Dream World

Thanyaburi, Thailand

“Thailand’s alternative for Disneyland”

Thailand is one of the world’s premier tourist destinations. Nevertheless, you won’t find any large theme park chains in this part of Asia. You’re out of luck if you’re looking for Six Flags Pattaya, Universal Studios Chiang Mai or Siam Disney Resort. With just 18 operational roller coasters, the country doesn’t appeal to coaster enthusiasts like China or Japan do. Still, we managed to visit two different theme parks during our trip to Bangkok. Our first stop was Dream World, which is approximately 35 kilometres north of the capital.

The journey to Dream World can be made by public transport, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You’ll have to rely on local buses and the travel time is rather long. Grab (a local alternative to Uber) offers a considerably more pleasant journey and the costs aren’t excessive. The travel time from our hotel to Dream World was over an hour, but it only cost 13 euros. Drivers also get a bonus when they sell tickets for Dream World, so they’ll be happy to escort you to the park’s ticket desk. By the way: admission is relatively cheap. During our visit, we paid 600 baht (about 16 euros) for standard admission. The park also offers a more expensive option that grants access to the bumper boats, go-karts and a snow palace.

ROLLER COASTERS

One of Dream World’s roller coasters immediately reminded me of Belgium. Sky Coaster is an exact copy of Dreamcatcher at Bobbejaanland. This is a 600-metre long Vekoma suspended coaster that mainly consists of helixes. If you’ve ridden Dreamcatcher, you probably know that the ride isn’t spectacular at all. The lift hill offers a nice view of the surrounding area and the seats are comfortable, but the layout is far from surprising. Local park-going crowds seemed to find the ride more than intense enough, though.

Dream World’s two largest roller coasters have striking similarities. Both were built by Vekoma and they both started their careers Down Under. These two rides were part of the world exhibition in Brisbane in 1988. They moved to Thailand a few years later, where they opened in 1994. I’m talking about Sky Coaster and Black Hole Coaster. This is a custom MK-900, just like Vogel Rok and Crazy Bats. In terms of smoothness and intensity, Black Hole Coaster is quite comparable to its European siblings. It’s a typical family roller coaster that mainly consists of curves and helixes. Unfortunately, theming appeared to be rather weak. The station and lift hill are fitted with a nice retro space theme, but that’s it. In fact, I really missed some extra decoration or light effects during the actual ride. Black Hole Coaster lives up to its name too literally.

Credit hunters can complete their coaster bingo near the entrance of the park. The park’s third and final coaster is Speedy Mouse, a kiddie coaster manufactured by Cavazza Diego. The ride’s engineers don’t seem to know how to bank curves, which results in a ride full of high lateral g-forces. And although the train looks rather cute, it all feels rather rickety and unsafe.

WATER RIDES

Bangkok enjoys a tropical climate year-round. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Dream World offers quite a few ways to cool down. They offer a small-sized water park and a classic shoot-the-chutes, but my personal favourite is a rapid river called Grand Canyon. Although the attraction seems a bit hidden in a remote corner of Dream World, the park put a lot of effort in the decoration. The huge Grand Canyon-sign is photogenic and the attraction’s Far West decoration looks excellent. The ride itself is refreshing, to say the least. Actually, I’ve rarely gotten this soaked on a water ride. The heat managed to dry my clothes within less than 30 minutes, though.

OTHER EXPERIENCES

An amusement park isn’t complete without a good dark ride. Unfortunately, Dream World doesn’t offer a classic one. Still, there are some attractions that come pretty close. We can admire a lot of over-acting during a 4D film that was developed especially for Dream World. In addition, we also discover two walk-throughs: Giant House and Haunted Mansion. The former depicts (as the name suggests) a giant’s home and it includes some fine photo opportunities. Haunted Mansion is a pretty spooky walk-through haunted house.

Surprisingly, Haunted Mansion isn’t the most creepy ride at Dream World. This title goes to Alien, a show with special effects. The attraction starts with a pre-show that explains the story line. In short: we are recruited as researchers and we will soon enter a lab with a dangerous alien monster’s eggs. We are assured that everything’s perfectly safe, but of course, this turns out differently. In the main show we then witness how an alien breaks its eggshell and manages to bypass all security systems. This is followed by a horror scenario in which light, air and sound effects simulate the presence of the creature. Does this all sound vaguely familiar? Then you may have visited Stitch’s Great Escape at Magic Kingdom at some point. This show had similar ingredients and even the seats (including awkward shoulder restraints) are identical. Although Dream World’s budget can’t be compared with Disney’s, I actually enjoyed Alien a lot. The attraction contains a number of strong effects and delivers a convincing overall experience. Please keep in mind that Alien is not for the faint of heart, due to its very dark nature.

Some parts of Dream World reminded me of multiple well-known international theme parks. The park’s entrance, for example, shows striking similarities with the facade of It’s a Small World. Besides, there’s a Universal-like globe on the central square. A little further in the park, we also spot a copy of Parc Astérix‘s famous medieval gate, an talking tree like the one at Efteling and a budget version of Sleeping Beauty Castle. These decorative elements are all part of Photopia, a garden filled with photo opportunities. This part of the park is especially popular with Instagram queens and vloggers.

WORTH A VISIT?

We didn’t enter Dream World with high expectations, but we were pleasantly surprised. The park has a large selection of attractions, excellent landscaping, a lot of good photo opportunities and staff are genuinely friendly. However, you should keep in mind that Thailand does not have a distinct theme park culture. While locals may describe Dream World’s roller coasters as ‘thrilling’, they’re quite tame to European and American standards. And does the theming look rather tacky to you? Then keep in mind that people in Asia have a completely different taste. In short… I appreciated Dream World and I left the park with a positive feeling. Definitely worth the trip from Bangkok.

Would you spend a day at Dream World during a trip to Thailand? What would be the best addition to the park’s lineup? What do you think about the park’s theming? Share your opinion in the comments section at the bottom of this page.