This is THE place to stay on the Gold Coast if you have a little one.
We live a two hour drive away, and we have been coming to the coast for holidays for the past twenty years. We have stayed at alot of hotels, and apartments. This was quite good. It ranks right up there. I was worried after reading the reviews! I found the linen top notch, no holes(unlike some 5 star places on the Gold Coast...), the matress nice and comfy, the towels plentiful, large and fluffy. The marble bathroom was immaculately clean(i bought cleaning gear just in case after reading the reviews-didnt need it!)
The room had lots of wall sized mirrors and two queen size beds. Nicely decorated. Blockout curtains etc. Enormous flat screen tv. Good A/c and heating. Nice breezes from the ocean as the resort is surrounded on three sides by water. After a day at the park we all just conked out! We were on the second level, just up from ground floor, so we had a nice view into the park itself. I am not sure i would have been as happy at ground floor level. Theres a rainforest there.
The staff were excellent, and the meals were good and good value too. my mum scored an enormous salad in the cafe next to the pool for about 10 dollars after we used our dining plus card. (40 centimeter plate that was 20cm high full of greek salad-needed a container to take back to the room fridge)
Strangely we spent alot of our time using the hotel pool, and water play areas, rides, rope climbs etc. There was a kids "lights" pool party at 8pm. We were intending to see the animals in the park.....I think you would need a full week to do the park.
I could see that in the School Holidays Sea World could just be hell - the queues etc. But we had no queues at all- we just sat on the ride and asked them to go again!. A little helped even more to clean the queues out too!
We were ok for transport as we drove down. Tip take your car and then you have easy access to the plethora of cheap eats on the coast for dinner and marina mirage for shopping and Palazzo Versace for hot chocolate in the lobby as the sun goes down....
Tip2 take your swim suit as grandma forgot and ended up in the pool in her shorts and tshirt....didnt mind anyway!
Tip3 theres a nice surf beach just accross the road from the main carpark. Its not on the map. Its not patrolled. Keep your wits about you-dont go too far out with the littlies. So you need a surfboard and shade tent. Insect repellent(they have regenerated the original rainforest the used to fringe the beach all along the coast!). Good for a paddle and a sandcastle! If it rains a little the water is warm.
Tip4 the hotel has its own water park with a monster slippery dip and a great lagoon pool for the littlies. We only found it on the last day....

As it was not school holidays we scored cheap accomodation and we ate in the hotel once a day. usually morning tea or lunch. So we were all very happy. Even our wallet!

will get round to seeing those dolphins one day soon............the season pass is getting a good workout.

Next year my daughter will be 4. And old enough for the kids club....

My husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding Anniversary and wanted to do something special on the day. We have always liked penguins and decided to do the penguin encounter at seaworld. We stayed at the resort overnight to save the long drive and so glad we did. From the minute we arrived we felt welcome. We were congratulated on our 25th and when we entered our room we found chamagne on ice as well as strawberries and chocs - what a fantastic reception. The room itself was very average but all you would need to refresh and sleep after walking around seaworld all day. We had the meal deal at the shorline restaurant with buffet dinner and buffet breakfast which we thought was well catered for and really enjoyed. I would reccommend the penguin encounter to everyone it was amazing and well worth the money for the experience. The pool area at this hotel is huge and great for kids but I would imagine packed at school holiday times. Anyway my experience was fantastic and I would go again.

My trip was so poor I was concidering legal action to recover the money I paid.

I had original booked the 5 star Mirage near the Seaworld resort - same price however Seaworlds advertising tilted my young kids to beg me to change the booking - what a mistake!

Location : far away from the action or even a bus stop. If you have small children you will need a car - trust me. The closest bus stop is a good 10 minute walk. Nightmare in the heat.

Cleanness : this dated 'resort' remains dirty and broke down. They claim to have spent $1,000,000 on the property. Where? Come on.

Rooms : I got locked out of my room twice. Had the key in my hand however it failed. Sat outside my room the first time for an hour with my kids waiting. Finally staff arrived who said this was an easy fix - and placed some new batteries in the locking mechanism. After fixed, the man said, they are all breaking down all at the same time. I said, why not change all the batteries so guest wouldn't be disadvantaged - this is not how guests should be rested.

The next day it happened again, I waited and waited. Holy sheet I was angry. Room staff tried to get into my room and couldn't. I sat outside my room waiting for security to come and authorise my key cards again.

The air condition broke down as well and started spitting water all over the place - finally they moved us to another room.

Value : there is no advantage of being part of the resort. The kids water play area is open but 3 or 4 hours a day ( I think 10 to 2 ) issue there is of course is when you return from day trips ( and believe me you will get away from this place ) the very thing the kids want to do are closed.

The slides the resort advertise as being part of the resort aren't - they are actually part of seaworld and you walk through a series of gates and paths to get there. Issue are you can't really let your kid go alone - too far away.

Resort pool : small and over crowded in mid summer you can't even get a chair much less a table. The hotel actually sells arm bands to members of the public to those slides I talk about above which also allows access to your pool. So in short for a few bucks massive amounts of members of the public invade the pool area - leave their towels and crap everywhere as the full paying guest wait to a spot.

Smart locals just walk in off the street and swim. I saw it and believe me no one give a pooh.

The Buffett cost more than the coast coast international seafood buffet and believe me it's not close. They run out of food (don't replace) it's noisy with all the first time guests (I say that because you will not pay twice) and dirty with food everywhere. They seem not to clean as they go but wait to the end. Reminds me of summer camp dining! Yikes!

Service : the staff try but are handcuffed by very limited budget and tools to change anything. I was helped by the same older member of staff who seemed embarrassed on behalf of the hotel.

This place suits the Asian tourist group or one time visitor as I can assure you will not be back - I suggest you don't go at all.

If you were wondering the reason I didn't go through with legal action : oddly enough the GM offered me a
first class visit : I wanted my money back but it's wasn't coming without a long fight.

Lastly : they make you pay in advance to reserve your room : nonrefundable of course!

Great place for families with children and being able to walk through to Sea World is fantastic but I wouldn't go back in January School Holidays, far too busy.

We had a garden room which was fine, comfy beds (2 queen size) good size television and all spotless. The downside, we were located on the ground floor next to the designated smoking area. We couldn't open our sliding door as the smell of smoke wafted in, so we gave up and just turned the air conditioner on. This is one area I think really could be improved. If you are staying in a non smoking room but have this area right next to you , it seems ridiculous. If you are planning to come to this Resort, don't get caught like us, ask for a room away from this area, because believe me, it gets well used. Also can get very noisy at night when this is the only place people can smoke. House keeping start from the third floor, in the mornings which unfortunately meant that our room was'nt made up until after 1pm and on Australia Day 4pm. Bit of a pain when it was raining so hard we couldn't get out of the room. (The housekeeping ladies were lovely and couldn't do enough for you so it must just be a shortage of housekeeping staff issue)

The staff were really wonderful, all over the resort. It rained for most of the time we were there. We took the boys to the Kids Club on one very rainy day, they charged half price to accomodate families with just nowhere else to go. This was really appreciated.

The pool area has to be seen to be believed. Just great. Boys aged 7 and 10 just loved it.
The Sponge Bob water park was a great hit and the pool lovely. Very crowded due to school holidays but very safe. Life Guard on duty from 10 am both at the water park feature and at the pool. Lots of Tables and Sunlounges but get there quick in the morning or you do miss out.

I felt the food was a little overpriced - Buffet Breakfast in the restaurant $29.50 and children half price. Some people seemed to have a 2 for 1 offer but I'm no sure how you organise this. Anyway you can order your fried eggs and pancakes from the chef direct and they were yummy. The Lobby Bar/Bistro serves breakfast and also dinner at night, but I thought also a bit on the pricey side. Coffees $4.50. I suppose when on holidays, but money only goes so far, and I like value for money. Worth investigating at reception what dining options are available as I feel there might be alternatives.

Great Gift Shop - sells everything from suntan lotion to lollies to soft toys. Unfortunately you have to go through this shop if you want to get on the monorail which can be tricky with children, everything is so tempting.

All in all had a great stay, possibly would go back, but would enquire about what other rooms are available as we really did have a bad experience with our room, perhaps there were a lot of smokers at the resort the week we stayed.

Definately very family friendly, and I know our boys will want to go back, but I wouldn't recommend it for couples. Well not in school holidays anyway.