Wet and Wild Orlando

Wet and Wild is a water park in the Universal district of Orlando, it’s one that can be paid for at the gate or it comes as part and parcel of the Orlando Flexticket.

The slides are split into 5 different types, although they aren’t located in batches, they’re spread around the park.

Super Thrills

This section includes; The Storm, Bomb Bay, Der Stuka and Mach 5.

We all went on Mach 5, which is a slide where you take a mat up to the top and slide down facing forward on your stomach. There are three slides that all start in the same place, so we could all go down together, although getting onto the mat and launching yourself off is easier said than done, and is certainly not an elegant procedure. I found it uncomfortable because I had to hold myself to one side to avoid getting a friction burn on my leg, because I hadn’t quite managed to get on the mat in the centre. But the slide itself wasn’t too bad, plenty of dips and twists, so 6/10 from me.

We gave The Storm a miss because I’d been on either this one or a very similar one several years before, and when I splashed down into the water tank I panicked and felt like I was drowning, and even though both the kids are strong swimmers I didn’t want them to experience the same feeling.

I also gave Der Stuka a miss; it’s a long straight slide which is rather steep. Both the kids went on it and they liked it, when I asked my daughter said 8/10 and my son 7/10.

Next to Der Stuka is Bomb Bay, which is very similar except instead of starting from a sitting position and launching yourself off, you are standing and the floor falls away, the slide is also slightly steeper than Der Stuka.

Group Thrills

As the name suggests these rides are for groups of people. They include Black Hole, Disco H20, Bubba Tub, Brain Wash, The Flyer, The Surge and The Blast. Of these we went on; The Blast, Bubba Tub and The Surge.

The Blast: Here you have to carry your tube up to the top of the ride, either a single tube or a double. This is a bit of a pain for kids, as the tubes are quite big. Then you slide down through bursting tanks and pipelines. Not a bad ride except for dragging the tubes up, so 6/10.

Bubba Tub: There was a bit of a queue for this one; about 20 minutes. This one used round dingy style boats which took up to four people (I believe it had a minimum of 2 rule as well), which were ferried up to the top by machinery, so that was a bonus. It’s basically just a straight slide with four or five drops which you jump down in the boat. A long queue for a very short ride, so just 5/10 for this one.

The Surge used similar style boats, and again they were taken to the top by machinery rather than making the patrons carry them. Rather than being a straight slide, this one was a twisting slide with turns that caused water to splash into the boat. Better than Bubba Tub so 6/10.

Take it Easy

There are two attractions that come under this heading; Lazy River and Surf Lagoon.

Lazy River is exactly as it sounds; somewhere where you can float around in a tube and chillax. If you’ve hired tubes at the hire booth then you can use those, otherwise you can wait for a tube to come floating past. The only tricky bit is getting into them in the first place. 10/10

Surf Lagoon is in the centre of the park, and is a swimming area, which regularly has 4 foot waves rolling across. It’s also surrounded by sun beds so you can just lie back and soak up a few rays. I prefer the sun beds here to the ones at Aquatica because they’re on a solid floor rather than sand. 8/10

Just for Kids

Two attractions here as well, a kid’s park and Bubble Up.

The kid’s park is for children under 4ft, and it has a section of small rides for the kids. Obviously we didn’t use this as my kids were a bit too old.

Bubble Up. This is a large inflatable bubble that kids can climb up via the ropes and then slide of bounce down into the pool below. Some kids had a little trouble climbing up the ropes, and only a certain number are allowed in at any one time, they get about 5 minutes on the bubble before the next batch of kids are allowed in.

Exciting Extras

We never experienced any of the attractions that come under this heading, but for information they are; Knee Ski/Wake Skating, which is a cable operated tow rope around a half mile lake.
The Wild One: Which takes two riders around the lake in a bouncy tube (this costs extra)

Beach Club: A club with a DJ, beach games and prizes.

Shops and Cafes

There are a few place to eat; Surf Grill which serves burgers, hotdogs, salads, nachos and the like. Bubba’s BBQ n Chicken which sells smoked ribs and chicken, Manny’s Pizza which has pizza and subs. Then there are a couple of snack bars and drinks bars dotted around.

There are a couple of shops as well, selling beach wear, sunglasses, sun tan lotion as well as souvenirs.