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Everyone here knows i'm a huge Dreamworld fan, and this year I had the great fortune to spend a day with the man who built the park with his bare hands, John Longhurst. After our first meeting, I came away with a recorded conversation about Dreamworld's history that lasted over an hour and a half, and has been later transcribed into some 16,000 words of what I reckon is some honestly brilliant stories. It also goes a little bit into my own personal history with the park; suffice to say you'll start to understand why i'm so passionate about the place when you read through the article. You can find the first part in a series of stories here - John Longhurst's Dreamworld Stories - Origins - Part 1 I think the magic in this piece comes from simply reading through John's own words, so rather than spoiling the stories at such an early time i'll instead post the pictures that are seen on the jump. Comments and questions are totally welcome. Some of John's many books about Walt Disney. Mr. Day's Coomera property the day John Longhurst bought it. One of John's many books containing a series of incredible photos. Hollywood Cottage, now defunct. As former General Manager for Special Projects, Bob Tan, mentioned to me recently, "As for the cottage, it was very unfortunate. I recall a buyer wanted to take it away and re-erect it at his property on the Gold Coast, but the management of the day decided we disassemble it and store it for future use. It ended up consumed by termites." Dreamworld's Main Street was heavily inspired by Walt Disney World's Main Street of the same name.

Why not change up your offer to provide a point of difference? Why not embrace the fact that there are more people on the vicinity (games venue literally next door to the park) and it’s QLD school holidays, weather still good, and extend opening hours to 7pm each night? Do something to be a point of difference...

Yeah there's about a 50 seat difference between the theatres so Canada you're spot on that Canada's auditorium was slightly larger, however Dreamworld also have some breathing space (lobby, the now closed Boost Juice shop etc.) to fit queues etc. Interesting thought - folks just queued for Imax sessions out in Main Street, although I don't see this ride eating up hundreds of people at a time. Not even close. Here's a great comparison: (Being real super nerdy, Dreamworld's IMAX was the first in the country and had an old school GT projector.) The Dreamworld Cinema was originally an IMAX Theatre. If you've never been to an IMAX Theatre showing something on its unique 15/70mm film, you're missing out. Still to this day nothing comes close. Back in the day, traditional IMAX (by comparison to a traditional theatre) meant a giant picture in a deep auditorium, 15/70mm film (compared to 35mm film that also contained the audio waveform on it) & impressively powerful sound inside the theatre. However, because of the insane costs to running IMAX theatres, from the physical cost of huge platters of film, or the licensing fees to the super delicate consumables like lamps, the landscape of what makes IMAX has changed over the years, especially with digital IMAX (2x 4K dithered laser projects which is still arguably not as good as 15/70mm showings) superseding or taking over the majority of IMAX showings in cinemas globally. If you're in Melbourne, go to the IMAX theatre there and see something on film. It's just incredible. Quoting John,

The Sydney Royal Easter Show is in full swing and we've gotten 1 new ride this year, the XScream Soundwave. The ride is Australia's first Waltzer from Fairtrade over in the UK and it provides a great, smooth ride with lot's of spinning. I mean a lot of spinning, wouldn't recommend if your not of fan of spin and spews. Other than that though, the ride looks sensational, especially at night with all the strobes and smoke machines. The ride is travelling with Doyle Jnr and Jennifer Gill, who own the Alien Abduction as well.

Sure did!

Interesting you mention that - I did a fair chunk of research with @Richard (and by research I mean we were both going through Pinterest & RCDB) trying to figure out where the first Mine Ride came from as the original designer in America (B A Schiff) sold the plans to make it to none other than Butlins. (See here - https://rcdb.com/7452.htm) I just found out recently however that the one we originally got at Dreamworld was indeed from America (apparently the Oregon Pine only comes from one place).

Thanks for that awesome read @Roachie and congratulations on this amazing opportunity you've had. Can't wait for the future parts of this amazing story.

All solid questions I’ve been wondering too. If you look at the picture above, Canada’s variant has a lot of space between the gondolas and the floor, so in the mindset of keeping the project cost as low as possible, you’d have to presume to avoid un-necessary digging and building changes that the orientation is staying the same. But I dunno, this is all guess work until something more concrete comes out.

FTFY

Not even close. I spent the day with John Longhurst just recently and had a chance to interview him about this - feverishly working through the transcriptions as we speak so stay tuned.