Warner Brothers Movie World Gold Coast

Since I am in the mood to share amusement park-related places with you guys, I will continue to spread my experience now that the fire is on. This trip won't be in Sydney anymore, but it will be further up north, which usually means better climate! We will be heading off to the one and only Gold Coast, which is basically the beach paradise of Australia.

Before I start discussing the theme parks, I should talk a little bit about the Gold Coast. Located one start north of Sydney, Gold Coast is in Queensland. The best way to get here is to take a plane, in my opinion. You could as well rent a car and do a road trip, but I just don't think it's worth the time and the costs around it, but if you're down for it and cool with the time, then go for gold! Otherwise, I would catch a plane and book my flight through the domestically-reliable Jetstar. When flying within Australia as well as to some destinations in New Zealand, the prices for the flights are very good. I remember paying around $100 more or less for my round trip tickets of Sydney - Gold Coast. It's fairly simple to book a flight and pay, so it's an option that I would strongly recommend you guys take. In addition, they always have promotions and special deals, so keep a look out on their website if you like to travel!

Right, so the Gold Coast is literally what it sounds like. If you Google Image for Gold Coast, you'll think of Miami or Cancun or some paradise by the sea. You will get kilometres of beach with sand, just hugging the ocean, and a strip of high-rise buildings. Since you should never go to Gold Coast just for its theme parks, I would recommend that you spare at least one day to walk around the city area, as well as the famous Surfer's Paradise. The names here are all really self explanatory and you will get why people tend to think of Australia as a surfing, ocean, beach, sun, tan, sand kind of country.

Let's move on to the focus of this post, which is the amusement parks. There are a few of them I would recommend, but if you buy a special pass, you will get unlimited access to all three of them for like 6 months or something - or at least that's the one we all got. I will first start off with Movie World Gold Coast, which is also referred to as Warner Brothers. This is the closest you can get to something like Epcot or a Disneyland or a Universal Studios. In my eyes, they're all very similar and have the same sort of rides and attractions. Since these kind of amusement parks are very far and few in Australia (strangely), Movie World Gold Coast is like the place to visit. I know I mentioned a few cool things about Sydney's Luna Park, but Warner Bros is in the next level, the real deal, and tops Luna Park by a dozen miles. There are some really cool things here at Movie World. The attractions are wisely divided into three categories :

1. Thrill Rides

2. Kids Fun

3. Family Entertainment

Let's start off and explore what they have in terms of their Thrill Rides. The slogan for these rides are "Hold on tight and get ready for the ride of your life, " and they're not wrong. The first ride you will see as you enter the park is the massive, Superman Escape attraction. Although it's the center of the park and the biggest one, we saved it for last (but I didn't get on, for personal reasons). It's essentially a roller coaster ride (that's my reason) that goes up and down and twirls around, and all of this reaches the top speed of 100 kilometres per hour. This is clearly a step up from Luna Park and something that doesn't suit me. But all you hardcore people out there, you won't be disappointed at all. Then there's the Arkham Asylum, which links with Batman! This is another intense one for those that love a bit of an adrenaline rush. Similar to the roller coaster experience, you're seated with your partner in crime next to you, all strapped up, then swung around at high speed. Other than these two, you also have Justice League Ride in 3D, Batwing Spaceshot, Green Lantern Coaster, and Wild West Falls Adventure Ride. We got on the Wild West Falls Ride absolutely last, because it's one of those rides where you're on a boat, and then you fall from the cliff, then hit the water, and get all soaked in seconds.

*Just one last thing; if you get on their website and have a look under the "Thrill Rides" section, there's a scale called "Ride Thrillmeter" for each ride that shows how intense and hardcore one can expect the ride to be.

I won't spend too long talking about Kids Fun since it's really aimed towards the young ones. If you're interested, these attractions are like the Junior Driving School (in which you're not allowed anyway) and the Road Runner Roller Coaster, which is a less intense version of the main roller coaster and an option in which you could partake.

The last category is Family Entertainment, and it works the same awesome way if you're with your friends. These are more like things you can attend to rather than activities you participate in. One of them that we really enjoyed was the Hollywood Stunt Driver 2. Like the title lets you know, it's a stunt show with real drivers, acting out what you would usually see through the screen of a Hollywood quality movie. The stunts are honestly really cool and it's clear that the drivers really know what they're doing. Believe me, it's cool enough to see these scenes in the movies, but when you see it happening before your eyes, that's the next level of impressive. The show will last no more than 15-20 minutes, so you'll have plenty of time to catch on with other attractions.

Something that they have now that we didn't get to see when we were there is the 4D Experience of RIO, the animation of beautiful Brazilian birds. One of the main events that happens here at Movie World, as well as at Universal Studio and Disneyland is the Main Street Entertainment with the parade of various characters. It is at this point that you can get up close and personal with your favourite characters, and take pictures with them, and give them a hug if you wish.

And those are the main attractions here at Movie World, but surely all these activities must have really drained your energy. The only solution to tired and grumpy souls is food, of course. You won't be disappointed at the Food and Dining options offered here. Below is a list of the places we've tried and my opinions of them :

- Gotham City : This is a burger spot with a huge line. If you happen to be here around lunch time, you can be waiting as long as 30 minutes for your order of a simple burger and some fries. It's not always a reflection of the slow service, but rather of the long queue of people wanting to eat burgers.

- Ben & Jerry's : An ice-cream joint that stretches far beyond the premises of this amusement park, Ben & Jerry's have established its ice cream presence on a global scale. There's really not a long list of things I would trade (food wise) for my favourite flavours of ice cream, in a waffle cone, on a hot, hot day (Gold Coast's climate, remember? )

- Concession Stands : Not a place to sit down and watch the dynamics of the park but definitely does the trick. They're obviously quite pricey for what they really are, but the items here include churros, popcorn, hot dogs and fairy floss. I mean, the list should just stop after churros because they're so good. These stands are scattered throughout the park.

Other places worth mentioning are Ricks Cafe, Village Bean and Outback BBQ. Ricks Cafe just came off a renovation and now offers all you can eat buffet of pizzas, pastas and salad, as well as an ice cream machine serving soft serves. If only this hadn't been closed when I was there.. Village Bean is like the coffee shop around there. Outback BBQ has grilled sausages which is never a bad idea. So that really should do it in light of refueling your tank for the rest of or throughout the day.

Depending on where you are in the park and what your favourite character is, there's always a store where you could purchase souvenirs, stuffed animals, magnets and the usuals. My advice to you is, prepare to spend, even for the little things, because the prices here, as with the food and drinks, are not so little. There are ATMS through the park, but if you're not down to pay for commission, either carry cash (but be very careful) or have money on your card (and be careful with that too). And finally, the park is open from 9:30am with the first rides kicking off at 10:00am, and both the rides and the park concludes at 5:00pm. Whatever you do, do not head over on Anzac Day, which is 25 April, since it won't open!

And now for the tickets. You could purchase a one day pass to just Movie World for $79. 99, or an annual pass for $99. 99. Like I said earlier, I would not do this, since there's another option that takes a bit extra research that will save you money. This option, and also the one we took, is the VIP Magic Pass. This pass is truly magical for the price of $99. 99 as it give you access to all three parks, which are Movie World, Wet n Wild and Sea World. The tickets are very important to get through the entrance of the parks, so make sure you keep them in a very safe place. As I also mentioned earlier, the pass is valid for more than one day. The current deal actually has the expiry date on 30 June 2015, so if you really want to, you could actually visit one park every single day until the end of June. I know what you may be thinking. What if I sell my ticket so that other people could use it until the end of the valid date? That's a great idea, but that will only work if you sell it to your twin or your clone. This is because each pass is personalised with a photo of your face, so there is no swapping. More information on these tickets is linked down below.

Since I've already talked quite about just Movie World, I won't bore you guys anymore on this post. I will write up another post on the other two parks, which are Wet n Wild and Sea World, so stay tuned! In the meantime, check out my other posts about Australia (Sydney and Melbourne), Japan (Kobe and Osaka), Paris and Bangkok, and much more.

Jetstar Australia

Movie World Warner Brothers Gold Coast

Wet n' Wild - Main Site Gold Coast & Sydney

VIP Magic Pass - for all three amusement parks

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