plunge. Best of all, if you were lucky, the massive bucket at the top of the structure would fill up with water and drop as you walked through. I even saw people of all ages waiting at the bucket's 'ground zero' for the next rampage of water to hit them.
Best of all the lines were short, and the longest I waited for any ride was 20 mins on the Hydrocoaster. On Friday I hit WnW from 10am and the lines were ridiculously long. At 1pm I caught a cab, with my mate, to WWW where I had a $10 return pass from the previous day's visit.
It's hard not to draw comparisons to WnW. I think WnW's strength is its Mach 5 and Black Hole lineup. The other slides are average, and the Terror Canyons were closed, which meant a minimum 30 minute wait for Whitewater Mountain slides.
Whereas, WWW had smaller queues, and for some reason, the Green Room just whipped WnW's Tornado into oblivion. Perhaps it's the fact people had to lug their own rafts up the stairs at WnW, whereas it's all done for you by a conveyor belt at WWW. But I feel the actual ride itself was more terrifying and enjoyable at WWW.
I also found WWW's park surface to be friendlier to feet than WnW's, which is an important consideration. Theme parks, even water parks, shouldn't feel uncomfortable or like a chore to walk around.
Stairs are an issue at both parks, but an inevitable one.
The food - no difference really except for the prices. WnW wins this battle, coming up a few dollars cheaper on the burger combos than WWW.
I also admired WWW's $10 return pass. At WnW I didn't see such a pass offered, but also failed to ask, so please correct me if I'm wrong here.
So, I thoroughly enjoyed WWW and ended up paying it three visits over my week at the Gold Coast - two half days, one full day - and have vowed to return this year for more WWW goodness. I hope this has been valuable, please ask any questions as I'm more than happy to answer them.
