Designing and building a new waterpark is a little, no a lot, like making a Christmas list. As we planned Aquatica we looked at attractions at all of our sister parks, but especially Aquatica Florida. We met with ride manufacturers to see what new ideas they were working on and we even created our own ideas using SeaWorld experience with animals. Once we had all the components to make this amazing new waterpark we knew right away we were going to need an image for our guest to convey this great concept.
This image has a lot of things happening and you can look at it dozens of times and still find something new….hidden message perhaps? What we loved about Aquatica right away was the vibrant colors. These colors are carried through architecture, landscape and even the animals. You can see from the image that colors are a very important part of the feel of Aquatica.
The newest attractions are very unique. Top left features Wahalla Wave. This is a first of its kind in North America and sends guests soaring up a wall in a clover leaf inner tube giving you a feeling of weightlessness after dropping down the slide from the tower.
The center piece of the image features Stingray Falls. This attraction takes family rafts of 4 down twists and turns to an underwater grotto. The slide then turns into a river and goes under water through the reef which you can see at the front of the image. This slow moving river will give you a great view of the rays and tropical fish. This slide is a one of a kind and can be found nowhere else in the world.
The reef also features the ability for groups to enter the water and feed and touch these amazing graceful rays. For those who want to simply touch or offer the rays food from the side we have that covered too! A long wall along the pool will give guest this opportunity. The bowl slides represent Tassie’s Twisters. We built these slides in 2010 using bright vivid colors in anticipation of them becoming part of Aquatica. Guests can ride this in single or double tubes. Both of the bowls send riders spinning inside of a large bowl before the final decent!
The far slides represent Kiwi Curl and Whanau Way. This is a Lost Lagoon original that we are keeping due to it’s popularity. You won’t even recognize it when it is done!
Of course one of my favorite aspects of Aquatica is the beaches! I am already scouting locations for hammocks! We will be adding some large beach areas and even bringing back beach to our wavepool which will be called Big Surf Shores as you can see on the top right of the picture!
There is so much going on in our new waterpark it would be impossible to show it all in one image. I think you are just going to have to come see it for yourself in 2012!
