Thomas Family Road Trip: Gold Coast (3/3/12

Despite a very rainy start to our Gold Coast stay, we had an action packed and fun week of theme parks, theme parks and more theme parks! The kids had been looking forward to the theme parks all holiday, so they were very excited to finally be on the Gold Coast.

Our first day we spent exploring the coast. Given the rain, we didn't see it at its best. However, we really liked Coolongatta and the southern part of the Gold Coast. The kids were very impressed by the many playgrounds and even got in a few plays despite the rain.

On Sunday the theme parks began. Despite being the weekend, we decided to brave the crowds and headed to Sea World. We went back again on Wednesday.

We loved the seal, dolphin and jet ski shows. The kids enjoyed the Sponge Bob Square Pants 3D Movie. We saw a gorgeous polar bear, touched manta rays, saw penguins, watched dolphins, rode on the mono rail, squirted people and got squirted (and totally saturated) on the battle ships, climbed the massive wooden fort, saw heaps of marine life, including massive sharks and had fun on the rides. Chloe had her first taste of a rollercoaster on the Jet Rescue and went on it many times. Poor Ben was a little bit too short. We all enjoyed the log boat ride, the kids enjoyed the plane ride, merry go round and bouncy ball. We all loved our time at Sea World, especially the second day as it was so quiet.

On Monday we spent the entire day at Wet-n-Wild and had so much fun. We went back again on Thursday morning. We had endless family races on the Aqua Racer, braved the Tornado, Kamikaze and Aqua Loop (adults only - Donna HATED it, Simon LOVED it), went on the Black Hole and all the other water slides, the kids enjoyed the water playground and we all had a nice relaxing float on the Calypso Beach tube drift. The kids had no fear and went on all the rides they were able to go on...and as many times as they could. Simon, Donna and Chloe were very brave and went on the Sky Coaster - a bungee like ride, where you get winced up a very high pole and then free fall before swinging back and forth. It was SCARY!!! But fun at the same time. So impressed with Chloe for doing it. She definitely gets the bravery award!

Tuesday, Thursday afternoon and Friday morning were spent at Movie World. We loved the Stunt Car Show. The kids loved the Looney Tune Show, watching the parade at the end of the day with all of Movie Worlds stars and meeting and having photos with their favourite characters. Poor Ben was petrified of Batman but loved the Bat Mobile! The Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster was alot scarier than we anticipated, but fun, especially going down backwards. Ben is still undecided as to whether he liked it or not. The log ride was fun and we got very wet, we all enjoyed the dodgem cars and the Roadrunner Rollercoaster. Ben loved the mini bumper cars. Simon and Donna didn't miss out either. The Superman Rollercoaster was a definite favourite. It was so FAST and scary. The Green Lantern was great too.

It was definitely great doing the theme parks during the week and not in school holidays. It was quiet so we didn't need to queue up for many rides and got to have heaps of goes on each ride.

On Wednesday night we went to the Australian Outback Spectacular, which is a show that celebrates Australia's outback heritage and culture and the role of horses in it. Chloe was mesmerized by the horses and the stunts they did. Ben fell asleep after entree so whilst he saw some of the show, missed most of it, but most upsetting for him was missing out on the yummy pavlova for dessert. It was a great show.

So after 6 days of theme parks we were well and truly "theme parked out"! We had such a fantastic and fun week. We definitely got our exercise, especially walking up all of the stairs at Wet-n-Wild! Chloe informed us one of the rides had 112 steps!! We did this ride about 5 times in one day!

From the Gold Coast we will head to Brisbane.