A NEW theme park called “Australian Legendary Kingdom” could be opened on the Gold Coast and rival the likes of Movie World and Sea World.

China’s biggest theme park operator, Songcheng Performance Development, has made the proposal and vowed to funnel at least $400 million into the project.

But questions have been raised over whether it is too soon after the Dreamworld tragedy for another theme park on the Gold Coast.

The company is one of the 10 largest theme park operators in the world and already runs 30 parks and 10 tourist resorts across China.

They are oriental themed and focus on parts of China’s past like the Song Dynasty, an era in Chinese history known for its prosperous economy and colourful culture.

In a statement to the Shenzen stock exchange, Songcheng outlined its vision for the Gold Coast park, which will be a mix of Chinese and Australian culture.

WHAT WILL IT LOOK LIKE?

Songcheng plans to open the park on a 40.46 hectare block in Nerang, about 10km from Gold Coast’s CBD.

The entertainment park will boast a number of different precincts, including “Aboriginal Cultural Village” and “Mysterious Orient”.

In the company’s other theme parks, stage performances are a major draw for tourists, and a show called “Wild Australia” will be part of the new theme park.

Songcheng said the City of Gold Coast was a key tourism zone in Queensland and “one of the biggest tourist cities in Australia”.

“It also grows fastest in terms of economy,” a statement said.

The parks already developed in China are technologically advanced and there are speculations the Gold Coast park will have virtual reality rides.

Malcolm Burt, a rollercoaster enthusiast studying a PhD in amusement parks at the Queensland University of Technology, expects it to be an incredibly sophisticated theme park.

Ageing roller-coasters are being transformed into virtual reality rides at some parks and Mr Burt said it was the newest advancement for theme parks, which sees thrillseekers wear goggles while riding a rollercoaster.

He tried one out in the United States and said he fell off a building as the rollercoaster dipped and flew under and over a bridge as the rollercoaster track looped.

The rollercoaster enthusiast said judging by Songcheng’s other parks, he’d be very surprised if the new park did not have accommodation attached.

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate visited Songcheng’s Romance Park in Sanya, in the southern end of China, in September.

Songcheng said they were laying a “friendly foundation” for potential co-operation in the future.

Songcheng has opened theme parks in Sanya, Lijiang, in China’s Yunnan province, Fuzhou, in the Fujian province, and Jiuzhai, in the Sichuan province.

The operator also has theme parks in Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province.

The Hangzhou Songcheng Park is one of the most popular and opened in 1996.

According to Songcheng Performance Development, the park has had more than 60 million visitors, with about 7.3 million recorded in 2015.

There are nearly 24 million visitors across all the company’s theme parks each year.

A river lined with shops and restaurants flows through the Soncheng Park and all staff members, from ticket collectors to cleaning staff, are dressed in Song Dynasty costumes.

The park in Hangzhou has a casino and tourists can take a look around a prostitute’s boudoir, but it is still not known exactly what will be included in the Gold Coast park.

Songcheng also prides itself on using modern technology to bring amusement parks to life and offer tourists a cultural time travel experience.

The masterplan for the Gold Coast theme park is expected to be completed by the end of June next year.

IS IT TOO SOON AFTER THE DREAMWORLD TRAGEDY?

Following on from his visit to China, the Gold Coast Mayor doesn’t believe talks of the new theme park were too soon after the Dreamworld disaster, where four people were killed on the Thunder River Rapids ride.

Dreamworld, which was opened in 1981, was the Gold Coast’s largest theme park. It still has not reopened since the tragedy.

“It’s never a bad time to talk about enhancing our tourism infrastructure,” Mr Tate said.

“The way we look at it on the Gold Coast, we like to broaden our economy and we want to broaden our tourism economy.”

With a number of theme parks already established on the Gold Coast, including Movie World, Sea World and Wet’n’Wild, Mr Tate doesn’t think a new addition will clog the market, and believed it would help the established parks.

“There’s room for another three (parks),” he said.

“More competition means that they have to update their parks to keep up with it.

“Back in the day, we were the number one choice for theme parks, and we’ve got to keep doing that to stay up the top.”

The mayor also downplayed concerns Australians would be unwilling to go to a theme park that was in some ways based on the Chinese culture.

“This is a quintessential Gold Coast theme park,” he said.

“When it comes to lights and fun it’s an international park.”

Mr Burt said Dreamworld was one of the most popular theme parks in the country when it was open and believes it will have to have grand plans for when it finally reopens.

“The fact they’ve had this dreadful tragedy, they need to somehow move past it and announce something like an expansion plan,” he said.

If the new theme park opens, it will be a rival to Dreamworld, which will have to make a change to keep encouraging guests through the gate.

It will also have to compete with Movie World, which will have Australia’s largest and most expensive rollercoaster in the country up and running next year.

“With Dreamworld’s horrible accident and the potential of a new park coming along, Dreamworld will need to pull something out of the hat,” Mr Burt said.



WILL IT WORK?

Mr Burt said building another theme part on the Gold Coast was a smart idea.

“The entire region is a destination,” he said.

Mr Burt questioned whether the $400 million for the park was enough money and said usually companies who built theme parks had a backing of about $1 billion.

He said however Songcheng was a huge theme park operator that would have a plan for development.

There have been some other companies expressing interest in expanding their parks to the Gold Coast and Mr Burt said Disney had been looking at spots for several years, but is yet to do anything about it. Other Chinese companies have also had grand plans for the Gold Coast.

Last year it was announced a theme park development was planned for Nerang, after land was purchased by Chinese theme park developer Wander and its partner Ridong.

The Gold Coast Bulletin reported the developers wanted a casino licence for the entertainment precinct, but was denied.

The proposed $1 billion project was going to boast a water show, wave pool, indoor ski centre and skating rink.

But now Songcheng is planning to buy that block of land that Wanda and Ridong paid $20.8 million for three years ago.

If the sale goes through, Wanda and Ridong will fetch $55 million.

Canford Property agent Roland Evans told the Gold Coast Bulletin the huge rise in price showed there was a strong Chinese interest in Gold Coast investment.

But whether this new theme park will happen, only time will tell.

Earlier this year Chinese developer, Australian China Theme Park, planned to open a $500 million amusement precinct on the NSW Central Coast.

The ChappyPie theme park was due to be built on a 15 hectare plot near Wyong, but the land was never fully paid for and the project never got off the ground.

—With AAP