Visiting Theme parks in January

by Eli
(Victoria)

Hi,
We are considering taking our 4year old and our 10 year old to 3 of either Dreamworld, Seaworld, Movie World and Wet n Wild, near the end of January (Jan 20 to 27th).

This is during the QLD, NSW and VIC school holidays (NSW and QLD school holidays end on 26th Jan).

I have a strong feeling that this may be the worst time of year to go, in terms of having to stand in long queues for rides etc. within the parks. Can you give me an idea of whether my suspicions are correct?

We don't want to spend the money on entrance into the parks, if we are going to have to spend half the day in queues...... or wouldn't it be that bad?

Thanks for your advice,Eli

ANNIE'S REPLY
This is a tough one! The short answer is probably YES it is the busiest time of the year and the theme parks in the Gold Coast will be busy and the chances are you will have to spend quite a bit of time queuing.

It is always so hard to know what the queues will be like on a given day. It certainly is a busy time especially as Australia Day is in the mix on the 26th and usually the state schools go back around this time.

However, some things at the theme parks don't require you to queue.

For example Bucanneer Bay at Wet n Wild is ideal for the younger kids and can be enjoyed without queuing (except maybe if you want to go down a slide or use the water cannons!). There is the wave pool there too that doesn't require queuing.

In Sea World the Sesame Street kids area has shows and rides and usually the waits there are not too long. And the exhibits like Polar Bear Shores and Shark Bay you walk around so you can get to see or experience with the crowds but not in queues so much.


Dreamworld has Wiggles World for the little kids. It has some rides with queues (I stood in the Big Red Car queue for an hour once! ARGHH!) however, there are still things to do that generally don't require you to queue. And at DreamWorld there are the things like the Tiger Shows. In DreamWorld there is a virtual queuing system for the big thrill rides. Usually 10 year olds are too small for these rides. That is an extra option.

MovieWorld has similar areas with the big queues for the major rides.

I guess you will need to weigh up the experience the kids will have versus spending time in queues.

This is only my opinion and based on your comments I would probably aim for Sea World and Wet n Wild as the ones with the most activities that don't require queuing. The exception to that is the shows, which you will need to queue up for at busy times to make sure you get in. Though it would be a shame to miss out on DreamWorld or MovieWorld as they are totally different theme parks.

I don't know if that helped. If you cannot visit at another time, then in my opinion it is trying to make the most of it for the experience the kids will have.

If you have any more questions, leave a comment below and I will try to help out.

Good luck

Annie from www.Gold Coast Australia Travel Tips.com