Christmas Day storm: Inside story of Dreamworld theme park’s reopening after destructive blast

More than 100 trees fell inside Dreamworld and the roof of a building was torn off entirely during the cyclonic 15-minute storm which tore through the Gold Coast on Christmas Day.

More than 100 trees fell inside Dreamworld and the roof of a building was torn off entirely during the cyclonic 15-minute storm which battered the Gold Coast on Christmas Day.

But despite the damage, the theme park was able to re-open its doors just 36 hours later after what Dreamworld boss Greg Yong described as a “miracle”.

Workers, most of whom had lost power or had their homes damaged by mother nature’s fury, came in at dawn on Boxing Day to begin the clean-up.

Against all odds, no staff nor any of the park’s animals were injured.

Mr Yong said recovery work began shortly after the storm passed.

A before and after image of damage to Dreamworld after the Christmas Day storm on the Gold Coast. Picture: Supplied.

“We did an initial assessment on the night before coming in at first dawn at 4am the next day and nobody had ever seen that kind of damage before, and we have people who have worked here for 30 years,” he said.

“(That we didn’t lose any animals) was a miracle given how dense the foliage is in their area.

“The security gate was torn off its hinges after a huge gum tree went through it, so we started our assessment at the front and worked back.

Dreamworld CEO Greg Yong. Picture Glenn Hampson

“We lost the roof of one of the admission buildings, it just came off and landed in the middle of the park and the further in we got, the worse it got.

“There were 55 big trees which were entirely uprooted and 100 that fell and there was a huge amount of damage all over the place with tables and chairs everywhere.”

More than 50 trees were completely uprooted Picture: Supplied.

The park’s staff mobilised rapidly to tackle the damage, while its regular tree lopping contractor, who was on holidays in Byron Bay spending Christmas with his 10-day-old baby, drove north to get to work.

“A lot of them did not have power, some had trees go through their house and others still have not got their electricity running again after nine days but they came in,” Mr Yong said.

“It is a real testament to the team.”

No staff or animals were injured in the storms. Picture: Supplied.

Instead of manning the rides, Dreamworld’s staff spent Boxing Day working with chainsaws and wheelbarrows to clear the debris.

The rides section of the theme park reopened to the public on December 27 while it took longer for Tiger Island and White Water World to re-open.

“There was a huge amount of work for the engineer team who had to inspect all of the rides and slides,” he said.

“We could not have got as far as we did without our staff and contractors.”

Dreamworld was able to successfully reopen. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Yong said there was no truth to rumours that any of the park’s tigers had escaped from their enclosures during the storm.

“We heard that rumour but the first thing we did was to make sure they were contained,” he said.”

Dreamworld was not the only theme park impacted by the storms, with Sea World the sole operator able to open its doors on Boxing Day.

The damage was extraordinary. Picture: Supplied.

Wet’n’Wild, Warner Bros Movie World, White Water World and Australian Outback Spectacular have all since reopened.

Village Roadshow’s Paradise Country, its farm stay and Top Golf all remain closed after “significant damage”, with the latter unlikely to reopen until February.

Mr Yong said the storms and subsequent flooding over New Years had created a distorted image that the Gold Coast was closed for business and urged anyone worried about coming to the city not to cancel.

The park’s staff worked hard. Picture: Supplied.

“The parks are all open, we are trading on all cylinders and while we have had damage, the important thing to understand is we are 100 per cent open and ready to go,” he said.

“The last thing we want is for people to see the images of destruction and think we are not open but we are and the park is as good as it has ever been”.

Meanwhile, Dreamworld is set to announce a special offer of free entry for volunteers who have spent the past two weeks working to get the Gold Coast back on its feet.

Mr Yong said the offer would be open to volunteers, while their families would get discounted entry through until the end of February.