Ultimate Guide to Skiing Mt Hutt
Jan 15, 2025
Ok yes we are Gold Coast locals, so why did we stay at Sea World Nara Resort you ask? Firstly, we love a local stay cay. The short travel time means we only have to answer the ‘how much longer’ question for 15 minutes. But the real reason was for Mr 5’s birthday. We gave him an ultimatum: birthday party or a weekend adventure staying at Sea World Nara Resort. The kid loves a hotel so fortunately for us, the weekend stay at Sea World won out.
There are three draw cards of staying at Sea World Nara Resort. Firstly, its easy access to Sea World Marine Park. Quickly nipping back for Miss 1’s nap after a round at the theme park was a treat. Secondly, the resort’s Water Park. The resort pool and slides entertained the kids while we chilled/supervised on the sidelines. And thirdly, the Pool Bar. Always a win to play parent lifeguard in the sunshine with beverage in hand.
Hot tip: Stay tuned for our upcoming locals guide on how to explore Sea World Marine Park.
The Concierge service was friendly and helpful. Our bags and birthday balloons were delivered to our room fairly quickly considering we arrived shortly after check-in opened.
The Reception check in process was fairly seamless. Although we were surprised to be notified of the $25 per night charge for a cot. We’ve never encountered an extra charge for a cot so we felt this was rather sneaky. There isn’t anything noted on their website about the charge and if known, we would have BYO’d. I respect that it takes time to setup. But this is a family resort, right?
Very hot tip: Highly recommend BYO’ing portacot if staying at Sea World Nara Resort. The reason is not only due to $25 per night extra charge. Getting said baby bed into the room was quite the mission for us. After 2 phone calls and finally a visit to Reception with tired baby, it was delivered at around 7.30pm by a disgruntled housekeeper. We had requested the cot with our booking and at other hotels, its usually setup upon arrival. If you are expecting to lay down a tot for an arvo nap in a resort cot, call ahead.
We booked the premium “Waterview” room. We opted for this room as we would be spending time on the balcony for toddler naps and nightcaps. Envisioning delightful river views (like the cover image when booking), it was moreso Waterfall Café roof and partial pool. Nice all the same.
Rooms are what you expect from a hotel built in its era. Well sized internally with couch space area and plenty of room for the cot. Bathroom was fairly original and had a handy shower bath. Good storage available for unpacking purposes too.
The balcony had a couple of chairs and side table, plus hooks for hanging wet togs. We enjoyed hanging out on the balcony in the evening, when the kids were sleeping. Pool is open until 9pm so there is a vibe going on below.
Overall, lodgings are well maintained considering its vintage, fairly spacious and great for families.
The major draw card to staying to Sea World Nara Resort was the resort pool and water park. Its a child’s paradise. Lots of water, kids, chaos and chlorine.
The water park had 3 sections operating and caters for all ages. For older kids, the water park playground included multiple slides, water sprinklers and overflowing water buckets. An excellent energy zapper for Mr 5. The adjoining SpongeBob splash pad area was perfect for Miss 1 to crawl around and enjoy water play.
The resort pool is patrolled by lifeguards and has varying gradients and steps around the pool. A waterfall flowing into this area, gives it a nice vibe. The heated outdoor spa was very popular with adults escaping the chaos of the pool.
Hot tip: If you ever see the Pool Towel shack open, grab some pool towels. It opens sporadically subject to the availability of clean pool towels. By 11am on our second day, it hadn’t yet opened so it was lucky we packed beach towels.
Within the Sea World Resort, there varying levels of dining options available from the various food outlets locations.
The Shoreline Restaurant buffet breakfast opens at 6.30am until 10am. The breakfast buffet has all the goods you would expect and was pretty decent. Great range of hot food and chefs eagerly on hand to cook eggs to your liking. Highlights for Mr 5 included the pancake dispensing device and soft serve machine. Ice cream for breakfast is a win for any little champion.
Hot tip: Early birds are rewarded with short table wait times. We arrived at 7.30am and waited around 10-15 minutes for a table with the line running for about 10 metres. When walking out at around 8.30amish, the line snaked about 30 metres into the lobby. Hungry hamsters would have been fun to contain for that wait time…
Shoreline Restaurant also offers a buffet dinner on Friday and Saturday nights from 5.30pm to 8.30pm. For information on Shoreline Restaurant and to menu creep, click here.
The Lobby Lounge is open from 6.30am for coffee and easy breakfast eats. Options include toasties, smoothies, yogurt, banana bread and other sweet treats options.
Recommend sitting outside on the grassed area for the water views and relaxed vibe. Kids can roam around while you enjoy your morning brew. Definitely a more relaxing experience than being contained in a restaurant.
For Mr 5’s birthday dinner, we dined at a teppanyaki table at the resort’s Hatsuhana Japanese Restaurant. As far as family eats go on the Gold Coast, I can highly recommend this restaurant.
Super friendly and efficient service from the time we stepped through the door. Staff quickly took our order and set up a high chair right near the teppanyaki table.
Everything was amazing… The food was on point, as well as the service and the teppanyaki chef show. The whole family absolutely loved it! It was Mr 5’s actual birthday and the chef made him feel super special. For dessert, the waiters delivered cake and a rousing Happy Birthday song rendition, kindly joined in by all restaurant patrons. The little guy was so stoked!
Special beverage mention goes to the Burleigh Brewing Japan Black Lager. If you’re into this style of beer, can recommend giving it a whirl. The steak was also melt in your mouth perfection.
We will definitely be popping in here for a family dinner here again in the future. The 5pm time slot works a treat for early bedtime tykes. Plus teppanyaki show keeps the kids entertained for the duration of dinner. Excellent family experience and I can see why the online world rates it so highly.
To book and check out the a la carte and teppanyaki menus, click here.
Waterfall Café offers easy eats and sneaky poolside beverages.
The pizzas are small, which they warn you of, but they are tasty. One pizza will feed a child, but adults will need a food top up. Chips are well, chips with some sauces and aioli offered as complimentary. We ordered a chicken Caesar salad to share and weren’t disappointed with that.
Quick and simple eats which hit the spot and keep the hungry and exhausted kids happy.
Another onsite dinner option includes Melrose Italian. We didn’t sample their goods, so cannot comment on the nosh. Check out their menu here.
If we didn’t have a early bedtime toddler, we would have hit the Surfers Paradise Sightseeing Dinner Cruise. Conveniently departing from the Sea World Cruises Terminal, you can check out the Gold Coast waterways while enjoying a buffet dinner. Popular option especially during the holidays so book ahead to avoid missing out.
To secure your places on the Surfers Paradise: Buffet Dinner Sightseeing Cruise, click here or scan the QR code below:
As Mr 5 likes to rise with the sun, so we explored the grounds before the other happy campers stirred. Things we found were:
Located between the Resort and the theme park is a nifty little maze. It kept the ninja and I entertained for a short time. Nice little activity to run the child whilst the world was sleeping. Rooms facing SeaWorld Marine Park side of the hotel overlook this area.
Nickelodeon characters make morning appearances in the gazebo located near the Lobby Lounge garden area. Characters appearing include Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star. Inquire with the staff on appearance times.
The resort has a small games room located within the Northern wing. It was offers a couple of racing, whack-a-mole and try your luck games plus an air hockey table.
The laser light show occurs twice daily, during the middle of the day and at 7pm. I’m going to be honest, it did take us a hot minute to locate it in the evening.
To find said light show, head to the Squidward water play area. There you will find LED lights around water spouts and songs from the SpongeBob show playing over a loud speaker. For those SpongeBob fans, I’m sure it will impress.
There is a communal laundry area equipped with coin operated washing machines and dryers. Super handy and I wish more hotels had these old skool camp laundries!
Here are 3 ways to book your stay at Sea World Nara Resort:
Sea World offers a range of package deals which include theme park entry and breakfast. There are also room only options as well, which is what we were seeking. We have the Warner Bros Locals Passes and wanted flexibility with breakfast. But it wasn’t the cheapest way to book for us…
To check out the Sea World Nara Resort packages and book direct, hit this link.
Luxury Escapes often drops deals for stays at Sea World Nara Resort. Follow our social media as we will drop a post next time we spy a sweet Luxury Escapes deal.
We booked our stay at Sea World Nara Resort through Qantas Hotels. Surprisingly, it was the cheapest room rate at the time of booking. We have Village Roadshow Locals passes so we didn’t need to bundle in park entry. The kicker were the triple bonus Frequent Flyer points on offer at the time. We landed a whopping 11,318 Qantas Frequent Flyer points on the total $1,006 hotel booking spend for the two nights.
Follow our social media for next time Qantas for notifications on the next triple points drop for Qantas Hotel bookings.
If you book through Qantas or snare a resort only deal, you will need tickets to enter Sea World.
For a 5-day pass to Sea World, Movie World and Wet’n’Wild, click here or scan the below QR code:
Would we recommend staying at Sea World Nara Resort? Its perfect summer resort for energetic young kids and their adults. You can divide your time between the theme park, the resort water park and chilling in the spacious rooms. Mr 5 absolutely loved the mix and ran until his batteries were completely empty.
Hatsuhana Japanese Restaurant offers a fabulous family dining experience hitting the mark with the show, chow and super service. When Miss 1 is older, we would sample the Buffet Dinner Sightseeing Cruise. I love checking out the GC waterways and at night, this would be epic.
Temper your expectations to 90s family resort mode and you will enjoy your stay. Expect a little chaos, some hit and miss service, but just lean in people.
