Travelgirl’s Hotel Review - Sea World Resort Facilities Review

Hi Everyone,

After staying at the JW Marriott on our recent trip to the Gold Coast, we didn’t have high expectation of the facilities at Sea World Resort partly because the price is half of what we paid at the Marriott plus we chose it due to the flexibility package they had for the all the theme parks. For a 4 star hotel, overall I thought it wasn’t too bad even though we visited during the Christmas & School Holiday period. The resort was full of families with the issue with COVID cases on the rise during that time, I think the overall stay was more than acceptable.

The whole resort was designed to cater for families. It is located right next to Sea World (literally a few steps away) and they even have a dedicated gate for hotel guests to go into the Sea World theme park which made things very easy for families. Unfortunately the mono rail as not in service at the time we visited but if it was running, it will take you to various locations around the park so you don’t have to walk far. Without the monorail, it is a bit of walk from one end of the park to the other side which is the main entry for other visitors. You will see a line of people around 9.30am lining up to go into the park.

Next thing which seemed nice in the photos but when we got there a bit of a disappointment was their pool. It looked pretty impressive with the big structure for the kids but it wasn’t too exciting. BB E got bored of it after 30mins and for BB M took a bit longer and he asked to go back to the room. There weren’t enough lounge chairs for everyone as the area was actually pretty small and towels were not provided. Everyone bought their bath towels from their room and used it as pool towels. They weren’t very big so it wouldn’t have covered the lounge chairs properly. Due to COVID, it feels that people were still too close to each other in the pool and this was every day. The good thing about the pool is they have life savers on duty at all times so compared to other resorts, this was a plus. Each night, there would be a night show at 7pm at the pool where all lights go off and the pool area gets lit up and loud music gets played for around 15 minutes. Unfortunately it was a bit boring and my kids didn’t like it that much so we didn’t go back after 1 session.

The resort did have a gym and it was empty when I went to check it out. It wasn’t huge but enough to do some simple exercise and keep your routine. Next to the gym there is a massage and beauty room. If you want to get any treatment, you need to book ahead and they will organise a staff to help you. I wasn’t a big place but I could see the two rooms were occupied when I walked past.

Every night, the resort will screen two movies. One movie at 5pm and the other at 7.30pm. It was actually a nice area for the family to watch a movie together but be sure to go early to get a seat. I found every time we went in, the air-con was pretty cold so I suggest you to bring jacket if you want to catch a movie. The worst thing is to catch a cold on holiday. There were a variety of restaurants but during our stay we only tried Melrose pizza (which I have written about) and ordered room service so we didn’t get to try the rest. A note is that there is buffet breakfast available for those included in their package or can pay on the day. There are signs around the resort to let guests know what breakfast is included in the buffet. The choices are pretty good from the list and there is no need to book ahead for buffet breakfast. Lastly, if you are intending to stay for more than a few nights, there is a coin laundry you can use to get your washing done. I haven’t seen anyone used it every time I walked past but there is this facility there if you need it during your stay.

Overall the resort facilities are there but they are not great. It is a more older hotel and they are in the process of upgrading around the resort recently. The lobby and some rooms have already been renovated (like our room) but the older rooms didn’t look too nice even on their website. I’m sure after the full renovation is done, the place will look a lot neater but at the moment, it would be a good stop if you find a good package including the theme park tickets like our deal or else I would probably stay somewhere else.

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