Walt Disney World With Kids (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [148]
Aquatica admission is $48 for adults and $42 for children 3 to 9, excluding tax. The price drops to $42 for everyone if you buy in advance online. The two-park combo tickets ($110 adult, $100 child) are a good deal if you’re also planning to visit SeaWorld. Visit www.aquaticabyseaworld.com for more details.
Attractions include:
Dolphin Plunge. In the park’s signature ride, you zip 300 feet down a narrow tube into a lagoon holding two Commerson’s dolphins. The plunge lives up to the hype—the dolphins, not so much. The bottom part of the tube is see-through, which means, theoretically, you can see the dolphins as you pass, but you move through in seconds, and there’s water splashing your eyes the whole time. In other words, most people are zipping by so fast that they see zip. There are only two slides going on this ride, so expect to wait about an hour at peak times. Riders must be 48 inches tall.
Taumata Racer. In the aquatic equivalent of a bobsled run, you climb into one of eight lanes and start your descent down 300 feet of slides, which includes a 360-degree turn at the top. The thrill as you crest the top of the slide is palpable (be sure to hold tightly to your blue mat) and the eight lanes mean that the line for this slide moves more quickly than Dolphin Plunge’s. Riders must be 42 inches tall and kids below 48 inches must wear a life vest.
Insider’s Secret
From an animal standpoint, the Dolphin Plunge, prominently featured in Aquatica ads, is a bit of a letdown. “The Web site plays it up like you swim with dolphins,” wrote one mother from Georgia. “The reality is that the clear tube that runs through the dolphin tank is only for a couple of seconds at the end of the ride—blink, and you miss it totally. Fortunately, the rest of the park was great.”
Roa’s Rapids. A flowing current is the highlight of this attraction that takes you along rapids and occasional waterfalls. Roa’s is a lot of bang for the buck: There’s no line (though the waters can get crowded with visitors at times), and, after strapping on your life jacket, you’ll wade into the rapids via a wide entrance lane (and you exit the same way). You can hold on to your child as you bob around, and you’re free to circle the rapids as many times as you wish. “Soooo much fun,” wrote a teen from Ohio. “The current really challenges you, and we were pooped by the time we got out.”
Loggerhead Lane. In contrast to Roa’s Rapids, this is indeed a lazy river. A high point is that the lane leads to a 10,000 gallon grotto filled with thousands of colorful fish and a view of the Commerson’s dolphins. There’s next to no pull, so you might have to paddle a bit, especially if you want to choose the turn with the fish grotto.
Tassie Twister. This zippy little tube ride empties you into a large circular bowl, where you make a few wild revolutions before slipping down another tube, which leads you back into the Loggerhead Lane lazy river. (The resemblance to a toilet is impossible to overlook.) Fun and wild without being too scary, this is a good test to see if kids are up to handling the bigger flumes.
Walkabout Waters. Here, in one of the world’s largest interactive water-play areas, a colorful 60-foot fortress provides 15,000 square feet of family slides, pools, water cannons, and two large buckets that periodically dump water on frolickers below. “A great option for families with preschoolers,” said one mother. “Nothing scary at all and once my kids warmed up on the family slides, which let us all go together, they felt brave enough to do a few things in the general park.”
Omaka Rocka. Aquatica’s newest attraction is a waterslide with both high-speed tubes and half-pipe funnels that are designed to emulate the movements of skateboards and snowboards. The flumes help you pick up speed so that by the time you enter the funnels and begin the side to side action, the sensation is close to sheer weightlessness. The splashdown is massive. Older kids and