Dreamworld introduces peak and off-peak pricing

In addition to the now annual price hikes seen across Gold Coast theme parks, Ardent Leisure, owners of Dreamworld and WhiteWater World are set to introduced a new scheme that sees normal ticket prices vary based on the time of visit.

Starting December 1, tickets purchased to Dreamworld or WhiteWater World will be priced according to when the buyer plans to visit.

Peak season will be from December 26 to January 26, the traditional busy summer period for the Gold Coast parks. The rest of the year – January 27 to December 24 – will be off peak.

It is unknown at this stage if Dreamworld's initiative will be followed by Warner Village Theme Parks' Sea World, Warner Bros. Movie World and Wet'n'Wild Water World. In recent years WVTP have offered small discounts to members of its MyFun ticketing portal; trading the additional revenue for the benefits that comes from the increased advertising exposure.

The two companies typically raise the pricing in unison each year. This is in contrast to many theme park markets overseas where typically one company will increase prices and be followed by competitiors in the following weeks and months.

A further change also sees the age cutoff for children's tickets decrease from 4 years of age to 3. Only guests under 3 will now gain free admission.

The new prices will available on Dreamworld's ticketing website from December 1.