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https://www.thehotelconversation.com.au/properties/2024/10/24/townsvilles-proposed-550-million-waterpark-burgess-rawson/1729736199 https://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/about-council/news-and-publications/media-releases/2025/october/townsville-waterpark-site-gains-preliminary-approval This one has flown under the radar a bit. The site is here, looks like whitewater west job, with a wall runner family raft slide, aqua play, 180 degree flowrider, wave pool and all your usual body and raft slides.

I've been working on this for a while and this topic seems like the best time to share it. I've put together a bit of a wish list mock-up masterplan for Ocean Parade and the Thunderbolt plot. Ocean Parade: Bring the water back to Ocean Parade, start with running the bulldozer through Trolls Village and Thunderbolt's station. The space could be opened up to make room for a new battle boat attraction, theming it around fishing trawlers with a twist of fantasy - Imagine Kind Claw's tentacles rising from the depths, interacting with the boats. One of the trawlers could be suspended mid-air by a tentacle. The ride station is the newly advertised "K&B Brown Ocean Parade Boatworks" teased on the wall beside King Claw. This attraction would set itself apart from the Battle Boats at SW by incorporating themed rockwork tunnels, show scenes and a unique immersive experience. While we're at it, put some tentacles breaking out of the ground down near SS and the dodgems, I think this would be a great way to finally give Ocean parade a cohesive tie from one end to the other. King Claw has arrived and is wreaking havoc through throughout the area. The area would also get a wharf theme (think the original Pacific Wharf at Disneyland or Mooloolaba Wharf for something more basic), with an accessible kids dry boat-themed playground (similar to the former SS Feathersword in Wiggles World) between the battle boat harbour and Gold Coaster's entry. The Kevil facade would be retained and repainted to resemble a fishmonger's loading dock, acting as the entry to a new hero attraction: a dark ride themed to the ocean depths. I'd love to see a river ride return to the coast or a trackless dark ride here with show scenes that bring guests on a journey through the underwater world, potentially with inspiration from Jora Vision's concept work for VinWonder: Various facades that suit the wharf village theme line the park border and create a backdrop for the battle boat attraction. The boardwalk leads to the dark ride exit store which also acts as the internal gate between DW and WWW. WWW: Adjacent to the new internal gate, a sorely needed F&B outlet overlooks the new WWW expansion. This is themed as a tiki bar that draws on old-school Australiana (Tangaroa Terrace meets Banana Bender Pub). A purpose-built BB house on the southern side of the property returns the DEC to dreamworld for year-round use. The mock-up shows the original BB house to scale complete with internal yard. Direct entry to the house from both parks for production as well as post-season tours. The DEC will become the live show auditorium for subsequent seasons. BB Production facilities are all back-of-house. The Shell is to be relocated to the Eastern side of the Thunderbolt site to allow for a new slide tower featuring a Boomerango, Tailspin+Rattler Fusion as well as a family raft slide. The mock-up features the Boomerango/Tailspin+Rattler compact layout to scale from Aqualantis and Gumbuya World. The main expansion to WWW will see the long-awaited lazy river. The mock-up uses a scaled replica of the lazy river from Four Seasons Orlando Resort which features lush greenery and theming. This will be WWW's answer to Murrisippi Motors - rockwork, animals, lighting for night events, waterfalls and bridges across the river to secluded grassed areas and seating throughout the area. I believe if the theming is well done, this will blow Calypso Beach out of the water (pun intended). The area is a huge people eater and once gardens have grown in it will provide a great chill-out area to get out of the sun. Back of house: The shed located to the east of the Thunderbolt plot will need to be relocated behind Kevil and some realignment of the BOH roads is required; however the majority of the back of house facilities will remain unchanged.

Was in Coffs Harbour for work and decided to stop by the Big Banana to see the progress of the Plantation Coaster! It’s looking very good and I think it has a good chance of being open by Christmas. This will be the 2nd Alpine Coaster installation in Australia and it will be the most accessible given that the other one is located at Thredbo on the ski fields of NSW. This one should be a great ride but it does appear to be a little short. The installation appears to have 2 lift hills. I thought that originally it was meant to loop behind the water park and back around but it’s actually very compact. It will certainly give a great reason to stop at Coffs Harbour and I think it will be a great success for the park when it opens! Hopefully this gives other Aussie parks the impetus to consider installing one of these as part of their lineup- Jamberoo/Funfields I am looking at you!

Great find @Gazza Townsville is a great location for a water park.

Unlikely a themed overlay would be added the first time it’s open straight out of the gate (Scooby that is). As for WWF not being planned to be open, that would be odd given they spent money to add a lighting package just so they could open it for FN and WC. That lighting package also has different overlays for both events.

I’d forgotten this was actually happening. I hope it is finished for the summer holidays, would love to give it a run on the way down to or back from Sydney

DW should not be factoring Big Brother into any of their plans. This current series starts in Nov and ends in Dec. It's only going to be a 4-5 week run and the 'house' set will be gone before Xmas. DW need to focus on their own core business of theme park experiences and putting in fully immersive, themed lands. BB might bring in some short-term cash so I don't hate them doing it, but if they want to have a TV production precinct (not a terrible idea) it should be on the North end of the park as part of their rezoning/development plans, and should be designed for many different shows so it can operate year round.

I'm honestly surprised a large scale waterpark hasn't been built up in Far North Queensland yet. It seems like the perfect place: very humid and hot sometimes and it would be a perfect place to cool down. I haven't been to Townsville but I have been to Cairns which is somewhat close. There is a Lagoon in the CBD but I believe it's not recommended to swim in the beaches there compared to somewhere like the Gold Coast. Lots of tourists go to Cairns and Townsville especially from colder states like Victoria so I feel it would be great to have one there to cool off one day. In comparison down here in Victoria we have 3 (Funfields, Adventure Park, Gumbuya) whilst Far North Queensland has nothing.

It's scheduled to be open, but like last year could be pulled from the ride at any time (a day or two before).

Park still closed = don't agree with you. We have both been in agreement that WWW needs sprucing up and refreshing, the only difference has been the timing. If they are starting to turn their minds towards WWW, perhaps they are pleased with the progress of the dry park. I still think the dry park is short a few key attractions, given how many were gutted from the park in the last 10 years, in reality they have added Sky Voyager, Taipan, Jungle Rush and Flyer, refurbished the vintage cars and upgraded the claw. Does that make up for the loss of TRRR, Buzzsaw, Rocky Hollow, Wipeout and technically Eureka? I'd say it's pretty close - so maybe they are ready to start work on WWW after all?