A new water park called Aquatica has opened at SeaWorld San Antonio. Aquatica opened on May 19th 2012 just a week before Memorial weekend. You have to purchase a ticket for both Aquatica and SeaWorld to get into Aquatica. The standard price of a ticket is about 79.99 for entry into both parks. The gates open at 10:00 a.m. for both parks and close usually around 9 p.m. with some days being at 6 p.m. and some as late as 10:00 p.m.. Be sure to check the calendar on the website to confirm the hours because they change for holidays and during the summer.
My family visited SeaWorld Aquatica in San Antonio on May 26th and 27th. This was Memorial weekend and only a week after Aquatica had opened. We went to SeaWorld the first day and Aquatica the second. We got to the park at 9:15 and entered the main gate. We had purchased tickets online so there was no wait. They make you wait at a certain point until 10:00 to go into the actual park. The first thing we saw was a sign for a special all you can eat and all you can drink for 30.00 for adults and around 17:00 for children. My family figured this was a good deal considering the price of food and drinks in the park. We purchased the all you can eat and drink special. The first problem we ran into was the fact that this special does not include any snacks or drinks except from the restaurants. We never saw any warning. As far as we could tell, this information was left out. We spent two hours watching the various animal shows. At around noon we decided it was time to eat. The lines to eat had hundreds of people in them. The lines were outside the restaurant and they snaked around and around the building. We stood in line for thirty minutes before giving up. We decided to see another show and then we would back at around 1:00. The line was even worse at 1:00. We thought maybe at 2:00 the lines would be shorter since everyone would be done eating. We went and saw another show which ended at around 2:30. We checked two of the restaurants and the lines were even worse than at 12:00. We never got to use the all you can eat or drink special because there simply wasn’t enough restaurants to support all the people. We left the park at 3:00 and went to guest services. We told them our story and they did refund our money for the special. I would not recommend getting the special on any day that is busy. While we were waiting in line at guest services we heard people behind us complaining that they bought tickets for Aquatica and that they were over capacity and would not allow anyone else into the park unless people inside the park left. A whole lot of people were in line getting refunds because they couldn’t get into the park. We made sure we would get there before they closed it the following day.
We went the second day to the water park Aquatica. We made sure to get there early to make sure we wouldn’t get left out. We made it inside the park by 10:30 but it was already crowded. The chairs were already all taken. I had my parents, my fiancé and our little 4 year old boy with us. The first thing I noticed when entering the park is that they have a pool area with Sting Rays. You can feed the rays and even pet them. The line was fairly long for the Sting Ray exhibit. There are at least 5 or 6 pool areas meant for younger kids. Some are only a couple feet deep while some are 3 to 4 feet deep. There are plenty of smaller slides for younger children that don’t have lines and are meant for kids younger than 11. There is a huge playground with a lot of water guns for the kids to squirt each other. A huge bucket on top fills with water and a siren alerts you that it is about to spill over. Crowds of people gather underneath it to get splashed. For older kids and adults there is a wave pool that is up to 6 feet deep. Younger kids are welcome but need supervision. Every eight minutes the waves will turn on. The waves stay on for four minutes and then turn back off. This cycle repeats all day long. There are several larger slides for adults and older children. Some require tubes and some don’t. The lines for these were quite long when we were there. This park has an attraction equivalent to lazy river which is called Loggerhead Lane. Float around in a tube or just float by your bodies natural buoyancy. Stingray falls is one of the signature attractions for the park. You and three others can ride in a raft and come face to face with stingrays and other tropical fish.
One thing we found interesting that was not part of the rides, was the animals the park staff would bring out and talk about. The first one we saw was a Barred Owl. There were two ladies that had the owl out in the public for people to see. They would not let anyone pet the bird but they did talk about where the animal came from and some facts about them. Later, while walking around we also saw two men holding a baby American Alligator. Again the public was not allowed to touch the animal. The third thing my family saw was a Blue and Gold Macaw. The handlers brought out this bird and told some facts about the bird.
There are a lot of chairs in the park but they are snatched up really quick. Locker rentals are 17.00 each with a 10.00 refund when the key is brought back. SeaWorld Aquatica will also let you rent private Cabanas. The standard Cabana is 199.00 and the premium Cabana is 249.00. These feature shaded area with chairs, refrigerators, towels, free water and more.
Overall my family had a great time. The all you could eat and drink special was disappointing. There was no warning and it is a little misleading to claim it’s all you can eat and drink but really it is limited to the restaurants. It should have been labeled more clearly. The lines were incredibly long for food but that could have been because it was memorial weekend. Aquatica was amazing but unless you get there early, you may find yourself locked out for hours.
