Aquatica

[sunshineNJ]

We are going to DC in Aug and are going to use the free tickets for Sea World. I'm considering the extra $30 pp to go to Aquatica. I would love some opinions to those of you who have been to Aquatica. Thanks

 

[Fuhnuh]

We went to DC last August and picked Aquatica as our free 14-day pass park. DD11 loved it. We ended up going three times. The rapid river was so much fun, we spent quite a bit of time there. We enjoyed the slides and wave pool also. My daughter liked the "milder than Typhoon Lagoon" wave pools. Although if Typhoon lagoon had a rapid river like experience, we would probably prefer it.

 

[deserrai]

We've been once a couple of years ago. It is a really nice park, although I don't really like water type activities. Two things...get there really early so you can get one of the beach chairs with umbrellas. Unless it has changed, the "beach" has tons of chairs, but only some of them have umbrellas. There is pretty much nowhere to hide from the sun if you don't get one of those. And if you don't get there early, they will all be taken. Also, be prepared as the water is heated. I thought I would like that, but it is just odd to me.

 

[Lynne G]

Took my DD10 and DS14 last August. We really liked Aquadica. The slides are fun, there's lots of slides, the river is great and seeing the dolphins is nice too. The kids climbing area was nice, though my kids were almost too old for it, but the older one liked dumping water on the younger one when she wasn't looking.

We spent 2 days in Aquadica. We had a package with SW, BGT, Aquadica and DC. Enjoyed all the parks. 1 day at DC, 2 days at the other 3 parks.

Aquadica was easy to get to from SW and DC. It's a five or so minute drive down from SW on the I Drive. We went the last week of August at the parks, and the crowds were not bad. Biggest crowd we saw was st SW on the Saturday of Labor Day week-end. We went to Aquadica on the Sunday of Labor Day week-end and we did not think the crowds were as bad as in SW the day before. We did Aquadica one day earlier in the week before Labor Day, and the crowds were fine. The longest lines were in the afternoon.

 

[chiamarie]

We are going to DC in Aug and are going to use the free tickets for Sea World. I'm considering the extra $30 pp to go to Aquatica. I would love some opinions to those of you who have been to Aquatica. Thanks

If you're going in August, when the park is still open later (9pm I think what it's been the past couple of years durning the summer time) I would suggest (against what everyone else here is suggesting) going around 4 or later in the afternoon. Most of the water park visitors go in the morning and leave by 6. From my experience, going in the afternoon until the sun goes down you can almost walk on to all the slides and there's hardly any crowds. So I would suggest going to Seaworld in the morning and Aquatica in the late afternoon/early evening. I've done all the rides in the middle of summer in about 2 hours by going after about 5pm.

 

[sunshineNJ]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Thanks for the info.

Great thread sunshineNJ. We are also going to Aquatica in August (we have purchased the unlimited weekday passes) and are eager to hear others' opinions on the park!

 

[mjohnson96]

We loved Aquatica, the kids area for both little kids and older kids is great. Only in the older kids area it is very easy to lose them since many of the slides will start at one side and come out way at the other end on a different side. DD is pretty good but my brother's girlfriend freaked out because she lost track of her son.

I did not get to go on any slides since we got there late morning and it was packed and I was around 7mo pregnant but I just loved the park. The rest of the family went and DD loved the slides she was able to go on.

Last year my sister took her family there as their selection for the DC ticket and they had a blast. She said hands down she woudl be going back again.

My mom of course wants to get a Cabana next time since she likes to just hang out and not really go on any slides. Fine with me since it gives a place for me and the baby to hang out too when it gets too warm.

 

[yost1931]

We went in mid February, so the crowds were none existent. But the water was heated and the weather was warm, so it made for a great day. Of the 4 parks we did (SW, Aquatica, BG, and Legoland), Aquatica was hands down our favorite. We had a blast! The raging river was awesome, the wave pool was fabulous with its sandy beach and tons of chairs, and the kids LOVED the kid area behind the wave pools. The slides were perfect for them and they rode them again and again. My husband did the dolphin plunge, and a few other bigger slides. Loved all of them. I would definately go back to this park and I cannot say the same for any of the other parks we visited this trip.

My husband and I both marvelled at the cleanliness of the park and especially the bathrooms. Spotless! Food was good, park was well laid out, seeing the fish and dolphins and some birds were bonuses we didn't expect.