Christchurch trio Stirling Newlands (9), Grace Mitchell (12) and Corbin Newlands (10) said the only thing that could beat the playground as a holiday activity would be a voyage on Queenstown's TSS Earnslaw.
Sadly, for them, the Earnslaw is out of the water for maintenance. This discovery ruined the youngsters' plans to cruise Lake Wakatipu and visit Walter Peak Station.
Instead, they discovered Wanaka's dinosaur playground and said it deserved its top Jason ranking.
"I haven't seen any of this playground equipment before," Grace said.
"It's pretty good," Stirling agreed.
"There's nothing like this in Christchurch or Queenstown," Corbin said.
Grace liked the steep pitch at the top of the slide, while Corbin liked the fact the playground's designers had combined an old slide with modern equipment.
Corbin said he also liked being in a playground close to the lake so children could have easy access to the water.
"And it's got restaurants around it and it's got a hotel looking at it," Stirling said.
The waterfront playground was built several decades ago.
The concrete dinosaur arrived about 25 years ago and in 2004, $350,000 was spent on an upgrade which included resurfacing the dinosaur's tongue so it provided a more pleasant sliding experience, and painting the tongue popsicle orange.
But the bulk of the money was spent installing equipment imported from Denmark such as five-way swings, spinning pieces, a climbing net and space net.
The modernised dinosaur playground then set a benchmark for the Queenstown Lakes District Council, which in 2006 spent $1 million upgrading other playgrounds to try to match it.
No-one has ever seriously attempted to count the numbers of children who visit the public playground but it has been estimated up to 1500 children could play there on a single public holiday.
