Having secured $70 million in financial assistance from the Queensland Government, Ardent Leisure has announced that it will commence a staged reopening of its Dreamworld and WhiteWater World attractions from 16th September in advance of the upcoming school holidays.
Closed since March due to Coronavirus concerns, Dreamworld and WhiteWater World are the last major attractions to reopen on the Gold Coast, with rival Village Roadshow welcoming back visitors to Warner Bros. Movie World, Sea World and Wet'n'Wild Golad Coast as of last month.
Only able to welcome Queenslanders to its attractions, Dreamworld has also announced that it will be offering discounted annual passes to locals for a limited time.
Dreamworld Chief Operating Officer, Greg Yong advised “we have listened to our local community and we understand that everyone’s been doing it tough.
“That’s why we are holding a limited time only promotion to welcome our locals back to Dreamworld and WhiteWater World.”
While closed, both attractions have been refurbished with upgrades to Dreamworld’s SideWinder roller coaster and a “top to bottom refurbishment” of WhiteWater World’s popular Pipeline Plunge waterslide.
Yong explained “we have got an incredibly exciting roadmap ahead, with construction of our $32 million multi-launch coaster commencing in the near future, creating over 250 local construction jobs and when completed new jobs at Dreamworld.”
Yong is confident guests will not be deterred by the Court case against Ardent Leisure relating to the deaths of four guests at Dreamworld in October 2016.
Having pled guilty last month to three counts of Failure to Comply with Health and Safety Duty, Category 2, under the Queensland Health and Safety Act in relation to the fatalities, formal arraignment will take place on 28th September with the maximum penalty for each breach being $1.5 million - $4.5 million in total.
Yong told the ABC “the whole accident situation for us is obviously always in the news and we are mindful of that.
"From the chairman to our CEO and to really the executive team here, there's not one person here that had responsibility for attractions, for operations or for maintenance from when that happened.
"We are driven every day to make sure that can never ever happen again."
Yong said planning for a memorial garden for the four ride victims, Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett and Roozi Araghi, had been delayed by Coronavirus restrictions, but added “it is still in our plans but unfortunately we haven't progressed it any further as yet.”
Village Roadshow receives financial assistance from the Queensland Government
Village Roadshow has also secured $70 million in funding from the financial assistance package for Gold Coast theme parks announced by the Queensland Government which the company expects will be sufficient to fund its cash needs for the next 12 months.
The cash injection comprises a loan of $69.9 million and a grant of $3 million, free of interest, fees or repayment requirements.
In addition, Australian private equity firm BGH Capital is moving toward the completion of its deal to take over Village Roadshow for an enterprise value of up to $758 million.
Images: Dreamworld costume characters Kenny and Belinda (top) and the theme park's planned new rollercoaster (below).
About the author
Nigel Benton
Co-founder/Publisher, Australasian Leisure Management
Born in the English county of Dorset, Nigel Benton is the co-founder and Publisher of Australasian Leisure Management, Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific’s only magazine for professionals in all areas of the leisure industry and the www.ausleisure.com.au website - the go to news resource for industry leaders and professionals.
With a long-term commitment to communicating all that is best about the leisure industry (aquatics, attractions, entertainment, events, fitness, parks, recreation, sport, tourism and venues) his career has been defined by an ability to develop and implement industry communications.
Starting his career working in heritage visitor attractions and then adventure travel in Africa and the Middle East, an interest in writing about his experiences led to his change of career into magazine journalism and publishing.
In addition to publishing, Nigel speaks on marketing communications at a range of industry events.
He was made a Life Member of the World Leisure and Recreation Association in 2006 and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (London).
In 2020, he launched the new Asian Leisure Business website.
As of October 2024, he was inducted into the Australian Fitness Awards Roll of Honour at the 2024 AUSactive National Awards.
Among a range of published works and features, his comments on a Blog (blogspot) from 2007 to 2011, when this website went live in its current form, may be interesting to reflect back on.
His philosophy on life is to be kind to all and to indulge those that you love.
His passions include family, Newcastle United and motorcycles (especially British ones) as well, until February 2025 when she left us, caring a little pug named Stella.
Click here to connect with him via LinkedIn.
Read more from this author
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