Alternately there is a website that offers deals on the theme parks. I can't remember what it's called - Help Anyone? - as I haven't been to one of these since about 1998 when I patted a Tiger.
It's
www.myfun.com.au - but it doesn't cover Dreamworld. Although, to be honest, you can have the same fun at the other parks as you can at Dreamworld.
We spent last week at the Big4 at Helensvale - literally across the other side of the motorway from Movieworld. The VIP ticket covers Movieworld, Sea World and Wet & Wild, it's $100 or so and valid till June 13. But of no use to you whatsoever, Paul, if you want to go to Dreamworld.
We bought our five tickets on a well known auction site and paid $300 rather than $500... be aware that you can only do this if the tickets you are buying are not yet validated... when you validate them, your photo is taken and appended to a credit-card sized pass that clearly identifies you as the sole user of the pass. So check that out if you buy from an alternative source. The tickets you get should look like what agencies such as Ticketek sell - a printed thick paper ticket about 120mm x 50mm.
We went to all three of the above repeatedly, but we (mum, dad, 5yo daughter, 6yo son and 8yo daughter) all agreed that Wet & Wild is the place to go - it has all of the thrills of Movieworld (and Dreamworld which we did last year) with the bonus that you're wet all day - which is the way to spend your downtime in Queensland. So between now and June we'll be setting up in the Big4 (aka Gold Coast Holiday Park) every other weekend, and going mad in Wet & Wild. The Aqualoop is insane
not for young kids though, and not for every adult either. And some of the other rides are also pretty serious, although I managed to talk Miss Eight into riding a few with me, as you can't do quite a few of them solo.
Seaworld is good - but not quite fill-a-whole-day good. The aquariums are fantastic, the dolphin show is sensational (and Mr 6 was chosen out of the crowd of a couple of thousand to meet one of the dolphins, feed it and have a waterfight with it!) and the staff are brilliant. But overall it's all a bit tired, the jetski show is ok but nothing special to anyone who's familiar with freestyle motocross, the food prices are staggering... the same as Movieworld - think $75 for burgers, chips and a drink for five... and it's nothing special. Overall, it just isn't quite what you'd want it to be.
Wet & Wild allows you to take a picnic lunch in, which saves you a hell of a lot of money.
For anyone who's never been to any of the Gold Coast theme parks, you also need to be aware that the wait time for some of the popular rides is off the scale - 45-60 minutes is not unheard of in busy periods. We were there outside of holiday dates, but the schoolies were there - I waited 35 minutes to get onto the Arkham Asylum in Movieworld. But even though the ride was over in maybe 35 seconds, it was worth the wait. And the Aqualoop - did I mention the Aualoop earlier? - is something else - not much of a wait as it seems a lot of the visitors are scared of it, but it's an effort to climb the tower to the start point, and once you're in and the ride commences, it takes all of ten seconds before you're in the splash pool... but you've never in your life had ten seconds like what the Aqualoop supplies. No kidding.
