Orlando Water Parks for Summer

June 25, 2015

When summers in Orlando mean nearly 100-degree weather almost every day, a water park is your best chance to stay cool! We wrote this blog post to help you decide which park is best for you, depending of what you like. Do you prefer thrill rides, slow rivers, wave pools, fun slides, tubbing or kid areas? Well, there’s a little bit of it all in most parks, but to help you narrow down to your favorite park, we put in a quick guide:

Wet ‘n Wild:

You better enjoy this Orlando favorite while you can. Universal has announced that it will close Wet ‘n Wild at the end of 2016 to give room to its new theme park, Volcano Bay. So, this is the penultimate summer you will have the chance to ride these legendary rides.

The park counts with:

  • 5 main thrill rides like Bomb Bay that literally makes you lose your ground when the floor fall out beneath you to a six-story plunge.
  • 6 multi-person slides where you share a large tube with your party to go down the most fun slides
  • 3 family attractions such as the Lazy River, Surf Lagoon and Blastaway Beach.

 

Aquatica:

This is Sea World’s water park and it’s fairly new compared to the other parks. It counts with:

8 thrill rides including the Dolphin Plunge where you get to ride in a clear enclosed slide that is underwater, so you get to be side-by-side with beautiful black-and-white Commerson’s Dolphins while you ride.

5 family fun spots including Roa’s Rapids, which is an action river and a lazy river that you get to ride on a raft through an underwater world colored by exotic tropical fish.

 

Typhoon Lagoon:

5 thrill rides like the Crush ‘n’ Gusher that is a roller-coaster-like raft ride for you and up to two friends to enjoy together!

6 other attractions including slides for little kids where the parents can pick their kiddos up at the bottom of the slide. There are no big kids allowed there, so it’s less intimidating and super fun for the smaller kids. You can also swim with colorful tropical fish, stingrays and sharks at Shark Reef, which is an amazing experience!

 

Blizzard Beach:

7 thrill rides like the Summit Plummet that is a near-vertical drop on one of the tallest, fastest freefall body slides in the world. The coolest part is taking the Chairlift to the top of the summit. It mimics a ski lift, but in a colorful and summery way!

5 other attractions like the polar themed lazy river called Cross Country Creek and the Ski Patrol Training Camp where kids can either chill out or play in the tricky water obstacles.

 

Discovery Cove:

There are some great attractions at this park, but the park is known for the fact that you get to swim with dolphins! The only downside is that the most famous attraction actually costs extra, and it’s PRICEY. If you want to swim with dolphins, be prepared to splurge and spend some money, because the admission cost is WAY higher than the other water parks. Most people swear to be VERY worth it, though. You will have to make a reservation and you get a 30-minute session if you decide to swim with the dolphins. Be warned: If you just want to go to the park and not pay extra, you won’t get to swim with the dolphins and the price for admission is still much higher than the aforementioned water parks. Tip: Prices will vary depending on the season and day of the week, so if you are in Orlando during low season and can go during a weekday, you could be saving more than $200 per person.