I think I have now done all the Theme parks here at one time or another, and I must say “Wet n Wild is the BEST PARK EVER!!!!!”
We had an absolute ball, well I know I did anyway.
Was a slow start yesterday with the kids enjoying their sugar breakfast showbags from Seaworld (thanks Aunty Jess and Aunty Amy) while the rest of us had a great cook up of Bacon and Eggs on the BBQ. While cooking, it was asked what theme park we should do, Wet n Wild or MovieWorld, but I left no options, jumped in the air chanting “Wet n Wild…Wet n Wild”. Everyone else just gave up and decided we were going to wet n wild. Movie World would just have to wait.
The day was glorious, about 24 degrees and barely a cloud in the sky. While waiting for the big girls to get rolls ready for lunch, the little girls discovered the skill tester in the games room, and it wasn’t long before Tara and Emma came back with new fluffy toys. Of course that meant Jess and Clare wanted one too, so they dragged Uncle Mark off to the games room with a handful of coins.
Uncle Mark did manage to get one for Clare, but getting one for poor Jess proved a little bit tricky. Even I had to go down with a handful of coins to give it a try, but I had no luck either. Much poorer for the experience, and a disappointed Jess, we gave up and I promised we would get Jess a toy at Wet n Wild.
Was about 11:30 by the time we got to the theme park and scanned all our tickets through. As everyone changed into their bathers we decided we needed a base from which to venture out from, so Mark and I headed to the entrance and we hired a Cabana hut around the wave pool. Wasn’t cheap at $150 for the day, but money well spent as we had a private spot to leave our things along with a locker to store the valuables.
So bather’ed and screened up, we headed for the rides. Wet n Wild is all waterslides and there were certainly a good number of thrill seeker rides. Thank God I had my two best ride buddies Kelly and Jess (big one, not the little one) as most of the rides needed a partner with a minimum of 2 riders per tube.
We started off with a nice easy slide in a large round tube that fitted 4, so we climbed to the top of the tower (man this place has a lot of stairs) with kids in tow and slid on down. The kids loved it and had to head back up another couple of times. Even managed to get both Fi and Vicki down this one before we dragged everyone off to visit something a little more adventurous.
The brave ones, myself, Zac, Mark, Mattie, Amy, Jess and Kelly all headed into the Extreme H2O Section of the park where we made a bee line to the BlackHole. A waterslide in inky black darkness. Awesome! The girls went first, followed by Mark and Mattie before it was Zac and my turn. We climbed into the tube and waited for our turn. A traffic light would turn green and you knew it was safe to push off… problem is Zac also started to turn a little green as his mind took over… “I can’t do this” he said, “Too late” I replied “you are committed”. As the light turned green, Zac started to climb out of the tube, so I wrapped my leg around him to hold him in place, pried his fingers off the handles and shoved us into the inky black darkness… YeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Zac was not impressed, but about halfway down he realised it wasn’t that bad, and even started to cheer himself. At the bottom he leapt out of the tube… “That was AWESOME!” he yelled, and he dragged Mattie off for another go. Another round of the blackhole, and bravery building, thought we would seek another thrill. Zac and Mattie were a little cold, so they headed back to the cabana while the Adults (or slightly larger kids) headed to the next ride.
The Tornado! A huge cone that the ride drops you into, and you swish side to side before heading down the tube. Amy, Jess and Kelly went in one tube, and Mark and I the other. Now the secret to these rides is weight. The heavier you are the faster you go, and Mark and I (both lard-asses) got some awesome height and air! Was great fun, and we had to do it again straight away… in fact the girls were already half way back up the tower before we had even come down!
The Tornado then led to the Kamikazie. Think of a huge skate ramp and you are dropped down one side, a near vertical drop, and shoot up the other side skating side to side a few times before coming to a stop. As we had an odd number, Amy had to wait at the bottom while Kelly, Jess, Mark and I headed up the tower with our tubes on our heads. Kelly and I went first, skating up the otherside and hitting the barrier…awesome fun and I jumped out at the bottom to an eagerly waiting Amy and headed headed straight back up. Man I love having people on this trip to do rides with me 🙂 (I am a big kid after all!)
Thrills done, we headed back to the cabana for some lunch, but not finding the rest of the crew, we headed off again and found them in the awesome Buccaneer Bay water park. Hard not to get wet here with water shooting out of everything and a big bucket on top that fills with water before tipping over and covering the whole playground!
The kids had been busy exploring the other side of the park. All the rides have height restrictions, and poor Jess and Clare were not tall enough for most of the rides. Jess was most upset as she stoop up against the height indicator, sighed and said “Its not fair I was born so small” 🙁 heart breaking for the poor girl.
Tara and Emma on the other hand were over the 110cm restriction on all but 2 or 3 rides, so they had the pick of the park. After lunch Aunty Amy and Aunty Jess took the two very brave girls Tara and Emma down the blackhole. They were very brave and loved it. “I want to take you down Dad” Tara said excitedly. So we headed back into the Extreme H2O section. On the way we were sidetracked by a quick visit to the Tornado so we could take Zac and Mattie down. Tried to get Fi down without any luck, but at least Mark was able to drag Kate up for a go. Kelly and I took Tara up the top but unfortunately she was a fingers width short of the height restriction and had to climb back down the stairs in tears as Kelly and I took our final plunge into the cone.
At the bottom with a teary Tara, I knew there was only one thing to do… the Blackhole! There is just no stopping the girl. She is one brave little chick. First Tara wanted to go down with Zac, so Kelly and I followed in the second tube, but the next round saw Kelly and Zac first before Tara and I followed. “Much faster with you Dad” Tara said… hehe nice way of saying I’m fat!!! LOL.
With not long to go before the park closed, we thought we had better head to the other side of the park to ride the Constrictor. We swung past the cabana, and added Aunty Jess and Emma to our crew (poor Mark was pinned to a chair with a sleeping Clare). We raced off knowing our time was almost done.
The Constrictor was a little disappointing after the extreme rides, and the tubes weighed a tonne. We had to roll these ones up the hill and man they were heavy. Next door though were 4 good old fashioned waterslides, two open and two enclosed tubes. I had to go first to catch the girls at the bottom (the little ones, not the big ones). These slides were a hoot, and we made several round trips to try each of the options. Now this is where being a boy has its advantages because ladies swimwear is not really designed for the big splash at the bottom. Jess managed a “wedgy” each time, where as poor Kelly… well… lets just say she had to stay under the water for a little while at the bottom to avoid a “wardrobe malfunction”. They were both good sports about it though having a good ‘ol laugh and it certainly didn’t stop us from doing a few rounds.
The last ride we managed was the Super 8. A high speed 8 lane Race. We had to do it twice and the first time I wasn’t paying attention as Kelly launched herself down the slide she was a good few metres before I even realised what was going on. The second race, I was so determined not to be left behind that as the lady said “On the green light you can Go” that all I hear was “Go!”
I launched myself down the slide closely followed by Jess. At the bottom we were greeted by cries of “Cheat! Cheat!” but that was mostly from Zac.
Anyway, our day had come to an end and we returned to the most expensive Cabana hut I never sat at (LOL – the others got good use of it) to get changed and head home.
Now as I said at the start, I had promised to get little Jess a fluffy toy from Wet n Wild, but to add insult to injury, not only could Jess not go on most of the rides, but the park had no fluffy toys!! What the? What sort of theme park has no fluffy toys???
Instead Jess selected a necklace from the surf shop. The lovely darling that she is, she selected a Ying and Yang necklace that was actually two, so her best friend and sister Tara could have one. It was just beautiful to watch and I hope they have that relationship forever.
Anyway, as I said “BEST THEME PARK EVER” had come to an end. On the way home we stopped and grabbed some pizza’s which we ate back at the caravan park, before Mark drove Aunty Jess and Aunty Amy to the airport. Thank you both for joining us on our holiday and making the theme parks special. Really enjoyed having you with us.
Of course this meant that Kelly couldn’t sleep in the apartment last night, so we squished one more body into the van, Kelly joining Tara and Jess for a “slumber party”. Thankfully there was more slumber than party!
So today is really catch-up day. Got a few chores to do before we head further up the coast (washing, shopping, fixing etc) but most of all, today is a lazy day. My favourite kind.
PS – can you believe we had so much fun at the park yesterday that we didn’t even take one photo!!
