We were at the Gold Coast during the Christmas holidays and they had a deal on: unlimited access for one month to Sea World, Movie World and Wet n Wild for AU$98. Considering it's usually AU$90 for just one day in Sea World, this is a ridiculously good deal.
Unfortunately for us, Tanbay fractured his arm so we never had a chance to go to Wet n Wild, but we did get to go Sea World and Movie World which were both excellent.
Sea World
I knew we'd love Sea World, and we weren't disappointed. They have three roller coasters, which are only okay in terms of roller coasters, but are fantastic in terms of the view of the Gold Coast! Obviously you're not allowed a camera on them, because they are roller coasters, so I don't have a photo of the view for you, but I do have a photo of the roller coaster for you:
Now in terms of can you leave your stuff on the side of the coaster, you can definitely do it for the orange one, but not for the wet one or the ski ones. However, there are lockers there and they only cost $2 for an hour.
But Sea World isn't about the roller coasters, it's about the Sea Life. There are lots of dolphins and seals in large paddocks for you to enjoy:
and if you pay extra you can swim with them:
Our favourite thing about the dolphins was the dolphin show. It was fantastic! I never knew how high dolphins could go out of the water or how great they are at flips.. I think I managed to capture some of the magic:
The other great thing (for me) about Sea World is that you can stroke Sting Rays! Not on the back or in the face, but you can stroke them gently on their 'wings'. They are really softy slimy, I like them a lot.
You can also swim with bull sharks here, but we contented ourselves with looking at them through glass:
and their friend the turtle:
They also have a polar bear, which I'm in two minds about. Firstly they come from really cold places so keeping them in boiling hot Queensland is cruel, they obviously keep them cool, but that's cruel to the environment and is probably directly contributing to the global warming that is wiping polar bears out! HOWEVER, if you're in Australia and have a real burning desire to see a polar bear, it's probably better for the environment if you go and see them here than travel to the Antarctic.. What do I know.
There was also a jet ski show, which Tanbay liked a lot more than I did (it was boring) this bit was good though:
They have penguins too, and my thoughts on this are the same as my thoughts on polar bears, but I'll just show you a picture instead of going into all that again:
Movie World
We also went to Movie World, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as Sea World, as I love animals which they don't have at Movie World, well apart from this stray lizard I found! But I can't guarantee that you'll see him:
Anyway I was pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed Movie World! It was really really fun. So much fun.
However, on the first ride I thought I was going to die, it's this one on the left:
It's the Batman ride, it basically pulls you up to the top and then drops you down again. When I got to the top I was terrified, really really terrified, and wanted to get down without dying. Obviously I did, but I'm never going on one of them again! EWW.
The other rides were all fine though.
At Movie World you get to see lots of super heroes just walking around:
If you have special connections like Tanbay, you can even get a photo done with them:
They take a professional one for you which you can buy, or you can take your own - which is obviously what we did here. I did actually ask the heroes if they were allowed to take a photo with my camera of both of us, but they are not. Can't do everything can you Superman??
Next we went on the Green Lantern ride, does anyone know what the Green Lantern's power is? Has a lantern that's useful in a power-cut? I don't know, but the ride was very good:
I didn't feel like I was going to die at all, but one lady must have done as she was screaming like she was auditioning for scream 5.
This bit was really good, it was really really vertical and just kept on going more and more degrees scarier:
We went on the Scooby Doo ride, which we were expecting to be a bit of a joke but was really exciting!! It's almost pitch black and you go backwards.
Next we went on the Superman ride, this was the only ride in the park where you weren't allowed to leave your bags at the side, there were lockers instead but as the queue was relatively short Tanbay and I just took it in turns. We tried the impossible task of taking photos of each other, neither of us succeeded.
It was definitely my favourite ride, it was extremely exciting and fun. Superman takes you from 0-100 in 2 seconds!
Then we both went on Arkham Asylum, again it was terrifying, not as bad as the batman one, but very close. To get to the ride you have to go through a make-shift asylum, with barbed wire, fake blood and this horrifyingly realistic strung up man:
The one really scared me, I think the batman ride and this ride scared me, where as the others didn't, because I can see my toes and how far it is to fall. Also I think if the ride just stops you could fall out and die, where as with the other's you'd just sit there.. Logically though I know that Movie World takes every precaution to make sure that you don't fall out and die, so don't let my irrational fears stop you!
We recommend both of these theme parks highly, we considered not bothering as we have similar things in England, but these were definitely worth it, far better than Alton Towers and Drayton Manor :) It's hard to say which we preferred as they were both quite different. They were both excellent.
ABOUTME
We overland. We eat plants and fungi. We live outside as much as possible. We are all connected. A female travel blogger overlanding and writing about ecotourism, ethical and sustainable travel, socially conscious travel and housesitting. An online travel magazine since 2015.
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