Waterparks, anyone?

[wfamily]

Has anyone been to any of the waterparks in the San Diego area? How are they? Thinking of going on a Saturday or Sunday during our trip, but hoping for an array of slides and things to do for our DS 8 and DD5. Are they packed (last weekend in July), aka how long will the kids need to stand in line for one ride? Thanks for any and all information. The San Diego Go card had two different ones listed, one being Knotts Berry Farm. We've never been there, is this attached to the amusement park?

 

[NicoleDisneyFan]

We have been to the water park at knotts. It is across the street from the knotts theme park. It is very crowded on the weekends. Be there way early to get a chair in the shade if you go because the seats go FAST. The knotts water park "soak city" was the worst for us. The locker room was dirty and smelled. The water park was so packed that it is hard with two little ones...we have a 4 year old and a 6 year old. Best bet for us was just to stay at the knotts hotel and use the pool and they have a little water structure which my kids love. We just went to the soak city because we have season passes for the knotts parks and it was free....not even worth it for free.

 

[grumpyvet]

My DD8 and I have been to both the San Diego (Chula Vista) and the Palm Springs Soak CIty Parks.

The one in Chula Vista was a lot of fun. We went late June when my DD was six, got there at opening and had short lines for all the various slides. we waited 1 to 10 minutes for the bigger slides, but this was from opeinguntil about 11AM. As the day wore on it got CROWDED with many of the kids tween age and young teens with little to no supervision, so things got a little too rowdy (lots of PDA and foul language) for us, so we went home. It was a long day with only being there for about 5 hours!!

We went to the Palm Springs one last summer some time. Were we nuts? It was so hot, even a water park is miserable. It just was too hot. You got no relief from getting in the water!!

Neither of these are near the amusement park.

So, if you go, go early, take in as little as possible as the lockers for rent are not big, drink plenty of water and leave when the droves begin arriving!! Do slides in the morning, then if staying longer do the wave pool, kiddie area and lazy river later.


Have fun!! AMY

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

The one at Knotts is in Orange County, not San Diego, so figure on about a 1.5 - 2 hour drive to get there. One that is closer to San Diego is Wild Rivers, and I think it is nicer than Soak City at Knotts. At least you're not in the middle of the city. http://www.wildrivers.com/

Another one we've been to is Raging Waters, and I enjoyed that one. Either Wild Rivers or Raging Waters (San Dimas) would be nice to do. http://www.ragingwaters.com/indexmain.html

 

[dleyel]

As a PP said, there is a Knott's Soak City in Chula Vista near San Diego (and Palm Springs), in addition to the one adjacent to Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Orange County. I've only been to the one in Orange County. We usually go a couple times every summer, but only during the week We go on days when they are open until 7. We arrive at 3 as they have reduced rates then. Also, most of the day campers are heading home then, so the crowd is more manageable. Four hours is plenty of time for us. Also, then we don't have to eat lunch there, which is very expensive. I don't know about the lockers as we don't change there, just sit on towels for the short drive home. The restrooms haven't been bad, but you do have to expect them to be wet.

I prefer Soak City to Wild Rivers. My favorite attraction is floating down the river. At Knott's they make you stay in your inner tube, no swimming allowed. At Wild Rivers there is no such rule and kids would swim underneath me - YUCK!

We love San Diego and have rented houses on Mission Beach for the last few years and will be going again for a week in August. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions about the area. Have a wonderful vacation!

 

[Easy2Putt]

I agree that Knotts SC is going to be very crowded..try to do the half day thing..it's not good to be out in the sun for hours anyhow right. I do like how they have varying levels of waterslides and the kiddie pool was fun..but very crowded...ah..what can you do..it's hot now.

 

[JasonShannon76]

Knott's Soak City has 3 locations. 1 being right across from Knott's Berry Farm (that is in Buena Park, not San Diego). They also have 2 additional smaller locations, 1 in San Diego and 1 in Palm Springs.

San Diego only has 2 water parks that I know (Soak City in Chula Vista and The Wave Waterpark in Vista). The Wave is VERY SMALL and not much fun. Soak City is decent size and lots of fun!

 

[Dizneydaz]

We've done SC at PS and OC. We hated the one in PS and the one in OC is just okay. But then I'm comparing them to the ones at WDW and there is no comparison. Haven't been to the one near SD but I'm leary to go since the other two are so bad.

I hear good things about the one at Wild Rivers but that's quite a drive from SD, especially if it's anytime during rush hour, or even on a Saturday.

Be prepared if you do SC that the food is very expensive and pretty bad. Knott's charges more for their food than DLR does, and I don't even want to tell you about how they let their cooked burgers (are they meat?) sit in room temp water for hours, outside! (In August, in Palm Springs, no less!)