Florida Guide > Other Parks
Aquatica - Our First Visit
Very excited we took our first trip to Aquatica in June. We love the Disney waterparks and as the ticket offer at the time was for fourteen days unlimited access to Seaworld and Aquatica, we visited around 3pm as the waterpark was open until 10 and luckily it had been such wonderful weather that it had started to cool a little by then.
Luckily a member of our party has a Seaworld passport so parking is free otherwise it is $10, which obviously differs from the Disney waterparks where parking is free.
As you enter you can see the Dolphins which are in the pool of one the rides. The ride is two clear tubes and you can watch the guests sliding down through the tubes both at the side of the pool but then again on the Lazy River ride – my girls said they didn’t see that much when on the ride however but it is great to watch the dolphins. They are small and look a bit like tiny killer whales.
There are sun loungers and chairs dotted all around the park and even a beach! The beach is adjacent to two wave pools, one is quite sedate and good for little ones and the other I found stronger than Typhoon Lagoon and the girls loved it. Plenty of lifeguards so no danger. Plus they also provide padded life jackets and lots of people wear these all day (there is no charge for these). We put down our towels etc and went to explore.
It is not a huge park and the signposts are good but as it is not so large as the Disney parks, it can feel a little busy. Lots of young teens but I think as it had not long opened they were locals enjoying their new park. There are a fair few places to eat and if you arrive to spend a whole day, recommend the “all you can eat” for $20 which allows you to eat pretty much all day and drinks are also included. As we only wanted an evening meal we paid the $13 to visit just once but the food was delicious, pasta, burgers, chicken, rice not unlike the Dine with Shamu fare. We all thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
The girls loved the rapids – it is like a lazy river but with rapids that carry you around sometimes slowly and then in parts quite quickly. I recommend the life jackets for the little ones as it can go quite fast. The water is just so warm and at night once the sun went down, whilst it was still 70degrees, the warm water was beautiful.
The lazy river is relaxing but again not as big as Disneys but you can see the dolphins underwater and you don’t have to go on a tube if you don’t want to so it is very pleasant.
We went onto the family raft which is very high up to walk up to (my kids laugh at how scared of heights I am) but once there it is well worth it. This actually goes quite quickly down but it goes through a completely dark tube and you can see nothing only feel the movement and hear me scream!
There were lots of other things to do so we left that evening and went back on another day. Only downside was they do shut the park if there are thunderstorms around the area so if you had paid $10 parking, it would be an expensive couple of hours! !
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