Trip to QLD!!

ok, so i decided today we're going on a trip to qld next year!ive just been looking up flights (jetstar) accommodation (in surfers paradise and surrounds) and entry to the theme parks!

i need some advice from anyone whose done the QLD trip before!

i would love to go to movie world & dreamworld the most... wet n wild have prices for 'afternoon only' entry, which is like after 2pm, and 3 pm depending what time the park closes- its like $22pp, which is cheap! i wonder if its worth taking up that offer, and going there for the afternoon, rather than pay for a full day (keeping in mind Krystal will be almost 3, so we will be limited to kid friendly areas only!)

ive added up for flights- $200 each (at the most- jetstar have different prices for different times of the day ie. mornign and night are cheaper)

accommodation- $1000 for 5 nights.. it looks as though $750 is about the going rate for 5 nights, but i guess it depends when you travel (im looking at March 09)

and $135 per park (Krystal is free) + $50 IF we go to wet n wild

so $1700 for all that- if we save $50 a week at the least, we should have enough- i know my mum and nan will make contributions, and im sure the PIL will too!

any advise on how much spending money we will need? how much will it cost to travel around do you think? (public trans & taxis) i guess we need to take into account food/drinks if we plan to eat out or buy some groceries etc. also withe the theme parks, i plan to BYO lunch/drinks! i remember how much it cost my parents when we went in 2001!

ETA: also how soon should we book?

thanks ladies :)

Rach, March will be a great time, as the school holidays aren't until April. We did a trip to the gold coast a couple of years ago and did Seaworld and Movieworld. We stayed at a place called Treasure Island Holiday Park, which turned out fantastic as it was basically in the centre of the two places. Only took about a 20 minute drive to either place (if that) We stayed in a cabin, something like a garden villa i think it was called, for about $150 per night in the low season. I remember the next villa up the chain was about an extra $20 a night, looked a bit bigger, but it was beside the pool, and DH said as it was a family orientated place, staying close to the pool might not be a good idea.

They had facilities for washing,drying and ironing as well. Next door was a subway and across the road was a place called Harbour Town, which had outlet shopping, but more importantly a woolies so we could grab some food to cook our own meals.

Taking food to the parks is a good idea, we spent a small fortune on food at them both.

The place we stayed at had a bus pick up point directly out the front, and it had a drop off at Seaworld from memory. We were originally going to do the bus thing, but then decided against it as we are always running late LOL! I can't remember how I found out about the bus pick up? It might have been from the accomm. website? and then I googled for the bus website?

Have you checked out the websites for the parks you want to visit? I think they may have timetables on them for any shows, so you can plan your day (sort of) before you get there as well.

Here in Qld, we can pre purchase our tickets from the RACQ and members get a discount. Maybe you could look into your own state to see if they have something like that as well? There are also passes like the 3 park super pass i think is what it is called, and one I just found, called a Theme Park Fun Pass. Just watch the prices as I think they are per person, and check out the kiddie ages for them as well as to wether or not you have to pay for little persons.

If you can pre purchase your tickets, I think you may not have to wait in line with everyone else. I'm pretty sure at Seaworld, we basically walked right through as they had a booth open for people who had pre purchased their tickets.

Maybe weigh up the option of buses/taxi's with hiring a small car for a couple of days too. I'm not entirely sure if it would work out cheaper or not, but worth looking at. Another reason we decided to drive our own car was because of the pick up time from the theme parks back to the accommodation. Ooh, that just reminded me, you can also book yourself onto a bus that does theme park/accomm pick up and drop offs.

If you make it to seaworld, just down the road a bit is the Q1 building and the observation deck. They also have a website you can check out. DH and I went there about 18 months ago when we were down there for a concert and had some time to kill. I think it was somewhere around $26 per person, not sure on kids prices, DD wasn't with us. I'm not a fan of heights, so didn't stay up there for long, but just for the pure experience of being on the worlds fastest lift.... Wow!

Ok, just googled for the theme park buses, and there is one called Con-X-ion coaches and they also do airport transfers. I just googled buses to theme parks. Maybe also check out if there is a gold coast tourism website? It might have some helpful info.

That's about all I can think of ATM. will come back if I can think of anything else :)

Nic

Thanks Nic!

Yeah definately check out family friendly accomodation too, because they often have deals with passes to certain parks (like if you stayed at Sea World Nara Resort...) And most of the resorts down there do have buses to theme parks as one of their perks.

The buses down the Gold Coast are pretty good, its easy to hop on a bus at the airport and go north, its a fair trip though at least an hour by bus, so expect that.

Food, everything can get up there when you eat at the parks but there are shops on the coast & if you stay at a self-contained apartment you can byo food to the parks & save heaps of $$.

I'm taking my boys to Paradise Resort on the Gold Coast. They have FREE BABYSITTING!!!! We're going in July - cost for 5 nights, 2br unit, 2 adults 2 kids, including car and fares from Melbourne, is $2200. BARGAIN!

Rach, I just remembered something else. We had originally looked at about 3 places to stay. 1 was too far away for our liking, but the other one we looked at (which I just googled to check the name) was the Ashmore Palms.
On their home page they have a comp going if you subscribe to their monthly email you could win a stay with them!
I think a BB member stayed there on holidays too - think it might have been Tracey?

Hope that helps a little :)

Nic

Pardise resort is great for kids! We got a free holiday there case DS was born on the 1st 0ct! I think you can get self contained units not sure?

I am sure you can get super park passes? But bringing food in is a great way to save!

Spending money? It depends on what you want to do and where you want to eat? Travel Im not too sure on as we live here so have always had our car?

Good luck1 Hope its great fun! Sorry if this didnt help too much:)

Good luck and have a great trip!!

Thanks for the info girls

rachael24.. im also a rachAel!! hehe