Dreamworld's layout & future expansion

[GoGoBoy]

I first of all want to say that I am quite impressed with some of the initiatives Dreamworld has taken recently, especially in terms of continually upgrading the parks theming. After reading the Wonderland article from the Financial Review which interviewed Neil Balnaves, I am very confident Dreamworld has a great leader who understands the industry and the need for constant capital expenditure. One thing I am not a big fan of is Dreamworld's layout. When I look at the park map it actually kind of annoys me. The majority of the rides and attractions are spread out lengthways in a strip at the front of the park. I really think the park needs to start moving back to give it a bigger, more symetrical feel. I personally think a massive coaster and perhaps some smaller attractions towards the back of the park (near Gum Tree Gully or somewhere like that) would really help to round the park off. I also never liked Cyclone's location. Was it really neccesary to plonk it outside the perimeter of the gates in the carpark? If you look at it on the DW map it is so far out that half of it is cut off. I guess they didn't have much choice at the time with the Thunderbolt still there. A similar thing happened when Wet 'n' Wild added Mammoth Falls... on the park map it appears to stretch out beyond the park perimeter gates. Interested to hear anyone elses thoughts on this subject

[Slick]

Basically the reason behind the non-construction around AWE (around the back of the park in other words) is because Dreamworld isn't just a thrill park, infact Dreamworld is currently home to more than 800 native animals, which includes their Koala Exhibit, which again is the world's second largest. If you've been behind the scenes (meaning the quarantine strip as i like to call it) you will find a neverending building which is used to medicate etc. the animals.... Actually it's really quite hard to describe, but it was just huge.... I'll see if I can dig up a photo in my database tonight....

[ScReAMmachine!]

Why on earth would Dreamworld build a coaster so close to the animal exhibit. The great thing about that park is that one moment you feel like you're in a amusement park, the next you're in a wildlife park and it feels you're nowhere near the thrill rides. The only problem I have with Dreamworld is the area around the Giant Drop where pedestrian overpasses resemble a never-ending maze. Looks tacky IMHO

[Richard]

I, probably more than anyone here, don't want to see the Australian Wildlife Experience ruined by thrill rides, however the conjestion of the Ocean Parade area of the park is getting a bit much. It's even almost gotten to a point that even very high capacity rides won't do much good, because the infrastructure of the area in terms of food outlets, retail stores, toilet facilities etc. is already pretty much pushed to its limits. There are very few ways they can actually expand in terms of rides. At the very back of the park they're almost at their limit for land. There's some there, but nothing significant. To the left at the front, you've got Dreamworld Studios. Behind that you've got Blue Lagoon, and I'd leave that area open for expansions to it, which I think are inevitable. Then there's Rocky Hollow that has two manmade ponds behind it, making it difficult to go that way and next up we have the wildlife park. Heading out from the top left corner might work. There's a lot to use, but you're also a heck of a long way from anything. Make it decent and you'll work wonders with crowd control, but To the right obviously you've got the boundary just beyond Thunderbolt's former footprint. Using Thunderbolt's land and heading to the back, there's quite a huge area of land that would be rather easily utilised. You'd need to move the maintenance area further back, probably in the slither of land at the very back of the park, but that's a virtually insignificant cost if you're doing this sort of expansion. Dreamworld indeed is in good hands. Macquarie Leisure have a very focused and talented board of directors. Because the company is relatively young, there's a very obvious added desire to succeed in order to grow. Dreamworld's management team are also very talented and know the industry perhaps better than any other park in Australia. Work out some of the internal issues with regards to operations and if the standards set by Nick Central and more recent work are anything to go by, I'd suggest a very healthy short-term and long-term future.

[GoGoBoy]

I agree about the wildlife park... I think it is a great area and don't think it needs any thrill rides too close to it. I even feel that future expansion of the wildlife park is probably a sensible idea, especially as world tourism begins to pick up. I wasn't actually aware of how far back Dreamworld's land goes. I was thinking more of adding a big coaster starting around Gum Tree Gully somewhere and expanding back out further, away from the wildlife area. I think that the whole Gum Tree Gully/Tiger Island area would have been perfect for new rides to round the theme park off. I think it was a bit silly to put tiger island where it is. Does anyone know much about the excess theme park land Dreamworld recently re-zoned? They won approval at the beginning of last year to re-zone the land from tourism uses to 'town centre' uses. This increased the value of the land significantly. Does anyone know exactly where this land sits in relation to the theme park? Dreamworld are obviously not worried about running out of space for the theme park or else they wouldn't have 'sold' this off. I sure hope we don't have another Wonderland situation on our hands (I doubt it)

[joz]

Not sure about the land thing, there might be something on the Stock Exchange website (search company announcements for MLE). As for the layout, I think the key to Dreamworlds future is in and around the Thunderbolt site. The problem with this in terms of layout is that when they start building rides further back, then your going to see allot more congestion around the place. Dreamworld will have to be careful to keep the area nice and open, but not too open that they'll be tempted to add another ride in the middle later on down the track. Still, the park isn't being too ambitious with Thunderbolt's footprint. Tony Braxton-Smith reckons they'll fit "4 or 5" rides in there. Not counting Cyclone, Ocean Parade has 4 rides, and will apparently have 5 later on this year. Now is it just me or is Ocean Parade smaller then the Thunderbolt site? Maybe the park will add some much needed infrastructure where the Thunderbolt station is? Toilets and a fast food stand (bring back Stadium Foods!) would be nice.

[Richard]

The exact location of the famous "excess land" is down the far end, essentially where the Coomera train station is (it was built where it is with the intention of being close to the planned centre), so it's a long long way from Dreamworld and doesn't really at all affect their expansion options. The Town Centre is to be larger than Pacific Fair in terms of shop space (about 20% larger) and the whole plan takes up about 60ha (not all will be a shopping complex), 35ha of which is Macquarie Leisure's land, so there's still about 20ha of unused land left at the end of it to play in.

[Obstructure]

That sounds about right. Dreamworld has plenty of land, if further down the track they need to use it (which I'm sure they will), they will be fine. The Town Centre is right at the back which won't cut back the space of Dreamworld, and because of the location of that centre, in years to come it would be common sense to perhaps open up an entrance there, whether it be a second entrance to the park, or the main entrance. Did you all see the carpark at the Christmas break? That problem is only going to get worse, theres no room at the front for a bigger carpark, so later down the track they should make a carpark down there. I guess those ideas are really high in the sky, but I think it could work.

[Obstructure]

Doesn't alot of the land Dreamworld owns have animals or something on it? I heard theres alot of that behind the scenes kind of stuff that takes up alot of room??? Anyone know?

[Gazza]

Maybe if they were really short on space they could put the model T lane somewhere else (like with the australian wildlfe experience) in the park and use the space for a major ride (have to be pretty narrow though) and that area could be an extension of the giant oil company, or it could be turned into a new industrial/danger themed area.