Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett, his partner Roozi Araghi and Cindy Low died in late October in what was the deadliest accident at an Australian theme park since the 1970s.
A family trip on the popular Thunder River Rapids ride turned to tragedy when the raft the group were travelling in collided with a stationary raft and flipped, throwing the four into the machinery and water.
The four adults perished but both Ms Low's 10-year-old son and Mrs Goodchild's 12-year-old daughter, who were also on the raft, were thrown clear and survived, in what police described as "almost a miracle".
The funerals of all four took place in early November.
Since the deaths Dreamworld, and its sister WhiteWater World park, have been closed. The company has said it will demolish the Thunder River Rapids ride.
Dreamworld's parent company, Ardent Leisure, has promised to donate $25 to the Australian Red Cross for the victims' families from every ticket bought this weekend.
"Obviously they couldn't leave the place closed forever but I think initially it's to going to be difficult for Dreamworld," David Bierman, an expert in tourism at UTS, told news.com.au.
"Everyone involved has learned some pretty hard lessons."
Dr Bierman has been highly critical of Ardent's initial handling of the crisis including how it dealt with the victim's families, the media and general public.
In one excruciating encounter, Ardent CEO Deborah Thomas was forced to admit that when she claimed the company had "reached out to the families" this did not include an actual phone call to see how they were.
In another bungle, Ms Thomas initially accepted an $168,000 bonus before belatedly donating it to charity.
"I was surprised at the Ardent CEO because of her incredible media background, after all she was editor of Australian Women's Weekly dishing out the hard questions. I thought she'd be better at answering questions. But when you're faced with such a terrible disaster sometimes the theory goes out the window," Dr Bierman said.
Ms Thomas has since taken on a much lower profile leaving Dreamworld CEO Craig Davidson to lead the recovery effort.
Dreamworld was also criticised for initially planning to reopen the park just days after the deaths, and before the victims' funerals.
Dr Bierman said the rescheduled opening had been a "wise and reasonable gap" that better suited the public mood and allowed the remaining rides to be safety checked.
"The word 'crisis' come from Mandarin and it means 'problems and opportunities'. They've been working hard to address those problems and now have the opportunity to relaunch with a new image," he said.
"But the challenge is really to restore their reputation as they clearly have a reputational problem."
Others have been less kind.
In October, David Eager, an associate professor of engineering at UTS, said the mechanical defects on the ride had done immeasurable harm to the park's brand.
"Their reputation is everything to them," he told Fairfax. "You lose that reputation and you're on a death spiral. They're in the business of bringing fun and enjoyment to millions of people's lives ... and to end up in a situation where you've got four deaths, it destroys your business model."
Late last month, Workplace Health and Safety auditors issued seven improvement notices and three prohibition notices following inspections of Dreamworld and WhiteWater World.
Dr Bierman said the park, which is critical to the Gold Coast economy, could find a way back but it was going to be struggle.
He compared it to the uphill battle Malaysia Airlines has fought since the dual disasters of MH17 and MH370.
"You know they fly several hundred flights a day and they go without incident but emotionally people could feel the airline is a bit dicey. A lot of people could now be treating Dreamworld with a bit of that suspicion and concern."
The key was getting people back through the gates, starting with a bumper opening weekend.
A Dreamworld spokesman said they had no idea how many people would turn up over the next few days. Some might buy tickets on the gates while others have season passes so there is no way of knowing if they will be attending in advance.
"I would think in the first few days you will get a lot of people who come through curiosity," Dr Bierman said.
"Hopefully that will start to develop a momentum," he said. But the park will have a problem if the initial rush dies down.
Dreamworld should hold back from being too congratulatory about the park, he warned.
"Rather than Dreamworld saying we've got the problems licked, you need others saying that. If kids are going through there and saying they have had a wonderful time, then it will have resonance."
The big danger is if another ride buckles. Even a minor breakdown, with no injuries, could shake potential visitors.
The park's multi-pronged strategy to checking rides could help restore confidence. Indeed, many of the larger rides, including the Tower of Terror, Buzzsaw and the Claw, are still awaiting the green light to crank up again.
"All the checking in the world doesn't guarantee everything will work perfectly. There have been accidents resulting in deaths at US attractions and generally most bounce back but there is always a risk something's going to go wrong."
It would be hard, but the park could put the tragic events of October 25 behind it.
"I know they'll be working hard and in fairness to the organisation they didn't so well at the beginning but I think the CEO got the message loud and clear from many people," said Dr Bierman.
"They should get back on their feet. But I'm not going to pretend it's going to happen instantly."
