Do You Bother With Water Parks?

[Password121]

I never went out of my way to visit one until last summer at SFA's Hurricane Harbor which is a rare case because the water park is actaully more highly regarded than the dry side considering SFA really lacks in terms of coasters. Generally though I wouldn't make time for it unless the dry side sucks or the water park is exceptional. I'm considering trying Kings Dominion's Soak City this summer for a few hours to do along with half a day on the dry side, but I wouldn't make a full day of it or pay admission for it if I didn't have a season pass.

 

I'll also agree with prozach on this one outside of these cases, I'm 18 and an athlete and I still feel a little uncomfortable standing shirtless all day with a bunch of people I don't know. Sunscreen's a pain too.

[Fgcassady]

Well since my brother is afraid of rollercoasters, but not water rides, we tend to go to water parks a lot.

[cfc]

I like water parks quite a bit; for example, I think Splashin' Safari has the two best rides at Holiday World (Wildebeest and Mammoth).

[Nrthwnd]

Until they get another form of getting up to the (&*@# slides,

(i.e vertical lifts) it'll be a while till we go to another one.

 

We tried West Edmonton Mall's water park once, and it was pretty awesome!

 

We did used to go to this really simple layout of just a few

slides, at this small water park, south of the border (in Birch Bay WA).

Visited it several times and really enjoyed it, back then.

[IamDolfin]

Removed.

Edited August 30, 2018 by IamDolfin

[canadianparkfan]

Depending on the park, I'll definitely check it out.

 

^^Edmonton's park is great

 

If the water park's inside a dry park, I usually won't have time to do both, but with that being said, there's a lot of great standalone waterparks in my area with checking out and even spending a full day at.

 

Calypso park in Ottawa is the first big one that comes to mind. It opened just a few years ago, and has a massive collection of rides (some of which, i.e. Aqualoop, speed slides, can be just as thrilling as many of the dry rides I've done).

 

The Toronto area also has quite a few parks:

 

-Great Wolf Lodge Niagara: Familt focused indoor waterpark; highlights include proslide bowl and proslide watercoaster, similar to Zip Coaster at the Kalahari indoor park)

 

-Fallsview Waterpark (Another indoor waterpark in Niagara, more thrill focused, with highlights that include a mat racing slide, bowl and speed slides).

 

-WildWater Kingdom (Just outside of Toronto. Nothing spectacular when I last visited, however, the park's getting a major overhaul, and should re-open this season with some great new attractions).

 

-Bingeman's Big Splash (The closest park to me, about an hour outside of Toronto. I haven't been, but plan to check it out this year. From what I know, the park has a boomerang slide, racing slide and bowl, all manufactured by whitewater).

[Midgetman82]

If the water park is significant enough, I'll go out of my way to enjoy them. I feel very, very lucky that the two closest parks to me have outstanding water parks attached to them (KK and HW), so I almost always plan a day to include them when I pay a visit to the parks. I've yet to go out of my way for Kings Island's or Beech Bend Park's water parks since they haven't stood out enough for a visit, but I hope to change that soon since they're both getting new stuff.

[Rill'o'beily]

Unless the queues are under 30 minutes max in an amusement park, i can have much more fun at a water park.

Of course it sort of depends on the water park but in general.

[DirkFunk]

Yeah, I mess with water parks. Truthfully though, the industry is so homogenized that I don't generally get excited for water parks now unless there's something really wild or different that one has. Whitewater and Proslide are probably 90%+ of the market in the US with Polin being almost all the the remainder, and they all make basically the same types of slides. Old water slides (like concrete death traps), water coasters, and lazy rivers are basically what I'm about with those. Everything else is a "seen it once, seen it a million times" situation after a couple years pass.

[805Andrew]

I love water parks! They can give you certain thrills that coasters can't such as the feeling of uncertainty due to the lack of restraints. It takes courage to go down certain tall, steep waterslides. You can't simply strap on a restraint, and let someone else take control - you have to send yourself down. Also water slides at water parks can be more unpredictable with each ride differing from the previous one.

[Philrad71]

WildWater Kingdom (Just outside of Toronto. Nothing spectacular when I last visited, however, the park's getting a major overhaul, and should re-open this season with some great new attractions).

 

That's good to hear because we went here the day before TPR's Levi Bash a few years ago and while it was an okay park, I felt that it was quite dated and needed some new slides.

 

Although I hope that they don't remove Devil's Drop....I loved these little slides!

 

Adventure Island near Busch Gardens also had something similar in addition to the cliff jump...so fun!

So simple, yet so much fun!

 

I don't think that they build new slides that have the drop-out at the end into 8'-10' deep water anymore, do they?

Although I have to plug my nose, I love the drop out of this slide!

 

This one is of me at Adventure Island last year.

Me jumping off the "cliff" at Adventure Island....wheeeeee!!!!

 

I think that those two were my favorite attractions at Adventure Island...I must have done those at least five times each! lol

[Schrecken]

I like waterparks because I like to swim and be in the water. However, I rarely ever set foot in one for a few reasons. First, if I am traveling to visit a park (this pertains to those parks that also have a waterpark) I seldom have time to visit both parks. Especially if it's a park I've never been to before I am all about getting to ride all of the coasters before the day's end.

Second, it seems that nearly everyone I have traveled with in the past few years has little interest in waterparks, and always a reason or excuse that they can't or won't go. I can think of at least a few trips where I've been in the dry park with a friend or two on a hellishly hot day and I've got the sudden urge to hit the water park. But said friend(s) come up with all kinds of reasons why they don't want to go. It's too much trouble - what if my glasses get chlorine on them - I can't see w/o my glasses - I forgot my towel - I don't feel like changing, and on and on...

And finally, there's the issue of waterparks with their own separate admission. I was with a non-waterpark friend at CP one year and we agreed to part ways for a couple of hours during the day so I could hit the waterpark. However, I found it to be not worth it to pay the full admission for just two or three hours of time and so I just suffered out the heat of the day and continued to ride coasters and flats with my friend. I would have no problem paying the full admission (or a combined admission for both parks) if I was able to plan on spending a couple of days there. But that wasn't the case.

[Philrad71]

^ You just need to find more friends that like water parks!

 

As far as Soak City at CP, I actually like the fact that it is separate admission from the dry park. Reason being, while it tends to still get crowded during the summer months (especially on hot weekends), it is nowhere near as insane as the crowds that we have encountered when the water park is included in admission with a theme park (IE: Dorney, KI, Carowinds, Hershey and KD). As thrillrider mentioned, it's hardly worth the effort if you have to stand in line for close to an hour waiting for a 15 second water slide.

 

Also remember that if you buy a Cedar Fair Platinum Pass, Soak City is included!

[Nrthwnd]

I never went to it myself, during the TPR 2010 Europe tour, but I know a number of people did go to the

Movieland AQUASTUDIOS in Italy.

 

This water park also has a few of the highest drop water slides, known to TPR. Pretty intense, I was told.

The slides. Photo is from the TPR Review of the 2010 Tour. Thank You! (o:

[VegasBaby]

I love waterparks and we go to our local park here in Vegas (Cowabunga Bay) once or twice a week in the summer. Sometimes I'll do the slides, and sometimes I'll just chill with the kids in the wave pool and the lazy river. It's a great place to hang out on hot summer days and most of our good friends have season passes. However, I will admit that I rarely visit a water park when traveling, unless it's something special like Holiday World, Schlitterbahn, or the Wisconsin Dells. If I have to choose between coasters or waterslides, coasters win hands down. But I do love my local waterpark!

[Philrad71]

^^ Those slides look awesome, Bill!

[Canobie Coaster]

I like the water slides, but not the capacity. I probably do it backwards, but I only like going to water parks on cooler days or towards the end of the day when the lines are down. I don't mind if it's cold as long as I can maximize my slide time.

 

If I am limited on time or the ride park is exceptional (ex. Cedar Point, Hersheypark, Knoebels, etc), I will skip the water park. If I have a full day and the water park has some decent slides, I will stop in. If the water park has a water coaster/master blaster type slide, it becomes a must ride.

[Golddisk]

Everyone has a good point about capacity that I forgot about... At my home park, especially on hot days, the lines can easily exceed 45 minutes for a really quick ride. Plus, most of that time is spent standing shirtless exposed to sunburn even with sunscreen.

 

Slightly cooler and v weekday days are definitely better for a water park.

[XII]

I really like water parks and always enjoy going to them, but I don't visit them nearly as often as I'd like to. For me, the water park has to be really big and have a lot of cool stuff for me to keep coming back. For instance, Wild Rivers was amazing and easily the best water park in SoCal, but since it closed, I don't make nearly the same effort to visit the other water parks in the area since they aren't nearly as good. I generally don't visit water parks unless I've done everything and am in the mood to check out their water park. However, there are some exceptions with the really great water parks. When doing my Texas Trip, I did a whole day at Schlitterbahn, which was one of my favorite days, and I do not regret for a single second doing the water park at Movieland Studios, which has some of the craziest water slides ever.

 

[Nrthwnd]

^ I KNEW there was some kind of TPR video of one of these insane slides! Thanks for posting it, Kevin!

[B&MBoy1982]

I like waterparks, but I don't go to many.

 

I go to Soak City at Kings Island a couple times a year because it is free, but other than that I have no desire to pay separate admission.

 

I am looking forward to Tropical Plunge. Trap door slides are awesome.

[Golddisk]

When doing my Texas Trip, I did a whole day at Schlitterbahn, which was one of my favorite days, and I do not regret for a single second doing the water park at Movieland Studios, which has some of the craziest water slides ever.

 

 

The slide looks like it would be fun and have some good air time for a water slide, but I imagine there would be a number of injuries on it each season as well!

[coloradocoasterguy]

I love waterparks, but I don't see the point of combined parks. It is a hassle to change back and forth. Most waterparks won't let you even wear watershoes but the amusement park won't let you go on rides barefoot.

[RCF]

I love waterparks, but I don't see the point of combined parks. It is a hassle to change back and forth. Most waterparks won't let you even wear watershoes but the amusement park won't let you go on rides barefoot.

That's somewhat of a mute point when you would have to change back and forth with just a water park and to the car in the first place.

[coloradocoasterguy]

I love waterparks, but I don't see the point of combined parks. It is a hassle to change back and forth. Most waterparks won't let you even wear watershoes but the amusement park won't let you go on rides barefoot.

That's somewhat of a mute point when you would have to change back and forth with just a water park and to the car in the first place.

 

I don't change for the car.