GoGoBoy

Judging by that pic you just posted, the tower at the front of the park now looks completely different. Now that it is almost completed it looks a lot bigger and more impressive. It seems they have added to the lengths of the poles compared to the original pictures we saw of it. I can't believe we are going to end up with 2 Tornados, how funny is that. I hope DW's is the version with the longer entry tube slide so that there's a point of difference between the two

Wow that's an awesome update matt! Thankyou! Talk about some serious progress. I am happy to say it looks like those slides are the ones from ProSlide that have the waterfall effects over the tunnel exits. I'm not one hundred percent sure but it certainly looks that way which is good. Bit of a strange colour scheme particularly that 'Aussie' tube (please tell me they are not theming it to the world cup or any other sports for that matter) but I'd rather a bit of colour than just standard blue. I reckon they could have gone much brighter if anything. Hmm, I was hoping the long slide you are talking about would be an Octopus Racer from ProSlide. Check out the ProSlide website and let me know if you think this is a possibility. If you're saying it's got a splash pool then I don't think it will be an Octopus Racer unfortunately as they have run-out areas and no pools. And do you think the tower at the front of the park will support more than just the possible Tornado? I'm hoping they will put a ProSlide rocket slide on there aswell. I noticed a number of various supports around that particular tower. What are your thoughts based on what you've seen?

Sounds positive matt and thanks for the map. Are you sure it's a Tornado and not a Behemouth Bowl or something similar? Maybe the question mark areas will be the toddler pools. And on the side of the park you have got the long slide with big supports. Do you think this could be an Octopus Racer? What do the supports look like and how big exactly? Thanks again for the info. Very much looking forward to your pics

Thanks Richard. I'm trying to change my attitude and be a bit more positive about this Gazza. The management behind Dreamworld and Macquarie Leisure have proven they know what they're doing, so I'm now trying to tell myself they will get the waterpark right, even though we have seen no evidence of this at this stage. When they mentioned "never before seen in Australia attractions" previously I was worried they may have been referring to the FlowRider only. This could have been especially true if your theory had been correct Gazza. But now there is no doubt the FlowRider is a part of Dreamworld and this latest press release again mentions "never before seen attractions" I figure we would have to be getting something good in the waterpark. It would be total and utter false advertising otherwise

Thanks for that Adam. Greg Shaw said "The water park will provide a new level of customer experience with an inventory of new rides and attractions never before seen in the Australian market". If he has promised this once again it must mean we are going to get some pretty special attractions. So even though current construction only shows signs of small towers and some basic slides, there must be more to come...

Do they have a website?

And guess what Luna Park Sydney has done now - if you want to go on the 'extra' rides they bring in for the holidays you have to buy a Mega Pass which is $49. So now you are paying almost as much as the Gold Coast theme parks to ride a small collection of the crappiest, most poorly presented ex-carnival rides around. A print ad for Luna Park in the paper advertises the cost as ONLY $6! Quite misleading as this only includes access to a circus show and circus school (whatever that is). But you'll need to pay an extra $43 to go on the rides

joz I have to say I completely disagree with this statement (not something I find myself doing often with you). When the Luna Park's were originally built they were never designed to be 'small carnival style parks'. They were designed to make guests feel like they had been transported into another world. The rides and attractions were incredibly unique and had massive amounts of care put into their presentation. The facades and artwork turned the parks into a fantasy land. Immersive dark rides like the Ghost Train (particularly Sydney's much larger version) and River Caves helped with this effect. Even the Big Dipper's were custom built to fit into the park. The Luna Park's only became 'year round Easter shows' in recent years. But it is not a good thing and I don't think it is acceptable. However I think most of the general public has forgotten what the Luna Park's originally were and share your own viewpoint about them. This is why the parks are allowed to get away with such crap. Neither of them have anything near the original spirit. It was looking promising for a while there that Lindsay Fox might atleast restore LPM to its former glory but now I'm not so sure

I think putting a new coaster where the vintage cars are now is a great spot. Even better if they left the cars there and just built the supports around it. They could also build some of the supports over the river. That way we could end up with a truly massive full circuit coaster. I'm over this whole launch thing. Utilising this area would really help open up the park more and draw some of the focus away from Ocean Parade. Either this area or where Blue Lagoon currently sits

LPS has a new ad on the TV advertising the upcoming school holiday 'carnival' with a circus theme. They proudly advertise "4 NEW RIDES!" which makes the park sound like they are investing in some serious new equipment. Those of us in the know are ofcourse aware that they will just bring in some more portable carnival rides temporarily (some truly crappy favourites such as the Dominator and Chair-o-plane)

Considering I am getting a bit of a reputation due to some of my recent negative posts I wanted to add something positive for a change. I just wanted to mention how impressed I am with Movie World. I could not think of a better or more appropriate ride for the park at this time (the S&S Tower) . I also love the fact they are adding this ride so soon after Superman Escape and Shrek 4D. I want to reiterate that this is a really good thing and a great choice by Movie World... I don't have one bad thing to say about it

I sent an email to Dreamworld to give my feedback on the FlowRider (ie. I think they could have done better). I think it's important for the park to receive this sort of feedback so they can see not everyone is happy with their choices. I would encourage anyone to do the same if you feel the same way. Anyway, I received a reply from the Communications Manager. She mentioned some of the usual things about how much of a great response they have received from guests re the FlowRider. She also used the recently quoted tag lines such as Dreamworld is trying to "bring brand new experiences to life" and "offer guests so many worlds in one... not just thrill rides". Not exactly what I was hoping to hear. However, on the positive side of things she did say that Dreamworld was committed to remaining number one when it comes to thrill rides and they had some very exciting things planned for the very near future. I like the fact that she said very near future... sounds promising

What? Do you think that would suggest yet another new ride? If so... go Movie World!! No wonder Dreamworld is adding off-beat little attractions like the FlowRider, they just can't compete with Movie World when it comes to new REAL rides at the moment

Have you actually looked at the pictures of Dreamworld's 'towers' aidan? I don't even think you can call them towers. More like a selection of short poles. And don't forget the stock standard slide pieces that will accompany them. Anything is more promising than that

Taken from attractionsmanagement.com - ***** 20 Jun 2006 Aussie World pencils in waterpark Aussie World theme park on Australia’s Sunshine Coast has revealed plans to open a waterpark in the future. General manager David Thompson said: “We are still at the very early stages, but have pencilled in a major waterpark for the Sunshine Coast. We would hope to have around eight major operations within the park.” The waterpark would be located adjacent to Aussie World, which sits on just 19 acres of 52 acres that the park owns. The theme park, which has successfully moved from being a free entry park to a full price park in the last six months, is also currently in discussions with the local council to agree more flexibility in the variety of rides it can install. Details: www.aussieworld.com.au ***** Note that the General Manager said there are plans for eight major operations within the park (I assume that means attractions). It's already sounding more promising than the Dreamworld waterpark

Great update, thank you. It feels like my negative premonitions are slowly being realised (and even I thought the park might turn out better than I was suggesting). So far we have 2 small towers with 3 tube slides and 2 body slides. WOW! Did Dreamworld say something about world class/never before seen in Australia? Cough. I don't think so. Judging by the slide parts I'm still hoping those tube slides will be this style from ProSlide with the waterfalls (only obviously DW will not have the cool colour scheme) - http://sfne.com/index.php?cat=gallery&gallery=hh ... fourth row down, middle photo And speaking of the colour scheme what is going on there? Not attractive. Even the shades they have chosen are wrong - if they're going to go for different colours they should be really bright - the park is definitely starting to show the hallmarks of Water Technology inc unfortunately (Dorney Park/Wildwater Kingdom here we come)

Thanks matt, nice job. Well judging by those pics it seems like Village Roadshow has once again come out on top with the Tornado looking like a seriously quality attraction (thanks ProSlide). Meanwhile over at Macquarie Leisure's waterpark, it's still impossible to guess what's coming. But there are apparantley only going to be 3 towers and we can see 2 of them already. Is it my imagination or are they really small, weak (and green) looking waterslide towers? I can't see how you'd get many good slides coming off those things. And secondly, I personally think the FlowRider looks really average when taken into context with its surrounds. What happened to the multi-million dollar bar and recreational area DW was supposedly building to accompany the attraction? Look how temporary looking it all is. Even the pavement is shocking

Hey that's a great theory Gazza!! I hadn't thought of that but it sounds very, very likely. Would certainly make sense. By the way, here's a direct quote from the DW CEO which initially had me worried - "FlowRider is the new breed of innovative rides and attractions coming to Dreamworld". No! We don't want a new breed of attractions - the old breed was fine. Just give us a darn good coaster would you Mr. Gregg! Anyone elese?

Hey mattcrombie... did you manage to get those waterpark pics? Would be hugely grateful if you could post them. Hopefully we will be able to start to guess what the attractions will be

I have to admit I'm disappointed with Dreamworld's new attraction, the Flowrider. It just seems to me to be the sort of thing you'd find at a recreation centre or waterpark, not a theme park. Is there still a possibility it could be intergrated with the new waterpark? The ride surely has limited appeal and reaches out mostly to the 'surfer' demographic which is a strange market for a theme park to want to attract. And now after seeing the way the area has been presented I do not think it fits in with the surrounding family theme park feel at all. It's almost like the Big Top at Luna Park (Sydney) when there's a Come Together music festival on and yet the park is still open for families and people wanting to go on the rides. Also, why is Dreamworld adding a Flow Rider and then at the end of the year a new waterpark? What is the link with these 2 very much water based additions? It has got me thinking about what direction Dreamworld is heading in. It seems to me they are almost trying to get away from being a theme park and become more of an entertainment/recreation park. With attractions like Big Brother, Flowrider and the wildlife sections offering more 'experiences'. There have been a number of quotes from both the CEO and the PR spokeswoman implying this is the case. They have said things along the lines of (and I'm loosely quoting) "the Flowrider is just a taste of things to come... new generation attractions bringing experiences to life". And recently the spokeswoman said something like "Dreamworld is not just a theme park, it is a combined entertainment precinct". When they start using words like entertainment precinct it's very dangerous. It's not a good sign for lovers of true theme parks, rides and roller coasters. Perhaps DW now feels they have enough rides and want to focus on other areas (especially seeing as though rides require large amounts of capital). I remember writing into Wonderland years ago asking when they were going to get a new ride. This was the Sunway era. The reply I got was "At Wonderland we now feel we have more than enough rides so we are going to focus on entertainment based additions". This included the horrible Action Man Show. In other words they didn't want to spend any money on decent new rides. With Movie World doing the right thing and now constantly adding amazing new rides, why aren't Dreamworld doing the same? I'm just glad that Dreamworld is adding a new waterpark as this gives some sign of hope. I'm very interested to hear everyone elses opinions on the matter. Do you think DW is going to add a new ride anytime soon or do you think they are going to continue to add experience attractions like the Flowrider? What would you prefer (this may be an obvious question, but perhaps not to DW)? I would be very interested to see the DW master plan. Please add your comments and speculations about what you think DW has planned for the future....

Don't get me wrong rabid, you've done some great updates on the waterpark, as I've mentioned and thanked you for before. It's totally up to you when you want to and can provide updates and we are grateful for them. I just haven't seen any pics from the park for about a month (from anyone) so would be happy whoever can provide them. I know things must be moving along at a fast pace

Ofcourse it is possible that Dreamworld Waterpark will start out small with the ultimate goal of expansion. However, this could potentially be a dangerous move on Dreamworld's part. The first impression the general public gets of a park is generally a lasting one. If people decide from the start that DWWP is not as big or as good as WnW then it will be a real struggle for DWWP to shake that stigma. We all know how much the Aussie public seems to go for for quantity over quality when it comes to parks. Take Movie World as an example (and I can think of many more), it started out with very little attractions. Over the years they have added a considerable number of rides but people always think of it as the park without many rides partly because of the way it was when it opened. The only things we know for sure about Dreamworld Waterpark is that there will be a wave pool, 3 tower structures and toddler pools. The rumour is that there will be no lazy river ride either (which is strange as most if not all new waterparks overseas have these). So as I said before, those towers are going to need to be packed with the latest and greatest slides and attractions to ensure Dreamworld does not get stuck with the 'inferior park' title. mattcrombie - if you can get those pics for us that would be excellent. Our theme park fansites don't seem to be covering the construction updates very much

Cyclone was themed by a company called the Sanderson Group who also themed the Giant Drop (which has some of the dodgiest queue line theming I have ever seen). The Sanderson Group also created the theming for the 'future zone' at Sega World in Sydney and then the re-theme of the Magic Motion Theatre ride (both quite poorly done). Thankfully it appears Dreamworld is now using a company called Atomiq. This firm created the new entry facades for Gold Rush Country and Ocean Parade, full theming on the Claw and also Wiggles World. They have also been commisioned to work on the new waterpark. They seem to produce some good stuff

Thanks very much for that info dodge. For some reason I didn't see your post at the time you wrote it. 3 tower structures is not very much for a stand alone waterpark (that's only 1 more tower than Sea World's crappy waterpark has). They are going to want to be very tall towers with a lot of rides packed onto each to make it worthwhile. It seems to me most of the newest waterpark attractions (such as Rocket Slides and Bowls) tend to have their own individual towers and do not usually share with other slides. Has anyone been past the park recently? We haven't had any updates for a few weeks and I'm sure construction must be progressing quickly. It's driving me crazy. If anyone has any info even from just driving past please let us know

While I do like the colour scheme (Wet 'n' Wild has a distinct lack of colour) I reckon they should have made Tornado yellow and black rather than blue and orange. It would suit the theme of H20 Zone better... not that they seem to care about theming or presentation in this area