Wet N’ Wild, Seaworld & Movieworld Theme Parks Gold Coast Trip Report

[ssar23]

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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Cheers.

[Brad2912]

Thanks for the review.

Couple of points from your SW trip.

*the aircon in the monorail is non-existent or never works if it's there, so you're basically in a slow moving tin can. 

*weird you didn't see a polar air, I've never seen one not in the enclosure before. That water and the lower area of the enclosure is completely climate controlled, and given they have shown an ability to contribute to a strong breeding program and re-home the bears in Canada, I have no problem with them being there. 

*Nick land doesn't flow perfectly as it was constructed with some of the exiting rides remaining and the others building around it. It is by far however, the best kids offering of any theme park 

MW

*someone may correct me, but the Junior Driving School has a set 150 second cycle as far as I know, and isn't changed depending on how busy it is