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The Wiggles Exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum: An Update

The Wiggles Exhibition, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

We had an incredibly fun day at the Powerhouse Museum checking out the changes to our favourite Wiggles Exhibition.

The exhibition has been closed for a while while it was being “updated”, and was reopened over the weekend to the public.

You can read my original post on the Wiggles Exhibition here. Basically the update was a much-needed renovation that focuses the exhibit on the current Wiggles rather than the previous ones. The exhibition now focuses on the four current Wiggles, Anthony, Simon, Lachy and Emma in the front section, with mentions of the original Wiggles through out the museum.

The Wiggles Exhibition, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney The Wiggles Exhibition, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

The popular interactive features of the exhibit have all remained, with the screening section expanded to look like a stage for all the little Wiggles fan to dance.

The Wiggles Exhibition, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

A few other items have been moved around to create more space in various areas, but otherwise remain as they were before.

The Wiggles Exhibition, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

The update is fantastic for kids who are growing up with the Wiggles right now, while still containing plenty of information on their origins and achievements.

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Powerhouse Museum
500 Harris St, Ultimo
Hours: Daily, 10am-5pm
Prices: Adults $15, children 16 and under free.
Online

Thank you to the Powerhouse Museum for entry tickets. We love the museum and all opinions are our own.

The Wiggles BIG SHOW plus Cinder Emma Fairytale

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

The annual Wiggles Big Show is a monumental event that travels across the country every December. In Sydney, the show is at the Allphones Arena, Homebush. While the Wiggles do a lot of regional touring all year round at smaller venues, their Big Show is their most popular as they go all out with staging, cast and props.

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

This was our second Big Show, and the first year that the Big Show included a second short show added on, called “Cinder Emma”, a fairytale story with some traditional Wiggles songs woven into the old Cinderella story, but told with typical Wiggles humour. Expect men in drag and lots of jokes for the parents.

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Going to a Wiggles show is a full-on experience somewhat akin to rock show, with very tiny groupies. I find the shows overwhelming so I’ve jotted down a few helpful tips for anyone considering attending a Wiggles show in the future.

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Book tickets early and quickly
Book them literally as soon as they go on sale. The front sections sell out within minutes, I kid you not.

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Book seats up the front
This is important particularly in the Big Show as the areas are massive – if you’re too far from the action kids can’t focus on the show.

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Book seats on the aisle
We accidentally booked aisle seats this year and they were wonderful. Putting your kid in an aisle seat means not only can they see the action for the entire show even if there is a large adult in the seat in front of them, but they can also jump out of their seat and dance in the aisle.

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Arrive early
Allow plenty of time for parking or public transport, slowly walking to the arena, picking up tickets, re-printing tickets once you’ve lost them (oops!), going through security, lining up for merchandise, getting snacks, going to the bathroom, and then finally finding your seats. We were an hour early and it flew by.

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Parking on-site
We live a long way from the Allphones so drove and parked in the very pricey car park. You can book a spot online for $25 for all day parking, or pre-pay when you get there for the same. They do have hourly rates that are a bit cheaper, but if you are planning on making a quick getaway after the show, I’d advise prepaying parking as the lines at the parking stations get very long.

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Merchandise
It’s impossible to get into the show without buying some kind of Wiggles merchandise. I can never say no, and I always regret the purchase as whatever we buy always breaks the same day. This time we bought a bow set that lights up. It was too small for my four-year-old’s head. Annoyingly another $22 down the drain. Last time it was a Dorothy the Dinosaur fairy outfit – the wings and skirt elastic BOTH broke before we got the outfits home. No more Wiggles merch for us!

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Food
You can take water bottles and prepackaged snacks into the arena. I did try taking a Subway sandwich in last year and they wouldn’t let me, so it appears the rule is no food bought fresh nearby as they want you to buy the burgers and chips the have on sale inside the area instead. The show was on a crazy hot day so we did splurge on ice creams ($4.50 for a Golden Gaytime and it was totally worth every cent).

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

During the show
I was unprepared for the amount of parents and children who did not stay in their seats. Children were set loose in the aisle to dance and run around while the parents either stayed in their seats or got up and down chasing their kids. Being in aisle seats the people next to us drive me nuts getting up and down the entire first half while they rotated who chased their kids up the aisle and who got to sit down and check their Facebook page. The normal theatre etiquette rules do not apply here!

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Make gifts
If your child wants to meet a Wiggle, make a bow, dog bone, sign or rose for Dorothy and hold them up during the show. The Wiggles personally run around and collect these, so have your camera ready.

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Dress up
The majority of the kids wear Wiggles costumes or colours that are similar to the Wiggles. There’s no need to buy one, they’re pretty easy to make.

The Wiggles Big Show + Cinder Emma

Have fun!
The Wiggles show was the highlight of my daughter’s week. Possibly life thus far. While Hot Potato isn’t personally my favorite song (sorry Wiggles!) my daughter loves it, and seeing her dance and sing with a big smile plastered on her face was just the best thing ever.

Wiggles tour dates.

The Launch Of Qantas’ Joey Club With The Wiggles

Qantas Joey Club Launch With The #Wiggles via christineknight.me

We had a very exciting Sunday when we celebrated Qantas’ launch of their new Joey Club program with a special concert by the Wiggles. The Wiggles are Cheese’s favourite group at the moment, so she was pretty over the moon to see the Wiggles live and up close.

Qantas Joey Club Launch With The #Wiggles via christineknight.me

Qantas Joey Club Launch With The #Wiggles via christineknight.me

Cheese met Emma Wiggle and was pretty much speechless.

Qantas Joey Club Launch With The #Wiggles via christineknight.me

The reason for the pop up concert at Sydney’s Qantas Club was to announce the launch of Qantas new program for their junior flyers, Joey Club.

According to Qantas, children are currently the fastest growing segment of the Qantas Frequent Flyer membership base, with some parents signing up their children from birth. (Cheese was signed up last year!).

Qantas Joey Club Launch With The #Wiggles via christineknight.me

The new Joey Club initiatives include:

  • A Qantas Joey Club novelty passport for new Australian-based Frequent Flyer members (aged 3-10 years old) where they can record details of their flight.
  • Special dedicated kids menus in domestic lounges, including made to order sandwiches in animal shapes, fresh fruit and snacks such as popcorn and sultanas.
  • Larger investment in the children’s inflight entertainment channels. There is a dedicated children’s movie channel with 21 hours of content (with latest releases screening on board shortly after their cinema release, as will happen with the upcoming Frozen 2) and a dedicated TV channel with 28 hours of TV shows, with The Wiggles and Peppa Pig.Qantas Joey Club Launch With The #Wiggles via christineknight.me

Another piece of exciting news is that, from June 2015, all new Australian-based Frequent Flyer members between the age of three and ten years old will receive a special Joey Club kit when they join the program. To celebrate the launch of Joey Club, Qantas is waiving the normal join fee of $89.50 to offer a complimentary join for children at qantas.com/kids until 31 December 2015, so now is the time to sign up your kids!

Qantas Joey Club Launch With The #Wiggles via christineknight.me

Qantas already has a number of family-friendly initiatives in place, such as dedicated kids zones across the Qantas domestic and international lounge network with iMac computers, children’s furniture, toys and books.
Qantas Joey Club Launch With The #Wiggles via christineknight.me

Other existing family-friendly initiatives include:

    • Infant meals (up to 2 years of age) – provide a range of top brand baby food, milk, baby bottles, cereals and rusks.
    • Kids meals in-flight (over 2 years of age).
    • Priority family boarding (staff on hand at the boarding gate ready to collect the stroller and to further assist with pre-boarding the aircraft).
    • Additional Baggage Allowance* (include a collapsible stroller or push-chair, collapsible cot or bassinet; or car seat or baby capsule.

For more information on Qantas’ programs for kids, see qantas.com/kids.
*May vary according to destination – see qantas.com.

Adventure, Baby! was a guest of Qantas.

The Wiggles Exhibition at The Powerhouse Museum

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

Having spent her entire life until recently in the US, Miss E had never experienced the phenomena that is The Wiggles until we took her to the new Wiggles exhibit at the Powerhouse Museum. It was a cold and miserable winter day and we were short on ideas to entertain her. I was hoping that it wouldn’t matter that she didn’t know The Wiggles, and, thankfully, the exhibit was so good that she didn’t even noticed that it was based on characters she wasn’t familiar with. She just thought the whole thing was a giant play space, which certainly says something about how well the exhibit was designed with little kids in mind.

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

It was E’s first time at the Powerhouse Museum in general, and my first time visiting in years and years. A special mention goes to the huge steam train inside the entrance — equally fascinating for kids and adults-alike.

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

While, as an adult, I’ve never been particularly fond of The Wiggles, I’ve always been interested in them as they studied early childhood education at my university (Macquarie Uni!). Part of their popularity I think can be attributed to the way in which The Wiggles structure their performances around how young children develop and learn.

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

The Wiggles exhibition at Powerhouse Museum is carefully curated so that adults are (almost!) as entertained as children. While we spent most of our time in the exhibit chasing around our kid, I was still able to read a few panels on the amazing rise of The Wiggles. What we were there for, however, was to let little E play — and play she certainly did.

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

I was super impressed with the exhibit. It had great high-tech interactive elements, such as what I can only call a life-sized game of Fruit Ninja (even Alec had a go!), a touch-screen coloring book, a holographic performance by The Wiggles, and iPads with The Wiggles games on them (sadly only two out of the four actually worked when we tried them however).

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

The exhibit also featured free-form play elements, such as Dorothy’s house with a tea party inside, a shape-sorting and fruit cutting table, and a pirate ship with telescopes, steering wheel and raft. There were also a few arts and crafts stations, where kids could make a rose for Dorothy’s house, or write Dorothy a letter and post it to her.

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

Kids who were clearly fans were delighted to see the life-size Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog and Henry the Octopus. Since she was new to The Wiggles, E thought these huge creatures looked like a lot of fun and tried to hug them, which sadly wasn’t possible. She did however enjoy yelling “wake up Jeff!” to waken a sleeping Jeff character projected onto a screen. I guess it’s time for us to start watching The Wiggles!

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

#Wiggles #Exhibition at the #PowerhouseMuseum #Sydney #australia via brunchwithmybaby.com

The last stop in the exhibit is the famous Wiggles red car, which kids can climb into and watch some Wiggles action on a screen in front of the car. It’s a great photo op and was in hot demand when we visited.

The Wiggles exhibition was a great cold weather outing.

Entry to the Powerhouse Museum is $12 for adults and free for kids under four. 

The Wiggles at Powerhouse Museum
500 Harris St,
Ultimo NSW

Phone: (02) 9217 0111
Hours: Daily 10am-5pm
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