TROUBLED Gold Coast theme park Dreamworld has reopened two of its “Big 9†thrill rides as it struggles to get back on its feet following a tragedy that killed four revellers in October.
The attraction has also slashed the price of its season passes as it pleads with punters to give it another chance.
Rides “The Pandemonium†and “Mick Doohan’s Motocoaster†rides are now back up and running.
The beleaguered park reopened to much fanfare of December 10 but after the initial crowds streamed through the gates, the park looked almost empty at times.
Part of the reason was the complete lack of major rides — all of which the park said were undergoing extra checks following the diaster on the Thunder River Rapids attraction.
Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett, his partner Roozi Araghi and Cindy Low died in the October 25 incident.
Dreamworld chief executive Craig Davidson said the two rides, as well as the Dreamworld Express train ride, had been reopened after clearing the multi-level reviews.
“Other rides will be brought online progressively, over the coming weeks, as they receive sign-off from the safety review.â€
The remaining seven thrill rides — including the popular Claw, BuzzSaw and Tower of Terror II — remain closed as the review continues of every attraction in the park.
The fatal Thunder River Rapids ride will be demolished.
In another sign of the park returning to full operations, a summer pyrotechnics show is set to launch following Christmas.
Just 6000 visitors showed up to the Gold Coast theme park on its reopening weekend — just 30 per cent of the tourist hot spot’s capacity.
A source told news.com.au the figure released by parent company Ardent Leisure was a “below average weekend, quieter than averageâ€.
Theme parks don’t usually release daily numbers to the public due to the nature of the “competitive industry†of theme parks, but news.com.au was led to believe the figures were “quieter than an off-peak weekendâ€.
At one point, on the opening day a young girl eating an ice cream was the only person to be seen anywhere near Dreamworld’s famous globe.
One Gold Coast local, who didn’t want to be named, told news.com.au he used to take his kids to Dreamworld every week. Now it was a “struggle†to persuade them to go, a combination of the tragedy and the fact most of the big attractions have yet to come back online.
The park’s capacity sits at 10,000 visitors per day. A spokesman told the ABC that by 11:30am on Saturday, just 1200 visitors had entered Dreamworld, with 700 people at Ardent’s adjacent WhiteWater World site.
But Dreamworld was believed to be pleased with the outcome of the number of visitors, considering the park made a decision not to advertise its reopening.
Having the rides off line also avoided any embarrassing slip ups in front of the gathered media if rides malfunctioned.
Instead, the park and its staff were planning a “quiet, respectful weekendâ€.
The park is hoping a “summer price†will lure visitors back to the Gold Coast favourite. For $99, theme park fans can get access to the park for a whole year until Christmas Eve 2017, a substantial discount on the standard annual pass cost.
But with its thrill rides still yet to be fully opened, questions remain whether Ardent can rebuild its visitor numbers, which had increased by 11.7 per cent to 2.28 million during the 2014/2015 financial year.
— with AAP