I’ve been biting my tongue for a LONG, LONG TIME, and can finally shout it out…AQUATICA IS COMING! Planning for any project at our parks takes years to complete, so you can imagine how long we have been working on building a new waterpark! Lost Lagoon has been a staple of SeaWorld for almost 20 years; however it never offered guest a completely original experience. Now we are proud to announce that we are bringing Aquatica to Texas.
Aquatica is a waterpark that only SeaWorld could build. Our new waterpark will feature exciting rides, amazing landscape, wide open white sand beaches and of course sea life – all in a beachfront resort setting. This is a waterpark like no other. It will incorporate thrill rides and tons for the family to do together. It truly represents the serene to the extreme!
Planning this waterpark was a lot of hard work…and of course a lot of fun. We talked to guests from all over in focus groups to see just what our visitors really wished they had in a SeaWorld waterpark and now we are giving it to you. We will be keeping many of our most popular attractions, but they will have a very different look. We are most excited about the new attractions and ambiance we are bringing to our waterpark. It was very important to us to create attractions the family can do together as making connections is at our core.
Our new signature ride will be called Stingray Falls. This family raft ride will take you on a downward journey through open and closed slide and into a slow moving river. This river will literally go underwater through our stingray reef. The reef will feature several species of rays and tropical fish. The underwater viewing will amaze you and make you want to ride over and over again to see something new. There is nothing like this in the world!
The reef will offer guest the opportunity to experience the rays in several ways. There will be a “touch wall” where you can actually feel these amazing creatures. We will have food available that you can feed to the rays. You will even be able to wade into the water with rays for an encounter like no other.
We created several terraced resort pools named Whanau Waters and Slippity Dippity. This area features beatiful rock work, waterfalls, in pool ledge seating for your lounge chairs, slides and play elements for kids both big and small as well as big beach entries. This area will be perfect to relax or play. In this area of the park be sure to take advantage of cabanas, in water lounging, beach side service and an all new culinary location.
Landscape and ambiance will be a featured aspect at Aquatica Texas. Our team has been hard at work creating plant lists, testing sand and designing our waterpark to “take you away” once you arrive. There will be plenty of tropical foliage, expansive beaches and amazing splashes of color. Big and small kids are going to love our large beaches. They will offer a nice place to relax and just hang out as if you were on a tropical vacation.
For those a little more adventurous we will be putting in what we call a “zero gravity wall slide.” This slide will be called Wahalla Wave. Guest will ride a four-person tube down a flume, then be dropped down the slide and up a wall on the other side. Guests will feel the sensation of weightlessness as they ascend the far wall before riding over some large humps to the splash pool. I have a feeling this will be a favorite of mine, and it’s the first of its kind in North America.
I will have a lot more blogs coming out about the process we have gone through, where we are today and what is coming up on Aquatica – so stay tuned. We are excited and anxious to show off our all-new waterpark…Aquatica Texas!
