WhiteWater World performs above expectations

Despite an unseasonably cold first half of January, Dreamworld's new water park addition WhiteWater World has performed with Queensland attendance ahead of expectations.

The water park which opened ahead of schedule and on budget at $56.4 million has been shown to be an initial success with figures for the past two months at or above expectations.

Attendance for the 23 days it was open in December reached 23,000 - averaging just 1,000 visitors per day, bringing in just under $1 million in total revenue for owners Macquarie Leisure Trust Group.

A breakdown of these figures show approximately 50% of attendance are Queensland residents while 43% are interstate. Macquarie Leisure expect to increase the interstate market, which requires three months for marketing efforts to take effect due to the planning and booking generally required for an interstate theme park holiday.

On average a guest to the new water park spends just under $40 in a day at the park. Each guest is spending an average of $25 on entry tickets, $7.87 on food and beverage, $5 on merchandise. By contrast visitors to Dreamworld spend a total of $62 on average - including $9.72 on food and $9.43 on merchandise.

Meanwhile the ahead-of-schedule launch of the World Pass ticket which allows entry to both Dreamworld and WhiteWater World has been deemed a success with 26,000 sales since launch in January. Macquarie Leisure cite the parks' direct proximity to one another as their key strategic advantage.

Macquarie Leisure have reported that WhiteWater World's opening directly next door to the 25 year old theme park has not impacted Dreamworld's attendance.

Nearby Wet'n'Wild Water World has had a successful summer period itself. Despite the introduction of a direct competitor with WhiteWater World, the park has managed to have a very successful period with reports of numerous daily attendance records being set. Some days were host to up to 10,000 visitors, 2.5 times the daily capacity of WhiteWater World.