Howdy all. Well it’s time to put two theme parks against each other and see how they compare. It’s the first sort of ‘Rumble’ I’ve done this year, I’ve been happy to move away from City Rumbles as I have no cities really I haven’t covered in them that I have been to! But in April this year I managed a short getaway to Queensland’s Gold Coast (mostly with the express plan to vlog) and I wanted to visit Dreamworld for the first time in my life.

I’ve always headed to the other theme parks there, Movie World principally, Sea World of course and once I went to Wet N’ Wild. When I was young we missed Dreamworld for Sea World, and on more recent trips I had decided towards the other theme parks. However, this time I thought Dreamworld would be the go, and indeed I did get to go there!

The cost was $89 for the day, which felt to me at least a but of a hike on the price, but well, prices won’t stop going up so what can you do? Dreamworld was the site where in 2016 there was an horrific accident on one of the rides where four people died. As a result the place was shut for a few years I think, millions were paid to families as you can imagine, a complete review of the running of the place was done and the ride permanently closed. So in some ways the fact that they survived this and are still open today is surprising.

You figure then that safety wise the place is 100% tickety-boo today. Well, no incidents when I was there so it seems okay I guess! Usually a theme park is directly connected to a major entertainment company – Movie World for example is actually ‘Warner Brothers’ Movie World’, and so I had wondered about Dreamworld and their affiliations. Well, it seemed to have a loose connection to Disney as rides featured Shrek and Madagascar.

So anyways, the first thing to note is that I went over the Easter Long Weekend. I visited Dreamworld first on Good Friday and Movie World on Easter Saturday. Now I don’t know if that made a big difference – I was actually surprised a little that these places opened on Good Friday as often it’s one of those day when things daren’t open, but I guess things have changed over the last few years – anyways Easter Saturday at Movie World was hella busy whereas Dreamworld on Good Friday had plenty of visited but it wasn’t packed out by any stretch of the imagination. Also, we have to factor in that Movie World has the better image, is the most well known of all the theme parks on the Gold Coast, and doesn’t have the sad history that Dreamworld does. Nevertheless it was more than twice as packed, possibly three or four times as packed.

Looking at the two parks on the surface and checking out what they offer, it’s a no brainer – Movie World is the better Theme Park. It has more rides, more thrills, it has shows such as the stunt show which is a must see if you visit, and there are other shows in the theatre plus there are regular appearances of celebrity look alikes – Marilyn Monroe, Superman, Wonder Woman for example, plus the parade. I’m not sure that Dreamworld has those aspects to it.

They both serve expensive yet underwhelming food. It was bedlam at Movie World, took ages and I had to share a table. Things were much easier for lunch at Dreamworld. But then it wasn’t as busy.

I have a fair idea of the quality of the rides at Movie World, which is good because I hardly got to ride on any. The Scooby-Doo Scary Coaster is a fun ride, a roller coaster inside, the Superman ride is probably my favourite there, it shoots you along from the get-go super fast which is a bit freaky in a good way, they have the DC Rivals Super Coaster which I haven’t been on which looks next level and I am not sure I would do, there’s a Wild West Rapids ride which I went on years ago, the Arkham Asylum is awesome that spins you six ways from Sunday, and the Green Hornet is a cool coaster which spins you at the same time as terrifying you. And I would have had a great time, if I had been able to get on any of them. Two were out of action as part of the regular maintenance schedule, and another two stopped working in the first hour I was there. I’m going to do a full post on this disappointing day, so I won’t go into details here, but suffice to say, I was very disappointed. The knock on effect was that the rides that WERE open had times that ballooned out to three or more hours of waiting. I think the DC Rivals Ride was actually FOUR hours at one point. When the place is only open for 6-7 hours, well, you can do the maths!

Dreamworld I enjoyed four rides, and I have to say I really loved the Steel Taipan which takes you backwards, forwards, loops the loop and spins you around. I originally saw it and said ‘no way!’ but in the end I did it and was very glad I did. I love roller coasters, except the very extreme ones. I do not like rides that swing you from side to side and spin you around. Anything likely to make one puke, basically.

Please note with the Dreamland photos – most were taken right at the end of the day so there was more people there generally than it appears!

Dreamworld has a water Theme Park attached, and you can get a ticket I believe that encompasses both. Movie World is next to Wet N’ Wild, also a water theme park – bigger and with more options than White Water World, and one I’ve tried out before many years ago. So when it’s the summer months there is endless fun. Getting to both isn’t too difficult if you don’t have a car. Just take a tram to the end of the line from Surfer’s Paradise and then there are buses every fifteen minutes through the day which stop at Wet N’ Wild, Movie World, and Dreamworld.

The cost was $99 per adult for Dreamworld and $109 for Movieworld. Fast track tickets are available at both, but are expensive especially at Movie World, however you can buy them for individual rides. Tickets for fast track stop being sold at different times during the day depending on demand and how busy the place is. Certainly it will cut your wait time and I will talk more about them when I review Movie World.

All in all, I still KNOW that Movie World is the better park. I was incredibly disappointed this time around, but if you go at an off peak time like midweek in the winter when school is not out, you should be able to have a good day out. Perhaps next year I will give it another go, or the year after. Dreamworld though has some enjoyable rides and it’s nice to be in a place that isn’t packed out. I didn’t factor in that we are still recovering from 18 months plus of lockdowns and lockouts. Does this have an effect? I don’t know. I think the people working Movie World said it was, up until that day, their busiest day since Covid first struck.

I love theme parks and was pretty bummed out by my experience this time at Movie World, I certainly enjoyed Dreamworld a lot more than Movie World on this occasion. But if you like theme parks and roller coasters, well, you’ll enjoy both I daresay just manage to get there on a day when things are not overpacked!

Thanks for popping into my little blog today! Take care wherever you are in the world, and May the Journey Never End!