InPark was lucky to attend the grand opening of Legoland’s new water park in central Florida. Built as a park within a park (admission to Legoland Florida is required, PLUS an additional $12 charge for access to the water park), the water park is a resurrection of Splash Island Water Park, which, along with the original Cypress Gardens, has had a tumultuous history.
Most of the changes have been cosmetic, laying the Lego theme onto the pre-existing structures and attractions. In nearly every case, it’s been a major improvement. The park is geared for a younger visitor, and as such has a smaller capacity than other water parks in the Orlando area. With just 1,300 people in attendance at opening day, the attractions were jammed and space was at a premium. Still, as a supplement to the already successful Legoland Florida park, it’s likely to be an additional draw for the park and new revenue stream.
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| The entrance to Legoland Waterpark. It’s not a separate gate in the traditional sense, it is a park-within-a-park. Entrance to Legoland is required, along with an additional $12 charge for use of the waterpark. |
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| The most “Lego” aspect of the park is the river (original), which includes a Build-a-Raft feature. Guests can grab giant floating Lego blocks to decorate their rafts. |
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| What modern waterpark is complete without a great kid’s play structure. |
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| Some details seem to be overlooked, like this barely-camoflauged water pump. |
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| Other details are rather cute, such as this Lego man occupying the lifeguard chair. |
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| The wave pool (original) excels at creating soft, kid-friendly rolling waves. |
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| Most of the park’s body slides are contained within the play structure, known as the Joker Soaker (original). |
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| Legoland Waterpark’s most thrilling attractions come in the form of three body slides on the Splash Out structure (original). Unfortunately, the access stairs afford a great view of the park’s “boneyard” and decaying sections of the unrestored Cypress Gardens area. |
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| The Twin Chasers are two intertwined tube slides. Guests can ride in single or double tubes. |
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| Both Twin Chasers provide relatively calm, smooth rides, one enclosed and the other open-air. |
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| Another Lego “touch” hiding under one of the Twin Chasers. |
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| Although the Splash Out slides aren’t new to the park, they still provide good thrills for the teen and tween set. |
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| As expected, some guests get more into building their raft than others. |
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| To celebrate the grand opening, Legoland attempted to break the world record for most number of beach balls thrown into the air at one time. The previous record was 400. |
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| With over 1,300 guests in attendance for the media event, there were more than enough beach balls to break the world record. |
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| The only major addition to the park was this Duplo Splash Safari tiny tots play area. |
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| Located near the Lego wave pool, this water table lets guests build small Lego dams and test them against water rapids, or just splash one another! |
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| To end our visit to Legoland Waterpark, the quintessential bucket pour! |
