Dreamworld Express - will the full circuit come back?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

We visited on the weekend and sat down the back of Jane's for lunch, and I noticed that the old Rivertown train platform had been paved over \ levelled. 

Now I know asphalt isn't super difficult to remove, but the works just made it feel like it was much more permanent - they've not only pulled out the tracks, but also paved it to make it level with the station platform...?

Main St station is still fenced off with temp fencing, so they at least haven't made that permanent I suppose - it just shocked me that the whole thing was paved over. I really hope they don't just keep the shuttle between main street and wildlife. I'd love to see Jungle Rush from the vantage point of the train!

[Levi]

it was paved over because it was used as a guest pathway to connect Tiger Island to the Corroboree area during Rivertowns construction. my guess is they’re going to start working on restoring the full circuit of the train once the school holidays have ended, which probably explains KFF 2 day maintenance period. they’re probably also waiting until school holidays are over as i’m assuming they’re reopening the third train station for Rivertown, so the area surrounding it will need to be blocked off so they can upgrade the station to fit the new trains. 

[Park Addict 93]

What Levi said in regards to it being a temporary walking path and works to commence after school holidays.

I honestly don’t want them to reopen the station there though, I don’t feel it’s necessary. Would prefer if it remained Main St and Corroboree as it was before the temporary closure.

[Michelangelo]

100% it’ll return to full circuit.

2 hours ago, Park Addict 93 said:

I honestly don’t want them to reopen the station there though, I don’t feel it’s necessary.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it reopens as a stop for Jane’s restaurant to drive footfall into there. The only issue is that it’ll require significant investment to raise the height of the platform for accessibility like they did at Central and Wildlife, and they don’t have a lot of space to work with to do so…

Which might make it expand into an even larger project to re-do the entire path from RT through to Wildlife(Or, Corroboree) to allow for this.

4 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I'd love to see Jungle Rush from the vantage point of the train!

Would be a great distraction from the eyesore that is old TOT building on the left heading back to Central…

[dbo121]

5 hours ago, Park Addict 93 said:

What Levi said in regards to it being a temporary walking path and works to commence after school holidays.

I honestly don’t want them to reopen the station there though, I don’t feel it’s necessary. Would prefer if it remained Main St and Corroboree as it was before the temporary closure.

I think will be there due to restaurant

[Themepark Enthusist]

I do not think thye should repopen Rivertown's station unless they can increase the capacity. On some weekends I have visited the park, the train can be quite a nightmare to get on, and on several occasions i have been shut out from getting on because it is too full.

[Michelangelo]

55 minutes ago, Themepark Enthusist said:

I do not think thye should repopen Rivertown's station unless they can increase the capacity. On some weekends I have visited the park, the train can be quite a nightmare to get on, and on several occasions i have been shut out from getting on because it is too full.

Wouldn’t another station potentially help ease that capacity issue? People at stations wanting to jump on are dispersed across 3 stations rather than 2

[Brad2912]

7 hours ago, Themepark Enthusist said:

I do not think thye should repopen Rivertown's station unless they can increase the capacity. On some weekends I have visited the park, the train can be quite a nightmare to get on, and on several occasions i have been shut out from getting on because it is too full.

So you wait for the next trip? Like a ride? 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

6 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

So you wait for the next trip? Like a ride? 

A ride would empty the entire ride vehicle each trip to allow a new load to board. 

It's unfortunate as Dreamworld used to have two trains, and on busy days they could easily fill both of them through peak periods. The new style of loading takes much longer so the circuit takes much longer, and some people enjoy just sitting on the train and enjoying going around. There's no limit to how long you can stay on, so you could potentially end up with a train going around, stopping at every station but nobody being allowed to get on because it continues to be full. 

People need a reason to get off the train. Stopping for lunch at Rivertown is a good reason.

[franky]

If one station is always filling the train leaving no space for the others, perhaps a solution is to leave one cart empty at the busy station.

Disney do something similar with the Skyliners - they leave a few cabins empty to leave capacity for stations down the line.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

double edged sword - you leave seats available for other stations to fill which may or may not happen, but in doing so, you piss off the people standing in front of you who are queueing and waiting for a ride.

It's easy to do it with Skyliner when it has over 250 gondolas, and the next arriving cabin will be there in 15 seconds. It's a lot harder to do when it's the same carriage they're waiting on, and it'll be more than 15 minutes before it arrives again.

[themagician]

I don’t think we’ll see the train complete the full circuit again until the finishes touches are made to Rivertown. There is a BOH gate behind Jane’s that was used for machinery to access the land during construction. That gate is alongside where the train track goes and because it’s been filled in, it makes access easier. I’d say we’ll see the train completing the loop by Easter.

[Ashley Jeffery]

[Noll_57]

I heard from a staff member (working on the Dreamworld Express) the other day that they’re hoping to have the full circuit reopened by May. 

[Sammus77]

Not sure if this is bad news or just no news.

Emailed dreamworld to ask a few questions including the train returning to full circuit.

The reply I got was fairly short, ‘no timeframe regarding the train’… surely if it was happening anytime remotely soon they’d have a timeframe? Has anyone seen any updated works going on or heard anything more about its return? 
 

In other news I also questioned why the Australian flag was removed from the entrance plaza, this wasn’t acknowledged or responded to. There is still a flag on their dreamworld marketing logo, but has not been on the entrance plaza for at least a year if not more now. Interesting. I always thought the flag gave the whole thing a much grander classic look. Hope it returns 

[New display name]

25 minutes ago, Sammus77 said:

In other news I also questioned why the Australian flag was removed from the entrance plaza, this wasn’t acknowledged or responded to. There is still a flag on their dreamworld marketing logo, but has not been on the entrance plaza for at least a year if not more now. Interesting. I always thought the flag gave the whole thing a much grander classic look. Hope it returns 

I've also seen DW hide post, when questioned about Australia Day, so ignoring you when you ask "where has the flag gone" isn't surprising.

[themagician]

8 hours ago, Sammus77 said:

The reply I got was fairly short, ‘no timeframe regarding the train’… surely if it was happening anytime remotely soon they’d have a timeframe? Has anyone seen any updated works going on or heard anything more about its return? 

I’d say they have a timeframe, but they’d rather not publicly say what it was because it could change. I think they’re wanting to finish everything off with Rivertown first before reinstating the train track. As we know, the laid asphalt behind the restaurant to make it level for pedestrian and vehicle access. So the reason they can’t provide a timeframe is because the timeframe for finishing Rivertown is unknown because things are still be delivered for install.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 14/03/2025 at 11:54 AM, New display name said:

I've also seen DW hide post, when questioned about Australia Day, so ignoring you when you ask "where has the flag gone" isn't surprising.

It's a controversial topic at present - and no matter which side of the fence you're on, you're going to have one group or another take issue with your position on it, so the smarter option in these is to not engage in the debate at all - but of course then you'll have people who will take issue with you not taking a position at all - so it's lose-lose.

[Sammus77]

Visited dreamworld a few days ago, and asked a few team members about the delays to the railway returning and no one would give a real response. One staff member jokingly rolled her eyes and said “yea don’t ask” which doesn’t fill me with confidence. I also emailed dreamworld again to enquire on its return to full circuit as the website had been updated and the wording about ‘will return to full circuit soon’ has been removed. They did not respond to the question about the railway. 
Is there a possibility that something went wrong during Rivertown construction, and now they simply can’t bring the train back? Surely there is something more to this than just a standard delay?

Originally it was due to return to full circuit as a priority ‘shortly after Rivertown opening’, then it was ‘aiming for May’, and now months later all suggestions of its return have been removed from the website and we’re in the second half of the year. Keen to hear some thoughts? 

Personally I think it’s such a shame, you regularly hear comments of disappointment regarding its short shuttle style experience. Something feels so incomplete without a full circuit. I also find the lack of regular kinetic energy around the park very noticeable. 

[Ash]

Perhaps they are reconsidering it due to “BIG” announcement they have coming which whatever it is could hamper the completion of the full circuit track?

[Noll_57]

Yeah, I have to say, I’m really starting to worry this is turning into a Sea World monorail situation (where it was “definitely coming back”….until it wasn’t). On my last visit, I noticed the sign in the Main Street station that said the train “will return to the full loop soon” wasn’t there and the announcement on the train itself about the loop returning didn’t seem to play. Plus the remaining track and infrastructure between Jane’s and the Wildlife station has been completely let go and is gradually becoming more and more dilapidated. I’ve also received a bunch of mixed responses from staff when asked about it coming back, with some suggesting it won’t ever return. Either way, it’s pretty clear things haven’t gone to plan and I really hope the park can figure out a way to get the full loop back, as it definitely needs to come back. It would be such a shame  to lose yet another classic transport ride (or at least major part of it) in our parks. 

[themagician]

I spoke with the CEO, Greg a couple weeks ago about this. He indicated that the train will still be returning to a full loop circuit. There have been delays in rebuilding the track as fabricators/installer are harder to come by than you might think for train tracks.

When this might happen, I don’t know, but Greg has expressed to be in the past how important the train is for the park and I get the impressed getting rid of it entirely isn’t an option.

[dbo121]

2 minutes ago, themagician said:

I spoke with the CEO, Greg a couple weeks ago about this. He indicated that the train will still be returning to a full loop circuit. There have been delays in rebuilding the track as fabricators/installer are harder to come by than you might think for train tracks.

When this might happen, I don’t know, but Greg has expressed to be in the past how important the train is for the park and I get the impressed getting rid of it entirely isn’t an option.

It’s ridiculous to think it won’t come back or an issue is a hurdle . All fixable in time.
 

Be patient. The only thing big I think is coming now is the claw . 

[wikiverse]

4 hours ago, themagician said:

There have been delays in rebuilding the track as fabricators/installer are harder to come by than you might think for train tracks.

I get that there are probably few fabricators, but this isn't really a niche theme-park thing.  Queensland has nineteen 2ft gauge sugar cane railways covering over 3000kms (a longer distance than Melbourne to Cairns).  There is absolutely infrastructure in QLD to build/maintain/service them.

[franky]

How much would need fabrication though? Did they destroy the track completely during construction of Rivertown? It looked to me like they protected it fairly well.