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| - My husband and I chose to go to Wet 'n Wild for our 5th anniversary mini-celebration and it was a very good choice! We had never been when it was Waterworld, but my husband had driven by it and told me that it is a lot bigger by far.
We got there 30 minutes before it opened (about 6 days or so after opening day) in order to be able to get past the crowd and beat the afternoon heat. I had checked the website a couple days before we went to see how much tickets cost, what types of slides they had, and get directions. I found out that they also have private cabanas around the wave pool. They are available for $85 on weekdays and $100 on weekends. Yes, that is a bit expensive, but since it was our anniversary, I thought it would be pretty nice to have this private little spot to make it feel more like a mini-vacation. The cabanas include a ceiling fan, two lounge chairs, two more chairs, a table, T.V., food and beverage service, and two innertubes. As we stood in the ticket line, I read the signs they had indicating the prices for tickets and the cabanas. But when we got up to the window and asked for two adult tickets and a private cabana, we were told the private cabanas wouldn't be ready until next week.
I would have given Wet 'n Wild 5 stars, but that one star is gone b/c I was pretty upset that they advertised the cabanas on the website and even on the ticket counter signs. If they weren't ready, there should have been an apparent note on the site and some sort of tape or poster covering up that part of the sign at the ticket window!!!!!!! Since it was opening week, there were actually a lot of things that didn't seem organized. We couldn't get the cabana, so I wanted to rent innertubes so we wouldn't have to wait around for them in line. I have been to plenty of waterparks to know how long you sometimes have to wait for tubes as the riders get off the slides. But, they told us that there was no need to buy them b/c there were plenty. Well, that might have been the case for the first hour after it opened for the day, but we did have to wait at one of the slides for tubes. Eventually, we had waited for so long for the double tube, that we gave up and just grabbed individual tubes. Yes, not a big deal...but enough not to give them that 5th star.
Also, a lot of waterparks don't do well in Arizona b/c of how much hotter it gets here than, let's say, California. I was a little weirded out to find that there were no misters in the hotter parts of the park. There weren't as many awnings and coverings as there should have been. The ground was really hot in some spots where they could have easily put coverings...it's Arizona...it gets HOT! It was a bit of a pain to have to wear shoes and carry them on to the slides. Again, not a huge deal...but enough not to get that 5th star.
There were a few slides that were unique to other parks I have been to in California. As an adult, I found the park to be great for all ages. The slides that have the large bowls (there are two of them) were extremely fun and gave me quite an adrenaline rush...loved that! I recommend getting there half an hour before it opens (which is when we arrived). You are allowed to park, pay, and get lockers before the rides actually open. But the bathrooms are not open, so change ahead of time.
One last thing, I am used to indoor locker rooms at water parks and I was a bit annoyed to find that I had to leave my cell phone and digital camera in a locker that would soon become a hot house. I would have thought that in Arizona, they would have at least put 4 walls around the lockers and combined them with the indoor changing rooms and bathrooms...just like all other parks I have been to. I thought that was a bit weird.
All in all, we had a really great time and were happy that we chose to go, even if it was crowded. There was a perfect amount of scary slides and easy going slides. We will be heading back next summer!
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