Aquatica or wet and wild?

[roliepolieoliefan]

My kids are 14 and 9.
They love waterparks and are both strong swimmers.

We are going during spring break so both will be crowded, I assume.

 

[coastgirl]

My family really preferred Aquatica. I am told that Wet and Wild has more "thrill rides" and is more creative/exciting that way. When we visited (February--low season) a lot of the attractions were closed, so we missed stuff. But it felt grungy to us. Not as well maintained. A lot of young staff, less professional than Aquatica. A lot of local teens unsupervised, and we saw several "PDAs" among these teens (already nearly naked), too much for me to be comfortable with my kids witnessing that. But we were only there one day (because of all of those reasons!).

Aquatica, on the other hand, was really pretty and clean, nice theming, and the bonus of a few aquatic animals. My kids were 7 and 10 at the time. None of us are daredevils, but we found the slides exciting and fun. We loved the lazy river and the wave pool. Personally, my vacation is too short to give W&W a second chance, but we are planning multiple visits to Aquatica on our upcoming trip.

HTH.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We have not been to Wet & Wild, but are repeat visitors to Aquatica. Its a beautiful park with an Australian theme.

There's a great, HUGE sand beach with side-by-side wave pools.

Tons of chairs and umbrellas to kick back and relax in.

There's a selection of waterslides, from the 8-person racers to a family raft ride and individual slides. Their feature slide is the Dolphin Plunge, which takes riders through a clear plastic tube through the Commerson dolphin pool.

Aquatica offers both a traditional lazy river with tubes (which meanders past a large aquarium full of tropical fish):

and they have THE BEST tubeless "lazy river" called Roa's Rapids. Basically, strap on a life vest, walk in, lift your feet, and GO.....the current will carry you at a swift pace for the duration of the loop. It is the most enjoyable water attraction, hands down, and a place where you could easily spend hours on a hot day.

There is a great interactive kids play area that's HUGE:

Plus a smaller spot dedicated just to the youngest visitors:

All-day dining is available at a reasonable price at the Banana Beach Buffet:

But IMHO, much better food is to be found at the Waterstone Grill, which offers a selection of burgers, wraps, chicken tenders, etc.

Trainers work with the Commerson dolphins at least a few times each day, which is cool to watch (and if you have any questions about the dolphins, the trainers will take lots of time to chat with you). When they are not working with the trainers, you can watch them in the underground viewing area:

Lockers are available for rent at the front of the park, they have a small gift shop with swimwear, souvenirs, and toys, and there are a selection of photographers located throughout the park to take action pictures. Towel rental is also available.

Cabana rentals are MUCH better value here than at Disney waterparks, and a worthy splurge IMHO.

Let me know if there's anything I missed!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

A few more Aquatica pics:

The tropical birds near the entrance to the park:

Cookies and chocolate dipping sauce in a souvenir life raft, and the refillable popcorn bucket:

 

[ncfamily]

Don't know about Wet and Wild but I couldn't recommend Aquatica enough. Was amazed at how clean it was. Post above pretty much nailed it. Also loved the way you could get from one end of the park to the other on Roa Rapids. Found it to be the best way to get from point A to point B.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I am told that Wet and Wild has more "thrill rides" and is more creative/exciting that way.

That's what we have heard also. From what we have seen, Aquatica has much better theming/lushness/greenery while W&W gets the nod for thrills.

For me personally..........I want the "experience" of a waterpark, with the tropical feel. That's what swayed us to try Aquatica initially. Then we were hooked.

That said, W&W offers a really good pay one price, get unlimited admission for the duration of your stay for free. So for about $50, you get admission for your entire vacation. Which, admittedly, can be a good deal! W&W also has an "afternoon admission" at half the price of a regular ticket, so if the weather co-operates on our August trip (where we plan to visit the Disney waterparks for the first time) we may just try out W&W too .

 

[coastgirl]

Gina, I already knew I liked Aquatica--now you've got me even more excited for our return! : And I think we have to have that cutie-patootie snack, too!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Gina, I already knew I liked Aquatica--now you've got me even more excited for our return! : And I think we have to have that cutie-patootie snack, too!

It is a great place, isn't it? We love the waterparks for our summer visits.......my boys would much rather lounge the day away at a waterpark than sweat their buns off tromping around a theme park.

As for the snack, LOL, what can I say? We are just big kids. , Orlando does seem to bring out the child in all of us......and a chocolate cookies in a lifeboat? Well, there just wasn't anything to think about .

 

[OrlandoEsq]

We visited Aquatica yesterday and I have to say my vote goes for Wet and Wild. It depends on what you like, but in my opinion, WaW has far better rides including the Disco H20 ride, Bombay, and the one I call "the toilet bowl". They also have more multi-person rides than Aquatica, which is fun for the entire family.

 

[Don Disney]

We loved Aquatica! It was clean,and well kept.We went to go to W&W,but didn't because it just looked a bit run-down(the area it was in),and we did'nt care for the parking either.Looked"grungy"as th OP said.

 

[DOOM1001]

Wet n Wild is 36 years old,Aquatica is 5,you can't compare how nice Aquatica is to Wet n Wild,it just can't be done.Wet n Wild has put in some pretty innovative rides which keeps it popular to those who are more about the rides than the relaxing,beautiful park,along with better deals on tickets it just keeps them coming.Aquatica is on par with the Disney waterparks,probably even surpasses them in certain categories like dining,shopping,kids areas,having the commersons dolphins integrated into a slide and the Roa's Rapids fast lazy river that's the coolest thing at any of the 4 parks.To this day I can't tell you for sure which of the 4 waterparks is my favorite,I know 10 years ago I leaned to Blizzard Beach,but that was before Aquatica opened and before I really started liking Typhoon Lagoon after they opened the Crush n Gusher water coaster,Aquatica is not as big as the Disney parks but I think right now I have Aquatica and Typhoon Lagoon as my two favorites,Wet n Wild being older just can't compare but I can totally enjoy a day there with all their slides.I haven't been to Wet n Wild in several years but I know they used to have a a knee ski attraction and I would spend an hour or two just on that attraction that allowed you to knee ski all around their lake.I'm not sure if they still do that and if they do if its still free but it was something the other parks just didn't have.I know if I lived in Orlando and they still offered that attraction in the price of the ticket I would get and AP just to be able to do it.