An artist’s impression of Sydney Action Park, which has been taken over by Jamberoo Action Park. Photo: Supplied.
One of the Illawarra’s most successful tourism attractions is heading to Sydney, with the owners of Jamberoo Action Park acquiring Raging Waters Sydney.
The western Sydney attraction will be rebranded as Sydney Action Park, with its new owners promising major investment, new attractions and future joint passes linking the two parks.
Jamberoo and Sydney Action Park CEO Matt George said the park and Eddy Group of companies showed interest in Raging Waters Sydney 12 months ago after parent company Parques Reunidos spoke openly about wanting to focus its operations in its core market in Europe.
“Raging Waters was their standalone park in Australia, so we reached out to them and said we’d be interested if it was worthwhile having a conversation and just progressed from there,” Mr George said.
Last week, together with Greater Sydney Parklands as the property owner, they reached an agreement for the sale and settlement of the water theme park business.
Mr George said the business would immediately undergo significant modifications, improvements and rebranding, relaunching in the coming months.
However, Mr George said it “needed to be more than just a name change”.
“Firstly, this needs to be Sydney’s park,” he said.
“The locals need to be proud that it’s in their own back yard, and so we want this to be a celebration of Sydney and everything we know and love about the city.
“Whether that’s the coastal lifestyle, the diversity, the cultural influences, the iconic landmarks, they are all going to play a part in the theme and culture that’s created within the park to really give it a strong character.”
He said while they intended to apply all of the learnings from the success of Jamberoo to Sydney Action Park, each would have its own identity.
An artistic representation of a wave pool at the new Sydney Action Park. Photo: Supplied.
“To describe it, Jamberoo is a little bit more boutique – it has the rolling hills and that really green escapism feel,” he said.
“Whereas Sydney needs to be iconic – it’s going to represent everything that we know and love about Sydney.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of elements we want to bring from Jamberoo as well.
“Some investment in landscaping and the service culture that we provide at Jamberoo would all come up to Sydney.”
Mr George said one of the strengths of Jamberoo it would apply to the new site was the care and attention to detail applied to all aspects of operation, including clean, well-presented facilities, beautifully maintained gardens, welcoming staff and an environment families genuinely enjoyed spending time in.
He said there would be benefits to those in the Illawarra too.
“We’re really looking forward to bringing to market some joint passes – so joint day passes or season passes – and encouraging those visits between the venues and providing value to the guests,” he said.
“Then across both parks, there obviously needs to be a strong investment strategy.”
He said the Sydney park had only introduced one new ride in the past 14 years.
“We want to make sure that every three to four years we’re providing a significant new attraction for guests to experience,” he said.
Mr George said Sydney had the footprint to allow for more rides and provide something different to what was already there.
He said new landscaping and theming would be complete prior to reopening, and new rides, experiences and attractions would come within the next 12 to 18 months to elevate the park.
“We also know families are looking for more opportunities to spend time together, which is why we intend to expand the operating calendar and create more reasons for guests to visit throughout the year,” he said.
Jamberoo Action Park is NSW’s largest family owned and operated water theme park and has been in business for more than 45 years.
Jamberoo investigated an option to store cars at its carpark in the offseason, with its original development application knocked back by Kiama Council in October last year over concerns about zoning and environmental impacts.
A fresh DA was lodged in March, but council has yet to make a decision on it.
Original Article published by Kellie O’Brien on Region Illawarra.
