Australia's Top Theme Parks

by Mairead Foley

For an action packed adventure holiday that will suit all the family, why not head to one of Australia's theme parks? We've listed the country's top theme parks where thrilling rides and a carnival atmosphere are the order of the day.

Top Theme Parks on the Gold Coast

The theme park capital of Australia is almost certainly the Gold Coast of Queensland, which is located just south of Brisbane. There are a number of theme parks in the area and in fact some of them, Seaworld, Movie World and Wet'N'Wild; are all owned by the same company so you can buy tickets that will get you into all these parks at a discount.

Seaworld is the Gold Coasts oldest theme park having been originally opened in 1958 and moving to its current location in 1971. The main attractions in this park include the Dolphin Show, where the dolphins put on a show of synchronised jumping and acrobatics; and the Water-ski Show, with outstanding formations and stunts. Other attractions include the Shark pool, the Polar Bear enclosure, the roller coaster and the water slides.

Australia has become a very popular area to shoot some of the biggest movies of recent years such as the Matrix trilogy. The Movie World Theme Park is a park with rides and shows based on some of Warner Bros biggest movies and the Loony Toons as well. As you walk through the streets you can meet such characters as Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Marilyn Monroe and many others.

The Wet'N'Wild park is the largest water park in Australia and it features many excellent water slides, pools, and other water based fun activities. This park is located right next door to Movie World so you can visit both in one day if you want.

Another park in the Gold Coast, but isn't associated with any of the above, is Dreamworld. This park has loads of rides and fun activities including for the smaller kids who can have lots of fun in the Wiggleworld. There is also a very popular tiger zoo and fans of the tv show Big Brother will be fascinated to learn that the Australian Big Brother House is found here.

Located adjacent to Dreamworld is the WhiteWater World water park. This is the rival to Wet'N'Wild, so if you would prefer somewhere different or just somewhere close you can keep WhiteWater World in mind. The park recently underwent a huge redevelopment and it is now almost twice the size as before and now features a large number of new and exciting rides.

Other Top Theme Parks

In New South Wales you can visit the Luna Park, Sydney. There were number of other parks in the area but they had to shutdown, but Luna Park is going strong after over 70 years! The park is found along Sydney Harbour so it is easily found out of the city. The park features many of the more traditional rides such as a Ferris wheel and Merry-go-round; though there is a roller coaster as well.

In Victoria you will have the option of visiting Sovereign Hill and another Luna Park outside of Melbourne. The Melbourne Luna Park was opened in 1912 and has been one of the most popular theme parks in Australia ever since. The main attraction of the park would almost certainly be The Scenic Railway, which is the world's oldest continually-operating rollercoaster! The park features a few other more modern rides as well.

Sovereign Hill is not your typical theme park. It is definitely much more of an outdoor museum as there are no rides to go on. All the staff are dressed in the attire of the Gold Rush era circa 1858. You can even go panning for gold in the creek that runs through the park. This is the site where the world's second largest gold nugget was found. It weighed 69kgs; it was valued at about 10,500 pounds when found and today would be worth over 1 Million Australian dollars!

And if you have been holidaying in Perth you can pop out to Adventure World, it is just 20 minutes down the road. This little park has it all, from water-themed rides, roller coasters, a race track and various other attractions. The Fear Factor 5 are five rides that will have you quaking in your boots.

Source: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1481833