HOT CONDITIONS SET THEME FOR BUMPER SEASON
THEME park bosses are looking to this week’s heatwave to help deliver bumper attendance figures ahead of peak season – which starts on Boxing Day.
A pool of intense heat brewing over northern Western Australia is expected to move east toward the Gold Coast bringing soaring temperatures from today through to Thursday.
The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting sweltering temperatures with a high of 29C today and the mercury set to hit the low-30s tomorrow , Wednesday and Thursday. Nights are going to be hot with temperatures unlikely to fall below 21C.
Nerang can expect hotter conditions with the mercury tipping 35C on Thursday.
Dreamworld sales manager Annette Pearce said the park, which is still recovering from the impact of last year’s tragedy, was seeing solid attendance numbers with strong bookings from travel agents.
“We have seen an increase in numbers since the school holidays started,” she said.
“But we will not see the full impact until Boxing Day onwards.
“The warmer weather has kicked in and we have seen a lot of people come in to do the water park (WhiteWaterWorld) and the theme park together in one day.”
Sea World executive general manager Bikash Randhawa said the Village Roadshow parks, including Wet’n’Wild Gold Coast, were well prepared for the hot weather.
“One of the big differences between us and the other parks is we have invested quite heavily in providing shade and beautiful resting areas,” he said.
He said occupancy at Sea World Resort was trending in excess of 90 per cent during the holiday period.