But… why is the water gone?

On April 24, WhiteWater World closed for its annual winter shutdown. Since 2019 the water park has operated seasonally, but the parks engineering team don’t just turn the lights off and come back a few months later. We were invited by the park to have an in depth look at what happens when a water park closes for the season.

WhiteWater World opened in December 2006, replacing the ageing Blue Lagoon, Dreamworlds original water park.

Blue Lagoon was originally a seasonal waterpark, operating during the warm months of the year

Originally a 365 day park, the decision to turn the park into a seasonal operational waterpark was made in 2019. The closure of the water park through the colder seasons of the year allows the scheduled heavy maintenance on the attractions to occur without guests being being impacted. Who wants to ride water slides in winter anyway?

After the doors close, workers jump into action. One of the first major things guests at Dreamworld notice is the removal of the water.

The water inside the various splashdown pools, and the Cave of Waves is removed from the site. This allows maintenance to occur to the pools themselves without the water getting in the way.

Meanwhile back of house, all the parks filtration systems receive a check up. The park features several Neptune basset filters, placed in strategic places to allow the water to be filtered for each slide and attraction with minimal travel time.

The park has a schedule for major and minor overhauls on the filters. If a filter is due for a major overhaul, this is when it would occur. The filters due for major overhaul get removed and taken offsite for the work to occur. WhiteWater World has a rotational program for the filters major overhauls. This year one filter has been taken away a major overhaul, a process which typically occurs every 10 years. The filters are stress tested, and given a thorough check over with non destructive testing. The metal components and tank is overall X-rayed, and any imperfections rectified.

Once the overhaul is complete, the filter is then restored to brand new condition, and reinstalled in the parks equipment plants.

If a filter is due for minor overhaul, the parks engineering team pull apart and clean each remaining filter, and in the process they give it a check over, and replenish its filter media. The filters are then sealed back up whilst they wait for the end of winter, where they are turned back on.

Unlike your conventional swimming pool filter which uses sand to filter the water, the filters utilise perlite, which is more efficient when compared to the sand filter systems available.

Each year, a selection of the park’s slides are prepared for major maintenance and upgrades. This year the Green Room and Super Tubes Hydro Coaster will be receiving some major attention. One visible change guests will notice is the new boats which the park has invested in for the ride.

Regardless of the work done, each change and refurbishment of any attraction is done in accordance and within the specifications of the manufacturer. If this work is something which is not standard for the type of attraction or equipment, the work to be completed is signed off by the manufacturer before any work commences, and approval given from the manufacturer once the work is complete before it can be reopen to guests.

The guns and water fixtures for pipeline plunge are high touch points for WhiteWater World, and as such see a bit of wear and tear every year. The fixtures such as guns, sprayers abc other “toys” have been taken off their fittings for a clean up and refurbishment.

As Cave of Waves is now empty, now is a perfect time for the sides of the pool to be repainted. In this photo you can see the surface preparation has commenced in order for this to be repainted.

The parks gardens are also looked at, with plants often cycled through and moved into Dreamworld. The gardens will be refreshed in time for the reopening.

With all this work occurring, it is easy to see why the park closes during the colder periods of the year. A lot of essential maintenance is conducted to ensure the park and its attractions are in top tip shape come the warmer parts of the year.

We would like to thank Dreamworld’s management, and the maintenance teams for lifting the curtains, explaining the processes, and allowing us to show you what happens behind the scenes.