 We were told think Mercure and you think family fun, and that’s certainly evident the minute you stroll out to the poolside and leisure area of the Mercure Resort at Surfers Paradise.
Everywhere you look, you’re greeted by the happy and relaxed faces of parents lounging by the pool and sipping cocktails, and children whooshing down the water slides and diving through fountains.
Family fun? An abundance of it!
The foyer bustles with families arranging theme park tickets and transfers at the Discovery desk, going to Sinbad’s restaurant, buying stuff from the shop. Families, families everywhere. It’s definitely not a destination for honeymooners.
We were there strictly on business, well, at least I was, Jason, my other half, came along to watch me work. My job? To road test the latest addition to the resort, the Junior Bunkhouse Rooms for a couple of days.
As soon as I saw the room, I fell in love with it. Junior Bunkhouse rooms are brightly decorated featuring underwater themes and a wonderful separate area for the kids which has bunks, a TV, Playstation and a chalkboard. DVDs and Playstation games can be borrowed from the Discovery Desk.
There’s also a kitchenette with all the necessities making it perfect for when you want something simple.
The rooms are fun and fabulous, but are they enough for a family staying longer than a couple of nights? I decided to track down some families who were there for a more extended stay.
Nicole and Heath Brown and their two children were impressed with the separate kid’s area but even more delighted with kitchenette, aware that dining out every night with Mikayla, 7, and Sally, 22 months, was not always practical.
Another family I met, the Popes, were simply told about the Junior Bunkhouse rooms and the rest, as they say, is history. Their priority was privacy and they were thrilled about the separate sections in the rooms giving themselves and the children their own space.
 Among the Mercure attractions are:
· Four swimming pools to splash about in, including children’s slides and fountains and a lap pool for more serious swimmers
· Splashes Mini-Mart, where you can buy things from chocolate to nappies and poolside accessories to magazines.
· Discovery Desk where you can arrange tours or outings and hire additional items (like VCRs) for your room
· Guest laundry
· Adventure Playground
· Junior Gecko Child Care
· Gecko Kids’ Club for children aged 5 - 12.
Junior Gecko Child Care
The Junior Gecko Child Care Centre is run by qualified and experienced staff and provides professional care and supervision for babies through to pre-school. Here there are also three daily sessions, but unlike the Gecko Kids’ Club, there’s a fee of $25 per session. Bookings are essential.
Gecko Kids’ Club
The Gecko Kids Club operates all year sound with three free supervised sessions daily and an action packed activity program.
I met up with the McPherson and Haines children who had been coming to the Mercure Resort with their parents for most of their lives and were contestants in the Gecko Idol contest. As seasoned performers, they were crowd favourites. Guessing the children knew more about the resort than myself, I asked them to write their own reports for their perspective. AND click here to read them. (see Gecko Kids Club Reports next par)
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