Dreamworld Street Food Festival dead?

[Vidgamer]

Normally in April Dreamworld runs the Street Food Festival, which I find is a fun event that adds to a pretty good day. I've noticed that they have removed the 'Street Food Festival' from there 'What's on?' page and the website link is dead. It does seem Dreamworld is doubling down on Spring County Fair and Winterfest - maybe the food festival is dead?

[Brad2912]

It has a lot of cross over with the Dreamworld Markets in terms of food offerings so it may be seen as superfluous.

I'm sure there will be something running for the April/Easter holidays however, so i'm sure an announcement wont be too far away

[themagician]

The event page was on the website last week and it did say it was returning in 2024. I am both surprised and not surprised at the same time if it’s not returning. The event was very popular, but it was also originally created as a trial for the night markets. And since the night markets are doing very well, they probably don’t feel the need for the overlap. 
 

Hopefully they have a new event to replace it during the Easter holidays, so I’m excited to see what they come up with.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

23 minutes ago, themagician said:

since the night markets are doing very well,

I'll dispute this one. I thought night markets were great on at least 5-6 previous visits, however I hadn't had a chance to visit in quite a few months. I visited a week or two ago, and the options for food were extraordinarily limited. After walking from Barrels to the Flyer, you could say we were underwhelmed. We had stopped in the middle of main street to discuss options, when one staff member encouraged us to head towards the dodgems for more food options (which we had already seen). When we mentioned there wasn't much to choose from, the staff did agree that outside school holidays its been hard to get the selection of vendors in they've had previously. 

Flyer has also reduced the capacity of the main area where food vendors could set up. While I had originally thought Flyer would be a boon for night market, it felt like the opposite. With the usual Bubbo desserts, and about 5 food vans well spread out across the length of ocean parade and main street, it was difficult to find one outlet that offered something for everyone in our party of 8.

We left the park at 5:15 and took the kids to McDonald's.

[themagician]

@DaptoFunlandGuyinteresting. It’s been a few months since I last went, but it’s a shame to hear it’s not as good as it used to be. I was hoping they would’ve simply made the markets better with the addition of rides on top of what they already had. 

Have the crowd levels dropped to?

[ShakeShack]

2 hours ago, themagician said:

@DaptoFunlandGuyinteresting. It’s been a few months since I last went, but it’s a shame to hear it’s not as good as it used to be. I was hoping they would’ve simply made the markets better with the addition of rides on top of what they already had. 

Have the crowd levels dropped to?

Not Dapto, but can answers.

My recent visit was much the same as his, no more than 8 vendors, including those run/owned by Dreamworld across the entire event. There was next to no crowd, couple hundred would be a big stretch.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Agree - can confirm. low crowds, though we did leave not long past 5 - maybe people came in later?

[Brad2912]

Spoke to soon… it’s back 

 

Dreamworld Food Festival is TAKING OVER these holidays!

Dreamworld's Food Festival is BACK in 2024 and it's taking theme park food to a NEW level!
Take your taste buds on a journey these holidays from 6 - 21 April!

Dreamworld's Food Festival is an explosion of taste, scent and entertainment that gives you the perfect way to combine your love of food with your love of fun! Dreamworld will be packed full with new and delicious food options from existing outlets, serving up the best foodie options on the coast, right alongside your favourite thrill rides, family fun and wildlife encounters!

🍔 HEAPS of unique and limited specialty menu items
 🍹 Delicious drinks to sip on
🚚 Explore a variety of Dreamworld food outlets*
🎢 PLUS all of your regular Dreamworld FUN

It's so many experiences, and so many memories, all in one place!

[New display name]

Looks to be low on food choices this year.  ☹️

[Brad2912]

[Michelangelo]

3 minutes ago, New display name said:

Looks to be low on food choices this year.  ☹️

Yeah… disappointing.

Appears to be no external vendors and only a slight variation to their normal offerings. I guess this is why they’ve dropped the “street” and only refer to it as “food festival”.

There originally was high hopes of this event soon to be on par with Disney or Seven Seas… not any more.

I think it’s time to drop the event altogether, back to the drawing board for something new.

[themagician]

5 minutes ago, New display name said:

Looks to be low on food choices this year.  ☹️

From what I have found, in 2022 (the events first year) they had 18 stalls, in 2023 they had 17 and this year there is 10.

If there night markets are also struggling to get external food trucks, maybe the park are having issues getting to be a part of the parks events.; hence the dip in food offerings.

[Vidgamer]

Glad to see it is back

[Tricoart]

46 minutes ago, Michelangelo said:

Appears to be no external vendors and only a slight variation to their normal offerings. I guess this is why they’ve dropped the “street” and only refer to it as “food festival”.

It does mention external vendors on the site, but they may be being hard to source due to the aforementioned issues, & therefore aren’t being listed as permanent options for the entirety of the event (at least, not yet).

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

4 hours ago, Michelangelo said:

I guess this is why they’ve dropped the “street” and only refer to it as “food festival”.

Ironically the web page still posts as 'street food festival' so they've only changed the words on the page, not the page title.

And yep - all the offerings are from in-house venues, no externals are coming in for this one. Might as well have emailed everyone and said "come to the park to buy food from the same places you always have! There's nothing new to see here!"

[Vidgamer]

No tasting trail this year either