Aquatica vs. BB / TL ???

[KayakDaddy]

We'll be at the AKL the week after next and plan to do a water park on one of the weekdays. We will not have water park and more tickets this time, so really we are free to try one of the off-site waterparks since I'll be paying out of pocket for whatever we choose.

We've been to Blizzard Beach 3x and Typhoon Lagoon once and loved every minute at both of them. My kids (DS9 & DD5) are voting to do TL again, mostly because they want to do Shark Reef again.

How does Aquatica compare to the two Disney waterparks? I know it is newer, but is it better? More or less crowded? Any thoughts or perspectives are welcome. Any Aquatica tips and strategies are welcome too in case we go there.

Oh yeah, I'd be able to cover our BB/TL admission with Disney Visa reward dollars, though I doubt we'll have a problem spending those elsewhere if we choose Aquatica.

 

[MarkFL]

I went to Aquatica when it opened. I hated it. There's one slide where you go through a dolphin tank or something, but the line was HUGE and I only saw the dolphins for a second. The only thing there I liked was the faster lazy river, and that got old after a couple of passes through.

Maybe it's changed, though.

 

[wdwwishes]

Haven't been to either WDW water park but have been to Aquatica and had an enjoyable day. I think the thing is that they have slide attractions that appeal to everyone. There's not one slide I wouldn't go on and I'm pretty much a chicken. There's no "big thrills" there. I'll agree that the dolphin slide gets a bigger bill than it's worth. I like the fact that it's new and real clean. If you want to splurge you can rent one of their pricey cabanas for the day which guarantees you your own space to keep your stuff and relax if you want to. There's a staffed entry to them and you have your own locker plus a few other amenities. We bucked up and weren't disappointed. There are 2 wave pools with different size waves which is nice. I'd definitely consider it but then again if you can do a WDW water park a little cheaper then that is a consideration. Chekc out their website to help make a comparison. Sometines it's nice to take a quick break from the mouse.

 

[dipity]

The Travel Channel had a show all about SeaWorld/Aquatica last weekend and I'm sure it will be on again soon. You might try to catch it. I haven't been to Aquatica, but the show made it sound like the 'Shark Reef' type stuff is done better at Aquatica. Other than that I didn't see a reason to choose Aquatica over TL or BB.