Let me just start by saying we love water parks. When your kids range in age from 1 to 10, you have to make some adjustments in how you’re going to spend your day. While the older kids like the more thrilling rides, the little ones need a place to hang out while they wait. And there needs to be something enticing for the older ones to do while the little kids enjoy their play areas. It turns out Aquatica was pretty accommodating! Our plan of attack is always the same: · Get to the park when it opens. · Do all the “big” rides first while the lines aren’t too bad. · Spend the rest of the day at the lazy river, wave pool, and playground areas. According to plan, we arrived just before the park opened. We were able to go through the turnstiles and start heading towards some chairs to make our base for the day. Unfortunately, we had a slight delay as our 3 year old managed to get separated from us in the crowd! That’s one way to get your adrenaline going for the day. Anyone with a 3-year-old knows they can be stubborn, and when she refuses to hold hands, she usually does a good job keeping up and staying close, but I guess there were just too many people around. When we told an employee what happened, he answered, “Already!?!” I read a few points online about how there really isn’t a good system in place if you got separated from your kids. We were lucky to find our little one right away, but it was an important reminder about how you need to stick to the buddy system, and what to do in case you get lost. Later in the day, we heard a vague announcement over the PA – something about if you were separated from your party, please proceed to an office that was behind one of the restaurants. We all just sat there thinking: if you were a kid that got separated, how would you know where this place is? So be sure to have a family plan in place BEFORE you go, whether it’s a central meeting point, memorizing cell phone numbers, or asking an employee for help (or all of the above!). After that, our day was quite fun. The first slides we tried were Omaka Rocka and Whanau Way. While the big kids tried those, one adult stayed behind with the little ones at the wave pool right across the way. The little ones enjoyed playing in the lapping waves, and we picked out life-vests for them so they could bob around freely in the water. Omaka Rocka was first, and it was a big hit. You have to carry a tube up to the top (not so fun), and each person rides in their own single tube. The ride is fast and fun! Whanau Way allows one OR two people per tube. This was even better (despite having to carry the larger tube up all those steps!) – and all of us voted it the “best slide of the day". Next, we moved over to Dolphin Plunge. This is kind of a signature slide for the park – pictured on most brochures advertising Aquatica. The ride promises that you slide through a clear tube, right through the area where Commersons Dolphins are swimming around. It turned out to be a bit of a disappointment though. You go through the tube so quickly and so briefly, that you don’t really have time to notice the dolphins. While waiting, the little kids were able to enjoy the Dolphin viewing area and the Loggerhead Lane Lazy River. Also in this area was Tassie’s Twisters – one of those tube rides where you go around a vortex until you fall through the bottom. We always describe this type of slide as getting flushed down the toilet! The overall reaction to this one: the line was too long, and the ride was too short! The next area of slides consisted of 3 tall slides, with a kids play area next to it. Taumata Racer is like Bilzzard Beach’s Toboggan Racers…a ride where you lay on your stomach on a mat, and 8 lanes of riders race each other to the bottom. Except on the Taumata Racers, you go through a turn in an enclosed tube, the downhill part is a bit more thrilling, and a water-filled bumpy ending which the adults didn’t exactly appreciate. The kids loved this ride, but the adults weren’t exactly enamored. I personally prefer the Toboggan Racers at Blizzard Beach! One note: the bigger you are, the faster and further you go! This was a little frustrating to my 7 year old son, who managed to come in last each time because he was the smallest racer! Hoo Roo Run is a downhill tube ride – but it requires only 2-3 people per tube…no single riders, and no foursomes either, so be aware before you get on line! You sit in a triangle configuration in the tube, and then hold on tight! Unfortunately, I ended up being the part of the triangle that experienced the entire ride backwards without seeing what was coming up next! I think my kids enjoyed hearing me scream! But we all had a lot of fun. If the lines weren’t so long, we would have done it again. Walhalla Wave is the 3rd ride in this section, dubbed a “family tube ride”, but we didn’t get to try it (again, long lines). I got the impression it was a kinder, gentler version of the Hoo Roo Run. Walkabout Waters is the play area positioned at the base of those three slides. During our visit, we gave it a shot, but it was really not ideal for kids under 3. There is a lot of water spraying down, and it’s very loud (in addition to the screams and cries from all the kids playing there). So if you have little ones, it’s hard to call for them if they get separated from you. The play structure is full of water canons and other spray features, and if you’re not paying attention, you can really get slammed with water. This is not particularly appreciated when you look over to see that some kid just sprayed you in the face on purpose and is now laughing about it. There was a no-holds-barred attitude from the kids there, and some of the kids were pretty tough. And although there are some smaller slides to do on the play structure, there were height limits, and the little ones were too short. Fun as it looked, this area was probably one of our least favorite overall! Our younger ones really enjoyed Kata’s Kookaburra Cove, and the older kids didn’t mind helping out and supervising the little ones there. There is a nice zero-entry pool, with some water spray features, and of course, some small-but-fun slides. Our 20 month old and 3 year old enjoyed all of this. There is one tube slide that an adult (or sibling over 48”) can do with a little one, and that was pretty entertaining to watch. The weight of the parents caused the tube to go pretty fast – you should have seen the looks on the faces of some of those little kids coming out of the slide! Wheeeee! One of the last things we did was Roa’s Rapids. It’s a lazy river, but very different from any lazy river we’ve ever done. First of all, there are no tubes allowed. Second of all, it’s FAST! As soon as you walk into the river, you’re pretty much whisked off your feet! Even if you’re a good swimmer, I recommend getting a vest (they’re available for free everywhere). We all eventually put a vest on, and it made it even more fun getting whisked along. This was also another big family favorite for the day, and really something unique at Aquatica. We went around the river too many times to even count!
A few other notes: we didn’t spend too much time exploring food options at the park – we were there to swim and play, not eat! We just ordered some typical theme-park fast food at one of the little places, and ate at a covered picnic area. It was tasty enough, and typically priced. They do allow you to bring in coolers though. Also available for rent are cabanas. For us, this would have been a total waste of money. We didn’t spend too much time sitting anywhere – we were constantly on the go, exploring the park and having fun. We didn’t have any problems leaving our things on a lounger under an umbrella. An early-entry program like Disney has would have really been appreciated. Having to do the child-swap on the big rides can be pretty time-consuming – we would have liked to have that extra hour to do the bigger slides before the park filled up! And last, but not least, try to bring a waterproof camera to capture all the fun! Unfortunately, we didn't order ours in time, and it arrived in our mailbox the day we returned!
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I’ve lived in Florida nearly my entire life, and I’ve spent more days than I can count at all of Disney’s wonderful theme parks, but I’m a little embarrassed to admit I’d never visited SeaWorld before! In order to do some “very important travel research to better serve my clients”, I spent last weekend in a part of Orlando that’s totally new to me… This ended up being a real family affair, with 3 generations all watching Shamu and others for the first time! The day was off to an interesting start as The First Grader lost his first tooth ever (and then proceeded to actually lose it at breakfast, but it was finally found on the floor after a few minutes of searching on hands and knees). My daughter, The Tween, complained of a stomachache in the morning, which we just chalked up to nerves when she looked at the sky-high roller coasters…but then it turned out she really had a little stomach bug. But we managed to make the best of the trip, and it was helpful and fun to have The Grandmas along, keeping us at a 1:1 adult-to-kid ratio. The way I see it, SeaWorld has a nice mix of three main types of attractions: rides, shows, and animal viewings/interactions. Given the heat, my daughter’s illness, naptimes, and the heat (!), we weren’t able to conquer everything we set out to do, but we had a nice day, and some attractions left over to do during another visit. So let’s talk about my personal favorite: the rides! I love roller coasters and thrill rides. Let me tell you: the SeaWorld roller coasters are a little CRAZY! Even though my daughter (“The Tween”) was just tall enough to ride at 54”, she would have been scared out of her wits. The coasters are fast, tall, and go upside down multiple times. And on Manta, the ride tilts you forward so you are positioned on your stomach for the entire ride of climbs, drops, twists, and turns! Journey to Atlantis is a water-flume ride that reminded me a bit of Disney’s Splash Mountain with a different theme. There were a few more drops and splashes than Splash Mountain, and it turned out to be The Tween’s most favorite ride in the park. The First Grader went on it twice, but later admitted he didn’t really like it because he got too wet. When I asked him why he wanted to go a second time if he didn’t like it, he replied that he thought Dad would opt for the mysterious $3 Family Dryer machine after the ride! (Which he didn’t!) Wild Arctic is a simulator ride where it feels like you ride a helicopter into the Arctic on a mission of sorts. All of the adults who went on this felt they got shaken up too much for it to be fun. But the First Grader enjoyed it, and he likened the feel of the simulator to Disney’s Star Tours. Shamu’s Happy Harbor is the ride area designed for the younger set, but it seemed to be really set apart from the rest of the park. If we only had younger ones, we probably would have spent more of our day there, with water features, playgrounds, and rides. But since we had a mix of kids and adults, we saved that area until we had seen most of the other attractions in the park. By the time we rolled up to Shamu’s Happy Harbor, the little ones had fallen asleep in the stroller. The shows were entertaining for everyone in our group, even though we were not sitting in the “wet zones”. We were only able to take in 2 shows: One Ocean and Believe. One Ocean highlights whales (Shamu!), and Believe was more of an aerial-acrobatic show mixed with dolphin tricks. The First Grader thought One Ocean was “incredible” and liked how the whales shot up into the air, and how they were able to slide across the stage. The Tween preferred Believe with all of the acrobatics, trapeze artists, and divers. The Parents and The Grandmas enjoyed both, with maybe a bit of an edge going to Believe. While we didn’t sign up for any official animal feedings or interactions, there were a few places where we could touch some of the animals. The first stop was the Stingrays. According to The Tween, “if you don’t like touching slimy stuff, do NOT touch the stingrays”. The First Grader flat-out refused to even get near the tank! I’ll admit, they were slimier-feeling than I expected, but I was glad to have checked it out. Next stop was the Dolphins. There were no feedings available at the time we reached their pool, but we were able to walk up and see them coming out of the water. We reached our hands out, but our arms weren’t quite long enough to touch them. It was neat to be so close though. We held The Toddler up to see, and he was ready to jump in the water with the Dolphins, which made the nearby staff member a little nervous. We also saw the Manatees (no strollers allowed) and the Penguin Encounter (a bit smelly, and also no strollers allowed), which everyone enjoyed. The Parents and The Grandmas thought it was neat how the penguins were swimming underwater, and then literally flew up out of the water to land on the rocks again. The First Grader was more interested in making comparisons to Club Penguin, but at least now he knows that Captain Rockhopper is named for a Rockhopper Penguin. There were also various aquarium areas (again, no strollers allowed), where you could see rays, fish, seahorses, and more. These were nice ways to get out of the hot sun and see some pretty neat creatures. The only drawback was that you couldn’t always walk through with a stroller. I know there’s always a debate on keeping animals in captivity and putting on shows around them. Part of me did feel bad that the whales and dolphins were made to do all these “tricks” to the laughter and applause in the audience. But another part of me felt that it can be beneficial for people to see that these animals are smart and worth protecting, and SeaWorld does provide an educational experience in that regard.
Next stop in our fun-filled weekend: a surprise for the kids - a visit to Aquatica! |
AuthorMarisa Bower Archives
January 2022
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