In the Kids Club – Zagame’s Paradise Resort
I know there are plenty of families that find the idea of traveling with young kids so daunting that they stay at home until their children are school aged. We are obviously not one of those families. There are only a handful of resorts in Australia though that directly focus on the needs of traveling families such that even the most nervous of parents should feel assured that the travel will be manageable and enjoyable. Zagames Paradise Resort on the Gold Coast is one of these. The resort is also reasonably priced, and often offers specials and theme park packages that put a holiday there within the budget of mainstream Australian families.
The water park for over 5s at Zagame’s Paradise Resort
Learning to ice skate – at Zagame’s Paradise Resort
Zagames Paradise Resort features two separate water play areas (one for over 5 year olds and one for under 5s), a variety of accommodation options, a kids club that caters for babies up, an adventure playground, non-stop family friendly activities, character appearances, daily family entertainment and rock climbing and ice skating (at extra cost). It is also located an easy two block walk to white, sandy Main Beach.
One of the characters, “Astro” at Zagame’s Paradise Resort
Many of the rooms feature bunk beds, but with our three year old monkey climber we passed on these instead staying in interconnecting rooms. We stayed in the newer “Captain’s Quarters”. Each of our rooms was a standard hotel type with both queen and single beds. We were delighted to have a microwave as it enabled us to be a little more self sufficient in regards to dining. The resort does have two restaurants, a bistro and café that both have extensive children’s options (children’s meals are $8). The children’s meals were large and my own two kids easily shared one meal between them. I was very glad to see that families with picky eaters and those that have stricter health conscious diets were catered to.
Breakfasts were the busiest times in the bistro with queues to enter between 7.30 and 9am. There is also a shop on site that stocks all the essential children’s supplies and where you can purchase breakfast packs for the whole family for in room dining.
One of the surprises of the stay was the quality of the evening entertainment (free for all guests) – a magic show and Indigenous children’s musical and cultural performance being the highlights. Both of these performances for first rate, and I would have happily paid to take my kids to these elsewhere.
The only down side of our stay was that the kids did get over-stimulated and overexcited, resulting in some bad behaviour. There are unfortunately no quiet areas for children to unwind away from the constant fun. I would suggest parents plan to counter this by packing some quiet games, books and puzzles and ensure their child has quiet time in their room every day. Being strict about naps and bedtimes will also help avoid meltdowns.
The best Indigenous cultural intro for kids I have ever seen – at Zagame’s Paradise Resort
Tips for making the most of your stay at Zagames Paradise resort.
- If you can plan your stay for mid-week. The waterparks and pools are crowded at the weekend.
- Pack closed toes shoes so your kids can learn to ice-skate and rock climb.
- If visiting the theme parks pick up a lunch-pack for your child at the resort’s café – it is cheaper than buying food at the parks.
- Do self cater for some meals – you can purchase supplies in the resort shop and there is a small grocery store the “Pitstop” towards the beach.
- Utilise the kids club – our kids loved it and asked to go every day.
- There is a Sushi Train restaurant a short walk south on the highway from the resort which offers another alternative for dining out.
- One downside of staying at a family resort is that you must contend with other family’s noisy kids. Request a room away from the pool and play-ground as these are the noisy areas. If you are traveling with a baby or child still requiring naps bring along something that will make “white noise” that will mask noise from children in the hallways.
Thanks to Zagame’s Paradise Resort for hosting us for the first night of our stay.
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