proposed African Safari World, an amusement park and zoo to replace the Werribee Open Range Zoo, southwest of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. This was followed by the proposal to acquire and redevelop Aussie World into Wet'n'Wild Aussie World. In June 2008, the proposal for African Safari World was rejected by the Victorian Government for a variety of reasons. In September 2009, the plans for Wet'n'Wild Aussie World were cancelled. In late 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. The company further expanded its interests in local attractions in 2009, with the purchase of Oceanworld Manly in Australia and Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in New Zealand. In December 2010, they announced that they would sell approximately $115 million worth of assets to Merlin Entertainments. On 3 March 2011, the deal was finalised with Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Wildlife World, Oceanworld Manly, Sydney Tower, Hamilton Island Wildlife Park and Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World all being sold off. In September 2010, Village Roadshow announced that they would be expanding the Wet'n'Wild chain by opening a water park in Sydney. International expansion In 2008, Village Roadshow expanded into the international market, with the acquisition of the Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park in the United States. The park was rebranded to Wet'n'Wild Hawaii the following year. At around the same time, the company also purchased WaterWorld Safari, investing $30 million in the park relaunched as Wet'n'Wild Phoenix. Village Roadshow's ownership of Wet'n'Wild Hawaii was short-lived. The park was sold to CNL Lifestyle Properties for an undisclosed sum in 2009. Village Roadshow Theme Parks, however, continued to operate the park on a lease which concluded in November 2013. On 4 October 2012, it was announced that Village Roadshow Theme Parks would be opening Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas in May 2013. The park sold out of season passes and reached capacity many days surrounding its opening. On 17 October 2012, it was announced that the company had struck a deal with Guangzhou R&F Properties to assist in the design, construction and operation of two parks in China. The two parks would be based on the Sea World and Wet'n'Wild parks on the Gold Coast, Queensland and would be named Hainan R&F Ocean Paradise and Hainan Wet'n'Wild. In November 2013, CNL Lifestyle Properties purchased Wet'n'Wild Phoenix, with Premier Parks, LLC taking over operations