Cici Water Park

[dairyou]

Jen,

Waiting for hubby to wake up so we can talk about this (he is working graveyard).

We will probably go to the Hyatt also. If this is the case you want to catch a cab together? Didn't realize you had a teenage daughter besides you're little one. How old is she? I have a 13 year old son.

Deb

 

[SandraLee]

Here are my thoughts about Acapulco and the Water Park. I was on the May repo cruise. It is all in your expectations and where you set them.

Keep in mind, Acapulcu is a mexican CITY with over 2 million residents. It is NOT a quiant resort town. It was HOT, dirty, and crowded everywhere we went. The people were everywhere; traffic was bumper to bumper. But, this didn't lessen my expereince there. I was interested in seeing the city as it was. I don't expect the cities I visit to be like the cities at home. They are all unique and I'm happy to see the good or bad of all of them.

I did want to see the cliff divers and I thought the excursion through DCL was a big rip-off. I was not interested in the food or shopping part of their excursion, so I knew I would be taking a cab to the cliff divers. As it turned out, we met up with another family. We shared an air conditioned Suburban for the day. The driver took us on a 'mini' tour before the cliff divers. We paid for only the drinks at the cliff divers -- best decision. After the divers were complete, the driver took a couple back to the ship and took us to Cicis. The drive over to Cicis took over 25 minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic that was hot and dirty.

I had booked the dolphin swim (60 minutes) for 4 people at 3:00. We got there in plenty of time, but we had 5 kids that wanted to do the dolphins. Cicis' reduced our time in the water to 45 minutes and reduced our price also. All 5 got to go in with the dolphins. Yes, there were 5 kids(6, 6, 9, 9, 14), 3 trainers and 4 dolphins. How could that be so bad? For us, it was just fine. The kids got to 'ride' the dolphins, pet, swim with, kiss, and do the foot push thing for a full 45 minutes. We (parents) were right on the side of the pool with video cameras and cameras. I doubt you can do that anywhere else. As we were leaving the dolphin area, we saw the DCL group come in. There were more than 10 people lined up. Yes, I would not have liked that, either.

After the dolphin thing it was nearly 4:00. The kids did go to the 'slide' area. The two boys enjoyed a couple of the slides and the younger girls had plenty of fun in the kiddie play area. I did not see anything 'floating' in the pools. It smelled plenty clorinated to me. We were not there long enough to really care if there were plenty of slides. There was not much shade. No, it was not White Water (or any other water park) as you are used to here in the States. But, it cost $10 to get in. Set your expectations appropriately. When we were done, we walked right outside (saw the DCL busses) and got in our Suburban and headed back to the ship. If you are going and expecting White Water, you will be disappointed. We did not eat there (except for Good Humor Ice Cream). There was no need to eat there. We ate lunch before we left the ship to the Cliff divers.

For 10 (6 kids & 4 adults) people we paid $120 for the day to keep the driver with us. I thought it was well worth the money. We paid $12 each for the cliff divers (kids were free) and we paid $95 for the dolphins for each kid. Cost the adults $10 to get into the Water park to watch.

Would I do it again? No, but I don't need to go back to Acapulco, either. But, I was VERY glad I did it once. I am glad I've seen the cliff divers and the kids did have fun with the dolphins.

I did see the dolphin experience in Curacau. We went to the Sea Aquarium and watched the show. We could see the people doing the dolphin encounter off to our right. The have the dolphins in the ocean water tanks. The people were not in the water (that I could see). My kids did a Sea Lion Encounter in Curacau and it was just 'ok'. I would not recommend that at all.

Sorry so long. Hope it adds another perspective to your thoughts.

 

[NEM]

Hi there,

Just wanted to add a couple more things....(again, only my opinion) Going with low expectations would be key...perhaps that was my problem. I did not expect disney water park, but on some level I was expecting a park more along the lines of Raging Waters, etc - ya know....standard US water park...nothing too fancy, but something along those lines....it is not even close to that...

Dolphins are great creatures...we did interact with them...it was fine... The pool is small and concrete - -I wanted them to be free...LOL...

There is no infant area...

There is a kiddie play area, but it did come above my knee, which was great for the 3 yr old, but not for the 14 month old toddler - too deep...and I did not see much wrong with the water there and it looked fun enough, but with a bunch of kids under 7 in it you can assume it is not so good (but that would apply anywhere - even the Mickey Pool, LOL)...There was no shade around there to park all our other peeps...and keep an eye on the kids. You had to either be in it with them or they had to be out...

The offending water for me was the slide water....that was funky....not gross, but it was off...I was in it...I did one of the slides...I did not want to do another one...And I like slides, but something about the water was not right to me...I did not see stuff in the kiddie water and did not spend too much time in there...as it was so hot and the rest of our party had no shade to sit nearby.

The wave pool was a sea of rafts...we did not go in, but by then, we were finished with the dolphins, had unsuccessfully tried to eat the lunch that Disney included with the excursion and were quickly deciding this was not comfortable for our group...a group with different dynamics may have a different opinion. The 4 20-somethings next to us we gave our drink tickets too (for warm coronas) seemed to be doing just fine...but they did not eat much either...

Our group consisted of 2 seniors, 2 30-somethings, and 4 kids - 9,7,3, and 14 months. So another group with other dynamics may have a great time. The best part we all agreed was the time in the water with the dolphins, and then it was a sharp downhill from there. Even the kids were ready to go when we said lets go - they had more fun at the Mickey slide....and they are usually the one that wants one more slide...

Ultimately, it is a very expensive excursion for a family, so if you are fortunate to have the money to spend then it is absolutely an experience. If you are scrimping and saving to make this happen, then know this is not an amazing experience...and your money may be better spent on something else.

Hope that helps, whatever you decide to do. At the end of the day you are on the Magic and that in itself is an amazing experience...Have a great time. I wish I was onboard now!!

Please feel free to IM me if you have any other specific questions...I am happy to try to help

Michelle aka NEM

 

[ACA_Port Authority]

I recently received an email from a fellow DISBoarder and this is what I answered:

I think this was a very "under the magnifying glass" opinion, yes the place does not comply with US standards, there are many areas where the cement is cracked, kind of like striation marks, but, do not create dangerous walking grounds. The place hasn't received any remodeling for quite dome time now, so if you look, it does look a bit run down.

But many places you go in Mexico you will find the same scenario, unless the place is under 1 year old. We are one of the most earthquake prone areas in the world, and maintenance most of the time fix things instead of preventive maintenance. I could never understand that thought process.

Where I work many people have complained of so many things, and compare us to big terminals in the US, where we don't have the same resources or the large number of arrivals for such infrastructure.

The CICI water park will never be competition or comparison for any water park in the US, no contest, I agree. Many domestic visitors love to come here with their kids, I would say it's a matter of opinion, I personally like it. It is much smaller than many water parks you may have already visited.

I haven't visited it since November and will plan to go in a couple of weeks; I will post my comments.

Another point is that I have never eaten here as well, I always prefer other restaurants in the area, the ones I trust and our idea of lunch is after 2pm; but as she mentioned there is a McDonalds 1 block away. I completely understand looking at a menu you can't understand and preferably look for some place else, this menu was made for domestic visitors; there are a few dishes that look nasty and taste incredible like "ceviche" raw fish marinated in lemon, onions, tomatoes, peppers, octopus, snail and oysters. I have a very sensitive stomach and will not eat other than my regular places,

As for the dolphins, they have 2 pools; a small one and a bigger one in an auditorium for shows. I have swam in both and it's a must experience, awesome, either in Acapulco or any place you can book it. They only separate them for swim the dolphins encounter, so you could have 2 groups in each pool. But once they finish they are both set in the main pool.

Another point is that Acapulco has "hard water" as its potable water, it comes from a river and you can see it in most bathrooms where the windows have a calcium coating from the water.

I can only give you my personal opinion, I could recommend that you email the water park and get a quote from the manager or the operations manager. I am sure they have addressed these observations and will give you a better reply than my simple opinion.

Here are their emails:

ffernandezs@cie.com.mx

mortega@cie.com.mx

Hope my humble explanation helps.

NNNN

Haven't been able to email the manager or Arely from the Visitors Office for a quote, cause I have a huge audit on Tuesday and will work all weekend just to make sure we continue to be "open for businness" in the Port.
As mentioned, I will go in a couple of weeks and post pics added with my personal comments.

I will forward these comment to theme, so they can try to improve their quality standards. Don't know if they are ISO9000:2000 certified, and if they are, this is a great oportunity for them to make the necessary corrections.

 

[gwynn]

I too was on the repo cruise and we did the DCL excursion. We had a good time w/ the dolphins, but it is in a pool/stadium atmosphere, not a 'wild' one.

There is hardly any shade around the park and the food WAS disgusting. Not good at all. We also weren't the only ones complaining. There was another group on our bus that were complaining.

Nothing gross seen in the water.... but it was what it was ... a water park.