Sea World, Movie World & Dreamworld in just 1.5 days!

No time to waste! We're doing 3 theme parks in one-and-a-half days!

No time to waste! We’re doing 3 theme parks in one-and-a-half days!

We were very lucky to be invited to review all three of the big theme parks on our recent Gold Coast holiday – Sea World, Dreamworld and Movie World.

The only problem was, we didn’t have all that much free time. So which theme park should we pick? The kids and I discussed it, and we all agreed – we should somehow squeeze in all three of them!

Our plan of attack was simple – Sea World first on our free half-day, as it was closest – just ten minutes drive down the road from our hotel. Then do both Dreamworld and Movie World on our one full free day. They were located twenty minutes drive away from our hotel, but only five minutes drive apart. So we could do Dreamworld in the morning and then Movie World in the afternoon. From Movie World, it’s only a half-hour drive to Coolangatta airport.

Let's get this show on the road, people!

Let’s get this show on the road, people!

Amazingly – everything went according to plan! We did all three theme parks and had a great time at all of them! Luckily, my kids have boundless energy, and took it all in their stride – they were having way too much fun to get tired!

We couldn’t have done it without the following…

  • Research – each theme park has a website – here I could purchase tickets and check locations and routes
  • A hire car, and my i-phone navigator – we had no time to muck around with public transport – it worked out cheaper for us too
  • Prioritising – I headed for what I thought the kids would love doing first, or whatever that particular theme park was famous for – anything else was a bonus!
  • Fast-Track bracelets – At Movie World we were given special bracelets so that we didn’t have to wait in line. These cost extra – but are well worth it!
  • A Plan B to fall back on – if we were no longer having fun, our Plan B would have been to go to the beach, a museum or swim in our hotel pool instead!

The biggest problem with only having limited time at the Gold Coast theme parks is that we were left wanting more – each fun park has an awful lot to offer, and we couldn’t cover everything in half a day – even at our go-go-go speed! But we did cover everything that we prioritised or wanted to do – and then some!

Job done! Super Samantha and Wonder Brooke survey the scene of their final theme park conquest

Job done! Super-Samantha & Wonder-Brooke survey the scene of their final theme park conquest

Which theme park was the best?

I can honestly say that we all would be more than happy to return to any of the theme parks we reviewed – they were all quite different, and excelled in their particular niches – we loved all three! So I guess it comes down to what you are looking for….

Sea World – has brilliant sea animal shows & exhibits
Dreamworld – has amazing rides, and lots of them
Movie World – has uniquely themed rides and shows

So – would I recommend doing 3 theme parks in 1.5 days?

No – not by design! If this is all the time you have, absolutely, go for it! It was full-on, flat-out and fun, but we truly did get to see the majority of all three theme parks – and we’d do it again in a heartbeat!

That said, if you have more time up your sleeve, use it! Try to schedule at least a day for each theme park – there’s just so much to see and do at each one!

Want to know exactly how we did it?

You can read all about it and see lots of pics of our experiences in each theme park in our Let’s Go Mum! reviews Here:

View the Let’s Go Mum! Sea World review
View the Let’s Go Mum! Dreamworld review
View the Let’s Go Mum! Movie World review

I’ve also reviewed our hotel here and our hire car here.

For a complete listing of all of our Gold Coast trip reviews, you can go here.

Have fun!

 

 

 

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About LetsGoMum

Hi, I'm Barbara, mum of the Let's Go Mum blog. We'd love to hear from you! You can contact me anytime with ideas on where you think we should go or what you think we should try...just drop me a line at barbara@letsgomum.com.au!
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