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Dreamworld is still lacking a dark ride, a water ride, a second major thrill coaster, a second inverting thrill ride and an adults-only space like a bar. They're also lacking shows - especially shows that aren't for little kids. Most importantly a second themed land. Rivertown is it. Goldrush, Rocky Hollow and Ocean parade used to be themed lands (even if they got a bit crap toward the end), and Ocean Parade is currently a dead end with a Big Brother set. Dreamworld needs to replace Rocky Hollow with a new water ride. They need to fix ocean parade from the Wipeout plot around to Kevil Hill and completely remove Gold Coaster - which is a janky painful experience - and tightly integrate a new internal entrance to WWW - maybe using the land to weave coasters and slides together. DW doesn't need to 'replace what was lost' because they also lost the chair-lift, the paddle steamer, the Tiger Island presentation, Thunderbolt, and ToT. They need to build out new themed lands and have a good balance of attractions for kids, families and thrill seekers. They also need to remove Motocoaster and Gold Coaster - which is honestly more of an opportunity than a loss - They don't need direct replacements, but a second family coaster, and a second thrill coaster are definitely things they'll need.

I've been working on this for a while and this topic seems like the best time to share it. I've put together a bit of a wish list mock-up masterplan for Ocean Parade and the Thunderbolt plot. Ocean Parade: Bring the water back to Ocean Parade, start with running the bulldozer through Trolls Village and Thunderbolt's station. The space could be opened up to make room for a new battle boat attraction, theming it around fishing trawlers with a twist of fantasy - Imagine Kind Claw's tentacles rising from the depths, interacting with the boats. One of the trawlers could be suspended mid-air by a tentacle. The ride station is the newly advertised "K&B Brown Ocean Parade Boatworks" teased on the wall beside King Claw. This attraction would set itself apart from the Battle Boats at SW by incorporating themed rockwork tunnels, show scenes and a unique immersive experience. While we're at it, put some tentacles breaking out of the ground down near SS and the dodgems, I think this would be a great way to finally give Ocean parade a cohesive tie from one end to the other. King Claw has arrived and is wreaking havoc through throughout the area. The area would also get a wharf theme (think the original Pacific Wharf at Disneyland or Mooloolaba Wharf for something more basic), with an accessible kids dry boat-themed playground (similar to the former SS Feathersword in Wiggles World) between the battle boat harbour and Gold Coaster's entry. The Kevil facade would be retained and repainted to resemble a fishmonger's loading dock, acting as the entry to a new hero attraction: a dark ride themed to the ocean depths. I'd love to see a river ride return to the coast or a trackless dark ride here with show scenes that bring guests on a journey through the underwater world, potentially with inspiration from Jora Vision's concept work for VinWonder: Various facades that suit the wharf village theme line the park border and create a backdrop for the battle boat attraction. The boardwalk leads to the dark ride exit store which also acts as the internal gate between DW and WWW. WWW: Adjacent to the new internal gate, a sorely needed F&B outlet overlooks the new WWW expansion. This is themed as a tiki bar that draws on old-school Australiana (Tangaroa Terrace meets Banana Bender Pub). A purpose-built BB house on the southern side of the property returns the DEC to dreamworld for year-round use. The mock-up shows the original BB house to scale complete with internal yard. Direct entry to the house from both parks for production as well as post-season tours. The DEC will become the live show auditorium for subsequent seasons. BB Production facilities are all back-of-house. The Shell is to be relocated to the Eastern side of the Thunderbolt site to allow for a new slide tower featuring a Boomerango, Tailspin+Rattler Fusion as well as a family raft slide. The mock-up features the Boomerango/Tailspin+Rattler compact layout to scale from Aqualantis and Gumbuya World. The main expansion to WWW will see the long-awaited lazy river. The mock-up uses a scaled replica of the lazy river from Four Seasons Orlando Resort which features lush greenery and theming. This will be WWW's answer to Murrisippi Motors - rockwork, animals, lighting for night events, waterfalls and bridges across the river to secluded grassed areas and seating throughout the area. I believe if the theming is well done, this will blow Calypso Beach out of the water (pun intended). The area is a huge people eater and once gardens have grown in it will provide a great chill-out area to get out of the sun. Back of house: The shed located to the east of the Thunderbolt plot will need to be relocated behind Kevil and some realignment of the BOH roads is required; however the majority of the back of house facilities will remain unchanged.

DW should not be factoring Big Brother into any of their plans. This current series starts in Nov and ends in Dec. It's only going to be a 4-5 week run and the 'house' set will be gone before Xmas. DW need to focus on their own core business of theme park experiences and putting in fully immersive, themed lands. BB might bring in some short-term cash so I don't hate them doing it, but if they want to have a TV production precinct (not a terrible idea) it should be on the North end of the park as part of their rezoning/development plans, and should be designed for many different shows so it can operate year round.

I don't really have time to dig through the proposal, but is CEH wanting to develop the land themselves or sell the land for development? I know they're just requesting re-zoning and this isn't a solid development plan. If it's the former, I would hope they've considered things like future expansion of the park (even just the wildlife park) or a potential second-gate, given there is likely to be a boost in tourism around the Olympics (possibly sustained if it's as successful as Sydney). This is definitely a 10-15 year outlook, but presumably the park will still be around then. If it's the latter, I would be concerned that will crimp the long-term value of the park if they ever want to sell to a bigger player that would want to consider expansion. They're deliberately land-locking themselves further beyond the previous land sale. I also am not sure that a 'down-town' precinct is really going to be that popular given Westfield exists across the road. Also, any residential properties are just going to create noise complaints, so you just end up with a gimped entertainment precinct, and crappy residential areas that are noisy and have crap parking. It's just my opinion but I think that CEH are doing good things at the moment and should be preserving land or developing land in line with their core tourism/entertainment business and I'm not sure if this rezoning plan really does that.