Sunday, May 1st: Aquatica continued
I continued on my little photo tour in a big circle around the park. My plan was to snap some pictures, then stash the camera in the cabana’s locker before making a bee line for Roa’s Rapids. That’s where Jake and Steve were planning to meet up with me once they had finished getting their fill of the slides.
The line-up for Ihu’s Breakaway Falls was not too bad at this point of the morning, actually. It got FAR worse by the time the mid-day point rolled around. The guys love this slide but there’s no way in heck you’d ever get me to give it a try. After all, y’all know what I think of drops
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For the first time in MANY visits, they had not just one but BOTH sides of the wave pool open to guests.
This area, called Big Surf Shores, is also one of our favourite places to hang out on a hot afternoon. We all enjoy the waves and being able to spend time all together at one attraction that suits all of our thrill levels.
Side #1 ….
The middle point ….
And, the second side:
Whanau Way is another one of the park’s feature tube slide areas. While it appears to be deserted in this picture, I assure you there were LOTS of guests enjoying the shorter morning waits.
I spent a little bit of time admiring the Commerson dolphins in the underwater viewing area. They were exceptionally active that morning and a real treat to watch. Such unique little creatures…..they always remind me of teeny tiny killer whales.
Line ups were already long at Dolphin Plunge. This was one of the slides that did not qualify for Quick Queue access, so the boys were going to have a fairly long wait if they chose to ride it at some point during the day.
I eventually wound myself back to the cabana. This was the last time I saw Roa’s Rapids fairly quiet: within an hour or so, it would be a large mass of life jacket-clad bodies
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I think I had done eight to ten full rotations of Roa’s Rapids by the time the guys caught sight of me as I passed by our cabana. They had come back to dry off and re-sunscreen, and were keeping a keen eye out for me as they did so. Considering this was my favourite spot to just “hang out” and our designated attraction at which to meet when we were separated, having a rapids-view cabana was exceptionally handy. They finished with adding their extra sun protection and met me over at the rapids entrance. We floated around for a long time……we even got a Photokey picture
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Around one o’clock, the guys were getting pretty hungry so we decided to break for lunch. There are basically only two options for dining at Aquatica: the Waterstone Grill (a typical quick-service, a la carte location) or the Banana Beach Buffet. It mattered not to me…..I was happy with literally anything…..so I left it to the men to decide which they preferred. They opted, not surprisingly for Banana Beach: all-you-can-eat establishments are always good choices for their vigorous appetites
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As pass members, we saved 10% off the cost of the all-day wristband. Our total for three was $57.51 ($20 per person less the discount, plus tax).
We have had mixed experiences with this buffet in the past. It’s been anywhere from “pretty decent for the price” to “meh”. We had never gone hungry, though, and there has been enough of a selection for us all to find things we liked.
With our wristbands on, we headed inside to fill our plates. The main buffet is located inside this building.
Seating is available in a large area outside and adjacent to the buffet building, under a covered canopy. There are also stand-alone chairs and tables with umbrellas in the open area next to the canopy cover.
The buffet offerings had changed quite substantially….and for the better….since our most recent Banana Beach experience. There were several new and quality items now being featured on the buffet, and we were quite impressed at the menu revisions.
There were 4 different cold salads:
A create-your-own green salad bar:
Roasted chicken legs, pulled pork, seasoned beef, and steamed hot dogs:
Hot pasta (that was switched from batch to batch….this one show marinara pasta but there was also mac ‘n cheese at one point), rice, black beans, and mixed hot vegetables:
Cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza:
Chicken breast slices, meatballs (which were rotated between sweet and sour and marinara-sauced), and sausages with peppers:
Warm nachos with all the toppings:
Melon, pineapple, mandarin slices, chocolate pudding with crushed cookies, and chocolate chip cookies:
Warm apple crisp:
And of course, there were unlimited Coke fountain beverages.
We sampled a little bit of everything, and there was nothing that we didn’t like. The buffet was kept very clean (has not always been the case before now), the food was replenished quickly and the hot items were kept nice and hot, and the meats were especially good. We enjoyed the increased variety, and that warm apple crisp? Mmmmmmmm
…it was fantastic. Someone had brought in Grandma’s recipe, for sure.
More to come!
. I have a hard time summarizing anything briefly!!
.... I find baseball to be a bit of a s-l-o-w game .... but I still had a great time. It's hard not to be sucked into Steve and Jake's enthusiasm when they're all wound up like tops.
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that you get this new job! But you can't stop trip reports! We will be patient if you write slower- really!!! 
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Even if it takes a whole year to write it, we'll still follow along! 
