REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Wednesday, December 1, 2004

DREAMWORLD was set to undergo a massive expansion by 2014 to transform it into one of the world’s great theme parks.

Macquarie Leisure Trust, which owned Dreamworld, was working on a masterplan for the theme park site, which included a hotel with accommodation and a main promenade.

Industry analysts believed Macquarie Leisure Trust was keen to follow the world’s most famous theme park, Disneyland, which in 2003 opened a new luxury resort alongside its main headquarters in Anaheim.

The expansion plan coincided with the establishment of the new Coomera township, expected to be home to 200,000 people within a decade.

After picking up Queensland’s major tourism award, Dreamworld bosses were cranking up plans to

expand the park size from the existing 38ha.

Buoyed by the success of Big Brother and a record 1.3 million visitors over the previous 12 months, Macquarie Leisure Trust had another 45ha of land available to cater for future expansion.

Dreamworld chief executive Stephen Gregg said the resurgence in the theme park market meant there was “no holding back on reinvestment”.

“In five years, this park will not look the same,” he said.