Wanna do the Goldy. Theme park advice?

[~clover~]

We are talking about heading up to the Gold Coast early next year, around Feb/March.
We plan to find a holiday house/unit, as I think its the cheapest option.
Just want to ask some advice on the whole theme park thing.

1, The kids will be 8/9, 5/6, 2/3 & under 6 months, depending on when in the year we get there (birthdays around then)
2, What would be the best theme parks for their ages? I think Aust zoo would be fun for them, but not sure what else.
3, What are the closest suburbs to the parks? We want a place close enough so we don't spend half the day driving, but would love to be near the beach

Ummm... How do these theme parks work? Do you pay to get in, then have to pay more when in there? For rides etc? Can you take your own food? (Expecting $10 for a small bucket of chips, lol).

Neither of us has ever been any where more exciting than Western Plains Zoo coz we both grew up there, lol, so have no idea at all about any of this. But I do know it'll cost us a small fortune....or large fortune

TIA

[flossy17]

Hi gl with planning your holiday. As far as age appropriate theme parks i'm not too sure. We have only really taken our girls (age 3 & 1) to dreamworld as we have season passes. There are 4 theme parks on the gold coast and if you holiday anywhere in the main areas around surfers paradise it will take would be 20mins to get to dreamworld. Seaworld is at southport which is 5mins from surfers paradise and movie world and wet&wild are right next to each other at coomera (about 15mins), dreamworld is only another 5mins down the highway. I've heard wet & wild and movie world isn't that interesting for really young kids but the older ones would prob love it. Dreamworld (not sure on seaworld tho) have the theme park and whitewater world. Australia zoo will prob take a good 1hr 1/2 to 2hrs to get to so maybe just plan an early start to drive up there. As far as food goes your right it is pretty exy, we tend to take packed lunches for our girls and snacks hidden at the bottom of our bags under nappies etc. they have never checked our bags at dreamworld not to sure on the others. Also being school hols i doubt they'll have time to check as it can get pretty busy. Go to thier websites and see if you can prebook the tickets, otherwise yes you have to line up to buy them at the gates. They also don't normally open till around 10.00am. It might be wise looking at getting a 3day pass to one theme park, i know dreamworld offers these. It would be alot cheaper than doing them all. gl

[BrightSparkles]

Dreamworld would be good as from memory it has little kids rides as well and movie world. Wet n wild might be ok too...lots ofpools and slides for different ages.
In terms of cost - you only pay to get in the gate then go on rides as many times as you like (there will be other little things around the park you might have to pay for if you want to do them) but all the big "normal" rides you dont then need to pay for.
We used to take our own food (shove it in the nappy bag )

Are you an NRMA member? I know they do superpark passes not sure how much cheaper it is through them but worth checking it out

HTH xx

[Ozstar]

You can buy passes which will get you into Movieworld, Seaworld and Wet and wild. The passes vary in price depending if you want unlimited entry over 14, 5 or 3 days.
Dreamworld now also has a water park called white water world which is additional entry. All the parks have recently banned bringing your own food except baby food. I think so long as your not dragging an esky behind you your fine though. You should be able to get a family pass which is 2 adults and 2 children, under 3 is free at all parks.
Australia Zoo is about 2 hours north, just keep that in mind. All the theme parks are only about a 20-30 minute drive from Surfers and most hotels can organise bus transfers if you need them. I think any of the parks would be suitable for your kids.

[Mak]

We went recently and Miss 4 was beside herself. Check out the specials as we got some amazing tickets that had repeat entry to Dreamworld/Wet water world for the whole month of June! There were heaps of rides for the little kids here - really good Wiggles section for the toddlers and some great preschoolers stuff also. My kids are obsessed with Spongebob after seeing the stage show. They also loved seeing the White Tigers too. The kids loved these parks - there is a kids section called Wiggle Bay in the water park whick has great slides etc for the littlies - also the bigger kids would be happy there in the slides etc. It was great fun and the highlight of our trip. We also went to Seaworld which was great also and slightly different - our kids were too little for the rides but had a great time wandering around. The bigger kids would love some of the rides there lots of splashes and thrills!
The food was a big dissappontment as it was quite exxy and not much value out of the healthier options (but I guess that is no surprise really). Dreamworld was slightly cheaper and seemed better value. We ended up putting stuff in the pram etc and no one actually checked it out.
I would check out a few websites and even email the parks to check out the entry offers for the time period you are there.
We did have a break between parks as the kids were exhausted!!!! It was heaps of fun and we are hoping to go again when I can save my pennies. Perfect holiday for the kids - which means perfect for the big kids!!!!
ETA - we went to Dreamworld twice and I think we could have easily gone back a third time. First day we did the rides, shows and scoped out the water park - second day we caught up on things we missed and then spent half a day in the water park.

[Tinks]

Last time we went to the Gold Coast we stayed at a place called Ashmore Palms. It's like a holiday park. You stay in little cabins. We absolutely loved it. Every morning there are activities for the kids like bird feeding, craft, face painting, mornng tea etc. They have birds in cages that the kids can walk around and look at, a couple of playgrounds and a brilliant pool area. You can get shuttles to the theme parks and Surfers from there although we had a hire car. It was about a 10-15 min drive to the theme parks and Surfers. We all loved it and it wasn't all that expensive although we did go in the off peak season. We stayed for a week in a mid range cabin for around $700.

I'd highly recommend it. The staff at reception were fantastic, so friendly and helpful. I'd definitely stay there again.

[ScottyDuck]

If you're a member of the likes of RACV (V for Victoria but changes accordingly for each state eg RACQ in Qld) you can get a discount on your entry to the major theme parks like dreamworld etc.

[*LovemyKids*]

Dreamworld would be excellent they have wiggles world and a heaps of rides for the other kids, they have petting zoo, bigger rides for the adults and a water park you can get a pass for both worlds in one day or over two or more days. I highly reccomend Dreamworld. There is a pass like someone else said where you can get into wet and wild which is good for all ages, movieworld and seaworld, all of which i would also reccomend as they are all good. Australia Zoo is on the sunshine coast which is about a 2.5 hr drive from the gold coast, i have never been to australia zoo as it would cost us a fortune to go there and i don't think it would be as good as the other parks. If you try and stay a bit out of goldcoast it would be a bit cheaper. I am not on the goldcoast about a 45 min drive but i am sure some of the girls who live there can help you with places to stay. Goodluck and have fun!!!!

[~clover~]

Thatnks heaps guys
I'm not a member of NRMA or anything, but I do think I remember that we can get some sort of discount through DH's staff card. Will have to pull out the paperwork for a look.
Will look that one up Tinks Sounds great.
I'm thinking now we should do 2 weeks instead of one, lol...wonder if we can save that much... We are going during term, so off peak. Should be cheaper & hopefully quieter!
Thanks again!

[Mak]

Oh just got an email from the My fun website - they are selling Movie world, Seaworld and Wet N Wild passes with unlimited entry until June 2011 for $100.

[~clover~]

Yeah, I saw that, but with DH's union (long as he stays with his night job) we can get the same passes for $85. So he's gotta stick it out til then
Thanks though Also, with that deal, from what I read, the first pass has to be used within 120 days. I think it'll be taking a bit longer for us to get there

[TeniBear]

Scott, you scared the poo out of me - I saw Ianto's name while I was scrolling down and thought I'd already posted and forgotten about it! Then I realised my ticker wasn't there and thought "someone else has named their kid Ianto" I'm a twit!

Anyway, if you sign up for a site called myfun, you get special deals and discounts off tickets and other stuff Of course, I signed up after we bought our tickets

[~clover~]

Lol, thanks Teni... you dag!!

[Fleur]

We did Australia Zoo recently & it was good but as Ozstar said it is 2 hours north, on the Sunny Coast (we stayed with mum)
My 2c - I'd do Dreamworld, it has heaps to offer and you can go back the second day for $10 or something.
Seaworld would be my second preference, then Movieworld - having said that they are all pretty good & if you can get a 3park pass, even better.
Then don't forget there's other stuff, you can go up to the top of Q1 if you like heights lol, do Cavill Ave & go to Ripleys etc.

What are the closest suburbs to the parks? We want a place close enough so we don't spend half the day driving, but would love to be near the beach

Closest suburbs - Dreamworld is at Coomera, northern end of the coast, Movieworld at Oxenford, also northern end. Seaworld is more central but depending on where you are staying could take just as long with traffic etc. All three parks should have transfers by bus or train (which won't matter of course if you are driving).
Really the coast is fairly accessible all round. It takes about 40 - 50 minutes to drive from one end to the other. If you are wanting to be near the beach I would make that your first priority, cost depending, and then work out if it's close enough to the parks for you, ITMS.

Ummm... How do these theme parks work? Do you pay to get in, then have to pay more when in there? For rides etc? Can you take your own food? (Expecting $10 for a small bucket of chips, lol).

Yep...and then the rest
Australia Zoo is the only one you are allowed to take your own food into. But we usually sneak a bit in nappy bags/ prams. Do be prepared to pay through the nose for food & drinks.
Rides are usually free but there will always be 'extras' that you can pay for - photos with animals or helicopter rides etc if you're die hard about spending money but really you can have a great day without all that, the idea is that you pay to get in & then ride for free. You just have to queue

HTH