| Industry | Amusement parks and attractions |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Operating income | A$101.1 million (2009)[1] |
| Profit | A$42.7 million (2009) [2] |
| Total assets | A$239 million (2009) [3] |
| Parent | Village Roadshow |
| Website | Australia, New Zealand, United States |
Village Roadshow Theme Parks is a collection of divisions of Village Roadshow Limited which operate theme parks and attractions in Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America. Village Roadshow Theme Parks is made up local Australian theme parks as well as Village Roadshow Theme Parks USA Inc.[3] The Sydney Attractions Group Pty Ltd was formerly part of Village Roadshow Theme Parks, however, it sold in 2011 to Merlin Entertainments.
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The theme park division of Village Roadshow was originally a joint venture between Time Warner and Village Roadshow until Village took full ownership of the group in 2006.[4] Time Warner continues to provide a licence to the Warner Bros. brand.
The group also owns the Sea World Resort, located next to the Sea World theme park. Previously known as Sea World Nara Resort (opened in 1988 as a joint venture between the then-owners of Sea World and the Japan-based Nara Group,[5] Village also moved to take full ownership of the resort in 2006,[6] resulting in the name change.
In 2008, Sydney Attractions Group was purchased by Village Roadshow after months of discussions. This included the acquisition of Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Tower and Sydney Wildlife World.[7]
In 2009, the company expanded by purchasing Oceanworld Manly in Australia, Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World in New Zealand[8] as well as Wet'n'Wild Hawaii and Wet'n'Wild Phoenix in the United States.[4]
In September 2010, Village Roadshow announced that they would be expanding the Wet'n'Wild chain by opening a water park in Sydney.[9][10][11][12] In December 2010, they announced that they would sell approximately $115 million worth of assets to Merlin Entertainments. The sale will include Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Wildlife World, Oceanworld Manly, Sydney Tower, Hamilton Island Wildlife Park and Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World.[13] On 3 March 2011, the deal was finalised.[14]
Australian Outback Spectacular is an Australiana dinner and show package featuring many Australian animals, songs and bush tucker. The show is located between Warner Bros. Movie World and Wet'n'Wild Water World at Oxenford on the Gold Coast in Australia.[15]
Paradise Country is an Australian Farm experience where guests are shown a variety of Australian animals including koalas, kangaroos and emus. The farm tour also includes several shows which feature the making of billy tea, a stock horse demonstration and a boomerang throwing demonstration.[16]
Sea World is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, and theme park located on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It includes rides, animal exhibits and other attractions, and promotes conservation through education and through the rescue and rehabilitation of sick, injured or orphaned wildlife.[17] The park also offers accommodation at an adjacent resort,[18] helicopter flights,[19] whale watching tours,[20] calm-water cruises[21] and children's books.[22]
Warner Bros. Movie World is a popular movie related theme park on the Gold Coast in Australia. Opening on 3 June 1991,[23] the park contains various movie-themed rides and attractions ranging from motion simulators to roller coasters and slow river rides. In addition, costumed character performers also patrol the park, giving visitors the chance to take photos with them. These include Batman, Austin Powers, Marilyn Monroe, Scooby Doo, The Mystery Inc. Gang and various Looney Tunes characters.[24]
Wet'n'Wild Hawaii is a Hawaiian water park, located in the Oahu city Kapolei. Opening in May 1999, the park occupies 25 acres (10 ha) of land and has 25 rides and attractions.[25] It was the first overseas acquisition of Village Roadshow.
Wet'n'Wild Phoenix is a water park located in Phoneix, Arizona in the United States. It opened its doors to the public 1 July 2009 after Village Roadshow invested over US$30 million in the park. The park features over 30 rides [26] on approximately 35 acres (14 ha) of land making it the largest theme park in the state.[27]
Wet'n'Wild Water World is a large water park situated in the suburb of Oxenford on the Gold Coast in Australia. The park is Australia's largest waterpark and the third largest waterpark in the world. While the park remains open all year, all pools and slides are heated during winter.[28]
Wet'n'Wild Sydney is a proposed water park to be located in Prospect, New South Wales, Australia. Announced on 11 September 2010, the proposal includes 3 pools, 16 water slides and 2 children's areas on a 25-hectare (62-acre) site. The A$80 million park is set to be one of the top ten water parks in the world.[9][10][11][12]
Hamilton Island Wildlife Park is a small wildlife park situated on Hamilton Island in Queensland, Australia. Guests will be able to view a large collection of native Australian animals including koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, crocodiles, wombats, Tasmanian devils, frilled necked lizards and various reptiles.[8]
Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World is a public aquarium in Auckland, New Zealand, which was the brainchild of renowned New Zealand marine archaeologist and diver Kelly Tarlton.[29]
Oceanworld Manly is located just 200 metres (660 ft) from Manly Wharf in Sydney, Australia. It features aquariums including sharks, giant stingrays, sea turtles and other marine life. Oceanworld also allows guests to take part in Shark Dive Xtreme, where they can swim with sharks.[30]
The aquarium originally opened in 1965, as Marineland. It was refurbished and reopened in 1989 as Underwater world.[31] It was purchased and renovated by Coral World International, and re-opened as Oceanworld in 1992. After its renovation, the aquarium boasted the longest aquarium tunnel in the world, at 110 metres (361 ft). It was sold to the Sydney Aquarium Company (Darling Harbour) in 1999 to be operated as a branch of the Sydney Aquarium.[32]
Sydney Aquarium is a public aquarium located in the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the eastern (city) side of Darling Harbour to the north of the Pyrmont Bridge. It contains a large variety of Australian aquatic life, displaying more than 650 species comprising more than 6,000 individual fish and other sea and water creatures from most of Australia's water habitats.[33]
Sydney Tower is Sydney's tallest free-standing structure which is home to the second tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere. The tower is also home to the Skywalk (where guests can walk around the top of the building outdoors) and OzTrek (a virtual reality ride).[34]
Sydney Wildlife World is a wildlife park in the centre of the city of Sydney, Australia. Officially opened in September 2006, it is located on the city side of the Darling Harbour leisure and retail precinct, next to Sydney Aquarium. The wildlife park features a wide collection of animals including butterflies, invertebrates, reptiles, koalas as well as specifically designed habitats including semi-arid grasslands and a rainforest.[35]
The group claimed an annual patronage of approximately 4.2 million across all of its properties during the financial year ending on 30 June 2007, including 1.3 million each to both Movie World and Sea World, and 1 million to Wet'n'Wild.[36]
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