* This post is not sponsored but contains affiliate links. Meaning at no cost to you, we may receive a tiny referral commission when you book through our links. (Full Disclosure)
Are you planning a family holiday with the kids on the Gold Coast? How exciting! We felt the same way when our family hopped on a quarantine-free flight from New Zealand.
For the first 5 days of our holiday in QLD, we took our 2 young kids to 4 of the best theme parks in Australia, all thanks to the accommodation + theme parks entry package deal we booked with Sea World Resort Gold Coast.
I spent much of my travel-planning time searching for the most family-friendly resorts on the Gold Coast and came across 2 popular resorts with the best pools for kids. One is RACV Royal Pines Resort, and the other is Sea World Resort.
In this review, we’ll skip the factual information that you can find on every other blog and share our thoughts and review based on our family’s own experiences with Sea World Resort during our 3 nights stay.
Hopefully, our travel stories will help you gain an insight into what it’s really like to stay with Sea World Resort and decide for yourselves whether Sea World Resort is the right base for your family holiday in Gold Coast.
♡ save it, pin it, share it
Table of Contents:
About our stay
We were travelling to Gold Coast with our two young children aged 1 and 4. We wanted to visit Sea World and chose Sea World Resort for its location. This resort was running a promotion at the time, which included 4 theme park passes for around $225 a night on average.
- Length of stay: 3 nights
- Travelling with: Family of 4 with 1yo & 4yo
- Room type & package: Deluxe Double Room & 4 Theme Park Passes
- Room allocated: 1126 Garden Wing
- Average nightly rate: $225
- Why we chose here: Proximity to Sea World and best pools for kids
- When did we stay: End of April 2021
- Would we stay again: Yes!
Why Sea World Resort
The main reason why we recommend staying at Sea World Resort is its proximity to Sea World. Visiting the best theme park in Australia takes a full day, if not more. Your kids will be exhausted, and you would probably need breaks in the middle of the day as well. Staying in the Sea World theme park resort within walking distance to your room will save time and stress for your family.
The pools and SplashBash water play area of the Sea World Resort is a highlight on its own. You could spend half a day just lazing on the loungers by the pool watching the kids having a blast.
Should you stay with Sea World Resort?
If your family plans to visit Sea World or other theme parks on the Gold Coast, stay with Sea World Resort for the package deal that includes all 4 theme parks.
The theme park passes that are included in the room rates can save you well over $300 on theme park entry tickets for a family of 4 or more.
Although they were running a promotion at the time of our stay, we will consider staying here again if the average nightly rate still hovers around $250 a night.
How many nights do you need to stay at Sea World Resort?
If you’re travelling with kids, especially young kids, we would recommend staying at Sea World Resort for at least 2-3 nights, so you don’t miss out on the fun activities and water play provided by the resort.
Gold Coast Theme Park Passes
As references, if you decide to book accommodation elsewhere, you can find a 3 Day Theme Park Pass or 14 Day Theme Park Pass to Warner Bros. Movie World, Sea World and Wet’n’Wild Gold Coast deal on BookMe and save about $20-30 for a family of 4 on tickets. Or purchase the passes on Get Your Guide below.
First Impression with Resort Reservations
We made the reservation with Sea World Resort on the phone about 3 days before checking in. We confirmed our details with the reservations team over the phone and expected a confirmation email.
However, we never received a confirmation email while the payment had already been deducted from our credit card. So, upon landing in Gold Coast, we emailed the reservations team again to confirm our booking.
A day later, we received an email reply from the reservations team asking for more details so they can assist us. Another day had passed, they came back asking for even more details because they couldn’t find our booking. That was a bit of a worry.
My partner tried to ring Sea World Resort to sort out the booking but was told they couldn’t disclose any information to him because the reservation wasn’t under his name. (My baby wasn’t well, and I was tied down the whole day.)
Then it was the day to check-in. I was pretty anxious lugging two kids around and prayed that Sea World Resort had our booking somewhere in their system.
© Photos by Kida
Front Desk Service
We arrived a little early on the day and shared our concerns and our experience with the reservations team with a lovely receptionist at the front desk. To our surprise, he found our booking straight away and explained that both my name and email was spelt wrong, hence why I never received a confirmation email.
The receptionist then expressed empathy and assured us that our booking was in the system. However, because we arrived before the check-in time, he gave us directions to the concierge desk to leave our luggage for them to be brought up when the room is ready.
© Photos by Kida
We left a mobile number for the courtesy text regarding our room status, then went about our day.
It wasn’t long until we received a text informing us the room was ready. When we returned to the reception, it was quite busy, and there was a long queue.
The same receptionist saw us and allowed us to cut the queue to collect our swipe cards. He gave us a brief orientation of Sea World Resort and pointed us in the direction of our room.
When I questioned about our theme park passes, he kindly extended our passes from a 3-day pass to a 5-day pass as an apology for the reservations mix-up.
Because of our check-in experience with this friendly and empathetic receptionist, our impression of Sea World Resort turned around despite some of the negative reviews on Google.
We were relieved to see there were ramps connecting most parts of the Sea World Resort. It was wheelchair and stroller-friendly pretty much everywhere throughout this massive resort.
We followed the direction the receptionist had instructed and took the lift down to level 1. There was an incident during our stay where we felt the lift was stuck for a few seconds. On the day of check out, there was a sign warning people of wet paint inside the lift. Perhaps the lifts were under maintenance.
Deluxe Double Room
We walked through the Garden Wing to our room and were glad to see our luggage neatly placed on the luggage bench, waiting for us in our Deluxe Double Room.
© Photos by Kida
Backyard: Our room was on the ground floor. Our 4 year old dashed out as soon as we opened the back sliding door. A small playground was literally within footsteps to our back porch, where there was a table and two chairs.
Our family didn’t like having the AC on all the time, so we relied on having the sliding door open for ventilation. The courtyard door had a fly screen installed. That was a nice little touch worth mentioning as both my daughter and I attract mosquitoes.
© Photos by Kida
The room: We expected our room to be a little tired after reading the reviews, but we were pleasantly surprised that our Deluxe Double Room actually looked newly refurbished.
The room wasn’t big at all, but it was beautifully decorated with vibrant, colourful ocean themes. The room had a modern, clean and simple aesthetic throughout.
Our Deluxe Double Room had two double beds as expected. There was the main light switch and a night light switch in-between the beds and within easy reach at night.
© Photos by Kida
Smart TV: This room type was equipped with a large Samsung smart TV. What we loved the most was their own Sea World channel featuring the animal rescue stories by the Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation. Our toddler was very engaged and loved watching sea animals being rescued.
Amenities: Beneath the TV, there was a bench/desk with a drawer filled with information on the Sea World Resort and in-room dining menu. And there were two round ottoman stools under the bench.
Next to the TV unit was a spacious cushioned luggage bench with a large wall mirror.
There was a mini kettle and all the tea bags and cups were neatly stored in a pull-out drawer.
© Photos by Kida
Bathroom: The bathroom was contemporary and had a classic sleek design with a large wall mirror. The sink was small, but there were lots of space for toiletries. Towels were neatly placed under the vanity.
The toilet had a soft close hinge, but it was very noisy flushing the toilet. It was louder than an average modern toilet, so we all tried to refrain from flushing the toilet at night.
The walk-in shower in our Deluxe Double Room had a round rainfall showerhead. The shower looked refurbished with a black frame single panel shower screen. As sleek as it looked, our family would probably prefer an adjustable showerhead for the kids. The water pressure was average, so it took us longer than normal to shower our kids because they were so far down from the showerhead. Nonetheless, it didn’t cause too much inconvenience.
© Photos by Kida
Noise issue: The Deluxe Double Room that we stayed in was an interconnecting room. The walls were paper thin. We could hear our neighbour’s conversations, their kids and their TV loud and clear. We could also hear the footsteps from upstairs, noises from the corridor and the car alarms from the car park outside.
Lucky for us, our neighbours were quiet during the night, or this flaw of the resort could have ruined our stay.
Parking
Sea World Resort has a large outdoor parking area, but this can fill up quickly during peak season. However, there are close-by street parking that you can explore, depending on where your room is located.
After we checked in and got our orientation around the resort, we found street parking that was considerably closer to our room on one of the back streets. However, there were cars parked on the grass illegally and they received fines, so check for parking signs carefully.
Sea World Resort Pools
Needless to say, Sea World Resort pools were the best features of the resort and stood out even when comparing to a 5-star family resort like RACV Royal Pines and top water park holiday parks like the Big4 Gold Coast.
Towels were provided for resort guests. However, I only just found out after our fun waterplay that you had to collect the towels near the Waterfall Café around the back of the pools.
© Photos by Kida
Some water slides were closed during our stay, but our kids were too young for the main water park anyway. We loved playing at the Spongebob SplashBash water play area and the lagoon pool.
© Photos by Kida
The main lagoon pool was heated and there was a cute little waterfall feature. Guests loved chilling on the loungers and it was such a great ambience by the pool.
There was a little spa pool up a few steps and away from the crowd. However, it was quite small to be sharing with other guests.
© Photos by Kida
The great thing about the water park was the night light show. Even after dark, this area was still the best place to be in the resort. We’ll talk more about the light show in the next section below.
© Photos by Kida
You might be interested in
RACV Royal Pines Resort Gold Coast with the best pools for kids family review
Sea World Resort Free Activities
Dolphin Discovery Presentation
One of the highlights of staying at Sea World Resort for our family was the complimentary behind-the-scenes Dolphin Discovery Presentation.
The meeting point was outside the resort gift shop in the lobby at 9 am. Then, a staff member guided us to the Affinity Dolphin Arena in Sea World, where we got to watch the dolphin trainers practice for the show.
The Dolphin Discovery Presentation provided an insight into how the dolphins were trained, as well as how the dolphin trainers were trained.
© Photos by Kida
It was an excellent opportunity for dolphin lovers to get a deeper understanding of these amazing animals. It also gave us the chance to sit up close to watch the dolphins and asked any questions on our minds.
Our kids were so fascinated with the tricks these dolphins could do that they couldn’t stop waving at them.
Meet SpongeBob and Nickelodeon Characters
A photo opportunity with Nickelodeon Characters was such a good idea. Meet SpongeBob was held at the beautiful lobby garden where the plants were sculptured in the shape of a dolphin. There was also a small viewing platform at the garden where you can see an expansive view of the resort pools and water park.
© Photos by Kida
However, Meeting SpongeBob also happened at 9 am in the morning, so this activity clashed with the Dolphin Discovery Presentation. We wondered why Sea World Resort didn’t space out the two activities allowing guests to enjoy both.
© Photos by Kida
Our family valued close encounters with the dolphins much more. Due to the long queue, we got a glimpse of SpongeBob in the garden before rushing over to watch the Dolphin Discovery Presentation for the second time.
SpongeBob Light Show & Aqua Play
One of the coolest activities here was the SpongeBob light show at the kids poolside SpongeBob SplashBash. The dancing LED lights were accompanied by the most catchy SpongeBob tunes lighting up the night at 7 pm every evening.
Unfortunately for us, our kids were too young to join the splash party. They were still adjusting from New Zealand time zone, where 7 pm local time was already past their bedtime. However, we did manage to drag the tribe down on one of the nights and had a great time watching the older kids having a blast.
© Photos by Kida
Restaurants and Dining
There were 6 restaurants and eateries in Sea World Resort Gold Coast. You can read about the dining options on the Sea World Resort website here.
All the restaurants looked contemporary. Many of them had beautiful views, either looking out to the garden or the pools.
© Photos by Kida
Shoreline Restaurant
The Shoreline Restaurant was open for breakfast and dinner. Some of the highlights in this restaurant included a seafood platter and grilled seafood.
© Photos by Kida
Hatsu Hana Japanese Restaurant
We didn’t get a chance to dine here during our stay, but here is a photo of their menu for your reference.
© Photos by Kida
Melrose Italian
The most family-friendly restaurant we could recommend from our stay was Melrose – the Italian restaurant. They didn’t take bookings, and the restaurant was pretty casual.
© Photos by Kida
Our family appreciated the simplicity of this restaurant. Located in the lobby looking out to a fountain pool, Melrose Italian was a pretty chilled place to grab a pizza. There were only a few items on the menu, just like the simple decors in the restaurant, creating an easy-going ambience.
© Photos by Kida
There was a bit of a wait for our food, but that didn’t bother us too much as the lobby was a bustling place to take the little ones for a wander at dinner time. Our kids were fascinated by the magical ocean-themed disco lights projecting onto the ceiling of the lobby, and there was a TV playing the Simpsons for the older kids in the lobby bar.
© Photos by Kida
Back at Melrose Italian, the food was good. However, because we were paying resort-restaurant prices, we expected the food to be of equal standard, and it just fell below our expectations. Overall, we felt the value of the food at Melrose Italian was average, but the location and ambience of the restaurant were excellent and very family-friendly.
Lobby Lounge
Lobby Lounge was a great place to grab something light throughout the day. It was open until 10 pm, a great place to enjoy the lobby buzz and night lights.
© Photos by Kida
Waterfall Café
On our pool day, we ordered some lunch from the Waterfall Café near the resort pools. Unfortunately, there weren’t many healthy options, mostly fried and fast foods like hot dogs and chips. As it was the café by the pool, we felt everything was overpriced, and the quality of food was nothing more than average.
© Photos by Kida
Game Room
The Game Room at Sea World Resort was a small room with the typical arcade games. To be honest, the room’s ventilation wasn’t the best, and we quickly ducked out due to the bad smell in the Game Room.
Kids Club
The Kids Club’s opening hours were from 5:30 pm – 9:30 pm daily. The price was $99 per child for the 4 hours, inclusive of dinner. Booking was essential.
© Photos by Kida
Gym
The gymnasium seemed a little cramped with the space given, but it had the most common types of equipment for those who wanted to keep up with fitness during their stay.
© Photos by Kida
Spa
For the lucky ones that could get away from the kids, the massage and beauty salon here at Sea World Resort looked very pampering.
© Photos by Kida
Final Verdict
Our family of 4 had a blast at Sea World Resort Gold Coast despite the minor flaws here and there. We extended our stay from 2 nights to 3 nights as we felt it was too rushed to get through everything with two little ones.
What we enjoyed the most were the resort pools and the Dolphin Discovery Presentation. Despite our initial hiccups with the reservations team, the front desk made up for it and well exceeded our expectations with his customer service on numerous occasions.
Our major complaint would be the noise issue from our Deluxe Double Room. If our neighbours had decided to do a movie night during our stay, we would’ve had a rough night with exhausted kids and probably lose a day due to lack of sleep. So, on that note, we were very fortunate this time.
Overall, we loved our stay at Sea World Resort and would recommend it to our family and friends who are thinking of visiting Sea World and the theme parks on the Gold Coast.
© Photos by Kida
Accommodation Booking Sites & Apps
Hot Tips
- If your destination is underdeveloped, on an island or you only travel occasionally, consider booking with the hotel or guesthouses directly. In some cases, you’ll receive much better rates plus you’ll support local businesses and provide an opportunity to connect with them for better services.
- If you’re a frequent traveller that stays in hotels often, we recommend sticking with one hotel booking site/app to reap the benefits of its loyalty program.
- Always do your price comparisons as some sites like Hotels.com may have already priced your loyalty discounts in the room rates.
* This post contains affiliate links, meaning at no cost to you, we receive a small commission for purchases made through our links. Your support allows us to continue delivering free content to help families just like yours. Thank you. (Full Disclosure)
The loyalty program offers lifetime memberships and there are many accommodations that participate in the Genius program which gives out perks & discounts as you level up.
May of the listings on Airbnb can also be found on Booking.com. But Airbnb is a good alternative to try your luck on finding that gem.
You can see the rates on all the hotel booking sites at a glance and compare the prices from there.
How to plan a trip in 30 minutes
I used to use Trivago, Kayak, Kiwi etc but nowadays, Google does such a good job finding the latest rates, I no longer use hotel comparison sites.
Don’t Be A Stranger!
We’d love to get to know our readers. Leave your thoughts below!
Connect with us on Youtube!
Are you planning to visit Sea World and stay with Sea World Resort Gold Coast with kids?
1 comment
This is great! Thank you for taking the time to write this review. 🙂