obiwan

Hi everyone,

assuming you only have time for 1 theme park and your kids are aged 6, 4 and 2 years old.

Which one would you choose?

-DreamWorld
-SeaWorld
-Warner Bros. Movie World?

thanks!

moneypenny20

Seaworld without a doubt, lots of cute animals, shows etc, a small gentle water park, kids rides and a breeze coming in from the broadwater and the ocean. Also easy to get around with a monorail and cable car. Not been to Dreamworld yet but assume it's similar to Movie World which, whilst great, there's probably a limit on what can be done with ankle biters.

ozzieeagle

On our two visits thus far, to all four... Wet and Wild seems to be the most enjoyed by my family.


Most active one as well.

So our vote, (i'm never going to a theme park again, if I can get out of it that is. hate the queues) would go to W and Wild, followed by Seaworld.

hoots nan

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We took our 18 month old grandson to Dreamworld yesterday and to be honest wouldnt be in a hurry again, fine for older kids, although i think your's may be too young to enjoy it. More for teenagers.

spalen

Dreamworld has a whole new wiggles world area with little kids stuff. It also has a zoo where you can feed kangaroos, hold a koala etc. See crocodiles snakes etc. It used to have a cracking water park too but they just shut it because they are building a new one next door which opens in january to rival wet'n'wild. They have little kids rides in wiggles world, they have cars the kids can drive on a track, big swingy round swings, 2 'aeroplane' type rides and a huge area where kids can fire soft-balls at each other like a ball pit but without the ball pit bit- its pretty good for little ones. I'd say dreamworld was pretty good themeparkwise and has lots of nick-themed things in it. At dreamworld the best place to eat is the buffet -near wiggles world , its indoors, air conditioned, seated, self-service as much as you can scoff, and for kids its only 6$ for adults its a hefty 19$ so dont eat if your'e not hungry but its a good place to let the kids get some food themselves and have a wide range to eat in a air-conditioned restaurant. Plus of course you can trek over to the big brother house if you are that way inclined.

Seaworld is 50% off at moment if you pick up voucher from places like EzyVideo stores. It was a bit tame though compared to dreamworld and the 'execution' wasnt the best. Its more like yo'd expect SeaWorld to be if it was in Dorset than the one in Orlando . Dreamworld is more professional - haven't been to movie world yet.

moneypenny20

Will the 6, 4 and 2 years old pick up on that though

Irish Aussie Teen

I would definetly say wet n wild. has all the fun slides etc and has a pool and a little river type thing where u sit in rubber rings and let it bring u round. grat for all ages

jad n rich

Kids fave is wet and wild. Its also nowhere near as expensive as the others even food, we found fish and chips for $5.95 and 6 serves fed 10 of us easily. And there is plenty for small ones to do too.

Movie world have not been for 3 years, it was a waste of money when we went, in and out in 2 hours. Maybe its improved but still hear very mixed reactions.

Seaworld quite old and tatty, very disappointing if you have been to a USA one, Dreamworld is bigger, plenty of zoo type things as well as the water park (check its open there were doing new rides) and cable car etc. There was a rugrat world or something for little ones looked like a giant jungle gym in a net cage, kids having a ball and they did rugrat shows too, little ones going on stage.

Lug plenty of water in to any of them, we found bottled stuff $3/4 each :scared: . With little ones be very aware of the extreme UV levels, take all the sunblock, hats, glasses, shirts etc.

Suni&Jay

Why not do all of them, you could probably do them in one day

>Trigger<

Agree with the others,when its hot wet & wild wins every time...suits all ages too!

CHnJ

I vote Seaworld because it has the cute critters, the theme rides AND a decent waterpark all in one place.

obiwan

Thank you for all the advice guys!

I take it that these theme parks are smaller than the USA ones? in which you normally spend 1 whole day in each park?

Are the ones in GC so small that you can finish each one in 2-3 hours only?

I went to Disney Paris and it was a stripped down version of the ones in the US....are the GC ones similar to that?

also, does it also take 45 minutes to queue for each ride? are all the schoolies going to be there?

Thanks!!

Suni&Jay

The Theme Parks here aren't a patch on the ones in the US. They should just call them Parks and miss out the Theme part

saoghalbeag

I grew up on the Gold Coast, worked at Movieworld and took my daughter to Seaworld for her 1st birthday September just gone. Also went to Universal Studios last year en route back to Oz from UK. Sorry to say I've not done Blackpool...

Firstly, the food and drink is going to be ridiculously overpriced in pretty much all of them, although Wet'n'wild and it's former Brisbane counterpart, Amazons, usually seemed to be a bit cheaper. Take snacks. You can buy refill drink containers (souvenir cup things) at each place for around $10 and then have them refilled for a discount amount all day. We got just the one at Seaworld and shared it & took our own water.

You can spend a whole day in each park. Universal Studios was obviously much bigger and better but sometimes that can have an adverse effect & somebody ends up missing out on what they wanted to do.

Re: long queues...we went to Dreamworld one January and had to line up for 3 hours at a couple of the rides (that was just as the Tower of Terror opened). It pays to plan your day - what you're going to see etc. With younger kids you might not have such a problem as they won't be going on the more popular rides anyway.

Movieworld: as the name suggests, it is themed for films/tv/cartoons. There is a kiddy section with a mini roller coaster, play area and eating area. They do have cartoon characters dressed up and running about and there are a few 'shows' to see. They never had many thrill type rides - tended to be more a video/movement show but they've improved over the years.

Seaworld: we went there because it seemed most suited to a 1 yo and we wanted to stay the night at Nara Resort next door. There's lots of animals - aquarium, polar bears, you can handle starfish etc in wee pools, there's a mini-waterpark and also a great kiddy section with a merry-go-round and a few other kiddy rides that my daughter absolutely loved. There's only about 4 or so 'adult' type rides. Also: dolphin show, seal show, waterskiing show.

Wet'n'Wild: We always went to Amazons (in Bris) as kids because Wet'n'Wild was crap but I've heard it is now MUCH improved. My Gold Coast cousins get an annual pass to one theme park each year and last year it was this one and they went there constantly. They're in their early teens, though. Not sure how great it would be with smaller ones.

Dreamworld: This was always the winner as young kids and teenagers, and even now I'm still inclined to think it's a better option: whilst the other parks were specifically for water, films or animals, Dreamworld had the lot.

So, there you have it! With kids aged 6, 4 & 2 I'd probably say Seaworld? Even my 1 yo was transfixed by the Dolphin Show and polar bears. she got to prod a poor old starfish and went on heaps of kiddy rides. The 'adult' rides at Seaworld are fairly tame so you might be able to take the 6 yo on some of those?

Have a great time!

moneypenny20

I think it depends on how "sophisticated" you are about such things. I haven't done the US theme parks - thank god. We have happily spent the day at Seaworld with our girls who are 11 and 14 and had a ball. We were at Movie world for three hours at Halloween and didn't get to the majority of stuff.

There is no way you could do them in a day, and in 3-4 hours with small kids they would not have much of an experience IMO.

Queuing - not much of a problem even in the school holidays at Seaworld, longest queue we had was for the cable car and that was about half an hour. Don't know if they do the queue jump thing that I know they do in the US.

All the parks here are obviously going to be smaller places than the US ones because the numbers of people are going to be far less than the horrendous hoards that flock to Florida each year. Hardly rocket science.

We, including a teenager, have been impressed with the parks so far and as your kids are so little I can't imagine that they and you won't be impressed as well.

Please stop worrying about schoolies. Even when they are here, and they will be gone by the time you get here - Loney Planet obviously don't have a clue, they are not rampaging all over the gold coast in their millions. They are mainly at organised events. Some do go to the parks but not that many because they are happier stopping around Surfers. You would see more people at Alton Towers than the parks IMO. Even in Surfers during the day, most are chilling on the beach, sleeping in their apartments ready for the evening ahead and are for the most part happy, excited and having a great time whilst not getting in anyone's way.

The media have a hell of a lot to answer for. Of course there will be small pockets of trouble but certainly no more than anywhere where more than 20 people congregate.

Rant over. Enjoy your trip.