THE Gold Coast's theme parks are gearing up for a multimillion-dollar tug-o-war over visitors in 2010, with major expansions planned along with new rides and shows.
As holiday crowds pour through the gates this week, park bosses are looking at maintaining their competitive edge next year as Melbourne and Cairns expand their theme park offerings, tempted by the near six million annual visitors to Movie World, Dreamworld, Sea World, Wet'n'Wild and Whitewater World.
Wet'n'Wild will open Australia's first multimillion-dollar Aqua Loop, which releases people trap-door style into four see-through water slides.
Plans to create a white Christmas next year at Movie World with snow falls and a million Christmas lights were also detailed, along with a new themed attraction at Sea World for children aged between five and 12.
Dreamworld has flagged a major relaunch of one of its big thrill rides in July 2010 and is also in negotiations to get another multimillion-dollar attraction to add to its Big Six thrill rides.
Warner Village Theme Parks chief executive officer Tim Fisher said the Aqua Loop would be open in time for the September school holidays.
"It will be the only one like it, with four loops," said Mr Fisher.
Warner Village owns Movie World, Sea World and Wet'n'Wild.
Movie World business unit manager Bob White said a smaller version of the Aqua Loop would also be constructed for those who wanted to 'make sure they were up for it' before climbing on board the new water slide thrill ride.
Mr Fisher would not go into detail about the plans for the new Sea World attraction, but said it was 'water related' and was a 'multi-million dollar investment'.
"It will appeal to families with younger children -- we felt that was something that was missing," he said.
Sea World this week unveiled its new Sea Viper rollercoaster -- a revamp and rebadging of the former Corkscrew ride.
Dreamworld spokeswoman Shelley Winkel said there were also plans to expand the park into some of its 4ha of spare land.
"We are going to do a major relaunch of one of our signature rides with a lot more power put back into it," she said. "There's also talk of a major new ride ... we are still in negotiations about that.
"When White Water World opened there was always a plan for phase two expansion but then the GFC (global financial crisis) hit, so depending how business goes, that is something we will also look at again ... we've still got heaps of land."
I can tell you that the ride overhaul has been in the works for quite some time. You will be pleasantly surprised with what they have planned from what has been hinted at me. I am unable to go into specifics as I have not been told exactly what they plan to do. But I have been told the Tower of Terror will be restored to it's former glory."The Aqua Loop at Wet 'n' Wild, which will release thrillseekers trap-door style into a see-through water slide"
Also I would much rather Dreamworld be spending their money overhauling major attractions like this, and returning them to their former glory than spending the money on new attractions just yet. It seems that we finally have a CEO that has his head screwed on!
All I can say is... BRING ON 2010!!