Now that we’re moving into summer and preparing for Christmas Holidays, many families are in search of a little adventure and fun for their family holiday.
Where can they easily find that in Australia?
The Theme Park Capital of Australia on the Gold Coast. It’s where all the fun family travel memories are made.
But, how do you know which of the Gold Coast theme parks will suit your family’s interests and keep everyone happy?
Here’s a rundown of what you’ll find at each park to help you plan your Gold Coast holiday.
Movie World
Movie World is one of our favourite Gold Coast theme parks.
This park is for the movie lovers in the house, for the kidlets that adore the Looney Tunes characters like Goofy and Tweety bird (my personal favourite), and those who want a little action.
The day is filled with street parades and performances from your favourite super heroes and movie characters. The WB Fun Zone is the place for smaller children with rides and shows and characters roaming around.
The action packed Hollywood Stunt Driver will entertain all family members (although be careful with the little ones, as the loud noises may spook them).
There are plenty of thrill rides, like Green Lantern and Superman Escape, to suit the older children and adults.
Dreamworld
Your teens will love the latest Zombie Evilution – The Battle for Kevil Hill, addition as well as the Big 8 Thrill Rides such as the Giant Drop and the Tower of Terror, my personal favourite.
There are also family favourites such as the Thunder River Rapids and Log Ride. And the younger children will be rapt to visit Wiggles World and Madagascar Madness to meet all their favourite characters and enjoy some rides.
Dreamworld also has many animal encounters to enjoy.
Kalyra loved patting her first Koala and feeding kangaroos in the Australian Wildlife Experience, and there is the very popular Tiger Island, where you can see Bengal and Sumatran Tigers play.
For extra costs, you can also have more intimate experiences with the animals at Dreamworld.
There is so much to do at Dreamworld and trying to co-ordinate the shows with the different interests of each family member can be a little tricky, so be sure to plan your day.
Sea World
Sea World is for the marine animal lovers.
This park offers an educational side to the Theme Park Capital of Australia. The Dolphin Show is spectacular – you’ll walk away even more in love with these intelligent, gentle creatures.
The seal show is also one worth watching and will bring you several laughs.
The Jet Stunt Extreme show will amaze you with their amazing aerial flips, and gravity defying stunts. I enjoyed this far more than I anticipated.
There are a few rides to enjoy such as Jet Rescue, Sea Viper and Storm Coaster which opens December 2013.
Plus, there are polar bears, sting rays, penguins and close encounters with sharks. For extra costs, you can even swim with the sharks and have dolphin encounters.
For the little kids, there are Dora and SpongeBob shows that will keep them entertained.
You can even stay at the Sea World Resort
Wet‘n’Wild
As the name suggests, Wet’n’Wild is the place to get your thrills, or relax on the water. It’s one of the most popular parks in the Theme Park Capital of Australia.
There are extreme thrill waterslides and vertical drops, such as Kamikaze and The Black Hole for the older and more daring teenagers and parents.
Family members can race each other down the Super 8 slide or enjoy more gentle water slides such as the River rapids. And there are places to relax in quieter family zones, as well as wave pools, whirlpool springs and simulated, perfect waves to surf.
Wet’n’Wild is the theme park you want to visit on those piping hot Gold Coast summer days.
This park can also be a little difficult if you have a wide aged gap between your children – the older ones will want to be thrilling it up, while the younger ones will want to be swinging like pirates in the more sedate Buccaneer Bay.
WhiteWater World
WhiteWater World, is attached to Dreamworld, and is the newest addition to the Theme Park Capital of Australia.
It’s the place to get wedgied, as you plummet five stories down in a thrilling drop slide. WhiteWater World has many racing water slides, adding in that extra competitive fun for your family.
Take in a picnic lunch and relax on the grass while the kids enjoy getting wet under giant buckets at Pipeline Plunge and for the under 5’s there’s the lifeguard supervised Wiggle Bay.
They also have a wave pool, and a first in the Theme Park Capital of Australia – learn to surf schools! It’s a smaller park, which makes it easier for families to manage the supervision, the relaxation, and the adventurous fun.
For more information about each park and to plan your holiday to the Gold Coast visit themeparkcapital.com.au
Which park is your favourite in the Theme Park Capital of Australia?
I love the Tower of terror too!!
We went to the theme parks a few years ago and going back in less than 2 weeks! Cant wait!!
My favourite is Movie world – I love all the rides!!! Pete’s favourite is Dreamworld – he likes the tigers… even if they maul trainers 🙂
I remember when the Tower of Terror used to take off forwards. Now it takes off backwards. So the forward free fall down is cool.
Enjoy Movieworld. Would like to try the new Green Lantern ride there!
Australia really seems to love their “Worlds”! These parks look like a lot of fun, and remind me of some of the biggest theme parks in the US. Would love to go someday!
We don’t have Disneyland but still have some great parks with thrill rides and cool shows. Come on down!
Movie World is AMAZING, my kids has such a great time there… thank you so much for the recommendation!
What a great choice of parks there are on the Goldcoast…something for everyone! Your list certainly helps with the choice though I’m sure the kids would want to go to them all!
Hubby and I are Theme Park Whores. Love Movie World but you simply cannot beat Six Flags in the US of A. The coasters are second to none. Living in L.A, we had season passes to every park within reach, it was awesome.
Keen to do a return trip to the Gold Coast soon though, lots of new rides to check out!
It’s always difficult choosing a theme park to visit, but this post is a great round up giving some useful ideas and information. I’ll be coming back to this one when we head over to the Gold Coast again.
This is a popular topic of debate with the Candy family! Mr. Candy loves the water parks but I find it hard to choose. I enjoy the shows at Movie World and I’ve only been there once so keen to go again and make up my mind once and for all 🙂
When I went with kids aged 14, 12 and 5, we stayed at Seaworld and I have to say that was great. The little ones and I spent many days in there and perhaps the best thing was the fab water play and climbing area in Seaworld, they loved the ship ride and hosing people and the amazing climbing areas. My kids are really active and they played and played and played there… my fave were the polar bears, amazing to watch underwater.