All Dreams fulfilled! (Dreamworld (Australia))

Member Name: denise40

Product:	Dreamworld (Australia)
Date:	04/09/08 (259 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Something for everyone

Disadvantages: hard to fit everything into one day

Dreamworld

**INTRODUCTION**

Dreamworld is a theme park on the Gold Coast in Australia. It has been opened for 25 years. There are different worlds with thrill rides, live interactive shows and unique animal attractions. The Australian Big Brother studio's are here and if there is no filming happening, you can go and see around the house and studios. It is opened every day of the year from 10am to 5pm except for Christmas Day and Anzac Day morning (25th April). These hours may be extended during school holidays. Dreamworld has lots of facilities to help families with parenting rooms, strollers and a first aid centre. They also have wheelchair hire, lockers, EFTPOS and ATM's. Throughout the park has designated smoking areas for smokers and you are not allowed to smoke anywhere else.

**HOW TO GET THERE**

Dreamworld is located on the Pacific Hwy (M1) at Coomera, 17 kms (20 minutes) north of Surfers Paradise and 48kms (40 minutes) south of Brisbane.

Car - easy accessible by car, watch for the highway signs (exit 54). There is free parking on site.

Train - located next to the Coomera Railway Station on the train line between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. A shuttle can transfer travellers at a small cost.

Bus - shuttle bus services depart from major Gold Coast hotels at regular intervals. See your hostel or hotel for bus timetables. We got a bus from Surfers Paradise and a bus comes every 15 minutes and was very handy to find and get onto.

**AREAS WITHIN THE PARK**

There are different areas (Main Street, Ocean Parade, Nickelodeon Central, Wiggles World, Tiger Island, Tower of Terror and Mick Doohan's Motocoaster, Australian Wildlife Experience, Dreamworld Studios and Events Venue, Gold Rush Country and Rocky Hollow) within this park and I will highlight them below.

+ Main Street

Once you enter Dreamworld this is where you will start off. It is where most of the shops are selling merchandise from fairies, wizards and unicorns to Wiggles World toys. There is a surf shop with the latest fashions from names like Billabong and Quicksilver. They sell candy, ice cream and hot dogs in this area. The Central café provides you with a well earned sandwich or a drink. Once you have finished your day and have taken all your photographs you can buy more cameras or develop your pictures, in the Kodak express shop.

+ Ocean Parade

This section has an ocean and water theme. The whole area has different statues which all are themes of the ocean (for example fish and shellfish). Lots of different thrill rides are here like the cyclone, the claw and there is a rock climbing wall. The main attraction is the FlowRider. This is a unique ride. It allows you to enjoy the excitement of catching a wave regardless of your skill level. It is a ride, which you get to stand on a surfboard and surf waves that a machine, provides for you. They will give you harder waves to surf all depending on your skill level.

+ Nickelodeon Central

This area is completely dedicated to Nickelodeon with characters like Reptar from the Rugrats, Angry Beavers and Dora the Explorer. It is all children's rides here. There is even a CatDog Pizza shack to eat in. Even if you are not a young child it is lovely to walk around to see the exhibits.

+ Wiggles World

I have never heard of the Wiggles however apparently they are huge children's show in Australia. This area is made up completely with Wiggles things, it has a very young children audience. A big plastic boat and teacups are probably the main attractions here. Children would have a wonderful time here playing make believe.

+ Tiger Island

This was my favourite place as you get to see tigers up close. Gold and white tigers are clearly on display throughout the day. For an extra cost you can have your photograph taken up close with the tigers. During the day the handlers brought the baby tigers out for a walk so they could get used to their surroundings. Lucky for us we bumped into them and got extremely close to the baby cub. I got fantastic photographs of the tiger up close. During the day shows are held where the tigers perform to show you how they behave in the high and how high they can jump. Every tiger seems to be very content and happy.

+ Australian Wildlife Experience

There is sort of a small zoo in this area. They have koala's (you can get your photograph taken with them at an extra cost), kangaroo's that you can hand feed and watch the crocodiles being fed. You can learn about different eco-systems in Australia like Daintree Rainforest, Kakadu Wetlands and the Outback. At the back of this area they have Avis Vintage cars. We waited and went on them, which I felt was a waste of time. It was a slow track ride that would be fun for small children more than adults would.

+ Thrill Rides

A theme park would not be complete if it didn't have its thrill rides. A log flume, which is great fun, you will find yourself going back to go on the ride again and again. A huge Motocoaster for those who dare to go on it (personally I didn't). The worst ride in my opinion was the Giant Drop. It was a ride that brings you high up into the sky and drops you 120 metres down at a plunge so fast. I never went on this ride but from what I could hear from the screams it sounded that people either enjoyed it or were scared stupid. Either way they definitely got a thrill from going on the Giant Drop. The Cyclone, which is a high-speed gravity rollercoaster, can be found. Wipeout is another ride, which is an extremely fast vertical thrill ride. The Claw is another where you spin 360 degrees, reach zero gravity and swing 9 storeys high.

+ Dreamworld Studios

An event venue which people can hire out is located here. The most exciting thing here is the Australian Big Brother house and studios. You can explore around the house, which is fun, it is not a big as you would think.

**OVERALL**

It cost me $66 for the day to get into Dreamworld, which I think, was good value. It is $66 for an adult, $43 for a child (4-13 years) and for pensioners it costs $43. All rides are included in this price unless indicated otherwise. One Australian dollar is 0.46 United Kingdom pounds. It will keep everyone happy with lots of different themes and lots of different things to do to suit all age groups. It is a educational and informative place which makes learning fun. You can buy a combination ticket, which you can get into Whitewater Wold (a water park). It will take a whole day to get around the park maybe two days if you are going to go on all of the rides in the park. Once you arrive you will be given a timetable of all the shows taking place during the day.

Summary: a lovely theme park to vist