Family,  family friendly,  family fun,  Gold Coast,  Parenting,  parenting teenagers,  Things I like,  Uncategorized

Putting a price on Fun!

A couple of weeks ago to buy the Myfun – Seaworld, Movieworld and Wet’n Wild tickets for the family. We haven’t done anything like that before, but we discovered yesterday that if you want to buy tickets at the gate (Movie World),  you will be paying the hefty price of $79.95 for an adult for one day at the theme park, and $49.95 for children and concession tickets.    Because of the cost involved for a large-ish family it made sense for us to buy the VIP MyFun Tickets – Myfun.com.au.

We went to Movie world today and I learned a couple of things.   I learned that Amy is similar to me….she hates rides that make her feel scared and sick, Bethany is our little thrill seeker and went on the Scooby Doo ride with her dad and her cousin (she said she hated it), but she went on the wb kids roller coaster, and the Wild West log ride to my astonishment,  my hubby on the other hand, the one who states proudly that he will go on all the rides no matter how scary they are realised that he met his match!   🙂

I really should not laugh, but at the end of the day he and Bethy decided to go on the Arckham Asylum ride, I had not yet seen what the ride actually did, and at that point Bethy had not yet seen the ride in action.   My sister in law, myself and the kids waved them off and we were heading out to the viewing area….just then I saw the ride in action…  I had a moment of freak out – I had allowed my 8 year old daughter to go on a ride that  I knew she really wasn’t ready for.  This ride in my unprofessional opinion was going to cause havoc with her.  I know her well enough that she was absolutely not ready for this ride.

Thankfully Bethy was able to see what the ride was all about, because before we knew it she and Dion had gotten themselves out of the line and back out with us…. I was proud of Bethy speaking up and saying no to something that she wasn’t  comfortable with.   I felt like I was in an awkward situation as I don’t want to transfer my fear of rides onto my kids, but I also don’t want my kids to do rides that I know that they are not ready for.

This is the Arkham Asylum ride

 The wild wild west log ride…

The Scooby Doo Log Ride

I personally don’t know how Bethy did these rides, but I am proud of her for wanting to give it ago….. and thankful she had the good sense to rethink when she didn’t feel comfortable.    As a mum I find it really hard to find the balance between being concerned and being a helicopter mum.   Sometimes its really hard to let go and let the kids live without the cotton wool.  The other difficulty in parenting is when to push the kids to try something they haven’t done before but are apprehensive and how far to push.

So, after Bethy and Dion came out of the Arkham Asylum ride, I was shocked that Dion asked the question of us “So who wants to see me (him) go on the Arkham ride?” Of course all the kids chimed in a huge ”ME” and ‘YES’.  I was hoping to leave movie world (I enjoyed the day, but its hard when you have a toddler in tow).     After waiting to see him for a good half an hour in the waiting grid, his turn finally came, and as the ride flew around the track, I had this feeling that it was not  a good idea for him to have gone on the ride, but he set himself up with the kids by asking the question in the way he did…..I thought he was nuts going on it, but I also felt that I probably shouldn’t try to talk him out of it because he would regret not going on it (why I don’t know).   Anyway, you can imagine the conversation on the way home.  The regret lay in the fact that he went on the ride….and he lamented that his body doesn’t seem to be able to cope with such rides anymore…

The only issue we had during the day was that we didn’t bring enough food.   Now that we experienced our first day on our annual pass, we are going to rethink our food situation.  Food costs a fortune at the amusement park.    With a large family in tow, we bought sandwiches,  a few snacks, water bottles and fruit boxes for the kids.

Next time we go to any of the parks I am thinking that I am going to double the amount of food that we took to Movie World, also a thermos of coffee for Dion.     The kids seemed to be fine, but the adults struggled throughout the day, and because we didn’t want to pay good money for not so great food (Dion had a sausage roll from the bakery that was apparently not so great), we will bring more of our own quality food.

Yes it was Movie World, and it was a good day out, but its not necessary to buy food that makes you feel ordinary.   No one checked our bags at the door, and no one asked us if we had food.   We didn’t see any signs to say that you can’t bring food.

If you don’t like to carry your food around, or you have extra baggage for the kids, you can hire a locker for the day.  I didn’t find out the cost of the renting of the locker, and I wish I did – but it was an afterthought that I am going to call up about.

For the shows – the Looney Tunes Show, the Stunt show and the Wild West show we had to leave our pram in a bay area and take all of our valuables with us.   It was a bit frustrating, to do this and by the time we got to the Roxy Theatre Jaden had fallen asleep in the pram, so I sent Dion and the girls in with Treena and her kids and I had the opportunity to take a few photos of Movie World and the characters who reside there.  I also learned that the  plush toys sold out in the streets of Movie World are nowhere near the quality of the $39.95

Over the course of the next 12 months Movie World is making some improvements with some new attractions and rides.   I think its the smallest of all the amusement parks on the Gold Coast including Dreamworld which is not on our VIP pass.    However, its a very fun day out.

We will be going down to the Gold Coast for a week in September (Dion will be at conference) and I am looking forward to taking the kids for a morning at each of the parks.   Probably not wet’n wild (4 kids and one parent – I don’t think so), but definitely the other two.    From a mum point of view, its exciting to know that we can go for a few hours and leave knowing that we aren’t wasting our money.    Obviously that is a benefit for while we are down on the Gold Coast.

When we were at Movie world yesterday I commented to Dion that it makes sense for even inter-staters who come to the Gold Coast on holidays to buy the annual pass despite the fact they don’t live here.    If one ticket costs $79.95 for an adult and $49 per child, it really does make sense to purchase the annual pass.

I am going to put some of our personal photos up tomorrow, I just wanted to fill you in on our Movie World experience!

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