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California Coaster Kings Visits Aquatica!

Sean: ‘SeaWorld’s Water Park” is the slogan of this Chula Vista water park that was previously known as Knott’s Soak City. What was SeaWorld’s influence on the park? That’s something we’ll most definitely discuss in the following article! Besides that we’ll take a complete look at all of the slides and attractions the park has to offer, and what we thought of them! 

– Over the years, many of our images have popped up on other sites and forums, awesome that our coverage spreads, not so awesome that not everyone mentioned where they got the images from. We are totally fine with our audience using our images, BUT ONLY IF credit is given to californiacoasterkings.com. Thank you! –

First impression, very clean and welcoming entrance. Much like the other SeaWorld Aquatica parks, it has its own distinctive style and I am loving it! 

Once past security you will reach the plaza with the ticket booths, self-help ticket machines, awesome foliage, a very excited Sean (exclusively in the picture below), and the turnstiles heading into the park. 

First impression as you walk in. Just wow for a water park in California. It just looks very polished. Also, it wouldn’t be SeaWorld if there weren’t ANIMALS! 

We were welcomed by these flamingos, who’s habitat borders the lazy river! Making for a great entrance, and on-ride experience. 

The park overall looks very nice. SeaWorld heavily invested in repainting and rebranding all slide complexes, adding amazing amounts of tropical foliage as well. Which really sets this water park apart. 

Here’s an awesome panorama shot featuring most of the water park’s attractions! 

Let’s take a look around the park, shall we?

First off: Walkabout Waters! A splash island type of family attraction with multiple water-dumping buckets and smaller sized body slides for everyone to enjoy! 

Again, the entire park is just filled with awesome foliage! 

Walkabout Waters is located in the center island of the park, surrounded by the park’s lazy river attraction named “Loggerhead Lane”.

The center island is also home to some of the park’s fancy cabanas that feature a safe, lounge chairs, a fridge, a table with chairs, and are surrounded by nice foliage! 

Also located on the center island is Slippity Dippity, a child-friendly pool with several small slides and a water fall. 

Here’s what the island looks like from a distance! 

Near the front of the park, separated from most other attractions is the park’s large Tornado slide. An awesome backdrop to FLAMINGOS!

The slide is named Tassie’s Twister and has a decent sized pre-drop with a few turns. The actual bowl looks amazingly pretty and colorful. A great staple attraction to have at the front of the park. 

The slide fortunately features a raft lift, which SeaWorld added as they acquired the water park, meaning rafts will already be at the top of the structure and there is no need to carry them up yourself!  

What we see behind this beautiful plant is… a hill with a ton more slides! 

The park features six more slide complexes, we’ll be looking at each one of them starting at the left of the hill

First up is Whanau Wave, a 6-slide complex with 4 high speed enclosed slides and 2 open-air slides. 

The slides are colored purple and orange, and like everything else at Aquatica are looking amazing. The open-air slides (especially for big/tall people) offer quite some air and intense transitions! 

When the water park was acquired SeaWorld not only repainted the slides, but added lots of foliage making this slide complex, like most others, amazingly pretty! 

The enclosed speed slides are fast and all offer unique ride experiences as all layouts are quite different. For a great first drop, I would advise checking out the enclosed slide on the edge, it offers a great first drop. 

Next door to Whanau Wave is HooRoo Run! The park’s typical set of triple hill, drop out slide, and speed slide. Unlike most versions of this tower though, HooRoo Run features two awesome speed slides!

The slides feature wooden supports, which look great with the orange and pink tones on the slides. Much like all other attractions this slide complex is also very visually pleasing.

Right next door we find a set of 6 raft/tube slides, which are essentially two sets of three slides (two enclosed, one open-air) that mirror each other. Going by the names of Kiwi Curl and Woohoo Falls. The slides are quite long and have very light and inviting colors (green, teal, and yellow). Riders can either slide down together on a 2-person raft or individually. 

Next up is one of the largest family rafting slides around, the park’s Walhalla Wave!

The slide used to be a a faded blue back in the Knott’s Soak City days, but now spots a bright aqua, purple and orange color scheme. One of my favorite color scheme’s I’ve ever seen on a slide! 

Thanks to the ride’s length there are plenty of turns that move you high up the Walhalla Wave walls! The ride also offers scenic views of the surrounding mountains, as well as Aquatica itself! 

Right in front of Kiwi Curl and Walhalla Wave the park features a small dance area with DJ, which is a party hangout dubbed Fiesta Aquatica, taking place daily from 3PM-Closing. 

We have one slight structure left to cover, which towers over the park’s recreational pool named Kaka’s Kookaburra Cove! 

But now it is time for our favorite attraction at this stunning water park! TAUMATA RACER! This  2014 addition came a year after the launch of Aquatica and is just amazingly fun. 

Besides the blatant racing aspect, the slide has a great color scheme, is beautifully located, and is forceful! 

The ride’s first sharp S-turn drop into a helix generates a lot of speed. 

Which is then followed by an three large hills down to the skim out, offering amazing airtime, especially for a tall big dude that I am. 

Let’s talk about some non-slide action at the park!

The park’s giant wave pool is located near the set of terrain body slides, Whanau Wave, and an empty plot of land. Which is where the next expansion will likely take place. The Big Surf Shores features sand beaches and plenty of seating as well as cabanas! 

The entire park is filled with lovely theming like this, which is the Aquatica brand’s most clear feature. It has a very colorful distinctive style, and it’s worth every bit of hype! 

The park also offers complimentary life vests throughout the park, which are nicely displayed on racks, such as the one next to Tassie’s Twister. 

The park features plenty of little spots and beaches to relax between palm trees and foliage. This place isn’t only great for slides, but also for ultimate relaxing. 

Like the SeaWorld parks that aren’t water parks, there are plenty of small vending options all around the park offering many different types of snacks. 

There are also several large restaurants at the park, offering a variety of different types of food. 

In addition the restaurants just look amazing, with plants and colors everywhere you look!

The seating areas are very A.D.A friendly, offer plenty of shade and look very clean! 

The park’s directories are in style and useful, though the park is very easy to navigate. Ended up on top of the wrong slide complex? Just walk over to the next one without having to walk back down first! 

Also the park has Dippin’ Dots. A water park must-have. It was actually my first time getting these, and I had to get a “Shamu souvenir bowl”. 

Let’s finish this report with a shot that captures it all. Animals, amazing landscaping, plenty of colors, and a solid lineup of slides and attractions. I you had to choose a water park to check out in Southern California, check out Aquatica. You’ll get what you expect from a SeaWorld park, and thus you can’t go wrong. 

Thank you for checking out this Aquatica report! We’ll be back with lots more water park coverage soon! We’ll also bring you some more international reports, in addition to lots of local reports such as Ghost Town Alive!

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