Sea World Resort questions

[Canadian Harmony]

I'm in the middle of crunching numbers to see if flying up to Cairns to hit the reef would be more economical than driving all over the place like you've suggested. This would mean we could spend more time at the parks and maybe stay at the resort instead. Is it a good go? We could spend 5 days there exploring the parks and such before heading up to Cairns.

We stayed onsite at Disneyland this past month and it was a 20 minute walk to the gates... WAY too far tbh. Is the Resort closer to the parks than that or should I look for something closer but 'off site'?

[DisneyDoll]

Yes the resort at Sea World isn't as far to the park as Disneyland. I assume you stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel as it's the least close hotel. The resort itself was nice enough with some good amenities for the kids to do. The room had a small balcony & was clean & fresh. You enter the park from the rear entrance & when we stayed there, we found little or no crowds at all to get in. I hope you have a great time :-)

Edited November 4, 2015 by DisneyDoll

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Sea World Resort shares a border, and has it's own gate into the Sea World theme park. If you visited California Adventure - it's sort of like the Grand Californian Hotel - it opens right into the park.

Staying at SWR also comes with a few little perks depending on your package - including an early morning dolphin talk \ demonstration \ display before park hours. There's also less people entering the park from the resort side, so it's quicker to get in if you're headed straight for the rides.

The pools and water play areas might be enough for the kids to keep them occupied - and don't forget the resort's water park.

I find the resort to be very convenient for a beachside\parkside getaway, but it really is INconvenient to get to the other four - Dreamworld, WhiteWaterWorld, Movie World and Wet n Wild and on the highway towards Brisbane - at least a 20 minute drive, and usually much worse than that, especially with traffic. The park does have a travel desk though, where you can book bus\coaches that take that hassle out of the equation.

Be mindful that dining at the resort can be costly - especially on seafood nights, so dinner is sometimes better planned down on the surfer's strip (so long as you can get a carpark when you return - or take a taxi!)

There are some really good points about staying at SWR - especially with families, but there are also a few bad points too... it just depends on what you consider to be important.

[iwerks]

Sea World Resort is okay to stay at if you want to be close to Sea World.  If you don't want to eat at the restaurant there you can always rent a room that has a kitchenette and buy your food elsewhere.

One of my favourite places to stay at on the Gold Coast would have to be Azzura Greens Resorts, which is on Hope Island, about 5 minutes from DW and 10 minutes from MW. I rented a spacious three bedroom apartment last time and it even had its own laundry room inside the apartment.  There's also a shuttle bus that runs from there to Outback Spectacular, if you want to drink during the dinner/show.

[grrofunger]

Treasure Island Resort is a nice place to stay for families , its more a caravan park than a resort but it has units to stay in also. has plenty for kids and the family to do , several pools, tennis court, mini golf, jumping pillow, restaurant, bar etc etc-

http://www.treasureisland.com.au/ 

Its pretty centrally located between seaworld and the other 3 parks , its right next door to a large shopping centre also (harbourtown) and also near another (westfield helensvale) 

I have stayed here twice for theme park holidays and found it a great location for getting around.

I wouldnt stay at Seaworld resort if planning on going to the other parks as well and seaworld doesnt have enough to keep you entertained for the whole stay.

You will need a hire car in this option.

Edited November 5, 2015 by grrofunger

[Canadian Harmony]

Yes the resort at Sea World isn't as far to the park as Disneyland. I assume you stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel as it's the least close hotel. The resort itself was nice enough with some good amenities for the kids to do. The room had a small balcony & was clean & fresh. You enter the park from the rear entrance & when we stayed there, we found little or no crowds at all to get in. I hope you have a great time :-)

Hi. Yes, it was PPH we stayed at. What a WALK that was!!

Sea World Resort is okay to stay at if you want to be close to Sea World.  If you don't want to eat at the restaurant there you can always rent a room that has a kitchenette and buy your food elsewhere.

One of my favourite places to stay at on the Gold Coast would have to be Azzura Greens Resorts, which is on Hope Island, about 5 minutes from DW and 10 minutes from MW. I rented a spacious three bedroom apartment last time and it even had its own laundry room inside the apartment.  There's also a shuttle bus that runs from there to Outback Spectacular, if you want to drink during the dinner/show.

We're going to do the OS show, and the other parks as well as we'll have 4 - 4 1/2 days for them. I'd like to do the Paradise Country tour too. I can get accomodations seperately as the tickets are cheaper on the APOD site than with the resort deal online. The shuttle sounds like a good idea too.

Treasure Island Resort is a nice place to stay for families , its more a caravan park than a resort but it has units to stay in also. has plenty for kids and the family to do , several pools, tennis court, mini golf, jumping pillow, restaurant, bar etc etc-

http://www.treasureisland.com.au/

Its pretty centrally located between seaworld and the other 3 parks , its right next door to a large shopping centre also (harbourtown) and also near another (westfield helensvale)

I have stayed here twice for theme park holidays and found it a great location for getting around.

I wouldnt stay at Seaworld resort if planning on going to the other parks as well and seaworld doesnt have enough to keep you entertained for the whole stay.

You will need a hire car in this option.

I looked at that for our Campervan option. I'll check it out for the other unit option and see if that may be a better fit for us. We're going to hire a car instead of a campervan so we'll have wheels to visit my Mum and the other parks.

Sea World Resort shares a border, and has it's own gate into the Sea World theme park. If you visited California Adventure - it's sort of like the Grand Californian Hotel - it opens right into the park.

Staying at SWR also comes with a few little perks depending on your package - including an early morning dolphin talk \ demonstration \ display before park hours. There's also less people entering the park from the resort side, so it's quicker to get in if you're headed straight for the rides.

The pools and water play areas might be enough for the kids to keep them occupied - and don't forget the resort's water park.

I find the resort to be very convenient for a beachside\parkside getaway, but it really is INconvenient to get to the other four - Dreamworld, WhiteWaterWorld, Movie World and Wet n Wild and on the highway towards Brisbane - at least a 20 minute drive, and usually much worse than that, especially with traffic. The park does have a travel desk though, where you can book bus\coaches that take that hassle out of the equation.

Be mindful that dining at the resort can be costly - especially on seafood nights, so dinner is sometimes better planned down on the surfer's strip (so long as you can get a carpark when you return - or take a taxi!)

There are some really good points about staying at SWR - especially with families, but there are also a few bad points too... it just depends on what you consider to be important.

I saw the perks - the dolphin thing is totally cool and something the kids and I would love. We do want to see Dreamworld, WnW and Movie World for sure, as well as the Paradise Country thing and the Outback Spectacular, so I'm going to look in to see if another more centrally located accomodations would be better.

Thanks for all the great info. I never would have known half this stuff otherwise.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm sure we've all had enough GC experiences to help out anyone inexperienced.

As far as getting to MW, DW, WnW and WWW - you don't need to be closer to them necessarily - just not in the choke point that is the Smith Street Motorway, gold coast highway (from smith st towards Sea World) and down to Cavill Ave. I have previously gone from Turtle Beach Resort to Wet N Wild in summer holidays, during rush hour faster than i've gotten from Sea World Resort to Movie World in September holidays. Check them out on a map and you see why thats impressive.

There are many resorts that are close to the beach, great amenities etc on the south side of the strip. Look for anywhere where the best route to the other parks doesn't pass through Smith Street, or has an alternative that doesn't use that section of the GC Highway. If you're hiring a car, and looking to stay in nice accommodation - check out Turtle Beach Resort. The kids will love the pools and games areas, and they have an AWESOME woodfire pizza restaurant on site - plus plenty of food options nearby. (Plus the south end is generally a bit quieter). I've stayed there during Schoolies Week and you'd never have known it was on.

[Levithian]

It's 3 and 4 lanes now on smith street, and 3 lanes through the gold coast highway since the road works for the commonwealth games. It's not a choke point anywhere until you pass over the sundale bridge and left on to waterways drive (which normally doesn't carry a lot of traffic).

There is light rail travel right down the highway from either broadbeach (one end) or Arundel at the new hospital (the other end) too. There is a station on the gold coast highway not far from waterways drive. It would be about a 20 minute (maybe 30 minute max) walk from the highway if you took your time. Take you along the gold coast seaway, fishermans wharf, etc to seaworld if you wanted to completely avoid driving through the gold coast highway. Park anywhere along the route of the rail and walk across the road.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Levithian

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Gold Coast Highway:

• two lanes across the bridge prior to Waterways Dr.
• Northbound, 2 lanes between marine parade and smith st (and further north)
• Southbound, 2 lanes between smith street and queen st (right before the bridge) for about 300 metres only

Smith Street:

• 2 lanes both directions between GC HWY and Scarborough Street
• There are various '2 lane pockets' where lanes are closing, become turning lanes, reopening a few hundred metres down the road.

Smith Street still sucks - most Mexicans will tell you that QLD'ers can't merge - and here we have a "motorway" arterial road that constantly merges into and out of 2 lanes.

This info taken directly from nearmap sat maps updated 1 September. I doubt the lanes have changed too much since then, given the speed of roadworks... especially since there is a distinct absence of roadworks going on in the photos.

[Brad2912]

Roadworks finished along Smith St. It is a lot better than it used to be, with the exception Scarborough to GCH during peak (westbound in the AM and eastbound in the PM). The GCH is an absolute mess though especially over the Sundale

[Santa07]

Smith Street is always busy, any alternative routes help a lot.

[joz]

Smith Street gets a bad rap.  Honestly it's fine.  As for getting accomodation more central to the parks, honestly I wouldn't bother.  

 

Yes there are closer hotels particularly around the Labrador area, but you're on holidays, and Labrador while not being a bad place to find yourself, isnt where I'd suggest people spend their holidays, and it'll only save you 10mins on each journey anyway.  Sea World Resort is pretty good and they normally have some good theme park specials.  I wouldn't recommend staying there without a car as its not walking distance to anywhere, but if you've got a car you'll be fine.

 

Either stay at Sea World, or stay somewhere within a couple min walk of a tram stop and you'll have a blast. 

[Canadian Harmony]

I'm sure we've all had enough GC experiences to help out anyone inexperienced.

As far as getting to MW, DW, WnW and WWW - you don't need to be closer to them necessarily - just not in the choke point that is the Smith Street Motorway, gold coast highway (from smith st towards Sea World) and down to Cavill Ave. I have previously gone from Turtle Beach Resort to Wet N Wild in summer holidays, during rush hour faster than i've gotten from Sea World Resort to Movie World in September holidays. Check them out on a map and you see why thats impressive.

There are many resorts that are close to the beach, great amenities etc on the south side of the strip. Look for anywhere where the best route to the other parks doesn't pass through Smith Street, or has an alternative that doesn't use that section of the GC Highway. If you're hiring a car, and looking to stay in nice accommodation - check out Turtle Beach Resort. The kids will love the pools and games areas, and they have an AWESOME woodfire pizza restaurant on site - plus plenty of food options nearby. (Plus the south end is generally a bit quieter). I've stayed there during Schoolies Week and you'd never have known it was on.

I've checked out Turtle Beach  - it looks awesome and is half the price of Treasure Island! And T.I. is $1500 cheaper than SWResort. Turtle Beach is 30 minutes from my mum's, T.I. is 5 minutes. The Resort is about 20 minutes. I guess it all depends how close I want to be to my mum

Smith Street gets a bad rap.  Honestly it's fine.  As for getting accomodation more central to the parks, honestly I wouldn't bother.

 

Yes there are closer hotels particularly around the Labrador area, but you're on holidays, and Labrador while not being a bad place to find yourself, isnt where I'd suggest people spend their holidays, and it'll only save you 10mins on each journey anyway.  Sea World Resort is pretty good and they normally have some good theme park specials.  I wouldn't recommend staying there without a car as its not walking distance to anywhere, but if you've got a car you'll be fine.

 

Either stay at Sea World, or stay somewhere within a couple min walk of a tram stop and you'll have a blast.

Thanks. Honestly, driving on the left with right-hand drive is enough of a steep learning curve that avoiding roadworks will be a blessing.

[Park Addict 93]

Just in case you haven't seen, there is currently a Groupon deal for the resort.

 

https://www.groupon.com.au/deals/ga-sea-world-resort