Anyone have Aquatica reports?

[kristytru]

I think I read on these boards that Aquatica was having a soft opening on 2/22. I'm waiting to purchase my tix until after a few reports come in about the park especially pix of the cabanas. Anyone?

 

[livndisney]

I think yesterday and today were Employee preview days and tomorrow and monday are AP preview days. So maybe you will get some answers by early next week-

 

[Jason71]

Went yesterday for employee preview day (I'm not really an employee, but friends with a great number of them).

Overall, a very fun park. The theming is awesome--colors everywhere, lots of flowers and tropical plants and wildlife figures. Much better than Sea World itself--on a level with a Disney park or Islands of Adventure. Even the music carries through the South Pacific theme--variations on Australian/New Zealand aboriginal music, with the occasional dolphin or bird noises. Even the announcements are made by a Steve Irwin sound-alike.

Rode probably half the rides. The two tall slides, which use "family-size" tubes, are intense but fun. The "rapid river," which you just float down, is a blast. Only one of the two wave pools was working, but the beach area beside them is huge--maybe three times the size of Typhoon Lagoon's. In addition, there are banks of lounge chairs all over the park; even in busy times, I imagine you will be able to find a seat.

A few downsides: the park itself is huge. It feels like you're walking through a park the size of Magic Kingdom. Also, it's kind of hard to navigate. No paper maps (who would want one?), but no map signs, either. There are directional arrows, but the names of the rides are not that intuitive.

Also, given the size of the park, there could have been more attractions--especially animal-based ones, given the way they promote the park. In fairness, the "conservation cabana" is not complete yet, where there will be animal interaction, but other than the dolphin slide, there aren't that many live animals yet.

Re: the dolphin slide. Didn't wait to ride it myself, but I heard from friends it's mostly in the dark, other than the brief moment you pass through the dolphin tank. I will say, it looks nothing like the concept art--much more enclosed. That said, the underwater viewing area was a huge hit, and always seemed to have a crowd.

Overall, this will be bad news for Wet n Wild, and will no doubt make Sea World lots of money. But I'm not sure it's unique enough to be the threat to Disney that, say, IOA's Harry Potter land probably will be.

Happy to try to answer specific questions if anyone has any...

 

[gardener14]

No paper maps (who would want one?), but no map signs, either.

Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Va (another A-B water park) has paper maps. They are very useful for orienting yourself within the large park or for locating a restaurant or restroom. It's easy to stow in a bag when you're going to get wet. They also make great souvenirs (I collect paper park maps). I hope Aquatica has them too when the park becomes fully operational.

 

[Kren]

Basic stuff -- we bring our own towels, right? What restrictions on what we bring in? (My 3YO has a Speedo "floatie" suit with zippers and removable inflatable inserts; I know some places restrict those). Up here in the frozen north, at Camelbeach, we actually can bring picnic coolers from outside; we just have to go to a separate area, just outside the park, to eat (access in and out is via wristband). I don't think we'd get that lucky down there; it is SO cost-effective to bring your own food from home!!

I assume there are lockers we can rent to stow valuables?

Just realized, you're not an employee, but if you know...thanks!

 

[wwessing]

Happy to try to answer specific questions if anyone has any...

Gosh. . .where to begin. . .

Cabanas. . . can you talk a bit about those?? Like where they are located and so forth. I know there are 18; they are $150 a day; will have suntan lotion, towels, lockers and drinks and a cabana boy or girl to assist you. I heard a rumor that there is very little shade. . . "website" says lots of shadey areas. . . can you speak to this??

Tubes. . . at most waterparks you can tubes for wave pools, etc. Are they provided or do you have to rent here as well? If yes, any idea on prices?

Lifejackets. . . I saw a large wall of lifejackets. . . what are these about?? Required on something. . . perhaps just for those who aren't great swimmers??

Food. . .you've touched on it regarding the all u can eat, and the "health" place. I was told there are 4 restaurants plus all the random stands. Do you know more about this??

 

[Jason71]

Basic stuff -- we bring our own towels, right? What restrictions on what we bring in? (My 3YO has a Speedo "floatie" suit with zippers and removable inflatable inserts; I know some places restrict those). Up here in the frozen north, at Camelbeach, we actually can bring picnic coolers from outside; we just have to go to a separate area, just outside the park, to eat (access in and out is via wristband). I don't think we'd get that lucky down there; it is SO cost-effective to bring your own food from home!!

I assume there are lockers we can rent to stow valuables?

Just realized, you're not an employee, but if you know...thanks!

I did notice towels for rent, but everybody I saw brought their own. Honestly, didn't pay attention to the restrictions (sorry, single guy, lol) but they have racks of brightly colored lifejackets next to every attraction where a kid (or adult) might need them. Should have mentioned that before.

Do have locker rentals. For employees, it was $5, fully refundable, but a sign said $8 for regular guests, of which $5 would be refundable. And thankfully they have real keys (on wristbands), too, not these stupid fingerprint-readers.

Guessing there will be a no outside food policy. Not even a picnic area outside that I saw. As I recall, even Disney used to allow this back in the 70s, but now all the parks seem to frown upon it.

 

[Jason71]

Gosh. . .where to begin. . .

Cabanas. . . can you talk a bit about those?? Like where they are located and so forth. I know there are 18; they are $150 a day; will have suntan lotion, towels, lockers and drinks and a cabana boy or girl to assist you. I heard a rumor that there is very little shade. . . "website" says lots of shadey areas. . . can you speak to this??

Saw the cabanas from a far; they line either side of the wave pool. They did not look big at all. (Today I read they seat 4, which seems about right.) Re: "drinks". None of the stands were open, so this could change, but I only saw beer; no liquor, so no margaritas/daiquiris/frozen concotions to help you hang on. Bit of a disappointment, really. The cabanas might have shade, I couldn't get that close. As for the rest of the park, not really, a few spots, here and there. Then again, it was only mildly hot with occasional clouds, so I wasn't really looking.

Tubes. . . at most waterparks you can tubes for wave pools, etc. Are they provided or do you have to rent here as well? If yes, any idea on prices?

Included where they are required. Didn't see any near the wave pool, not sure they are allowed there. (Or maybe the sun fried my brain, lol).

Lifejackets. . . I saw a large wall of lifejackets. . . what are these about?? Required on something. . . perhaps just for those who aren't great swimmers??

Required for kids of a certain height on certain rides (definitely the rapids river, for one), and recommended for those who can't swim well. Racks of them all over the park.

Food. . .you've touched on it regarding the all u can eat, and the "health" place. I was told there are 4 restaurants plus all the random stands. Do you know more about this??

There were 3 restaurants open. The "healthy" food/grilled sandwich place, the pizza place, and the all-you-can-eat burger/picnic place. There were other stands around, none were open. At least one had frozen lemonade machines (but seemed pretty clearly non-alcoholic). A few gift shops around, as well. And a photo stand at the entrance--photographers in the park give you a wristband, to see your photos at the end of the day.

 

[gardener14]

Most Anheuser-Busch parks seem to follow the same procedures, so I assume the policy regarding tubes and life jackets will be similar to Water Country USA, their sister park. There, they provide tubes for attractions that require them (lazy river, certain slides, etc.), and they provide life jackets instead of tubes for other attractions such as the wave pool and rapid river. There is no charge for tubes or life jackets at Water Country USA. Life jackets are not required for the wave pool or rapid river, but they make it much more enjoyable in my opinion...similar to using a tube for floating on the wave or current, but they allow you to be in the water instead of on top of it. Many adults utilize them in the wave pool and most adults utilize them in the rapid river. I hope that helps until someone can answer definitively about Aquatica.

 

[wwessing]

Most Anheuser-Busch parks seem to follow the same procedures, so I assume the policy regarding tubes and life jackets will be similar to Water Country USA, their sister park. There, they provide tubes for attractions that require them (lazy river, certain slides, etc.), and they provide life jackets instead of tubes for other attractions such as the wave pool and rapid river. There is no charge for tubes or life jackets at Water Country USA. Life jackets are not required for the wave pool or rapid river, but they make it much more enjoyable in my opinion...similar to using a tube for floating on the wave or current, but they allow you to be in the water instead of on top of it. Many adults utilize them in the wave pool and most adults utilize them in the rapid river. I hope that helps until someone can answer definitively about Aquatica.

I've never been on a lazy or rapid river on anything other than a tube. As a matter of fact, at a water park we got to around Lake of the Ozarks, you can't put your feet down in the river. . floating only. . . no running around. You only put your feet down when you want to get out. Keeps kids from getting in and disturbing everyone else relaxing and floating along. . . inluding mine own

I've also not been to an AB water park. . .so I'm very interested and greatly anticipating our visit to Aquatica. Can't wait for more info

 

[racinjunkie]

I've never been on a lazy or rapid river on anything other than a tube.

I'm thinking that the rapid river is similar to water country usa's "hubba hubba highway"
http://www.watercountryusa.com/wc/ar_hubba.aspx
it is a faster moving current than a lazy river, essentially you wear a life jacket and jump into the current and you are pulled around the loop. Maybe that helps explain it better. We LOVED the hubba hubba highway!!

 

[collcass]

Wow, the pictures of this park looked amazing. Was the slide that goes through the dolphin pool open?

 

[jerseygal]

I think that Jason71 said that the dolphin slide was mostly enclosed except for the portion where it goes through the dolphin tank...I was hoping for a more "open" slide on most of it..I myself am not a huge fan of enclosed slides, but I think these appeal to alot of people..The part at the end with the dolphin tank seems so awesome though!!! I think I'll have my kids try it out first!

 

[Marjol]

I'm going to Aquatica at the end of april... I'm very curious about this park! Can't wait to see it for myself!

 

[Jason71]

I think that Jason71 said that the dolphin slide was mostly enclosed except for the portion where it goes through the dolphin tank...I was hoping for a more "open" slide on most of it..I myself am not a huge fan of enclosed slides, but I think these appeal to alot of people..The part at the end with the dolphin tank seems so awesome though!!! I think I'll have my kids try it out first!

Was open, I didn't ride it, but those who did said mostly enclosed--dark to the point that it's hard to tell when you're about to hit the water. Not a fan of enclosed slides myself, so it might be more fun to just stand by underwater viewing and watch for your kids to zoom on through past the dolphins.

Re: the rapids ride. No tubes (unlike the "lazy river" ride), you just kind of float with the moderately fast current--occasionally, the river splits and it gets really fast for maybe 20 feet or so. The water never goes more than like 4 feet deep,so lifejackets are not required for adults, but if you can't swim, you'd probably be more comfortable with one on.

 

[gardener14]

Re: the rapids ride. No tubes (unlike the "lazy river" ride), you just kind of float with the moderately fast current--occasionally, the river splits and it gets really fast for maybe 20 feet or so. The water never goes more than like 4 feet deep,so lifejackets are not required for adults, but if you can't swim, you'd probably be more comfortable with one on.

In my experience with the similar ride at Water Country USA, most people wore life jackets. Whether or not you could swim, life jackets made it much more fun because you could easily float on the current and relax.

 

[Capt_BJ]

For anyone who went....

what was the water temp? I'm a local and already have a season pass. DD is busting my butt to go first soft opening day (general public), but she thinks our pool is too cold to go in...it's holding about 75

was the water temp posted anyplace?

 

[iwynlea]

Good morning, all. DH and I were at the passholder preview yesterday (Sunday 2/24) and it sounds like a little more was open for us than on the employee preview day. I'll post more details later (when I'm home from work...at the office right now), including many pictures we took yesterday! The park opened for previews at 10am - we pulled into the parking lot at about 10:45am, and it took us about 20 minutes to actually get into the park due to a huge line waiting to get the "special gift" - a really nifty tee-shirt that says "I was the first to Swim, Slide and Ride at Aquatica". Once we got in, no problems - the lines averaged about 5-10 minutes for all the slides (and they were all open) except for the dolphin plunge, which we waited about 30 minutes for.

I found the slides to be unique twists on traditional slides -- like the toboggan racing slide (the kind you come down on a mat on your stomach) started out enclosed and went in a circle before opening to the downward plunge. All the slides seemed to be much faster than I remember most water parking being...my most recent other water park experience was in Denver in July at their Waterworld. I didn't think the Dolphin slide was that great...you really can't see the dolphins from the slide unless they happen to be right above you, as you're moving pretty fast! The viewing area is better...it's clear the dolphins are super playful and they like to go FAST! They're a lot of fun to watch.

The tubes and floats seemed lighter, too, than usual; my arms weren't completely exhausted at the end of the day. Both wave pools were open - it's about a 20 minute cycle, with 8 minutes of waves and 12 minutes of calm. One pool has HUGE waves, the other has smaller even waves to bob in (we preferred the calmer pool).

Two kiddie areas -- one for little bittie kids and one for older kids who maybe aren't big enough to do the big slides yet (we don't have kids, so didn't explore too much here, but the kids seemed to be having a good time). Both had slides geared at the kids...the "little nippers" (as the announcement kept calling them) had little slides they could go on with their parents, and the older kids had slides they could do by themselves but were still tame compared to the big slides in the park. Oh, and little nippers MUST have swim diapers on, and these are available at all the stores, or so the announcements said.

Loved all the bright, whimsical colors! I felt like the park was pretty small, compared with Waterworld or Blizzard Beach, but I guess they'll expand? My one expectation that wasn't met was there didn't seem to be enough animals! The Commerson's dolphins are great to watch, and they had parrots out on a tree, plus on the lazy river you go by a tank with lots of fish, but that's it. Seemed like they were making a really big deal out of this being a water park from Seaworld, so I was expecting more animals!

I agree with OP that the lack of map signage was a problem. The directional arrows just don't do it for me, and I wasn't going to carry the paper map around with me and get it wet.

But, overall, I loved it and will be back A LOT this summer!!

Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Va (another A-B water park) has paper maps. They are very useful for orienting yourself within the large park or for locating a restaurant or restroom. It's easy to stow in a bag when you're going to get wet. I hope Aquatica has them too when the park becomes fully operational.

They gave us paper maps yesterday, but I didn't find them very helpful. Since we go from ride to ride, it didn't make sense to carry the map with us and get it wet, nor to run back to our towels each time we wanted to figure out where we were. We just sort of wandered around and hoped for the best. LOL. I do like having it as a reference now that I'm home, though!

Basic stuff -- we bring our own towels, right? What restrictions on what we bring in? (My 3YO has a Speedo "floatie" suit with zippers and removable inflatable inserts; I know some places restrict those). Up here in the frozen north, at Camelbeach, we actually can bring picnic coolers from outside; we just have to go to a separate area, just outside the park, to eat (access in and out is via wristband). I assume there are lockers we can rent to stow valuables?

There are two sizes of lockers. The smaller is $7 and you get $2 back when you turn in your key, and the larger is $10 with $3 back. We got the larger locker and stored two pairs of tennis shoes, a medium-sized camera bag with camera, and a HUGE backpack with some room to spare. Overall, I was very pleased with the sizes.

They were turning away people with coolers, so I wouldn't recommend brining those in. They have towel rental for $4 and you get $2 back, but I didn't seem many people using that option. They do have an all you can eat buffet which you can purchase either as a one-time deal (you go in, eat as much as you want, and leave with no re-entry) for $13, or you can eat all day long (go in and out as much as you want) for $20, so prices are too terrible. The food quality was good, too, for theme park food! We'd rate it a 7 or 8 out of 10 for comparable water park offerings (and probably a 5 if compared to regular restaurant food...like I said, typical of a theme park).

Some of the ride restrictions say you can't wear swimsuits with buckles and zippers, but that's mainly for the slides. Lifejackets are provided in all sizes, but aren't allowed on the body slides. I did see some children in the same type of suit you describe in the kiddie area pools.

Cabanas. . . can you talk a bit about those??

Tubes. . . at most waterparks you can tubes for wave pools, etc. Are they provided or do you have to rent here as well? If yes, any idea on prices?

Lifejackets. . . I saw a large wall of lifejackets. . . what are these about?? Required on something. . . perhaps just for those who aren't great swimmers??

I was told there are 4 restaurants plus all the random stands. Do you know more about this??

All of the cabanas were closed off, so I can't speak to that. The tubes are ONLY for the rides for which they are provided (4 slides, lazy river, and the "toilet bowl" ride). Not allowed in the wave pools and not available for rent. Use the lifejackets if you want to float; they're free and there are walls of them everywhere. We're pooh-sized people, and we wore them with no problems, and really enjoyed being able to float and bob in the wave pool and the rapid river with them.

There are 3 restaurants. The all you can eat, a woodfired pizza place, and the Waterfront Grill (where we ate). They offered chef-carved turkey and ham on foccicia bread (YUM!!), steak and cheese sandwiches, wraps, and salad. There were stands, too, but except for a couple of ice cream carts, they were closed. I don't think the crowds yesterday, since it was a "sneak peak" day warranted having them open.

I'm thinking that the rapid river is similar to water country usa's "hubba hubba highway"
http://www.watercountryusa.com/wc/ar_hubba.aspx
it is a faster moving current than a lazy river, essentially you wear a life jacket and jump into the current and you are pulled around the loop. Maybe that helps explain it better. We LOVED the hubba hubba highway!!

Sounds like it. We'd never experienced anything like a rapid river before, but once we realized how much fun it was to float with the lifejackets on, we went around probably 10 times!

Wow, the pictures of this park looked amazing. Was the slide that goes through the dolphin pool open?

Yes, but I didn't think it was worth the wait. Fun, but nothing different ride-wise from a typical body slide. Unless the dolphins are right above you, you can't see much as you zip down the slide, and you're only in the clear dolphin tube part for about 2-3 seconds. Neat in concept, though, and fun to watch people zipping through the slide while you're watching the dolphins.

what was the water temp? I'm a local and already have a season pass. DD is busting my butt to go first soft opening day (general public), but she thinks our pool is too cold to go in...it's holding about 75. was the water temp posted anyplace?

The water temp wasn't posted, but the water felt very warm to me. It was probably 75 outside yesterday morning, and the water felt nice and warm. As the day warmed up, the water temps seemed to go down a little to match, so it really was perfect, we thought! The breeze was chilly, walking between rides, but other than that we had a great time!

Any other questions, ask away! I'll post pics tonight when I get home!

 

[WeCantWait]

Thank you to both Jason and iwynlea. You have both provided great information. Iwynlea, I am looking forward to the pictures. We have already booked a cabana, so I can't wait until we can get some information on them. We will be there in a little more than 4 months. It can't come soon enough for me.

 

[iwynlea]

Thank you to both Jason and iwynlea. You have both provided great information. Iwynlea, I am looking forward to the pictures. We have already booked a cabana, so I can't wait until we can get some information on them. We will be there in a little more than 4 months. It can't come soon enough for me.

DH and I already decided we're going to go back next Sunday (DH works on Saturday, so we can't go then) and if the cabanas are open, and no one else beats me to it, I'll get some pictures and such for you!