Gold Coast in the New Year (bit off topic!)

Hi Jules,
Most of the theme parks are on the freeway up towards Brissy, Dream World, with it's own water park, Wet & Wild, Movie World. Sea World being on the northern end of the Gold Coast.
Have a look at this site for an idea, Hotels near Dreamworld
Also go to MyFun.com, They have specials on and you can sometimes pick up a good deal.
We regularly go up there from Northern NSW for a mid wekk couple of days before it gets to hot, less crowds.

Anyway, Hope you guys have a ball.
Cheers
Jon

Hi Jules. Quite a few years ago we managed to get a 4 night package deal in the resort that adjoins Seaworld. It had free unlimited entry to the park and you only had to walk out the rear entrance to access it. You would have to find other transport to the other parks though as they are quite a way up the road. Cheers,Bob

Hi Julian,
We did this two years in a row...I think I also put up a blog which might have some useful tips and photos for you... yep here it is - Our theme park blog

First year we stayed at Ocean Pacific in Broadbeach see link. Underground security carpark, fully self-contained, ultra modern, new building. Not a "hotel" so no "services" or fancy overheads. Really suited our needs. Great pool, spa, sauna, gym (all the must-haves), walking distance to the beach (about 200m) and just south 1 street of the main heart of Broadbeach (ie. all the restaurants, cafes etc you could ever want). Highly recommend to us by other families with young kids. We moved around by hire car as we flew in from Perth. We also walked to the Pacific Fair, massive shopping mall for groceries, movies, shopping etc. We did all the theme parks but its a bit humid that time of year we didn't have time or energy or weather to use the beach much. We drove south one day and visit a few other beaches etc.

Later the next year (October), we went again but this time decided to stay at one of the kid-themed resorts we had heard about and chose Paradise Resort - see link - this was far less glamorous or quiet and only had a sink and bar fridge but we would recommend this over the other for ease of getting around, closer to transport/theme parks and much more kid oriented! Awesome for families! Their service standard is exceptional and whilst they have their own poolside fastfood cafe and sizzler-style buffer restaurant, the food and price is actually very reasonable and its so much easier to stay and do everything there after a long day out at the theme parks. No gym, but better atmosphere for morning beach runs I found as it was located just 1 street north of the heart of Surfers Paradise and just back one block from Town Beach, the nicest part of Surfers.

Hope this helps - have a great time whatever you decided... and please blog it!
Michelle

The best options for accommodation from a price perspective always come from a package fly/stay or fly/stay/rental car deal. This is what you should investigate. I live here and most friends with family take this option it amazes me at the cheap price they get. Not sure how that works in January but give a it a look by checking it out on the internet. The airlines quite often have the best offers.