Theme Park Junkies

We love going to the Gold Coast because of the beaches, the weather and the theme parks.  Unfortunately because of the crazy weather and Cyclone Oswald, we didn't get to enjoy the beaches at all this time.  We were so glad though that we had enough days of good weather to get to the theme parks as we had the best time there.

The first one we went to was Sea World.  It was still school holidays in Queensland and other states when we first arrived, so we thought we would brave the crowds at Sea World, because it's our least favourite theme park.  We love the animals and the shows that they have there, but we enjoy the theme parks with big rides more.  We weren't keen on waiting in massive lines for rides all day, so Sea World seemed like the best option before school went back in Queensland.

We were surprised when we got there, that there weren't really that many people anyway. We only really watched the dolphin show and loved watching the polar bear play.

 It was a really hot, humid day (we are not at all used to humidy in Tasmania!) so we were more than happy to get absolutely soaked on a ride where you shoot water out of guns at other people and ships (and they shoot you back). 

I didn't think very carefully about what I was going to wear that day.  Let's just say it was lucky it was hot and I dried off fast!

We only went on a couple of rides and decided we had enough.  I think if we had to pay to get in we would've stayed longer, but we were glad to have theme park tickets till the end of June, so it didn't feel like we were wasting money by just spending a short amount of time there.  It was really hot and we were keen to get back to our hotel to go swimming.

We couldn't resist a snow cone before we left though.

We waited until school holidays were over on the mainland, before going to our favourite theme park - Movie World.  We could spend the whole day there, and still wish it was open so we could spend longer.  We arrived before it opened and left right as it was closing. 
Mum, Chrish and I took turns going on the big rides with Jay, while one of us spent time with Harri and Kobe. I wish so much that they were brave enough to go on some of the bigger rides with us like the Scooby Doo coaster, but as Harri said 'he's the most un-bravest boy'.  I actually disagree with that because he has been through so much in the last eighteen months, and has been so brave with what he has had to deal with.  Hopefully he will be braver next time we are at the theme parks and will come on the bigger rides with us (which probably won't be for a while now).

The first thing we did was watch the Hollywood Stunt Driver show.  We love it so much and never get sick of it.  Even though we know they are acting, it's hilarious every time.  I had a play with the new app 'Vine' while I was up there, so have some short 7 second videos that I made but I'm not a fan off the app so I've since deleted it  (I don't like that the videos are so short and that you can't upload videos you've previously recorded, plus I find it so long for the videos to load up on my feed).  I do love though that you can make cool looping videos - I just wish they could be longer and that there was more editing features.

 There was a great new ride open called 'Justice League' where you sit down and are taken around and have to shoot at the aliens and score points.  Jay and I checked it out first to see if it would be okay for Harri and Kobe. It wasn't scary at all (unless you are scared of 3D images of starfish aliens coming at you) so we raced off to get Kobe and Harri to come on it with us.  We were so excited to have a ride that all of us could go on together. 

Poor Harri freaked out and didn't want to go on it. He was sure that we were tricking him and that it was actually going to be a scary ride, with dips and fast turns.  We got him into the entrance and he just kept crying.

We finally convinced him to get on the ride and he absolutely loved it! We were so happy to have found something that one of us could take the boys on, while the others went on the bigger rides.  It was very boring hanging around in the Warner Bros. section with them, waiting for them to get off all the little kids rides.

All Kobe and Harri wanted to do for the rest of the day was go on the Justice League ride. 

It was good though as it was quite relaxing just shooting laser guns while you sat down, but it got very boring after about the tenth time :)

Mum, Chrish, Jay and I had a great time going on the bigger thrill rides. The Batwing Slingshot is one I just couldn't make myself get on. This is Chrish and Jay on it.

I actually was brave enough to go on the Superman Escape twice this time, and was excited to get Chrish on it with us. Jay and I also braved the Arkham Asylum roller coaster this time with Mum and were glad we did, as it wasn't half as bad as we thought it would be. I wish I could go back to Movie World again and go on the Superman Escape over and over.  It's a pity the line to get on is always so long.  I now know why Aaron said it was his favourite ride there.

We loved going on the Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster again and the Wild West Falls. It was nice to get wet and cool down.

This is Mum, Chrish and Jay on the Wild West Falls. I never get sick of the splash at the end and could watch other people ride on it for hours!

 We were really looking forward to going to Wet 'n' Wild as it was too cold to go last winter, but I wouldn't be rushing back.  It had some fun rides and we had a fun day, but I would much prefer to go back to White Water World where the lines were a lot shorter and you didn't have to carry your own rafts up to the top of most of the rides.

We loved the wave pool (where Kobe and Harri spent most of their time) and we all loved going on the river ride where you get to sit and float on the tubes as we could all do that together. 

We've definitely become theme park junkies and could go back again and again.  I can't wait for the boys to be older and braver so we can go back and go on the rides together.