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!