Happy 35th Birthday Dreamworld!
That Facebook post by DW that @reanimated35 shared was very interesting:
Despite opening a year later, Thunderbolt & the surrounding Country Fair must have been planned to open on opening day as that park map of DW was published in the Gold Coast Bulletin on opening day exactly 35 years ago.
The area we consider Main Street was originally called Plaza with Main Street being the bit between Plaza & Country Fair (current day area between Top Spin & the Main Street Fountain).
Kelly's Shooting Gallery (known for being in Town Of Gold Rush) was originally in Gum Tree Gully.
The island's original name was Castaway Island.
An art gallery originally featured near the Ice Cream Parlour.
The Fairytale Treasures was not there on opening day - instead it was White House Souvenirs.
The Bumper Cars were originally located in front of Thunderbolt.
A helipad existed originally where Town Of Gold Rush stands.
An 'Indian Camp' existed near where Dreamworld Woolshed now stands - the purpose of the Indian Camp? It wasn't for the Captain Sturt Paddle Steamer, you'll find out in the article I've posted below.
If anyone wants a more high-resolution look at that newspaper feature that DW posted, click here.
It's nice to have an opening day park map that clearly states every single ride, attraction, shop, amenity etc.
This photo from Gold Coast City Council shows Rix family members on the Captain Sturt Paddle Wheeler at DW's official opening (Norm Rix - furthest family member on the right - was the Gold Coast City Council Alderman for Ward 2 at the time)
This article from The Australian Woman's Weekly archived on the National Library Of Australia's Trove service was published approximately 2 months prior to opening:
The last sentence of the above article is the most important sentence in the whole article.