Aussie World on the Sunshine Coast makes me feel like a kid again! I am a self-confessed theme-park lover having been born and bred in Blackpool, the UK’s premier holiday resort which includes Blackpool Pleasure Beach, a 42-acre site home to many rides including The BIG One, at the time of its construction, standing at 235 feet, the tallest, fastest and steepest steel roller-coaster in the world! (which I must have ridden about 1000 times as a kid!)
I’ve lived in Australia for almost 25 years now and was thrilled to receive an invitation from Aussie World to write a review, as were hubby and our two boys, aged 8 and 7 years of age. Not quite as excited were the grandparents who had just arrived (the day before!) in Brisbane from the UK. Best way to cure jetlag I reckon!
It was a drive of approximately 90 minutes from the centre of Brisbane to Aussie World, which opens at 10:00am there was loads of parking space when we arrived at about 11:00. Tickets were cheaper if booked online in advance at https://www.aussieworld.com.au. We collected our passes from the friendly staff at reception and, armed with our Park Map, were now all set join in the fun.
The Park Map is particularly useful because not only does if give you the location of all the rides it also colour codes them for height suitability.
We decided to ease ourselves in with a ride on The Ballroom Blitz, a carousel style ride in chairs on chains, which sees you soaring 15 metres in the air, while the wave swinger spins and rocks you round and round with your legs dangling in the wind!
This was swiftly followed by the lure of the Redback, one of the most loved thrill rides at Aussie World, which seats 24 people, and is an impressive 13 metres in height and has clockwise and anticlockwise circular rotations on a platform with outward-facing seats.
Our appetite was well and truly whetted now and we headed for the Dingo Racer. So far my dad had only been a spectator, my mum had been on the Ballroom Blitz, and at the end of this ride I think he wished he’d stayed a spectator! This is definitely a ride for thrill-seekers.
The SX360 was now in our sights, well,the sights of hubby and me! This is Australia’s tallest and fastest 360-degree pendulum and is the Sunshine Coast’s first tier 1 thrill ride. The SX360 reaches speeds of up to 80km/h while launching 32 metres into the air and completing 360° inversions with up to 5G’s of force. This is a never-before-seen feature on this style of ride in Australia. SO MUCH FUN! Definitely wanted to ride this one again and again and the kids were SO jealous they weren’t tall enough. We couldn’t convince the grandparents to have a go though!
After all that excitement we decided we needed lunch so we headed off to Mango’s Bar & Grill in the Banana Bender Pub right next door. You can get a pass out wristband from the gift shop so you can come back into the park afterwards. The pub itself is so fun – the decor is incredible with so many quirky details everywhere you look. Lunch was delicious – there were great options, including vegan, vegetarian, kids’ meals for 12 years and under and there was so much choice. They even do fun mocktails for the kids including jelly snakes and lollies! You can see the latest full menu on the Banana Bender Pub website .
After our fabulous lunch, we decided to ease ourselves gently back into the action with a visit to Professor Bogglesworth’s Illusionarium, in which Professor Bogglesworth has discovered a way to travel the infinite universes that make up the ‘multiverse’. The multiverse is a place of infinite dimensions and possibilities with mind-boggling conundrums everywhere. The Illusionarium is fun for all ages so grab your friends and family and navigate your way through the multiverse to the other side. Be aware though that this attraction closes an hour before the park closes.
This was followed by another ride on the Redback while my parents queued for The Plunge, an essential must-do experience at Aussie World. Riders climb aboard hollowed-out logs propelled by flowing water through a fun twisting waterway, before climbing upwards then plunging down the big drop, to the delight of riders and spectators. They were joined by son number one for what must have been a pretty impressive splash because as we were exiting the park at the end of the day my dad was congratulated by a complete stranger for getting so spectacularly soaked!
After the Plunge it was the turn of the Wasp to experience the buzz of flying at speed with the added thrill of controls at our fingertips to shoot ourselves sideways into the air at any time!
A ride on the dodgems and one more go on the Ballroom Blitz were squeezed in before a stroll down Sideshow Alley for traditional fairground games, at an extra cost, to try and win all the things (we won none of the things!)
In 2019 we visited Aussie World when the boys were toddlers and there was loads for them to do. The Leak’n Logs was a favourite – a water play area that features a walk-through mist shed, random tipping buckets, intermittent and continuous showers, an outback log waterfall, water jets and a tin shed that inside emulates a typical Queensland electrical storm complete with thunder, wind, lightning and rain. A great way to cool off! Little ones must be supervised in this area.
A visit to the Gift Shop ended a fantastic day at Aussie World where a great time was had by all our family including my nervous and slightly jet-lagged parents!
We visited on a Thursday in the school holidays and the only ride that we had to queue at was The Plunge. This was such an amazing part of the day – no long lines meant we could try all the rides and go on our favourites again and again.
There were things to do with all ages and enough variety of rides that younger and older kids will all find something they love.
Make sure you book tickets in advance to get the best rates – you can find more info and buy tickets on the Aussie World website.
While you’re on the Sunshine Coast why not visit an Australian medieval castle?
Need somewhere to stay? We loved our stay at the Rivershore Resort – family and dog-friendly accommodation on the Sunshine Coast.
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