wild waves in federal way, washington?

[ado121]

anyone been? we are thinking about going at the end of the summer...

 

[raftislander]

I have been and my daughter(16) has been several times. Wild Waves is not a destination park, IMO. It is not something that I would make a trip for. I am not very happy with the cleanliness of the park and it is overpriced and understaffed. You can spend forever in line trying to buy a drink. You will hear lots of foul language. A few years back, Six Flags bought this park, then quickly sold it as it just didn't meet Six Flag standards and they didn't want to spend the money it would take to bring it up to snuff. Not sure what sort of trip you are looking for or what are the ages that are in your group? If you have teens I would head toward Silverwood in Idaho (not too far from Spokane). It has a waterpark and larger amusement park with coasters. If you have younger kids, I might think about the Great Wolf Lodge near Centralia, WA which is an indoor waterpark/hotel. You have to stay at the Lodge to use the waterpark, but they will let you use it all day on check-in and check-out day. Ask if you have more questions.

 

[ado121]

thanks for your input! can you suggest some other things to do around that area? we went to great wolf lodge last year and loved it. but the prices have gone up so much! i found the handson kids museum in olympia. might like to check that out. anything else? sounds like the wild waves thing isn't for us. i have 4 little ones all under 7. don't want to hear vulgar language. and dont want to stand in excessive lineups!

looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

Amy

 

[raftislander]

Amy,

I have to put my thinking cap on for ideas for your age group in this area as it has been a little while since my daughter was in the age range. A woman I work with has four kids under nine, so I will ask her for her thoughts. The Museum of Flight is great, but your kids are probably a little young yet for that. Are you committed to the south Puget Sound area or just looking for a trip that is roughly that distance away from you? Our local paper The Tacoma News Tribune had an article in the Sunday(today's) paper about Moses Lake (east on I-90) and mentioned that the city had turned its community pool area into a lange water park that charges $7-9 per person. I haven't been there but it sounded much better than Wild Waves, especially for families with young ones. Here is a link to the article http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/05/16/1188402/moses-lake-area-rich-with-variety.html Moses Lake is a town of about 19,000 and has lots of outdoor activites. I know that Wolf Lodge has a facebook page and sometimes offer discounts onthier rates on these pages, so that my be way to get back there at a reasonable price.
Kit

 

[endy]

We've been to the Northwest Trek Wildlife park a couple of times. I absolutely loved it, so did my son.
It's maybe 45 minutes south of Seattle.
We went to Seattle twice '06 & '08 so my son would've been 8-10.
Woodland Zoo, aquarium, Tacoma zoo, duck tour, tower, Mariners baseball.
If we don't make it to San fran in July we will maybe go to Seattle again.
We did Wild Waves both times. My son enjoyed it as we don't have anything that big in Calgary.

There's lots of coupons for the area if you look.

http://www.seattleattractions.com/nwt.html

 

[raftislander]

I agree about Northwest Trek. It is further south and east of Wild Waves. Seattle Zoo is great, Tacoma zoo (Pt. Defiance Zoo and Aquarium) is much smaller, but that is sometimes a plus with so many young kids. It has a great polar bear exhibit and a carrousel. Lots of picnic grounds and play grounds in Pt. Defiance park. It also has a living history museum (Fort Nisqually) that has guides in period dress and sometimes special reenactment events. On some weekends an old logging train is running (Camp Six) -it costs a nominal fee to ride. Mariners game would be pricey, but the Tacoma Raniers is a good affordable alternative. I often see family packs for around $45 that include tickets, food (hot dogs or pizza, sometimes) and drinks.