A trip to the Gold Coast is like a right of passage for Australians. While there is a few theme parks the majority of people seem to get the three park pass which includes Movie World, Sea World and Wet ‘n’ Wild… and that’s exactly what we did for our surprise Gold Coast Trip!
If you haven’t been there before it can be a bit daunting, I mean you want to get the most out of your day right? Now everyone has there own tips and tricks but I am going to share my top five tips that helped us make the most of our three theme parks visit!
Look for the best deals
Before heading up to the Gold Coast you definatley want to source the best priced tickets. A quick google search will show you different places to purchase tickets and the different discounts they offer. What type of theme park package you purchase will depend on how long you are there and which if the theme parks you want to visit. I am a member of the NRMA and when I looked it had the best price for the 3 theme parks in 5 days for $143 each, in total I saved around $75. I was very happy with that discount!
Download the app
The Village Roadshow Theme Park App has everything you need to know about each Theme Park. It contains maps of SeaWorld, Movie World and Wet ‘n’ Wild, all the show times, and the wait times in the rides. If you link your entry tickets to the App they also have this really cool feature called Virtual Queue that allows you “book” a time to join a special quick line up for certain rides – a bit like a fast pass but you don’t need to pay for it. Its great for avoiding very long lines but each ride has limited spaces throughout the day so you have to be quick and book them as soon as you get into the park.
Look for the drink (and food ) deals
We found a great deal for drinks. You purchase a drink bottle for $15 at your first theme park and you get free soft drink refills all day. Then when you go to your next theme park you ” reactivate ” it for $9 and you get free refills all day for that visit! This deal is for all three theme parks and there is plenty of refill stations around all the parks. We bought one between us all and we didn’t even reactivate it on our last day, so paid $24 for two days worth of Soft Drink. There is other food deals around, popcorn is one, but refills are $3 so we weren’t interested… but if you are interested make sure to look around for this deal and other food deals that they have on offer.
et there early
We like to make the most of our day when it comes to Theme Parks and these three are no different. SeaWorld and Movie World open at 9.30 and Wet ‘n’ Wild at 10am, and we were lined up before this time. The beauty of getting there for opening is that you are first in the lines for the most popular rides. although you will have to wait till the rides start at 10am. We also looked online at the rides the night before so we could decide which ones we wanted to do first and walked straight there. The parks close at 5 and since there Is so much to do and see we stayed right till closing.
Pack your own food / snacks
We packed our typical lunch of a sandwich each plus snacks and a piece of fruit, not a lot but enough to get us through the day. This way we didn’t need to buy any food… although we did treat ourselves to some fairy floss!… and it also meant that we could eat on the go, waiting in lines or during the shows. Saved us so much money and time spent waiting in food lines, instead of being on rides! Be warned though it does say on their website that you cannot bring in food so they may check (they didn’t for us) but in saying that plenty people did have small lunches packed and I even saw some kids walking around with actual lunch boxes!
Check Covid restrictions!
Ok so this is number 6 tip and I did say there would be 5, but I couldn’t finish this post without putting this here… and hopefully I can remove it in the near future!. My last tip is to check out any Covid restrictions that might be in place. When we went in March 2022 everyone over the age of 16 had to be immunised, but no masks and no restrictions on numbers into the parks… but as we all know these restrictions can change at any time so do your research before you go.
So there we go … my five (or six) tips for when visiting the theme parks on the Gold Coast!
Safe Travels
kerrie
