Gold Coast Holiday....

[Dutchy]

TDK I presume you dont have kids, so why you going up so close to school holidays?

Even with kids we deliberately avoid school holidays cause the parks are empty and you can walk onto any ride.

[The Dark Knight]

TDK I presume you dont have kids, so why you going up so close to school holidays?

Even with kids we deliberately avoid school holidays cause the parks are empty and you can walk onto any ride.

Nah mate at 22 kids are a long way off for me, my missus and I choose that weekend because it's after I finish footy and finals are done and dusted if there was any chance me or my team would be involved in them I wouldn't miss out. We were going to go from the 11th to the 17th but 20th is an RDO for me so there's a day of Annual leave I don't have to use.

We thought the dates we choose, 18th to the 24th of September were ideal for our holiday and did make the mistake of not checking when school term 3 ends in Queensland (September 20th- NSW, Vic aswell). We hope we're going to be alright.

[Dutchy]

Fair enough, weirdly the weekends are some of the quietest days in the theme parks as people go up the during the week.

You will have a great time, the new Buzz Saw at Dreamworld was once of the scariest rides Ive been on, but I am getting old!

[The Dark Knight]

Fair enough, weirdly the weekends are some of the quietest days in the theme parks as people go up the during the week.

You will have a great time, the new Buzz Saw at Dreamworld was once of the scariest rides Ive been on, but I am getting old!

That's interesting, wouldn't of thought that the weekends are the quietest days there. We're going to Dreamworld on the Thursday, Seaworld on the Saturday and Movieworld on the Monday.

Sure will Yeah that does look like an awesome ride, can't wait to sus it out!

[GWW]

I've never been to Queensland before, so I reckon I might check out the AFL fixture for 2014 when its released, and look for a suitable game against the Lions or Suns, and then stay on for an extra week or 2.

Will be sure to check out this thread in months leading up to that, for some advice

Hopefully will be able to find some reasonable accommodation on the Gold Coast. As alluded to earlier, I"ll try and stay clear of school holidays if possible.

[Jim05]

Havnt been to the Gold Coast for over 10 years but my lad is a Suns member and ive promised him ill take him to a home game next year, will wait for the draw and hopefully the Bombers play there next year.
Have been meaning to go back but its just too expensive, we can spend a fortnight in Asia for cheaper than a week on the Gold Coast

[The Dark Knight]

Just touched down here and it is beautiful

[The Dark Knight]

Well my Girlfriend and I had an amazing holiday in the Gold Coast, we definitely want to go back there in the next year or two. Its such a beautiful place, I can't talk it up enough, it's paradise and I loved it there. Fantastic place to visit!

[Bully]

Well my Girlfriend and I had an amazing holiday in the Gold Coast, we definitely want to go back there in the next year or two. Its such a beautiful place, I can't talk it up enough, it's paradise and I loved it there. Fantastic place to visit!

just run it past a few others on this forum also

[The Dark Knight]

Well my Girlfriend and I had an amazing holiday in the Gold Coast, we definitely want to go back there in the next year or two. Its such a beautiful place, I can't talk it up enough, it's paradise and I loved it there. Fantastic place to visit!

just run it past a few others on this forum also

Haha, been telling plenty of people I know how good it is up there.

[Dutchy]

What were the crowds like?

[The Dark Knight]

What were the crowds like?

We went to Dreamworld Thursday, when we got there and lined up to get in we were a bit worried but it was great once we got in. The line ups for rides, The Cyclone, Wipeout, the Claw, the Buzzsaw, Tower of Terror were great, hardly waited at all on any of them especially the Buzzsaw as there was hardly anyone on it, was the best ride too. Only line ups we had were for the Rocky Hollow Log Ride and Zombie Evilution.

Seaworld Saturday was busier than Dreamworld as it had alot more little kids there but again it was fine, the line ups for rides such as Jet Rescue and Viking Revenge Flume were pretty long but nothing too bad. The Seal and Dolphin show crowds weren't too bad either and even with the amount of kids there the Castaway Bay area of the Park wasn't too busy either. Being big kids me and my girlfriend even went on the Sky Fortress adventure playground. I certainly expected Seaworld to be busier.

Movieworld Monday was very busy, maybe twice as busy as Dreamworld it seemed. That was the first day of Queensland school holidays. We lined up for Superman Escape for 30 minutes at the very start of the day, went on it and I wanted to go on it a second time so we lined up again for 45 minutes until the line stalled for some reason and being a very impatience couple we cracked the shits big time and stormed off. Went back to Superman at the very end of the day where we lined up for abut 30 minutes. We then went on the Wild West, Green Latern, Batwing Spaceshot and Arkham Asylum where the line ups weren't too bad, probably about 20 mins max on those rides. The line for Scooby Doo was ridiculous, think we waited at least an hour to get on, probably more and that really f**ked us off. We still had heaps of fun there though, wish it wasn't as busy but that's the price we pay, ah well. More line up time ment more SAfooty time for me.

[Dutchy]

Thats why we take the kids out of school and go up when no state is on school holidays, walk onto virtually any ride and most of them you can stay on for a 2nd go without getting off. Only issue we get is during winter they close down the odd attraction to give it an annual service, we missed out on the Cyclone and Wild West last year.

[The Dark Knight]

I think we'll definitely go on another holiday up there, most probably in October next time.

[Wedgie]

OK, got a cruise from Brisbane to New Guinea later this year but going to precede it by a night or two on the Gold Coast and a night or two on the Sunshine Coast since the missus has never been to either. I've booked flights into the Gold Coast and out of Brissy the day the ship comes back and will have a car for the first 4 days.
Even personally I haven't been to either for about 17 years so any advice gratfully accepted when it comes to places to stay and pubs to enjoy a beer at.

What I'm thinking is drive out of the Gold Coast Airport and either drive up the coast road from Coolongatta immediately and stay somewhere near Surfers or just go to a place near Coolongatta (or maybe Broadbeach/Burleigh/Palm Beach/Currumbin/etc) and show the missus the rest of the Gold Coast on the drive out.
She doesn't like hustle and bustle nor shops so ideally somewhere near a nice laid back pub which has coast views would be ideal.

Then driving up to the Sunshine Coast, only done day trips up there in the past. Any recommendations when it comes to Noosa, Maroochydore, Caloundra, etc?
Could do 2 separate nights at different places but ideally 2 at a nice place, once again anywhere near a laid back pub with good views would be a bonus. Missus was keen on Australia Zoo but I think I talked her out of that when I said it would be warm and its a lot of walking.

[Jim05]

Not a fan of the Gold Coast and reckon it’s highly overrated. When we go up for the footy we usually stay in Brisbane and just go down to the game. If we do stay we prefer Broadbeach over Surfers and the Northcliffe SLC does a good feed with decent views.
Sunshine Coast is far better IMO and Mooloolaba is our go to there. Nice stretch of beaches with plenty of cafes, restaurants and bars. The 4 pines brewery right on the beachfront it pretty decent too

[Wedgie]

Not a fan of the Gold Coast and reckon it’s highly overrated. When we go up for the footy we usually stay in Brisbane and just go down to the game. If we do stay we prefer Broadbeach over Surfers and the Northcliffe SLC does a good feed with decent views.
Sunshine Coast is far better IMO and Mooloolaba is our go to there. Nice stretch of beaches with plenty of cafes, restaurants and bars. The 4 pines brewery right on the beachfront it pretty decent too

Agreed about the GC ut the flight there is cheaper than Brissy and the wife has never seen it so just the 1night and yeah just somewhere near a decent surf club will do.
Thanks for the heads up about Mooloolaba as I was considering Noosa, might do a night at each or maybe just a lunch time visit to Noosa now.

[Dogmatic]

Not a fan of the Gold Coast and reckon it’s highly overrated. When we go up for the footy we usually stay in Brisbane and just go down to the game. If we do stay we prefer Broadbeach over Surfers and the Northcliffe SLC does a good feed with decent views.
Sunshine Coast is far better IMO and Mooloolaba is our go to there. Nice stretch of beaches with plenty of cafes, restaurants and bars. The 4 pines brewery right on the beachfront it pretty decent too

Agreed about the GC ut the flight there is cheaper than Brissy and the wife has never seen it so just the 1night and yeah just somewhere near a decent surf club will do.
Thanks for the heads up about Mooloolaba as I was considering Noosa, might do a night at each or maybe just a lunch time visit to Noosa now.

Alexandra Headland is a nice spot with easy walking distance to 3 surf clubs, Alexandra Headland, Maroochydore and Mooloolaba.
If you are driving and want to get off the freeway the towns of Beerwah, Montville and Eumundi are quite nice.

[Dutchy]

OK got a week off in Sept and I was happy to stay home but with footy done for the year the Mrs is happy when she has a holiday planned so 4 days up on the Goldy it is, using a few points. We have done the Goldy to death so going to spend a couple of nights in Byron Bay and keen to do some exploring of the North Coast, which towns are worth visiting?