Dreamworld is a theme park and zoo situated on the Gold Coast in Queensland. It is Australia's largest theme park with over 40 rides and attractions.
Attractions at the park range from thrill rides such as the newly opened King Claw and Serpent Slayer to family and kids attractions such as the Dreamworld Express, Jungle Rush, and Sky Voyager. Among the 40+ attractions includes the world's tallest and fastest drop tower, The Giant Drop; The Gold Coaster, the oldest operating steel roller coaster in Queensland; and Steel Taipan, a triple-launch high-thrills coaster.
The park is made up of several themed lands: Ocean Parade, Kenny and Belinda's Dreamland, Rivertown, Tiger Island, Main Street, Corroboree & Australian Wildlife. These lands have a collection of rides, animal exhibits, shows, food outlets and merchandise shops. In December 2006, Dreamworld expanded its offerings by opening WhiteWater World next door.
Dreamworld has weekly night markets which features food trucks, live music, family entertainment & ticketed events. Dreamworld Night Market entry is $2 or free for children and Dreamworld passholders.
Dreamworld is known for being the location of the Australian Big Brother house filmed at the Dreamworld Studios, since the program began in Australia from 2001 to 2014, and again from 2025.
History
Construction and opening
In 1974, John Longhurst, the father of the future Australian water-ski champion and two time Bathurst 1000 winner Tony Longhurst, put his dream of building a theme park into practice and purchased of land beside the Pacific Motorway in Coomera. Longhurst spent two years, working 12-hour days, to excavate what is now known as the Murrissipi River. No expense was spared when Longhurst employed some designers who worked on Disneyland and Walt Disney World to design the park. It was up to a collection of Australian architects to mimic Australian pioneer buildings during construction.
With attractions, Longhurst aimed to satisfy all of the family. Opening day attractions included the IMAX Theatre, a Baldwin Locomotive (now known as the Dreamworld Express), Model T Fords (now known as Vintage Cars), Rocky Hollow Log Ride, Australian Koala Theatre and the Captain Sturt Paddle-wheeler. The theme park was officially opened on 15 December 1981 by the Premier of Queensland of the time, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
1980s
Since then Dreamworld has constantly evolved adding new rides, themed lands and characters. One year after opening, in 1982, a new themed area, Country Fair was opened. The new themed area featured Thunderbolt which opened as the world's longest steel double loop roller coaster. A new themed area known as Gum Tree Gully also opened.
In 1983, two themed areas were opened. Blue Lagoon water park opened with three water slides and several pools. The second themed area was Village Green. Dreamworld also introduced Belinda Brown as the park's third mascot. In 1984 the park began seven-day trading after two years of only being open Thursday through to Tuesday.
In 1986, a new themed area called Gold Rush Country opened featuring Eureka Mountain Mine Ride and Thunder River Rapids Ride. Gold Rush Country was themed around the Australian gold rushes. The same year, Dreamworld opened the Music Bowl (later became Dreamworld Studios).
In 1987, Koala Country opened and in 1989 the Skylink Chairlift opened.
1990s
In 1991, to promote the Australian premiere of The Simpsons on Network Ten from 10 February, Dreamworld welcomed the characters of the American TV series. Guests could meet and greet with them as well as see them in the live stage show The Simpsons: Live on Stage, but the characters only appeared twice daily until 30 June.
In 1993, a Waikiki Wave Super Flip named Wipeout opened as part of the new Ocean Parade themed area. In 1995 Tiger Island opened with the Riverwalk Restaurant (now known as the Billabong BBQ and Buffet) opened.
In 1997, Dreamworld opened a slow boat ride named Creature Cruise which they manufactured themselves in Village Oval. Creature Cruise was operation for only a short time. The park also opened the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster Tower of Terror opened. One year later the Giant Drop, the world's tallest freefall ride, was added to the Dreamworld Tower. Also in 1998, four Bengal Tiger cubs were born: Rama, Taj, Sultan and Sita.
In December 1999, Dreamworld added a variety of kids rides in a new themed area called Kennyland. They took up the northern portion of Village Oval and Creature Cruise was converted from a boat ride into a walk-through attraction.
2000s
In January 2001, the Australian Wildlife Experience opened after the refurbishment and expansion of Koala Country. Later that year in April, Big Brother Australia commenced broadcasting following the redevelopment of Dreamworld's Amphitheatre. In December 2001, the Cyclone opened after its relocation from Luna Park Sydney where it was known as "The Big Dipper". Also in 2001, two new Bengal tigers, Kato and Kaasha, were born in Tiger Island. In 2002, Nickelodeon Central replaced Kennyland and Village Oval to include a wide variety of new and refurbished children's rides.
In 2003, Dreamworld further expanded its wildlife offerings by running after hours 'Sunset Safaris'. In August 2003, Thunderbolt was closed. It was demolished and sold for scrap metal in March 2004. Dreamworld has retained a section of track and at least one train in the park's back-of-house areas. Later that year in September 2004, The Claw opened in Ocean Parade. On 15 March 2005, the Skylink Chairlift, which provided a link between Gold Rush Country and the Australian Wildlife Experience, closed. It remained standing for several months before the wires were removed. The support poles remain standing to this day. Gum Tree Gully closed to make way for the world's first Wiggles World which opened on 10 September 2005.
In 2006, Ardent Leisure shifted its focus to improving its offerings of water attractions. In April, Blue Lagoon was closed due to its planned replacement by WhiteWater World as a separate gated complex. On 24 June, the FlowRider opened in Ocean Parade. On 7 November, the Eureka Mountain Mine Ride closed and it remained standing until 2018 In 2007, two Sumatran Tiger cubs, Indah and Rahni, were born at Tiger Island. Later that year in September, Mick Doohan's Motocoaster opened after the relocation of the Avis Vintage Cars.
On 20 June 2008, SpongeBob FlyPants opened as part of Nickelodeon Central. On 9 June, Tiger Island welcomed the birth of three Sumatran Tiger cubs: Ndari, Jaya and Shanti.
In the middle of 2008, the final series of Australian Big Brother for the Channel 10 Network was produced, leaving the house and studios standing upon completion. In Ocean Parade, V8 Supercars RedLine opened on 26 December near the FlowRider and Cyclone entrance. A few months later, the Vortex was closed and removed to make way for AVPX (Alien vs. Predator vs. You) an indoor laser skirmish attraction which opened on 10 April 2009. Almost exactly one year later in April 2010, the Illuminate Light & Laser Spectacular began seasonal operation in Main Street.Ardents latest: Illuminate & The Wedgie – Parkz Forums. Retrieved 14.06.10 from Parkz Forums. In September, the Tower of Terror relaunched as the Tower of Terror II featuring a new, reversed car.
In 2009, a Bell 206 helicopter operating joy flights on behalf of Dreamworld crash-landed in the carpark near the park's main entry. The pilot and four Taiwanese visitors to the park suffered minor injuries in the crash. The pilot was initially praised for avoiding crowded areas of the park, but it was later revealed the crash was a result of mismanagement which led to the helicopter running out of fuel. Dreamworld has not offered helicopter flights since the accident.
2010s
In late 2010, Dreamworld announced that they would begin celebrating their 30th birthday by holding the Summer Funomenon over the summer school holidays. The IMAX Theatre was renovated to become the Dreamworld Cinema. A roof was constructed over Main Street between the entrances for Ocean Parade and Nickelodeon Central. The Marketplace in Main Street was also upgraded. Also a new tiger cub named Pi (pronounced pie) was born.
In 2011, two separate incidents were reported of handlers at Dreamworld's Tiger Island attraction being bitten by a nine-year-old Bengal Tiger and requiring hospitalisation. The park's life sciences manager said that both incidents would be investigated, and the park reviewed its animal handling procedures.
On 16 February 2011, Ardent Leisure announced plans to have an Easter promotion where lions would be on temporary exhibition from National Zoo & Aquarium who are renovating their facilities; this was later revealed by Dreamworld to be "The Lair". On 7 April 2011, Dreamworld announced that they would be adding a family thrill ride in June and a major thrill ride in September 2011. On 18 May 2011, the family thrill ride was officially announced to be a Zamperla Disk'O called Shockwave within Ocean Parade. The ride opened on 25 June 2011. By the start of the winter holidays on 25 June 2011, Dreamworld's contract with Nickelodeon had been terminated, thus all of the rides in Nickelodeon Central were renamed to a generic kids theme: Kid's World. On 17 September 2011, Dreamworld opened BuzzSaw – a Maurer Söhne SkyLoop roller coaster. The opening of the ride was timed with the renaming of Gold Rush Country to the Town of Gold Rush.
On 10 November 2011, Dreamworld announced a three-stage plan to incorporate DreamWorks Animation films and characters into its theme park at a cost of $10 million.
The first phase was the temporary summer show, the DreamWorks Holiday Shrektacular. The second phase was the DreamWorks Experience precinct (the retheming of the existing Kid's World area) which opened on 31 March 2012. The final phase was the development of Kung Fu Panda: Land of Awesomeness. This area opened on 21 December 2012 with the park's eighth thrill ride, Pandamonium. In 2012, Dreamworld also saw the return of Big Brother as well as the addition of the Big Red Boat Ride to Wiggles World.
AVPX closed on 31 March 2013. It was replaced with Zombie Evilution on 13 September 2013. Zombie Evilution originally ran as a temporary scare maze until 14 October. On 18 October, the attraction reopened as a laser skirmish attraction with the same theme and backstory.
On 8 November 2013, the park was evacuated when a bushfire came within close proximity. Everyone in the park was evacuated within an hour. Dreamworld announced via Facebook that the park was not under any immediate threat and that back burning to protect it from any damage had started just outside the Big Brother complex. Later that day, Dreamworld again announced via Facebook that the blaze was under control thanks to firefighters and that the park would re-open as normal the next day.
On 28 April 2014, the Reef Diver closed and was subsequently removed. On 20 September, it was replaced by Tail Spin, a Gerstlauer Sky Fly.
In early 2015, Dreamworld teased that two new big attractions would be coming to the park in 2015. Throughout the early months of the year, rumours circulated as to the reopening of the Eureka Mountain Mine Ride, however these did not eventuate. Zombie Evilution once again reopened as a scare maze in April. On 12 May, Dreamworld announced that Wiggles World would become a shared kids' world based on the characters of the Australian children's television network, ABC Kids. ABC Kids World opened in June. Dreamworld also revealed plans for an extensive motorsport attraction, which was expected to be a new V8 Supercars attraction to either complement or replace V8 Supercars RedLine. On 26 July, Tiger Cub Kai was born. On 12 October, The Cyclone was closed for refurbishment as part of the Motorsport Precinct, labelled to open 26 December 2015.