This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/dec/10/dreamworld-nightmare-overshadows-theme-park-reopening
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Dreamworld nightmare overshadows theme park reopening Dreamworld nightmare overshadows theme park reopening | |
| (about 17 hours later) | |
| The five-year-old girl had pestered her parents to take her to Dreamworld all year. | The five-year-old girl had pestered her parents to take her to Dreamworld all year. |
| With the dawning of school holidays and warm weather well and truly upon them, her parents’ excuses for not taking her – the chill of winter, or what passes for it on the Gold Coast, then an unusual closure of the theme park – had finally run out. | With the dawning of school holidays and warm weather well and truly upon them, her parents’ excuses for not taking her – the chill of winter, or what passes for it on the Gold Coast, then an unusual closure of the theme park – had finally run out. |
| But a more awkward conversation loomed. How to explain to a five-year-old why Dreamworld was only now reopening? The shadow of a tragic fun park ride accident in October that killed four people had loomed large in the national conversation, and threatened to hang over an attraction run by owners enmeshed in what was widely considered the year’s worst example of crisis management by an Australian corporation. But did a prep school girl need to know any of it? | But a more awkward conversation loomed. How to explain to a five-year-old why Dreamworld was only now reopening? The shadow of a tragic fun park ride accident in October that killed four people had loomed large in the national conversation, and threatened to hang over an attraction run by owners enmeshed in what was widely considered the year’s worst example of crisis management by an Australian corporation. But did a prep school girl need to know any of it? |
| “I didn’t want to tell her,” her mother said about the deaths. | “I didn’t want to tell her,” her mother said about the deaths. |
| But she decided to do so, so the family could make an important gesture when they arrived at the Coomera theme park on Saturday, six weeks after Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozi Araghi and Cindy Low lost their lives there. | But she decided to do so, so the family could make an important gesture when they arrived at the Coomera theme park on Saturday, six weeks after Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozi Araghi and Cindy Low lost their lives there. |
| The first thing they did was go to the site of the Thunder River Rapids ride – now closed and earmarked for demolition – and pray for the victims, the mother said. | The first thing they did was go to the site of the Thunder River Rapids ride – now closed and earmarked for demolition – and pray for the victims, the mother said. |
| “She didn’t say anything when I told her about it. She just put her hands together and prayed,” she said. | “She didn’t say anything when I told her about it. She just put her hands together and prayed,” she said. |
| And now the girl took her place on a ride suitably thrilling to her and the four-year-old boy next to her, now on his second go in a row. They were two little people in the middle of a row of empty seats that slowly and gently lifted them 10 metres into the air and back down again. | And now the girl took her place on a ride suitably thrilling to her and the four-year-old boy next to her, now on his second go in a row. They were two little people in the middle of a row of empty seats that slowly and gently lifted them 10 metres into the air and back down again. |
| The queues for most rides were a fraction of the usual summer school holiday rush. | The queues for most rides were a fraction of the usual summer school holiday rush. |
| Older kids, who couldn’t have helped but hear the news about the Dreamworld accident, weren’t quite so lucky. All of the theme park’s “thrill rides” were closed as part of ongoing safety audits involving its owners, the state government, and consultants from overseas, ordered in the wake of the disastrous malfunction of the Thunder River Rapids on 25 October. | Older kids, who couldn’t have helped but hear the news about the Dreamworld accident, weren’t quite so lucky. All of the theme park’s “thrill rides” were closed as part of ongoing safety audits involving its owners, the state government, and consultants from overseas, ordered in the wake of the disastrous malfunction of the Thunder River Rapids on 25 October. |
| Even now the awful irony of deaths caused by one of the Dreamworld’s tamer attractions hangs in the air. | Even now the awful irony of deaths caused by one of the Dreamworld’s tamer attractions hangs in the air. |
| A father of three from Perth, asked why he chose to bring his family on the first open day at the Gold Coast attraction since the tragedy, said it was “just how things turned out”. | A father of three from Perth, asked why he chose to bring his family on the first open day at the Gold Coast attraction since the tragedy, said it was “just how things turned out”. |
| Tickets to Dreamworld were part of a holiday and hotel package he booked long before the tragedy. | Tickets to Dreamworld were part of a holiday and hotel package he booked long before the tragedy. |
| His kids had heard about the deaths “but it’s a high-level thing” that didn’t profoundly register with them, just that “they know there’s been an accident”. | His kids had heard about the deaths “but it’s a high-level thing” that didn’t profoundly register with them, just that “they know there’s been an accident”. |
| His eldest boy of nine was “disappointed so many action rides are closed”. Riding on tamer stuff like dodgem cars, watching tigers and street performers was wearing thin by lunchtime. | His eldest boy of nine was “disappointed so many action rides are closed”. Riding on tamer stuff like dodgem cars, watching tigers and street performers was wearing thin by lunchtime. |
| The entertainment options ran for “a couple of hours max. We’re running on fumes now”, the man said. | The entertainment options ran for “a couple of hours max. We’re running on fumes now”, the man said. |
| On a weekend that theme park management had pledged $25 from each ticket sold to a fund for the victims’ families via the Red Cross, the telltale signs were of a modest public response. | On a weekend that theme park management had pledged $25 from each ticket sold to a fund for the victims’ families via the Red Cross, the telltale signs were of a modest public response. |
| The carpark less than half full, the short or non-existent queues for attractions in a venue that, according to Queensland tourism minister Kate Jones, is visited by millions of people a year. | The carpark less than half full, the short or non-existent queues for attractions in a venue that, according to Queensland tourism minister Kate Jones, is visited by millions of people a year. |
| “Not as many as they were expecting,” as one young woman working behind a gift shop counter put it. | “Not as many as they were expecting,” as one young woman working behind a gift shop counter put it. |
| But for a place whose very future was openly questioned in the accident’s wake - when Dreamworld and its parent company Ardent Leisure made misstep after public misstep in their response – it was a start. | But for a place whose very future was openly questioned in the accident’s wake - when Dreamworld and its parent company Ardent Leisure made misstep after public misstep in their response – it was a start. |
| A posse of politicians who appreciated what was at stake for Dreamworld – and as they put it emphatically, the Gold Coast more broadly – brought their own children to spend the day in a gesture of support. | A posse of politicians who appreciated what was at stake for Dreamworld – and as they put it emphatically, the Gold Coast more broadly – brought their own children to spend the day in a gesture of support. |
| Flanking and pointedly praising the Dreamworld chief executive, Craig Davidson, for the compassion of his response to the victims families, they wore “I heart Dreamworld” stickers, as did some of the journalists they addressed. | Flanking and pointedly praising the Dreamworld chief executive, Craig Davidson, for the compassion of his response to the victims families, they wore “I heart Dreamworld” stickers, as did some of the journalists they addressed. |
| Federal government backbencher and local MP Stuart Robert pointed out he was “here in my t-shirt, my shorts and [with] my three sons to enjoy with other Gold Coasters what is one of the great theme parks of the world”. | Federal government backbencher and local MP Stuart Robert pointed out he was “here in my t-shirt, my shorts and [with] my three sons to enjoy with other Gold Coasters what is one of the great theme parks of the world”. |
| Murray Watt, the Labor Queensland senator who is shifting his office to the Gold Coast in 2017, said Dreamworld was “obviously a world famous tourist icon and it’s great to have people streaming back through the gates”. | Murray Watt, the Labor Queensland senator who is shifting his office to the Gold Coast in 2017, said Dreamworld was “obviously a world famous tourist icon and it’s great to have people streaming back through the gates”. |
| “But it’s also very important that today it reopens for the confidence and self-esteem of the Gold Coast.” | “But it’s also very important that today it reopens for the confidence and self-esteem of the Gold Coast.” |
| Donna Gates, deputy mayor of the Gold Coast said: “We all support this park so intensely because it’s part of the fabric of our city.” | Donna Gates, deputy mayor of the Gold Coast said: “We all support this park so intensely because it’s part of the fabric of our city.” |
| There were tiny teething problems on show on Saturday, workaday issues that the largest funpark in Queensland’s tourist Mecca of the Gold Coast would routinely encounter. | There were tiny teething problems on show on Saturday, workaday issues that the largest funpark in Queensland’s tourist Mecca of the Gold Coast would routinely encounter. |
| There was the brief closure of the Pipeline Plunge when staff discovered a child had left a chunk of poo on the waterslide. Another brief closure of Tiger Island when a woman in the audience suffered a seizure. And there were minor hitches getting the lights working on the Wiggles’ Big Red Car. | There was the brief closure of the Pipeline Plunge when staff discovered a child had left a chunk of poo on the waterslide. Another brief closure of Tiger Island when a woman in the audience suffered a seizure. And there were minor hitches getting the lights working on the Wiggles’ Big Red Car. |
| Nothing that a mop, bucket, screwdriver or first aid crew couldn’t attend to. | Nothing that a mop, bucket, screwdriver or first aid crew couldn’t attend to. |
| Reputational damage – like when a popular theme park becomes synonymous in public imagination with an amusement ride disaster, or its corporate leadership with an early bungled, legalistic response to human tragedy – is harder to fix. | Reputational damage – like when a popular theme park becomes synonymous in public imagination with an amusement ride disaster, or its corporate leadership with an early bungled, legalistic response to human tragedy – is harder to fix. |