Aquatica - a couple of ?'s

[littlelaura]

We are planning a day at aquatica, I've heard that it can close due to capicity quite early in the day. anyone know if this happens much in early sept (week after labour day) and what sort of time?
also we were thinking of doing the all you can eat (all day) thing at banana beach. whats the food like here, is it good. also i see that children are classed as 3 -10. can my DS2 eat free off our plates like he can at wdw?
is aquatica next to seaworld? we are staying at wdw and do not have a hire car. so will probably use the lynx bus to seaworld and walk from there, although i've heard the lynx bus can take a long time to get you there, so may up taking a cab (if we can afford it), any advise here also appreciated.
thanks

 

[littlelaura]

bump

 

[JillPTFLA]

We went to Aquatica last year for labor day weekend and the park did not close to capacity. We got tickets off the internet so we were allowed to get in an hour early so I did the dolphin slide at that time. That was the only ride that had long lines. Our only other issue was a long wait for tubes for the lazy river because it shares access with one of the water slides. We just left the line and returned at another time. Also, if you have kids, make sure to get them the little lifevests early and keep them since those were hard to come by later as well.
I am pretty sure that it is walking distance from Seaworld. I'm not sure if it is easy access, though...I can't remember if there were sidewalks. But, I would think there is a shuttle between the two parks if not.

I would think that the week after labor day would be pretty slow since our schools are back in session mid-August.
Jill

 

[JillPTFLA]

Oh...and I'm not sure about the all you can eat food...we did not do it and just ate lunch at one of the counter service places and it was fine. The kids meal came in a nice bucket with a lid and shovel.
Jill

 

[RabFlmom]

We are planning a day at aquatica, I've heard that it can close due to capicity quite early in the day. anyone know if this happens much in early sept (week after labour day) and what sort of time?
also we were thinking of doing the all you can eat (all day) thing at banana beach. whats the food like here, is it good. also i see that children are classed as 3 -10. can my DS2 eat free off our plates like he can at wdw?
is aquatica next to seaworld? we are staying at wdw and do not have a hire car. so will probably use the lynx bus to seaworld and walk from there, although i've heard the lynx bus can take a long time to get you there, so may up taking a cab (if we can afford it), any advise here also appreciated.
thanks

I really doubt it will close to capacity in Sept.

The all you can eat is well worth it. The food is good. You can bop in all day long just to get a drink, but watch out for the brownies. They are sooooo good my son got a brownie every time they went in.

Are you going to do SW the same day as Acquatica? My son went back and forth between the parks. I think there is a shuttle( but they drove their car)
Since we have passes for SW they did all the slides and ate at Acquatica, went over to SW for a few things, then went back to Acquatica, closed down the park, and went back to Sea World for Shamu Rocks and ride the coasters again.

Not sure how hard it is to take a Lynx bus to SW. Not sure where the stop is, but see people waiting at a bus stop on Sea World Drive about 2 blocks to the East of the main SW parking lot when we leave at park close. Seems like a long walk after a long day in the park, to me anyway.

Even though SW and Acquatica are across the street from each other, it seems like it would be a long walk. They are no sidewalks on International Drive so you would have to walk to the stoplight in the grass. Don't remember a crosswalk across International Drive to get to Acquatica's main entrance either. I would E-mail SW and see if they do have a shuttle from the SW park to Acquatica and how often it runs. In all my times there I have not seen a shuttle crossing International Drive , yet I know that the overflow parking for Acquatica when it first opened was the SW parking lot.

My son and his friends all work at the waterparks at Disney and surprisingly, they had a great time at Acquatica. They loved the all you could eat food.

 

[SandrA9810]

There's a shuttle off to the north (left side) of the entrance. We've used it before, and it comes like every 5-10 mins between the two parks. They use hybrid/bio diesel fuel for it. It was one of the main points at opening.

Sodas can get expensive during the day. So the all you can eat thing is pretty good. We did it when went to universal.


I'd suggest looking into getting a car rental from alamo for the day. Because I don't think you want to be dealing with cranky kids and a bus ride back to disney. And it's got to be cheaper than a taxi.

 

[jpeppers]

I think Aquatica is one of the best attractions in Orlando (I've gone to Orlando for the last 10 years at least once a year). The slides, rivers (2) and wave pools (2) are all great with a kid and the water is alot warmer than in Disney parks. The all you can eat is not fantastic but it is park food and is above average and a good deal as long as you get your 2 meals in plus free drinks all day. I loved the fact that they had no tubes in the wave pools, seemed to make for more room and they had vests available and I think it is better with a vest anyway. Have fun!

 

[RabFlmom]

I think Aquatica is one of the best attractions in Orlando (I've gone to Orlando for the last 10 years at least once a year). The slides, rivers (2) and wave pools (2) are all great with a kid and the water is alot warmer than in Disney parks. The all you can eat is not fantastic but it is park food and is above average and a good deal as long as you get your 2 meals in plus free drinks all day. I loved the fact that they had no tubes in the wave pools, seemed to make for more room and they had vests available and I think it is better with a vest anyway. Have fun!

Forgot about the vests in the river. My son and his friends are all lifeguards. They did the river without life vests the first time. The river has more of a current than a lot of rivers in parks and they had fun without vests, but after watching everyone else that were wearing vests,they wore vests the rest of the times they got in the river because it made the river more enjoyable and they spent hours floating in there.

 

[smeecanada]

Can you rent towels like at the Disney Water Parks? I really don't want to have to pack 4 beach towels.

 

[MMitchell29]

Can someone please tell me more about the all you can eat deal??

 

[SandrA9810]

A one time pass through at the buffet is 15$, 20$ for all day per adult. There are quick service stands that sell hot dogs and pretzels and sodas. But if you're going to spend the day there, 20$ isn't bad for two meals. We have our refillable cups... so soda's aren't a problem. Plus if you get the all day thing, you can take your wallet back to your car or keep it in the lockers, so you don't have to worry about kids asking for money for food.

Towels and lockers are available. And life vests are all over the place. At the entrance to the rivers and a couple other places. So your kid doesn't have to hang on to his all day. And one really nice thing that tops disney, they have really nice shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the showers. However you have to constantly push the handle in for the water, and if you take one at park closing, it's likely you'll end up with cooler water than you'd like. But most the time it's fairly warm.

The Rao River is like a rapids and only allows for vest, no tubes. It's kinda fun without, but it takes a lot more stregnth to keep yourself up and facing the right direction. I also think it has the warmest water out of everything, so that's where I head first.
And then the lazy river has tubes for use, and that one takes you past a fresh water fish tank, and the dolphin tank.


I definatly enjoy aquatica over disney's. It's small enough you're not walking all over the place to get to slides, but still enough to do to keep you occupied all day. And the kids water play area is HUGE, and it doesn't matter how old you are. I see lots of parents running around with thier kids and going down kiddie slides, even in the toddler play area. And I've never run into older kids getting pushy or out of control.

 

[smeecanada]

Thanks, so much for report SandrA9810. Only a little while to go and then we'll be there. Can't wait to see what it's like compared to Disney's waterparks.

 

[MinnieGi]

Yes, Thanks SandrA9810! Your description has me really excited now for our trip in June. We enjoy the Disney water parks but want to give Aquatica a try as it looks really nice. I'm glad to hear the kids area is big as we will probably be there quite a bit!

 

[SandrA9810]

I made a slight oops, it's 23$ for an all day adult plan.

 

[MMitchell29]

I made a slight oops, it's 23$ for an all day adult plan.

Thanks SandraA for all the good info, you Rock. I am all excited about going for a weekend and doing a day at Aquatica and a day or so at Seaworld. It helps that I know what to budget for food. one more question Sandra do you know if they provide armbands for the all day plan or something else?

 

[czycropper]

What are the crowds like at the beginning of November?

I'm starting to plan a trip to US/IOA/SW for November 2010 and would love to add Aquatica to the mix since we just went to DC this past week.

Thanks!