Hi:
We went to Aquatica the first week of May and I was very disappointed in it. Of course, I'm comparing it to BB and TL. Keep in mind, I love SeaWorld as much as Disney so I'm not a biased Disney only person.
The park was huge and felt very uncrowded due to the layout. There is a waterslide/ride in four/five corners of the park so people are spread out. I am handicap and not one of the water slides was accessible. They all had tons of stairs and you had to carry your tube up with you. I was a little spoiled with the pulley/ramp system Disney has to get the tubes up to the top of the slides. Even the toddlers water slide was not accessible with only 5-6 stairs separating me from putting my toddler on. Come on, they could have put a ramp in there.
Anyway, the kids sections are probably better for younger kids than TL. We spent three hours in the toddler section alone as my little one loved it. The other children's section has the huge bucket of water that dumps on you (and smaller slides) but we have almost the exact structure in our hometown amusement park so it really wasn't a thrill for my kids. Yes, they are spoiled!
I expected lots of animals (a waterpark only SeaWorld could build). There were 2-4 dolphins in a great viewing area (it's part of the Dolphin Plunge ride) and parrots across from it. An employee was holding an eagle as we entered the park.
The biggest disappointment for me was the lazy river. I expected to turn every corner and see tanks of fish. I was imagining Atlantis. There were 1-2 fish tanks but I couldn't maneuver my tube into that section to see them.
The food was very much like SeaWorld. We had a good meal at the BreakWater Grill. It was nice to have a steak and cheese sub and Turkey Wrap instead of burgers.
The wave pool is very nice. It is huge and doesn't have the power of TL. However, you are not allowed to bring in tubes so I prefer BB.
The colors of the park are very tropical and appealing. There is very little shade. Although they do have many, large beach umbrellas up. We just made friends to share some shade.
Overall, I thought it was overpriced for what it was! I'll be sticking to BB and TL in the future.
