Accessible Dreamworld Fun!
- rigbyflynn02
- Jan 20, 2022
- 10 min read
Updated: Jan 29, 2024
I love going to Dreamworld at the Gold Coast because it is so much fun and there are lots of rides to go on. I visit there every year and I am updating my blog to include some of the new things I did there.
Dreamworld is located in Coomera, about half an hour drive north of Surfers Paradise and about 45 mins south of Brisbane near the Pacific Motorway.
We always get a Local's annual pass, which is available for all Queenslanders and people who live in northern New South Wales, so we can visit lots of times.
Dreamworld accept the companion card so it is free of charge for someone to go along with each person who has a disability to help them if they need it. You just have to show your companion card when you enter. You can go to the Park Health Facility office near the Sky Voyager to talk to someone about which rides might be suitable for you to go on. They printed me a card with the rides I could go on and gave me an Attractions Queue Proxy card so that if any rides had really long queues I could get a time to go back and get on quickly, without having to wait.
The card was dated and signed off by a staff member and they told me to see the staff at the rides for help to use it. Seeing as I was there with my family they said all of us could use the card to get on at the same time. It wasn't very busy the days I visited so I didn't have to use the card but it is a good thing to have if there are long queues.
Dreamworld are now part of the Sunflower HIdden Disabllity Program supporting people with non-visible disabilities. They had signs in the front office about it and were selling the Sunflower Hidden Disability lanyards and wristbands. The lanyards and wristbands can help the staff identify who might need extra assistance or help.
There is accessibility information on their website that you can look up and they can talk to you about what rides are good for you at the Park Health Facility office.
If you have mobility challenges you can hire scooters, wheelchairs or prams at the park. You can book them online before you visit or ask at the front office.
Dreamworld are also supporting those with Autism and other non-divergent visitors by having two Visual Stories on their website, which explain what to expect when you visit Dreamworld. There is a brief version or a full version and they are really great. They have lots of photos and information about what you will see, smell and hear at the park and what facilities there are and what it is like to go on some of the rides. I think it is really helpful to have Visual stories like this and my mum used to make some for me when I was younger and going to new places. They are very helpful and I loved reading the ones about Dreamworld.
At each ride the staff were very friendly and helpful and talked to us a lot.
There is a great new ride near the entrance called the Dreamworld Flyer and it was awesome to go on. It is a big swing ride and there is a water fountain that is really cool with water squirting up in the air. It is a relaxing ride and was fun. There is nice music playing and I really enjoyed going on it.
One of the oldest rides at the park is the Vintage Cars and I really love it. Every time I visit I go there. The staff who explained how to drive the car were very nice. It is easy to drive and to stop and you have to watch the traffic lights and stop when they are red. It is great fun driving the cars around the track. You can have up to 4 people in the cars at once. Later this year they are going to move the Vintage Cars to a new area of the park and I am looking forward to driving them there on my next visit.
The park has gone through some changes recently. There is now Kenny and Belinda's Dreamland area and some of the rides in that area have moved and some are now called different names. There are also some new rides. It was great to have a photo with Kenny and Belinda, the Dreamworld Koala characters.
One of my favourite rides in Kenny and Belinda's Dreamland is now called the Humpty-go-round. I love it because you get to lay down and it feels like you are floating and flying around in the air. It is very gentle and calming and I sometimes close my eyes on it. My mum likes that ride a lot too.
The Bananas in Pajamas Carousel is lots of fun too and there is a new ride called the Big Red Boat Coaster that is open there too. I really enjoy going on them.
The Big Red Planes are good too and you can push the button to go up in the air if you want to.
One of my favourite rides has changed it's name to Kenny's Forest Flyer. It goes fast and is a bit scary but I like it. I feel safe because it has a very strong harness that goes over you and keeps you safe.
There are a lot of other thrill rides that my brother and sister like to go on but they are too fast for me. Their favourite is the The Steel Taipan but I didn’t do that one because it looks very scary.
I like Belinda's Tree House. It is like a playground that has a net around it and there are soft foam balls that you can put in a machine and shoot out and it is a lot of fun. There are two levels. There is also the Bananas in Pajamas Fun Maze nearby for younger kids, which looks like fun.
There is also a great Parents Centre in Dreamland now. It is a nice quiet space with a kitchen area, quiet rooms and toilets. The toilets have mini sized toilets for younger kids as well as an accessible bathroom and a drop-down change table to accommodate a guest in a wheelchair changing a nappy. Parents can go to the centre to feed their babies or change their nappies. There is a small quiet play area there too for little kids and couches to relax on and it is nice and cool with air-conditioning. It is very clean and nice.
There are lots of rides in other parts of the park too, like Sky Voyager, which is a ride where you sit in a chair and feel like you are flying over lots of different parts of Australia. I was a little bit scared when I first went on it because after we sat in our chairs it got very dark and I couldn't see anything at first and then the chairs started moving. Once the show started though it was better and it is very nice to feel like you are flying gently over the land. They also have special effects like wind, and lights and there are nice smells for the lavender that you fly over.
It is also great to see the tigers at Tiger Island. They have a show that tells you about the tigers and the tigers do some great things, like climbing up a very big pole and jumping from one wooden stand to another. They even jump into the pool and have a swim and you get to see them stand up very tall and drink milk.
There is a glass area where the tigers are walking around and they even stand on a rock where you can take a selfie with them. I really like doing that.
It is also very nice to walk through the Aussie Wildlife area. There are koalas, wombats, kangaroos, dingoes, emus, crocodiles and bilbies there. I love patting the kangaroos because they are soft and cute.
On a recent visit my mum and I did the Dingo experience. It was a great thing to do and I really loved it. There was another boy doing it with his mum. There were two very nice ladies who took us into the dingo area and told us about the dingoes. They showed us where they sleep and where they play and told us what they eat and then we got to sit on a seat and have photos taken with them.
We spent about 20 minutes with them and got to pat them and take our own photos as well. It was really good and the ladies were very nice and helpful and the dingoes were awesome.
There are some great places to eat at Dreamworld and you can get burgers, hot dogs, chicken, chips, salad, sandwiches, ice-cream, coffees and drinks too. They have a big undercover area with a lot of tables to eat at. When we went for lunch one day it rained a lot so it was good to eat under there so we didn't get wet. I also like getting an afternoon treat at the Green Bean Cafe. They always have nice gluten free cakes and slices.
I really like the bathrooms and toilets at Dreamworld and there are a lot of them. They are all very light and clean. My favourite ones are near the Vintage Cars and the animal area. They are very nicely decorated and have a lot of room and nice lights.
The bathrooms at Tiger Island are very nice too and they have some that are wheelchair accessible.
The Dreamworld Express is a great train that you can catch from Central Park station or the Wildlife station and it is a lot of fun. At the moment it just goes back and forth between these two stations because part of the park is off limits while they are building Rivertown. It will open later in 2024 and then the train will hopefully be able to do the full loop around the park again.
I went on it lots of times and on different days.
The Dreamworld Express opened in the middle of 2022 when all the carriages were brand new and it is very nice and comfortable. I really like the shiny red paint and the nice wooden roof and seats.
There is a big carriage at the back for prams and each carriage is accessible for wheelchairs.
The carriages can be locked so it is safe for everyone. I caught the train lots of times on my visits and it was a great way to get to the Vintage Cars and the wildlife area without having to walk too far. There was information to listen to about the park as you went around and you can see the Steel Taipan, The Giant Drop, the Motocoaster, the Kakadu pond, lots of birds and the Murrisippi River.
There are lots of friendly staff members at Dreamworld including a lovely lady named Casey who I see when I go there. It is so nice to chat to her about the park and all the things I love there. She really loves working there and is very friendly and kind to me.
I think Dreamworld is a great place to visit and there are heaps of things to do for everyone. It is good for thrill rides and for family rides and little kids too because they have a lot of small, slower rides as well. It is also great because there are lots of animals to see and touch.
Tips from my travelling companion -
Dreamworld is one of our favourite places to visit on the Gold Coast. There is so much to do and see there and it is a great day out for the whole family. It is fantastic that they allow people with a disability to bring a companion for free by accepting the Companion card and that they now have the system in place to allow people to avoid having to queue for long periods of time. Dreamworld really cater for all abilities and ages too with such a large range of rides, from Thrill rides such as the new Steel Taipan to the Wiggles Big Red Boat ride and everything in between. There are heaps of rides to do for all and another great bonus of going to Dreamworld are all the animals to see and interact with.
It is fantastic to see that Dreamworld now have Visual Stories on their website! These are a great tool to help prepare neurodivergent visitors (and young children) for a visit to Dreamworld as they clearly set out what you can see and do at the park. I highly recommend looking at these before your visit! When Flynn was younger I used to make my own and we would read them over and over so he knew what to expect when we visited and they helped him immensely.
On our recent visit Flynn did the Dingo encounter, which he really enjoyed. The dingoes, Kimbah and Kiah, were very calm and friendly and the two staff were very patient and great with Flynn. The other positive was that the experience was a small group which meant it was not overwhelming for Flynn and he felt at ease with the situation. It is also very reasonably priced and includes a lovely printed photo as a souvenir. There are other animal encounters available too, with information on their website.
In our experience there are rarely huge crowds at Dreamworld so it makes for a more enjoyable day out. We generally go around 1pm and spend 3 - 4 hours there on our visits as there is a lot of walking involved and it can be quite tiring to go for a full day. The new Parents Centre is great. There is plenty of space in there for parents to chill out, feed and change their babies and take a break from the busy fun of the park. The toilets are clean and accessible and easy for young children to use too.
The Dreamworld Express train is a great way to get around the park rather than having to walk long distances. It departs regularly and we were very happy to see it back in action. The updated carriages were very comfortable and we enjoyed the commentary.
The staff at Dreamworld are very friendly and helpful too and they have always showed great patience and care when helping Flynn during his visits.
Another great activity to do at Dreamworld is to check out the Lego store at the park's exit. There are some great Lego displays of various buildings and characters all made from Lego and there are stations where you can explore and create what you'd like. There are also a great range of Lego products for sale. There are plenty of restaurant/cafe’s to buy food from as well as the ice-cream and Lolly shops and plenty of places undercover to sit and eat or rest.
This trip we didn't go next door to Whitewater World but we have done so before and it is also a fantastic and fun day out, especially when the weather is warm and you need a cool off after exploring and having fun at Dreamworld.
Overall Dreamworld is a fantastic place to visit and well worth the money, especially if you buy a pass that allows you to visit more than once.
by Flynn’s Mum, Jenni
Oh thanks very much for that review Flynn, u did a great job - very informative....My only problem is I wish i was there right now 😁 - going on all the rides and then chilling on the Gingy's Gliders -sounds awesome...Thank you