Posted in Florida 2016

29th December 2016 (Day 12)-Aquatica

Another day and another trip to a water park.  This time to Aquatica, the entry for which was included with our Discovery Cove ticket.  So we are managing to squeeze quite good value from that with a trip to Seaworld as well.

 

Aquatica
Aquatica

We started off with a little float down Loggerhead Lane in our rings.  I find this lazy river to be a bit shallow and usually end up walking along the bottom.  But it’s nice as you go through the big aquarium and also get to see the Commerson Dolphins in the tank where people come shooting down the tubes (down Dolphin Plunge).

Loggerhead Lane
Loggerhead Lane
Loggerhead Lane
Loggerhead Lane
Loggerhead Lane
Loggerhead Lane

After going around a few times we thought we would try out Roa’s Rapids, which we’d never been into before, and turned out to be huge fun.  The water pulls you round so fast that it’s actually difficult to stop and get out.  After a very short time in the water we decided that the easiest thing was to grab lifejackets and let them do the work so we could just float and whizz around.

Roa's Rapid
Roa’s Rapid

Literally had to pull Rosemary out, partially as she wanted to carry on going around it and partially because she nearly got carried away by the water at the exit point.  Very cool though and as close as you can get to flying in water.

After getting out we had a look around the shops.

Aquatica
Aquatica

We spent a bit longer at the park and played around Cutback Cove, which is the beach area at Aquatica and has a wave machine which comes on periodically.  But after a while we decided to get dried off and changed.

Before we went we did go and watch the Comerson Dolphin’s for a little while.

Comerson Dolphins
Commerson Dolphins
Comerson Dolphins
Commerson Dolphins

As there was still some time that evening we visited the outlets, eventually managing to park up as it was so busy, and did spend about $2 buying a Space Slug hand puppet at the Disney outlet….I mean why wouldn’t you.

Space Slug
Space Slug

As as we hadn’t done quite enough swimming for the day, Rosemary decided to take a night time swim at the hotel.  The water was way too cold for anyone else but she didn’t seem to mind!

Night Swimming
Night Swimming
Posted in Florida 2013

10th December 2013 (Day 9): Aquatica and Downtown Disney

Aquatica_Logo_640Aquatica today for some swimming and messing about in the water. We started off in Loggerhead Lane, which is the lazy river at the park as well as going into the wave pool.

But by the time we came from there we were getting pretty hungry.  We decided to go the Banana Beach Buffet which was an all day dining deal.  So we could come back later on and have another snack.

The chocolate custard was a big hit.

Chocolate Custard
Chocolate Custard
Chocolate Custard
Chocolate Custard

After having a look at the Commerson’s Dolphins we went back to the water.

Commerson's Dolphins
Commerson’s Dolphins

We then went to the children’s play area (Kata Kookaburra’s Cove) and did some of the waterslides there.  There was one which was done with an adult which was very popular and we did it a lot of times without having to wait around.

Link to the video of the waterslide

After a quick refill snack at the Banana Beach Buffet we left the park.

Aquatica
Aquatica

Which was probably just as well because Rosemary was asleep before we left the car park.

Asleep
Asleep

She got a bit of a snooze in the car on the way to Downtown Disney but once there she soon got eating again with a rice crispy cake thing from the Candy Cauldron.

Candy Cauldron
Candy Cauldron
Candy Cauldron
Candy Cauldron

And we went into World of Disney and tried on lots of ears and hats.

World of Disney
World of Disney
World of Disney
World of Disney
World of Disney
World of Disney

 

Posted in Florida 2012

20th March 2012 (Day 9): Aquatica and Universal City Walk

Aquatica_Logo_640Heading towards the end of our trip to Florida and we used our Discovery Cove tickets to go to Aquatica, the waterpark by Seaworld.  It hadn’t really been very high on our list of things to do but proved very wrong and we had a great time.

 

The main beach/pool has a wave machine which goes off every 15 minutes or so.  When it does there is a bit of a rush for the water.  This was a lot of fun for Rosemary being bounced up and down in the waves.

Wave Pool
Wave Pool

The other area we spent time in was the part set aside for smaller children (Kata’s Kookaburra Cove).  This has a number of water jets, props and small slides.

Kata's Kookaburra Cove
Kata’s Kookaburra Cove

The only other bit we went on was Loggerhead Lane which is the lazy river. This is pretty cool as it takes you past some transparent waterslides, the Commerson’s Dolphins and through an aquarium.

Even though it was a hot day Rosemary had been in the water for quite some time by this point and was starting to get a little chilled, so we spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the sand.

The beach
The beach

And looking at the Commerson’s Dolphins which spend a lot of their time swimming upside down.

Commerson's Dolphins
Commerson’s Dolphins

Once we left Aquatica we headed for Universal Citywalk.  As we arrived later in the afternoon the parking was half price, but you still have to pay to park there.  Slightly annoying but you have to pay for parking pretty much everywhere. Think the only place you don’t is at Downtown Disney.

We headed to the Bubba Gump restaurant to have dinner.  Had a short wait but not very long.

Bubba Gump
Bubba Gump

Rosemary slept through some of the meal but woke up to have a bit of dinner.

Bubba Gump
Bubba Gump

Afterwards we had a quick walk over to the entrance to Universal Studios.

Universal Studios
Universal Studios