Aquatica - From Wild Slides to Wildlife Michael Thorp
For more than 35 years, SeaWorld Orlando has captivated the hearts of people from around the world, giving them the opportunity to get up close and personal with many of the planet’s aquatic animals. From stingrays, to penguins, and even the world famous killer whales, the park takes the joys and excitement of an amusement facility and blends it with an educational experience in the hopes of raising awareness of the sanctity of the seas. In the year 2000, the property unveiled Discovery Cove, which took the experience to a new level, offering guests the chance to interact with creatures like bottle nose dolphins and 8 foot stingrays. By only allowing 1000 visitors into the park per day, the exclusive attraction provided guests with a personalized experience, although made it limited to tourists in the Orlando region.
The year 2008 marks a third milestone in SeaWorld Orlando’s history with the opening of a 65 acre water park that can only be described by park officials as ‘Aquatica’. Featuring 35 slides and a full day’s worth of attractions, this nautical kingdom submerges guests into a South-Seas environment, featuring entertainment from ‘serene to extreme’, as Busch Entertainment describes it. Lively colors and lush landscaping dominates the park supplying guests with the typical, but often dreamed about, tropical setting that many desire.
Construction of the park was announced in the spring of 2007, making it the first time in history that the SeaWorld brand had ventured into the water park industry. Although the parent company, the Busch Entertainment Corporation, has created two water parks in the past as subsidiary admissions to the larger Busch Gardens Adventure Parks, Aquatica marked the first time that animals shared a direct relation to the water park attractions. Plans for the park called for transparent tubes that ventured into aquariums filled with fish and Commerson’s Dolphins, as well as rivers that entered caves filled with tropical fish. This interaction between guest and animal is what put the SeaWorld stamp on this legendary park.
Located across from SeaWorld on International Drive, Aquatica occupies a 65 acres of a parcel of land owned by Busch Entertainment, keeping it relatively close to Discovery Cove and the flagship park. A total of 60,000 plants cover Aquatica, giving off a lush and blossoming feel. Unlike other water parks in the area, Aquatica relies on natural elements to fill its space, giving a more authentic experience, rather than relying on façade and plastic inhabitance to mimic a particular theme. In fact, the plant life features more than 100 species of trees and 250 species of shrubs, grasses, vines and flowers. There’s much more to do and see at the park besides the water attractions, and that’s what makes Aquatica so much different from any other water park in the world.
Authenticity was important in the design of Aquatica, with developers keeping in mind the South Seas inspiration in everything that was constructed. The park boasts two mammoth wave pools, one adjacent to the other, appropriately named Big Surf Shores and Cutback Cove. They may look like your ordinary wave pools, but what sets them apart are their very different experiences. For the more daring individuals Cutback Cove provides 5 foot wave swells, while Big Surf Shores creates gentle and tranquil surf.
Accompanying the wave pools are dual lazy rivers, again one with a more challenging environment, while the other provides a slower pace with spectacular visuals. What has been described as the best attraction in the park, Roa’s Rapids sends guests on a 1,500 foot journey past geysers and through waterfalls at speeds four times faster than a typical water park river. Guests are advised to wear a life jacket during their trip, as the current literally will sweep you away. The other river in the park isn’t nearly as daring, but travels through underwater viewing areas and past tens of thousands of exotic fish. Loggerhead Lane allows for a more peaceful float, even giving guests the opportunity to float past the Commerson’s Dolphins.
The Slides
Aquatica features 35 vibrant water slides ranging from mild to wild, yet guests don’t find them terrifying, rather extremely enjoyable. The park’s signature attraction was built to allow personal experiences with the rare Commerson’s dolphins. Dolphin Plunge is a duel tube body slide (one teal and one blue) that takes guests on a speedy adventure through 250 feet of clear tubes that shoot right through the dolphin’s habitat. This allows guests to view the animals as they swim over the heads of riders.
Commerson’s dolphins look relatively similar to killer whales, having a black and white coloration. The dolphins are quite small, only about 5 feet in length, and often swim amusingly upside-down. The animals are quick and playful, representing the very nature of the park. You can also find these animals at SeaWorld’s park in San Diego, swimming gracefully in the Journey to Atlantis attraction.
Another signature attraction in the park, Taumata Racer, is a mat slide that provides an eight lane racing experience, allowing guests to challenge their friends and family to see who can slide down the 300 foot slide the fastest. The attraction is named after a 300 foot hill in southern Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.
Fun Fact
Taumata is short for the original 84-letter Maori name:
According to Busch, the lengthy title translates roughly as, “The hilltop where tarnatea with big knees, conqueror of mountains, eater of land, traveler over land and sea, played his koauau to his beloved”
Hooroo Run and Walhalla Wave share a tower complex, offering the staple family raft rides often found at water parks. Walhalla Wave sends guests down a wild journey of tunnels, twists and turns, all while in pitch black. Hooroo Run is a triple drop family raft slide that drops riders a total of six stories. While the popular Australian term “G’Day” means hello, its counterpart “Hooroo” tends to mean the opposite.
Many other attractions dominate the park, including two bowl slides that drops guests into Loggerhead Lane, Whanau Way, a four slide complex filled with water curtains and surprising moments of free fall, one of the world’s largest water playgrounds with 15,000 square feet of slides and blast cannons, and Kata’s Kookaburra Cove for the small children with its 79,000 gallons of fountains and small slides.
Dining Options
Aquatica offers three very unique dining options serving an assortment of the signature food that can be found at many of Busch Entertainment’s parks. The park has everything, from light and healthy options to a variety of classic traditional cuisine. Another thing that sets the park from the ordinary water park is the all you can eat buffet. Serving an assortment of burgers (even for vegetarians), hot dogs, BBQ chicken amongst side items, the buffet is truely a great deal and is priced reasonably too. This not only gives guests the luxury of paying one fixed price, but allows them to come and go as they please, filling their appetites without the line.
Every hour the park's skilled culinary team is prepared to serve more than 2000 meals to the guest. This means that not only is the food great, but most importantly its fresh too. The Waterstone Grill is a two lane restaurant serving sandwiches and salads, as well as desert and drinks. Mango Market is the typical grab and go eatery with basket style lunches. It's perfect for a picnic on Aquatica's beach with more than 3.1 million pounds of soft white sand. Banana Beach Cook-Out is the all you can eat buffet and is a must do for those who want to save a buck and also for those looking to satisfy their hungry appetites. All three meal options are world class, providing a variety of cuisine that isn't available at many of the country's water parks.
Final Thoughts
Overall Aquatica represents a new era in amusements by providing something outside the basic slides and pools that are regularly associated with a typcial waterpark. The interaction with wildlife and the parks tropical nature give guests an opportunity to experience something that can't be found on an everyday basis. Many guests who've had the chance to spend a day at Aquatica describe it as a fun and relaxing place thats not overwhelming, but pleasant to be in and around. The slides aren't 125 feet in the air dropping guests at 65 miles per hour, but simply fun attractions that anybody in a family could enjoy and partake in. Not only that, the element of aquatic life brings a whole new dimension to the park. Now, guests have the ability to view the Commerson's Dolphins and the thousands of tropical fish, and many of the park's attractions are integrated within those marine environments.
Aquatica isn't necessarily a technological feat that's never been seen before, but a collaboration of theme park elements merged into one common arena of play, with each of those elements sharing a synergistic relationship with one another to not only provide a unique experience amongst park guests, but to allow others the opportunity to see how much wildlife habitats should be treasured and appreciated. Aquatica certainly made its mark in the Orlando region, being the 12th park to the area, and is certainly in competition to become the dominate waterpark in the south.
