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Wet N’ Wild, Seaworld & Movieworld Theme Parks Gold Coast Trip Report Early November 2016 We hadn’t been to Wet N’ Wild nor Movieworld for over 12 years, nor Seaworld since Nov 2011, and our crew all enjoyed a visit to each last week. Firstly, we mostly used public transport during our week in & around the Gold Coast (using QLD transport Go Cards we’ve had for years), and it was great – the new light rail tram from the Uni/Hospital to Pacific Fair is excellent, those theme park buses e.g. TX2 are great, the airport 777 coach was excellent, and it all cost a fair bit cheaper than a few years ago for some reason. Also, these days we always plan a less-busy week to visit the Gold Coast & theme parks, i.e. out of NSW/QLD/VIC school hols, not during a big race event nor schoolies weeks etc., AND try & get to theme parks during the Mon, Tue or Wed during weekdays. We managed this for Wet N’ Wild & Seaworld (Monday & Tuesday visits when seemed OK), but couldn’t get to Movieworld until the Friday – and it seemed noticeably busier. --- Wet N’ Wild: Wet N’ Wild on the Monday was quite enjoyable, few queues were longer than 15mins especially after ~2pm. The park entrance was pretty good – a large shaded area & welcoming staff to assist before heading to the gates themselves. They opened the processing booths ~5mins before official opening time of 10am which is good, thereafter the turnstiles to actually enter the park were a bit of a bottleneck – they could have opened a couple more of those right on 10 to help. There seemed to be a fair amount of shaded areas (much more than I recall last time) which is essential, also quite a lot of lifeguard staff around, most of whom seemed fairly friendly. - Calypso Beach: Big gentle river float was nice for the little ones, though there was a bit of rubbish/litter throughout which should’ve been cleaned up regularly. - Black Hole: Slides were good, though not dark nor long enough for mine, would be far better if longer, darker 7 perhaps with a couple of scary-type face shapes lit up partway along. - Kamikaze: Never did it myself but family reports indicated it was fun. - Tornado: We did it ~10 times later in the day with no queues which was great (& a pretty good workout carrying the large inflatable up those stairs). - Mach 5: Fun, kids loved it, though the exit should have a safer quick option straight back to the inflatables when it’s not busy. - Jetstream Bodyslides: Pretty cool if short, did them several times whilst carrying the inflatables up to the Mach 5 for the kids. - Constrictor: Never did it myself, family reports indicated it was OK but a big queue. - Aqualoop: Awesome. Did this several times with barely any queues, even got most of our less-adventurous crew onto it for lots of laughs. Quite like the back-strapped board etc. Would love a taller/longer faster version with double-loop or something. - River Rapids: (4 waterslides with 2 enclosed, 2 open): Longest queue I found, thus only did it once, pretty cool. Would’ve done it a few more times if there were no queues. - Skycoaster: We all had a look, but couldn’t bring ourselves to strap-in for that insane freefall. - Surfrider: Never did it myself (looked too intense for me honestly), those in our crew that did enjoyed it. - Family fun areas: Pretty good, thankfully pretty varied. Though the restriction for much of it to not wear any eyewear / goggles is ridiculous (many kids benefit from swimming goggles etc.) The toilets were mostly fairly messy, they should have more regularly cleaning etc. The overall layout seemed basically OK, those zipline cables running from the River Rapids to near the Skycoaster looked like a flying fox ride thingy – I don’t know if they are/were but they should be and it should be open, looked pretty cool. The exit through the shop was a bit dodgy – much tiled flooring that got slippery when wet etc. but no biggie. Overall a better experience than I expected, especially when using a good-value pre-purchased multi-park multi-day pass or something. I’ll look forward to taking the family back there in a couple of years on a nice warm sunny day again. --- Seaworld: Seaworld on the Tuesday was also fairly enjoyable, moreso than I expected. The park entrance was a bit dodgy as usual, a mess of people about the place, with little shade. Staff to initially assist & direct you as you approach, from say 9:30am to ~11am) should be implemented. We followed somewhat unclear signage & queue arrangement to the left into some weird processing area, had some token photo taken, then moved to a booth actually fairly promptly. The staff at the booth were pleasant and fast, and we got through the turnstile pretty quickly actually, which was good. There were a few shaded areas about the place, but it could do with more. The new big animal models about the place looked great – shark, kraken, dragon, whales, with informative plaques, sounds & movement etc. the kids loved, good to see. - Monorail: Would’ve liked to ride it once to get across the park & relax a bit in (presumably) cool aircon, but it seemed to travel so slowly and infrequently with no apparent schedule nor signage indicating ETA etc. we just bailed both times we tried. Shame. - Creatures of the Deep: Pretty cool. Some faults with some of the interactive items should be fixed. - Polar Bears: Sad. That’s no place for such creatures (except for genuine rescued/treatment situations etc.), we didn’t see any bears, but just browsing the enclosures made me kinda sick. - Shark Bay: The huge underwater tank viewing is always pretty cool, kids loved it. Some of the plaques need replacing. - Ray reef: Also pretty cool, kids enjoyed petting some etc. - Nickelodeon Land: Good idea but layout’s a bit of a mess, queues were a bit nasty, the kids roller coaster boat was enjoyed greatly by some of our younger crew. - Castaway Bay: Actually pretty good, I expected it partly closed, but those pirate ships with water cannons are great fun for all, & the kids climbing fortress is great too. - Storm Coaster: Some big queues, for a damn short ride. Did it a few times later in the day with barely any queues, still: seems like a fair effort to design & construct wasted in part for a ride so short. Pretty good ride though. - Jet Rescue: Impressive! We quite like the similar Mick Doohan Motor Coaster @ Dreamworld, but this Jet Rescue almost blows it away – ended up doing it too many times, started really shaking us up. Good stuff. - Dockside Tavern: Love the idea, the fact it serves alcohol & good-looking food, and we enjoyed a refreshing beer or 2. When we were there it was under-staffed, and the wind really affected the balcony tables – perhaps some kind of roller sheets or something to roll down when it’s windy to help? The Dolphin, Seal & Jetski shows seemed OK, fairly well-organized amphitheatre seating for the animal ones etc. Some of the overall layout seemed a bit messy, with lack of clear signage etc. but not too bad. I’m unlikely to return there again for several years. --- Movieworld: Movieworld on the Friday was also fairly enjoyable, again moreso than I expected. The park entrance seemed ok with a fair bit of shade, and we got in quite quickly with our 7-day multi-park passes, good stuff. Staff to initially assist & direct you as you approach, from say 9:30am to ~11am) should be implemented. The grand impression & design within the main gate is pretty good, leads to a sense of excitement etc. There were quite a few shaded areas about the place which is good to see. - Junior Driving School: excellent idea, nice big layout, seemed well-organized with lots of shade. Queue was hefty when we first got the kids onto it, and once they were finally all on the cars and they all started off, it seemed only around 1 minute later they all stopped and that session was over! Ridiculously short duration! We later revisited it with far lesser queues & thankfully they run the sessions longer then. - Loony Tunes 4D Theatre Show: Pretty cool. - Road Runner Coaster: Kids seemed to like it, cool. - Kids WB Fun Zone: Some good stuff, little kids loved the Train & Taxis. - Stunt Driver 2 Show: Pretty cool, good to sit down for a while, though it was busy/popular. - Wild West Adventure Falls Ride: Very good, though the queues through the busy period were horrendous. Nice ride. Again later in the day revisiting with hardly any queues was great. - Scooby-Doo Indoor Coaster: Excellent. Again queues through the busy period were horrendous. Nice ride, & later in the day revisiting with hardly any queues was great. Kids loved it. - Batwing Spaceshot: Didn’t ride it ourselves, but it looked cool. - Superman Escape Coaster: Awesome. Massive queues through busy period, revisited when quieter later, want to do it more (could only fit in 2 rides on it this day). - Arkham Asylum Coaster: Awesome. One of the best rides I’ve ever done. Only did it once late in the day with hardly any queue, will revisit it and am keen to pay extra for it’s VR experience. - Main street entertainment, characters etc.: Pretty cool, Batman with the Batmobile looked awesome. Superman, Supergirl, Wonderwoman, Catwoman, Green Lantern, The Flash, The Joker, Marilyn Monroe all looked great, and most of them interacted with the crowd later in the day pretty well. Similarly the cartoon characters Tweetie, Bugs, Scooby-Doo etc. were cool. The Green Lantern Coaster was closed whilst we were there (we knew it would be), I’m definitely riding that thing next time. The Doomsday Destroyer was closed, didn’t concern me as it looks a bit nasty for mine. Overall a better experience than I expected, especially when using a good-value pre-purchased multi-park multi-day pass or something. Lookin’ forward to taking the family back there in a couple of years on a day that’s more mild than hot hopefully, again, where we’ll definitely hit that Arkham & Superman coasters multiple times again! --- Cheers.

I agree. Last time we visited SeaWorld (some time ago now), I was very disappointed with many aspects of it. So much of it seemed in need of repair, aged, or closed. The front gate ticketing staff were way too few, resulting in massive delays getting in (during school term), and I simply couldn't believe there was a pirate/swim area within the complex for which you have to pay extra for?! - unbelievable. I'm hoping it is far improved & better value these days, in fact I doubt it's possible it could be worse that when we visited.

Dreamworld & Whitewater World Early Nov 2013 Trip Report: We returned here for 2 days during our time in QLD again this year, the same as this time last year, noticed some improvement, some disappointing aspects, but overall had a good time. My first positive impression related to the easier walking routes & access between some areas – last year/years past I recall it being quite confusing or offering little obvious easy access between certain areas, this year it seemed better, including signage – e.g. from Wiggles World to the Tower Of Terror II / Tigers / Madagascar area, also from the Wildlife area to Wiggles World. I also noticed seemingly less unattractive closed/blocked off/maintenance works/untidy areas than last year, and less areas appeared very dated/aged, which is good. The access to/from Whitewater World through the Flowrider shop is a bit of a pain, the old nearby gate area was far better, worse however was it closing at 4pm since things apparently close in Whitewater World then – that’s too early not only for things to close (except in Winter), but for the access to close as in my case I merely wished to get a good view of my family on the Cyclone Coaster. Speaking of opening and closing times, every day they are open regardless of school holidays or not: - The gates and some various attractions should open at 0930, - ALL attractions should open at 1000: I see they list various later opening times for various attractions on their website (e.g. Log & Rapids Rides 11am (Ridiculously late!), Motorcoaster 1030 etc.), but honestly that’s very poor, - More attractions should remain open right up to 5pm, including various aspects of Whitewater World (except, perhaps during winter), - The main Dreamworld gates, on the weekdays we visited, had plenty of Ticketing windows open, the staff opened them several minutes prior to the advertised opening time of 10am and seemed very friendly, and other staff actually opened the access entry gates a few mins prior to 10am as well – all of which was good to see (Last year we used the Whitewater World entry which, by comparison, had only 1 or 2 ticket windows open with few staff, which didn’t open until very close to 10am and the entry gates in didn’t open until a few min after 10am, which was disappointing at the time). All ticket windows that are scheduled to open on any given day should open 10 mins prior to opening to start processing customers, and all entry gates should open a few mins prior as well. The food choices overall weren’t too bad, though some was over-priced. The Humdifier/Mist spray devices around the place were a welcome addition (can’t recall them / as many last time), though I noticed some of the garden hose-driven ones seemed to have the water turned off whilst the fan remained on later in the (warm) day which was strange. With water saving/restrictions this is understandable I guess, though I would hope such a facility would use lots of water recycling/environmentally friendly systems. Sun shade seemed pretty good too, a fair effort was obvious to add certain shaded areas either via trees or man-made shades – during past visits I recall thinking some areas could do with more shade, but didn’t seem a problem this year which is good. Most toilet facilities seemed OK, though some of them could have more than 1 cubicle toilet. We still struck some hefty attraction queues, due in part to many school kids there 1 day who seemed to be permitted to just wander in front of some queues. I guess not much can be done about queues in general, other than open more attractions earlier and close more later to stretch the day for customers, I shudder to think what it would be like during school holidays / long weekends. I really like how closed-in shoes are not required AT ALL for anything, so we could just wear thongs – (seems popular in QLD?), good stuff. Smoking didn’t seem too much of a problem this time, and whilst it’s good to see much “No Smoking except in designated areas” signage I still copped wiffs of filthy smoke in certain areas – it’s time these kind of theme parks banned smoking completely within all of their grounds, providing areas only well outside the boundaries away from entry gates / bus stops etc. Most of the staff seemed quite friendly, helpful and seemed to at least look like they were enjoying being there including funny banter between other staff – good stuff. Onto the various attractions & rides: - Zombie Evilution was pretty much as expected – similar laser tag to Alien Vs Predator Vs You which we did last year - The same guy was hosting as last year for AVPX and he’s great – stern & somewhat serious, which is good! I honestly found the internal area a bit underwhelming and drab inside – but still fun. - Rode the Tower Of Terror II for the first time ever and, even after watching it many times, knowing exactly what was going to happen, how it flew out backwards etc., both my sister & myself once strapped in, in our excitement were both convinced we were about to jet forwards – resulting in an even more terrifying experience! It was pretty intense, and we agreed a bit too much for my 7yo kid (who’s not so keen on some scary activities) – next time he’ll have a go. We found it pretty awesome. And it’s shop was good too. - Rode the Cyclone coaster for the 1st time in ages (since it was the Thunderbolt?) – was pretty cool. - Mick Doohan Motorcoaster: A favourite of my son’s and a well-designed ride, sometimes a fair queue but nothing can be done about that, and at least one of the attendants was really cool & funny. - Wipeout: Looked insane, I’m not going on that thing. - Pandemonium: Looked pretty wild, again not for me these days. - Madagascar World & Shrek Areas: Very good, the younger kids loved much of these areas, it all seemed pretty tidy, complete and well-designed – vastly improved from last year. - Buzzsaw: Rode it 3 times, was excellent, if even more unnerving the 2nd time! - Giant Drop: The most intense ride my son (6yo at the time!) has ever done, it was 4 second of terror, shook him up a bit and one which he definitely didn’t want to do again too soon. Good stuff. - HydroCoaster: One of the best rides in the entire facility, sadly the queues for this seemed almost constantly huge – I’m glad I got my son onto it for a ride, and wish we could have done more, they should examine the staffing & equipment for that to try and increase the boats per minute safely deployed, or build an additional even bigger one! - Green Room: Did it for 1st time, was pretty cool. - Wedgie: Also did it a couple of times, was pretty cool. - Blue Ringed Octopus: Good idea, a bit more rougher a ride than I expected adding to the excitement for me, but I feared my son may get knocked around on it a bit if he went on it (yet), good fun. Many of the “cons” listed would be fairly trivial if the entry prices were more reasonable – sure it seems kinda consistent with other theme parks and not over the top, but it’s still hefty. With planning, prior research and visiting multiple days however, I’m still really glad to have taken the family there 2 years straight now.

Omg, the only real enjoyable Dreamworld Park music I heard last week was "Everybody's Free to Feel Good", most of the rest I was REALLY looking forward to getting away from & hopefully never hear again.

During our visit to DW this time last year, I did notice more areas than I'd like appearing in need of maintenance, many areas looking "dated" or worn. Overall I recall it wasn't a huge issue, but something notable for a theme park charging such modern-day high entry prices. Re: Certain attractions "closed for maintenance" http://www.dreamworld.com.au/Attractions/Maintenance/ Whilst I dislike significant attractions closed during times we plan to visit, I accept that it's sometimes necessary and at least they do advise well in advance via the webpage above which is good.

It's disheartening to hear that the Vintage Cars and such replacement train(s) would only be operating on weekends - in fact if that's the case that really sucks. Glad to hear reports of some DW train operating (some?) weekdays (@ least Fri 25 Oct 11am-4pm). Will find out ourselves next Tues & Thursday.

We'll be @ DW next week, hoping to take the little bloke through Zombie Evilution @ least once. We did AVPX last year, and whilst he found it a little scary a couple of times, he ended up enjoying it. Lookin' forward to this one, being so new!

Looks like we'll be there around a similar time.. --- Dreamworld Gold Coast: We’re going for 1 or 2 day trips during midweek next week (6-9 Nov 2012), haven’t been there for around 15 years. We’ll be a couple of adults, 1 6yo boy & a baby. We have a Holiday World Pass for each (http://shop.dreamworld.com.au/holiday-worldpass ) ("Unlimited entry into Dreamworld & WhiteWater World over 21 days from date of first entry"). - There appears to be 3 entries from the main carpark into the entire facility: 1) the Dreamworld main entry, 2) the Whitewater World main entry, and 3) the World Pass Entry. With our Holiday World Pass on our 1st visit will we be required to enter only via the World Pass Entry, and will we also need to go through some photo & pass printing process? - Apparently the Big Brother final is on Wed 7th November, one of the days we are considering going, might that be a good or bad day to go if we wish to enjoy many of the Dreamworld & White Water World rides & attractions with minimal queues etc. (not interested in seeing any of the Big Brother stuff there)? - Apparently Dreamworld has local “Parents & Kids Discount Days” on Tuesdays & Thursdays, presumably during certain weeks / times of the year – has anyone heard of this, con confirm they still do it and will do so during next week (6-9 Nov 2012)? If so we might try and plan to avoid those days to minimize crowds and queues. - The “Dreamworld Early Entry Tickets" ( http://shop.dreamworld.com.au/dreamworld-early-entry ) (Early entry from 9:00am on selected days only, Dreamworld only not White water World etc.) appear to be a good idea, however via the Dreamworld website it appears the only days you can select online for these are Sundays and Mondays over the next few weeks, is this right? Or should I contact them and see if it may be an option for later in the midweek? - The “Dreamworld Q4U” ( http://shop.dreamworld.com.au/dreamworld-early-entry ) (reserves a place in a virtual queue line, for selected Dreamworld rides only etc.) also seems worth considering for busier days and if we want to go on the “selected rides” (AVPX, Escape to Madagascar, BuzzSaw, Tower of Terror, Shockwave, Mick Doohan’s Motocoaster, Thunder River Rapids Ride, Wipeout, Rocky Hollow Log Ride, Cyclone, The Claw) multiple times etc. During a midweek day next week might it really be a good idea, anyone used it etc with feedback? - Any other Dreamworld & White Water World tips welcome, cheers. ---