Originally written in 2017 – Travel Memory
During the last school holidays my 14-year-old daughter and I decided to go to Wet n Wild on the Gold Coast to enjoy some fun cooling off from the summer heat. It was the last week of school holidays in Queensland and a perfect opportunity to get some use out of our annual theme park pass which to date have only used once to visit Movie World.
I allowed my daughter to bring a friend with her which would make it more fun for her on the day.
Since it is just over an hour’s drive from our house on the north side of Brisbane, her friend stayed over the night before.
On the day it was a pleasant and easy drive south down the M1, we left around 9.30 am, the park opens at 10am, we figured when we got there that the line up to get into the park would have all gone in allowing us a quick entry. What I did not take into consideration was the parking. It was full, we drove around a few times looking for a park and saw some people had parked over near The Outback Experience, but we did manage to find one a little closer.
Our entry was quick as anticipated and we headed over to the only main area with seating which is in front on the wave pool. There are rows of seats and sun lounges, and everyone had been taken, there were not many people around, but bags and towels were placed on the seats which left us finding a spot in the shade on the ground in between the rows of seats.
There is the option to hire a cabana at either the wave pool, Calypso Beach or Wet n Wild Junior. These were at the time of writing this $99 for the day for Calypso Beach which have no lockers or fans in them and up to $200 for the day at the other locations which have lockers and a fan available in the cabana itself. The cabanas can hold up to 6 people with seating for 4 with 2 sun lounges and 2 deck chairs and a coffee table and come with a meal package for 4 people as well. There are 9 cabanas at Calypso Beach, 2 at Wet n Wild Junior and 22 located around the wave pool. It is best to book your cabana online prior to the day to make sure you get one and to get the best price available as paying at the gate it will cost more, and they may not be any available to hire on the day. Prices do vary depending on the season.
As soon as we found a spot to put our towels and bags down, the girls were off to explore and get wet. Their first ride was on the Mammoth Falls. After that they checked in with me and headed to the other side of the park to explore. When they came back, we decided to get a locker to store our bags and valuables in. There are a few locker locations around the park, and one location was behind the seating area of the wave pool, where we were. When we got to the locker rooms, we found out that to hire a locker for the day would cost $10, you either had to get a wrist band from the shop to access the lockers or pay by coins, there were separate coin operating lockers and wrist band operation lockers. As I didn’t have enough coins on me, we proceeded to the shop to get my wrist band then went back and found a locker.
Once having the locker sorted out, we headed over to photo counter to see what we had to do about our free unlimited digital photo package that came with our annual passes. Most of the rides have cameras placed at strategically placed locations along the ride to capture you in action and the expressions on your face while enjoying yourselves or perhaps screaming on the way down. The girls were given a wrist band to wear and were told to scan the wristbands at the entrance of each ride, and this will record their images to our file for easy collection at the end of the day. Before exiting the park at the end of your day, go to the photo counter again, scan your wristband and all your images come up on a screen, you then confirm these are you and you give your email address to the attendant and the digital images are emailed to you.
Now having the lockers and photos sorted they girls wanted to take me over to Calypso Beach to float around the lazy river on tubes. We stood in line in the shallow pool waiting at the entrance of the Lazy River for someone to be getting off and passing their tube to us. We didn’t have to wait long and the three of us were floating around, enjoying the ride. There are a few places along the river where you can get on a tube and join in on the fun. The Lazy River winds itself around through sub-tropical gardens and you even go under a walkway bridge. We went around a couple of times before getting off and passing our tubes to other people waiting.
After floating around the Lazy River, I headed back to the wave pool to have a swim and the girls headed off in the other direction. Some time had passed, and I was starting to wonder where they were, so I went for a walk around the park to find them. I will tell you now, take some thongs or easy slip-on footwear with you, the concrete paths get very hot in the sun, and many people were running from shade to shade as their feet were getting rather hot.
I soon found the girls; they were standing in line at the Constrictor and told me they had been in line for some 45 minutes already and still had about 10 people in front of them. I waited with them and watched as they carried their big tube up the path to the entrance of the ride and then waited with camera in hand for them to appear at the bottom with smiles from ear to ear.
If you want to jump the queue there is the option to purchase an unlimited fast track pass which enables you to move to the front of the lines for certain rides between 10.30am and 4.30pm. The pass will cost you at time of writing $99 per person and must be pre-purchased either online or over the phone.
By now we were starting to get hungry. Knowing that prices for food at theme parks are expensive we did pack some food and took with us. I checked the prices on our way past at the food hut and for a serving of hot chips it was $9.99, if you wanted a drink to go with that then it was $14.99. For a single square slice of pizza would cost you $9.99. It is much cheaper to pack your own food when going to theme parks.
If you do want to buy food at Wet n Wild there is one burger bar, one domino’s pizza shop, a frozen coke stand, ice cream stand and one coffee house. To save the hassle from going back to your locker to get cash out to buy food, drinks or souvenirs, you can get what is called Splash Cash which is a waterproof wristband that you can add money to and scan at outlets where you want to purchase items. At the end of the day, whatever money is left on your wristband the money is returned to you. You can get these splash cash wristbands at either of the 2 shops, the photo centres, the burger bar and the coffee house. Do keep in mind that the line up to get food at peak times can be a long and lengthy wait.
The three of us headed back to our locker to get the food we had packed and went to sit down in our spot over near the wave pool. Lunch time the main seating area around the wave pool got pretty crowed and any vacant piece of ground in the shade was taken with people sitting and eating.
Soon the girls were soon off enjoying themselves again having another ride on the Mammoth Falls before heading to the Constrictor again while I went enjoyed some more time in the wave pool and another float around the Lazy River at Calypso Beach.
Later I went to see if the girls had been on the Constrictor and to see what other rides they had been on and wanted to have a go on. Again, the line for the Constrictor was a long wait and found that the girls hadn’t even gone up yet. Soon it was time for them to once again carry their big tube up the path and then travel down the slide. The girls then headed up for a ride on The River Rapids before we all headed back to the wave pool for a final swim before the park closed at 5pm.
An announcement came over the loudspeaker advising us the park was now closed, and it was then time to collect our things and head home.
The girls had a great day, and I think it is the first time we have stayed all day at a theme park, from open to close. I am sure they will be asking to go back again.
Here is the link to Wet n Wild’s website, https://wetnwild.com.au/
September 2017