Dreamworld post Rivertown - Whats next?

[Tim Dasco]

With Dreamworld opening dreamland and River town under construction, It couldn't hurt to start guessing what will come next when they come to invest in the next major CAPEX projects. Below is some ideas I had for what I think could help the parks lineup moving forward. 

Stage 2 River town: - 2025

• MDMC rethemed with new spinning trains to make it more comfortable and to suit the theme of river town.
• The paddle Wheeler re opens (Super wishful thinking, with the park focusing on going back under that nostalgia route you never know)

Then I believe a log flume or Chute the Chutes in the back half of Ocean Parade with a Mack Twist N Splash attraction to fix and bring life to the back half of ocean parade. (This would take up the old trolls and Flow rider land). The Mack Twist N Splash could even go in Wipeouts spot if required, if not needed a flat ride could go there in 2027. - 2026

Following this the park would need another major thrilling flat ride (Maybe a Mondial Ventura). Either in Wipeout's plot, Buzzsaw's plot, or even closer to the old log flume plot. -2027

Large thrilling roller coaster - 2028

 

Curious what people think or predict might come next?

[wikiverse]

Not predictions, but a wish list:

Motocoaster definitely needs a re-theme and new trains, ideally spinning because normal trains on that layout will basically be Big Red Boat 2.

I'd also love to see the Paddle Wheeler return, ideally with the bush ranger show, but it could also come back as a pub - maybe with some on-board performers that also hold-up the train.  The performances could just be around holiday periods, but I'd like to see more entertainment in the park, rather than just rides, to go back to the park atmosphere from the 90s.

Restoring the Baldwin steam train would be also be nice, especially if bringing back the Paddle Wheeler.

A water ride like a log flume is a must and a priority, something well themed - ideally with an actual story, family friendly with a good splashdown, and lots of viewing platforms for photo opportunities.

I'd prefer to see a Mondial Avalanche (It's a visually more impressive ride, however tame) alongside a wooden or hybrid coaster - possibly a GG or RMC.  I'd put them behind ST in the Blue Lagoon area.

An RMC raptor would also be an ideal ride to fill the old Thunderbolt spot.  DW has been missing an 'out-of-control feeling' thrill coaster since Eureka closed.  They could put in a generic wild mouse, but I think a woody/raptor combo at opposite ends of the park would be a great way to expand in both directions and spread out the crowds.

I'd bring back the laser-tag version of Kevil Hill during school holidays, and re-do the facade of SkyVoyager to fit the area.

For the Wipeout spot, a high-capacity flat like a classic pirate ship - something families can ride together - themed to fit Ocean Parade.

 

[Tim Dasco]

6 hours ago, wikiverse said:

 

I'd prefer to see a Mondial Avalanche (It's a visually more impressive ride, however tame) alongside a wooden or hybrid coaster - possibly a GG or RMC.  I'd put them behind ST in the Blue Lagoon area

 

Would a Mondial Avalanche be seen as too similar to the Claw and not worth while investment when there are so many other flat rides out there? I know its very different but with a park with a limited amount of flat rides be seen as too similar?

[yumyum]

Recently got back from a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland. I would love some type of "Jungle Cruise" around the Murrissippi River, or as somebody commented above about the Steamboat. I think during this phase, Dreamworld should invest as much as possible in timeless family attractions rather than big thrill rides.

[Jobe]

Absolutely think that Dreamworld should turn their attention on Motocoaster next. It badly needs a retheme and new trains to better fit in with the Rivertown them close by.

I doubt they would opt for spinning cars however. They would be the best option and would really bring something to the ride for sure.  Even if they heavily rethemed the entire layout, added in some enclosed sections and gave the ride generic straddle quad bike trains with similar restraints to Jet Rescue and this would still be a far better ride for it. 

Paddle steamer- I can definitley see the need for it but I think its a very small chance of it happening.

A water coaster or a well themed log flume with indoor and well themed sections should happen before any new coaster. This should be the priority for mine after the Moto coaster retheme.

As for flats I think Dreamworld needs something unique and different from what is already out there in the Australian theme park landscape.

 The reason Wipeout was so beloved and iconic was because there was nothing else like it in Australia at the time it was installed. Give the punters something that is good to ride, that is going to leave a positive impression but one that they can only get at Dreamworld and will leave them wanting to come back for more. Wipeout did that for the entirety of its lifespan and was why it was so successful.

These would all be excellent contenders in my opinion.

From RES - The Oracle

Also from RES The Sunseeker

From Fabbri Rides- The Spider

From Fabbri Rides again The InControl

A well themed one of these would make an excellent Family thrill installation

Then again,how long before we see one of these in Australia?

Or one of these?

Or if we want to play with nostalgia lets have the updated Reef Diver II

Incidentally , RES have done some great versions of flume rides and Rapid rides and they also have a a great concept for a Water coaster that Dreamworld could do wonders with a custom layout......

https://ride-engineers.com/rides/water-coaster/

Plenty of options for Dreamworld to play with. Great topic!! Looking forward to hearing other ideas!

[Rivals]

Considering current construction and investment as 'Phase 1' of the Dreamworld Overhaul, i think there will be 2 other phases. My perfect idea for the next two phases includes;

Phase 2: 2025 - 2026

- new thrilling flat ride added into the old Wipeout plot of land. As much as the seating area looks nice, the area needs a ride in its place. Move the seating area over ugly empty space outside the surf central retail outlet. Anyways for what type of ride, they could put in a Zamperla Endeavour for the nostalgic Reef Diver route, or something like a Fabbri Rides Spider. pretty much any unique, inverting and reliable flat ride would work well.

- Zamperla Nebulaz added into K&B Dreamland, you could either add this at the entrance into the area next to Belinda's Tree House or re-route KFF Queue so the ride can be nestled in the back (next to Humpty Go Round)

- Motocoaster retheme with Quadbike style trains (similar to Juvelen's trains.) Completely replace the current station with an indoor station that fits in with the rest of the land's theme and have the launch go through a themed tunnel. The new colour scheme could be dark green track, brown supports. Motocoaster would close in the middle of 2025 and reopen towards the end of 2026.

Phase 3 - 2027 / 2028

- A new Mack Watercoaster located in the back of Ocean Parade where the vacant Trolls and Kevil Hill attractions sit. With this being Dreamworld's first new water ride since the incident, having a ride model the public are already familiar with and enjoy is a safe choice. This coaster would open in Q4 of 2027, preferably before summer hits.

- New big thrill coaster stretching from the RHLR area to the Blue Lagoon / Big Brother house area. I think a coaster such as an Intamin Mega Coaster (like Kondaa at Walibi Belgium) or a GCI Woodie would work really well and compliment ST well as the headlining coasters. The Station / Queue area and brake run could be in the RHLR area due to its close proximity to the Corroboree animals (less noisy without a train zooming past) with the rest of the coaster stretching out into the Blue Lagoon area of the park, with it going right up against both ST and the road leading into the park making it eye catching to guests driving into the park. This coaster would open towards the end of 2028.

These additions would flesh out and beef up Dreamworld's ride line up, with the attraction count coming up to 27 (including JR, MM and the removal of the current Vintage Cars.) The 27 attractions include;

Coasters: 8 (2 thrill, 5 family, 1 kids)

Thrilling Flats: 5

Family / Kids flats: 7

+ Seabed Splash, Banana's Fun Maze, Belinda's Tree House, Deep Sea Dodgems, Dreamworld Express, Murrissipi Motors and Sky Voyager. 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by Rivals

[wipeout94]

I agree with the previous comments. Motocoaster should be re-themed. I would change the trains similar to Pony Express at Knott's Berry Farm. Theming would suit Rivertown and the ride is more comfortable. I would enclose the launch and had have a story which matches Rivertown. 
 

Photo from Los Angeles Times.

[Baconjack]

Just to set some boundaries on which land is allocated to the main park (as per the recent zoning changes to the park), this would most likely rule out big brother & blue lagoon as they have been rezoned for mixed use.

All said there's still 3 key spots around the park for development:

• Rocky hollow spot
• Trolls village/thunderbolt/flowrider spot
• Wipeout/chill out zone spot

And there's also a few rides reaching end of life in the next 10 years (gold coaster, gingys gliders, potentially claw & giant drop) and a ride in need of change (motocoaster)

With all this considered here's what I would say for each spot (in no particular order except for the last bit)

Family ride on the rocky hollow spot - a water coaster that's more flume than coaster (think journey to atlantis) would be really nice here as any water rides in the future need to be differentiated enough from thunder river to avoid comparisons (but that goes without saying)

Major coaster in the trolls village/thunderbolt/flowrider combined plot of land. Call it thunderbolt 2 if you want it to, would love to see a small scale dive coaster on that site (think dr diabolical's cliffhanger or iron menace), Australian first, crowd pleaser, within dreamworld's budget (as of late) and ultra reliable. Ticks just about every box and worth the price tag

Gold coaster inevitably removed and used for WWW. I'd say it's probably got 10 years max left in it. The land it sits on is prime real estate for WWW expansion, could easily fit a lazy river in there as that's the only gap really left in that lineup. All said though you could easily put the dive coaster in this spot & put the lazy river in the thunderbolt plot if you wanted to properly flesh out WWW (as was planned several years ago)

Flat on the wipeout spot - i like the idea of the nebulaz. Would love a screaming swing in australia but is not happening in that spot because of clearance issues re: claw and tailspin

Motocoaster renovation to integrate it into rivertown - we'll probably see this sooner rather than later I think they just need to see how such a project fits into the budget.

For later down the track - Giant Drop is approaching 30 years old and Claw is nearly 20 years old. Dreamworld should be realistically throwing money at Giant Drop if they need to in 10 years as it is their one prestige attraction. If that necessitates removing the old ride system and building another one on the same tower - then so be it (they've already done the numbers for a falcon's fury conversion so it's possible). Realistically Claw has about 10 years left in it, I think this is a straightforward like-for-like replacement with a new generation gyro swing (such as Goliath at adventure world). Further gingy's gliders will need to be replaced by then, so use the opportunity while it's gone to rip out the tower station and expand dreamland.

Edited December 27, 2023 by Baconjack

[themagician]

43 minutes ago, Baconjack said:

Dreamworld should be realistically throwing money at Giant Drop

Didn’t they just spend millions on refurbishing it?

[Baconjack]

18 minutes ago, themagician said:

Didn’t they just spend millions on refurbishing it?

Yeah in 10 years or so when it will most likely need it again hence why I said

1 hour ago, Baconjack said:

Dreamworld should be realistically throwing money at Giant Drop if they need to in 10 years

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by Baconjack

[Tricoart]

4 hours ago, Baconjack said:

would love to see a small scale dive coaster on that site (think dr diabolical's cliffhanger or iron menace), Australian first, crowd pleaser, within dreamworld's budget (as of late)

they’d need to do a lot more koala research for that one

[GoGoBoy]

When you look at Dreamworld currently, it really feels like a mid tier park at best. More regional than mainstream. Reminds me of some of the smaller parks in the UK. Whereas previously it was considered a major theme park with blockbuster attractions. It was a park that pretty much everyone visited when they went to the Coast. I think some of the suggestions above would help it get back to this status, or at least closer. I can see attendance getting back up to previous levels in this case, and so far there has been some very decent investment, but I just wonder if the current owners will have the financial capacity and/or willingness to take it there?

[Tricoart]

2 hours ago, GoGoBoy said:

When you look at Dreamworld currently, it really feels like a mid tier park at best. More regional than mainstream. Reminds me of some of the smaller parks in the UK. Whereas previously it was considered a major theme park with blockbuster attractions. It was a park that pretty much everyone visited when they went to the Coast. I think some of the suggestions above would help it get back to this status, or at least closer. I can see attendance getting back up to previous levels in this case, and so far there has been some very decent investment, but I just wonder if the current owners will have the financial capacity and/or willingness to take it there?

they’re definitely willing, they’ve sold all their other properties & are all-in on DW(, WWW, & Skypoint), so they’ve got a lot of incentive to make/keep their only basket full of good eggs. money’s the issue, if they’ve got enough capital post-JR to fund these sorts of projects for a consistent period of time.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Tricoart

[Levram__]

2 hours ago, Tricoart said:

they’re definitely willing, they’ve sold all their other properties & are all-in on DW(, WWW, & Skypoint), so they’ve got a lot of incentive to make/keep their only basket full of good eggs. money’s the issue, if they’ve got enough capital post-JR to fund these sorts of projects for a consistent period of time.

Money is one thing however, the board will be hard pressed to approve significant future capital spend without an upward trend in both revenue and attendance. The recent AGM was a good example of the pressures the board is facing from shareholders around visitation numbers. I really hope for DW's momentum, which I believe is on the right path, that pass holders and visitors really validate the new offerings with clicks at the gate. 

[themagician]

19 minutes ago, Levram__ said:

The recent AGM was a good example of the pressures the board is facing from shareholders around visitation numbers.

Which is probably why (this year in particular), we’ve seen a lot of annual pass and multi-day ticket deals to help get the visitation numbers up. 

[Rivals]

I will say both Dreamworld and WWW seem to be the busiest i have seen them in a long time, with the park being slammed today especially. Dreamworld (imo) along with Sea World are the top 2 parks on the coast, Movie World has lost its magic and there isn't much to do besides rides that are always broken down. I think once rivertown opens up it'll solidify the parks place as one of Australia's best parks. 

[STRAWS]

On 28/12/2023 at 3:12 PM, Rivals said:

I will say both Dreamworld and WWW seem to be the busiest i have seen them in a long time, with the park being slammed today especially. Dreamworld (imo) along with Sea World are the top 2 parks on the coast, Movie World has lost its magic and there isn't much to do besides rides that are always broken down. I think once rivertown opens up it'll solidify the parks place as one of Australia's best parks. 

talking about Movie World losing its magic look at this 

Credit Thats so mid

This is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. I know it school holidays and it will be busy, but this isn't even safe with how many people they have let in imagine they had to do an evacuation. Also 3-hour ques for the rides Village may be pocketing the money now but Movie worlds reputation is going to plummet. they need to limit the numbers. Dreamworld is so much more fun to be at not just because of the ques but the staff are so much better to.

[Tricoart]

4 hours ago, STRAWS said:

Dreamworld is so much more fun to be at not just because of the ques but the staff are so much better to.

Yeah, I hate to say it w/ MW being the better park in the past, and one I’ve got much more pleasant experiences with (excluding DW’s removed attractions) but they really have fallen apart recently, which has given DW the opportunity to overtake them, and (even pre-Rivertown) I believe they’ve done so in most categories.

- Shows/Presentations: Tiger Island’s got HSD2 beat any day of the week, which is only one of their multiple animal presentations. Some people would love/prefer the afternoon parades & little dance routines on Main Street, but I’m not one of them.

- Family Areas: Dreamland already beats Kids WB, IMO. The theming’s nicer (perhaps on account of everything not having faded due to newer refurbishment) & most/all included rides are somewhat unique, unlike Kids WB copy-pasting the same ride 3 times with a mildly different skin on each one.

- Food & Drink options: DW beats MW’s offerings IMO, but if Rick’s was open more regularly, Dirty Harry’s wasn’t so expensive, and/or they offered DW’s 10% passholder discount, that could easily change.

- Merchandise: Dreamworld has substantially more park-oriented designs & variety in items than MW has. However, MW also has the benefit of having tons of franchise merch, so I guess it depends there on which you’d prefer. For me, I’d prefer something about the park.

- ‘Relaxing’ rides: Dreamworld’s got SV, Flyer, & the Train, whereas Movie World only has the skeletal remains of a subpar, outdated shooter. Dead to rights.

- Animals: Not a contest. If you want to factor in their separately-ticketed Paradise Country, even then a comparison to DW’s Corroboree seems unfair.

- Flats: Been talked about more than enough, no contest there either.

- Atmosphere: DW’s much more pleasant, coherent, and the general layout’s flowy/breathable, unlike MW’s left/right intersection (or Superman), into left/right intersection (or Scooby/Doomsday). Crowds are significantly better managed, partially as a result of such.

The only things MW still have over DW’d be a water ride & thrill coasters, and, with the way DW & MW are going, give ‘em 10 years & I wouldn’t be surprised at all to find DW ahead in both those aspects too. I think they’d go for the water ride first, however, and there’s many ways they could implement that (despite their obvious restrictions).

Edited December 29, 2023 by Tricoart

[Ash]

Have to agree. We have yearly passes to both, we always find ourselves at dreamworld. Great for the kids, better atmosphere and handles the crowds better.

if they only had a water ride and another decent coaster Dreamworld would be on top. Drove past yesterday and the car park was full which is good to see

[Natti_amusements]

Yeah I’d definitely agree with all this. I’ve never lived around the parks so when I head to the Gold Coast I try to do them all, but I always leave Dreamworld the most satisfied. Better crowd management, much friendlier staff (although I’ve had some positive experiences with thoosies working on MW’s bigger coasters), park-specific merchandise and just better atmosphere tbh. MW definitely has the edge in terms of coasters and well-themed attractions but it’s always feels a ripoff with how often things break down and with the progress DW has been making and what’s been shared of Rivertown I believe it’s only another addition or two until Dreamworld beats out the competition. I think their next priority should be a water ride asap (preferably something story-driven) and then a bit later on another thrill coaster (probably something airtime focused) but DW is definitely heading in the right direction for sure.

[Baconjack]

7 hours ago, STRAWS said:

talking about Movie World losing its magic look at this 

Credit Thats so mid

This is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. I know it school holidays and it will be busy, but this isn't even safe with how many people they have let in imagine they had to do an evacuation. Also 3-hour ques for the rides Village may be pocketing the money now but Movie worlds reputation is going to plummet. they need to limit the numbers. Dreamworld is so much more fun to be at not just because of the ques but the staff are so much better to.

To be fair if scooby and green lantern was open the crowds would be much more dispersed. Everyone likes to rag on dreamworld for having a low ride count but at the moment down the road isn’t offering exactly a lot either, you have a major that’s going to be down until 2025 and another one that they struggle to keep open and isn’t open currently either. A giant line for doomsday is quite sad to look at really but that’s a consequence of poor planning.

Would be just another summer school holidays day at movie world if both were open otherwise which is not good by any standard either. You can say “Oh village’s reputation will slide” and that’s a fair argument for locals but at the end of the day most visitors are interstate and will go to movie world anyway, or go to dreamworld as well. That’s why village can get away with this kind of stuff even if it means ripping people off, because they’re usually only visiting once a year at most.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Baconjack

[themagician]

It will be interesting to see what the wait times are like once both Flash and Wizard of Oz open because they should take quite a bit of the crowd, but unfortunately Flash will likely have slow operations due to its low capacity. 
 

But it is a fair comment about the lack of Scooby, when that ride is operating at full capacity it can churn through people very well. And considering the indoor queue can hold up to a two hour wait, without it, the park definitely feels it.

But also, WWF used to be the highest capacity ride in the park because of how quick they could load/unload, but now it’s probably one of the worst. And on the day that video was posted, WWF wasn’t operating 

[rappa]

Its pretty ridiculous to carry on about Christmas crowds at any of the parks. This has been the case for more than 20 years. 
 

 

[themagician]

It has indeed @rappa but for as long as I’ve been going to the parks, I don’t ever remember getting queue wait times like this, even in the peak of summer. Or is my memory deceiving me?

DC Rivals had a 4.5 hour queue during the Easter holidays last year. It did only have one train operating, but can you remember in any GC parks history, where a ride has got that sort of wait?

[rappa]

Well it also used to take 25mins to get from Gold Coast airport to Surfers, but now it’s 50. 
 

The whole city is bursting with people, its record numbers of people and this flows into the parks. Everything is busier and takes longer on the Gold Coast than it used to. 
 

For me the LAST place I’d want to be at this time is the theme parks, but as you can clearly see, many do not feel the same. 
 

As pointed out though, having Scooby and Arkham (and Tunes River Ride for that matter) missing doesn’t help. Hopefully next year this makes things a bit better.