A comparison of Aquatica and Wet n' Wild

[JillPTFLA]

Hi everyone! We just got back from a weekend waterpark trip and I thought that I would post my thoughts for anyone interested. A bit of background: we live in South FL so we get up to Orlando fairly often. We are a family of 4, mom, dad, and two boys 7 and 3. Both of our kids are small, our 7 yr old is about 45" and our 3 yr old is about 38". We went to Aquatica on Sat and Wet n' Wild on Sunday. This was our 2nd trip to Aquatica as a family and our first to WnW (I went when I was a little girl ages ago...it is very different except for the wave pool!).

Atmosphere/Theming: Aquatica wins this hands down (in fact, I think it beats Disney's waterparks here as well!). Lush landscaping, vibrant colors, fun animal "mascots", lovely music. There are spray jets throughout to keep the ground cool (I still recommend water shoes). WnW is much more a "roadside" water park...lots of concrete and no theming. Not a lot of shade either except for the pool-front area. There were some spray jets on the ground but not as many and they didn't seem to work as well. Rock/pop music piped in through the park except at the Disco H2O ride (which was disco obviously!)

Water slides/thrills: WnW definitely takes this category. Even for our small children, we were able to ride many of the rides as a family together. Kids are allowed on many of the rides at 36" with an adult and the holes in the tubes are sized so our 3 yr old did not slip through. At Aquatica, the tubes are for 2 people and it was much harder to keep our little one secure (the ride requirement is that he is able to hold his own position...he was but just barely). Strangely, the family raft rides at Aquatica have a 42" requirement so our little one could not go on...at WnW he loved it. Our favorite ride was Disco H2O...the whole family loved this one!

Kids area: Aquatica wins this one with 2 kids areas. Walkabout waters is designed for older kids with some pretty zippy slides and a huge play structure. Kata's Kookaburra Cove is designed for smaller kids with little slides and a mini lazy river. I preferred the Cove because it was much easier to keep track of the kids! WnW has a small kids area with a mini wave pool, lazy river and some slides but the lifeguard supervision was lacking and the slides could get dangerous (I did let them know this on the way out!)

Lazy river: Again, Aquatica wins with 2. Loggerhead Lane is the regular lazy river where you ride on tubes and can go through an aquarium. Only problem is that it shares tubes with the Tassies Twister (toilet bowl ride) and that line gets really long so finding a tube can be tough when it is busy. Roa's rapids is a fast river. Strap on a lifevest and go! This is our favorite attraction at Aquatica...tons of fun and totally unique!

Wave pools: eh...I'm not a big fan of wave pools at all...I think they are dangerous. But, both wave pools are fine...I would say this is a tie. But, I am not really a good person to talk about this since we didn't spend much time in either.

I did have one big beef with Aquatica...we bought our tix online and when I called customer service they told us to get there at 8 so we could have an hour early entry before the park officially opened. Well...they did let us in at 8 but then we had to stand at a rope until 8:30 until they let us actually in the park. This was quite aggravating...I never would have shown up at 8 if I did not think we would get in...my kids don't do well standing around with nothing to do! When I spoke with customer service, they told me that the phone people had been giving wrong info all summer...well this was Labor day wkend...it should have been fixed! Rather annoying...it did not ruin our day but it was not a great start.

So...overall we had a great time at both parks! I was kind of surprised we had as much fun at WnW as we did...I figured it was geared towards families with older kids and teens but we had tons of stuff to do and lots of fun as a family. We split up a lot more at Aquatica. I would definitely recommend both...WnW is a little less expensive if you are looking for better value.
If anyone has any specific questions, I would be happy to answer!
Jill

[jayduk]

When did you go to each park?...How did crowd levels compare?...I don't like queueing for water slides and didn't really get on much when i went to Aquatica because of queues....the dolphin plunge was particularly busy which looked pointless for a quick slide down a tube. Never been to WnW but have Flex Tickets this year so may consider a trip...

[JillPTFLA]

We were there this past weekend so both parks were pretty busy. We got to both parks right at opening so our waiting times would be minimal. I was the only one who went on the dolphin plunge (kids are too small and my hubby doesn't like enclosed slides) so I did it first thing with no wait. Overall, the lines at Aquatica were worse since WnW has more attractions to spread out the wait times.
The best thing to do is get to the parks when they open...we got to WnW right at 10am and were able to go on all the big attractions with no wait at all for the first 2 hours or so. Same at Aquatica. During the peak times, we went for the attractions with no waits (kids areas, lazy river, wave pool) and ate. The crowds thinned again in the late afternoon.
Good luck!
Jill

[neonurse]

We have never been to either water park only TL and BB at disney. My boys love water slides. They are 14 and 10. Do you think WnW would be the best choice for us. I was really looking forward to aquatica...do you think they would be disappointed there?
tia

[JillPTFLA]

That depends on your kids...are they looking for more "thrill-type" slides? If so, then I think Aquatica will be disappointing. The slides are definitely fun and zippy but nothing that really pumps the adrenaline. Wet and Wild has many more thrill ridesand I think will appeal to the teen/pre-teen much more.
Good luck!
Jill

[neonurse]

Thanks so much Jill!!