5-week Split Stay in Florida, Feb/March 2020 - Day 09: Aquatica & Disney Springs

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Day 09: Aquatica & Disney Springs
February 18, 2020
[-- Trip Index --]

We all had a good sleep, and the weather forecast said it'd be another roasting hot day at 31 degrees, so we decided to check out Aquatica, the SeaWorld waterpark! We'd never been here before, but since Myla loves swimming, we figured she'd love it.

Michael did a workout in the morning and I got all my work out of the way on the laptop. The park didn’t open till 10 so we weren’t in a hurry. We left just after 10, and parked up at 10:45 - there was some traffic on the I4 as usual.


Once parked up, it was busy at the bag check as well, and we had to wait there for around 20 minutes. Myla entertained us by posing for a few photos and checking her height lol.


We had packed a few snacks into our bag, as well as sandwiches for Michael. On my previous googling, I couldn't find anything conclusive about whether or not Aquatica had vegan food. Michael is really dedicated to only eating plant-based foods, so he packed some peanut butter sandwiches for himself just in case. Now SeaWorld and Aquatica are both a lot stricter about bringing food into the parks than Disney, and the guy at bag check here did initially say we couldn't take them in. So Michael explained he's vegan and that he wasn't sure if there was vegan food in the park; perhaps he could tell us and if there was, he'd be happy to leave the sandwiches behind? The bag check guy looked at us for a moment, then shrugged and said he wasn't sure, and it was fine, he let us straight in. Just a handy tip if you ever do want to bring food in, it's fine if you say you're vegan!

We were in the park shortly after 11AM, and walked around a little bit to explore. The park looked really nice, bright and colorful with lots to see and do.


We found some sun loungers to put our stuff down on in the back of the park, beside one of the kids play areas called Kookaburra Cove. This area has a shallow pool, various splash zones, and 3 different types of slides Myla could do. This was a good choice as this ended up being her favorite area anyway! It was nowhere near as busy as the other kids' area, which seemed geared a bit more towards older kids, and which was a lot harder to keep an eye on Myla on, so we were happier staying here.


Myla immediately went into this area to play and explore, trying out the slides there over and over as she loved them! Note: in these earlier images, she's wearing a kids' lifevest in a size S, which was really too big on her. We swapped it for an XS later which fitted much better. When we arrived at the park, there was no XS left anywhere, so we didn't actually realize it existed lol!


After we played here, we checked out the wave pools for a bit. They were fun too but there were actually no waves going in them, even after waiting half an hour. Not sure what was going on there!

We were starting to get hungry now, so while Michael and Myla sat down, I walked to the nearby Mango Joes place to get some lunch. I got a vegan wrap for Michael (they DID have vegan food lol!), and chicken tenders and fries for Myla and me to share. However when Michael bit into his wrap, he found there was feta cheese in it! Oops! He took it back to the shop and they were very apologetic and made him a new one - we weren’t angry, mistakes happen! 🙂

After eating, Myla played in the Kookaburra pool for another while until we were finally able to talk her into trying out the 2 lazy rivers! One is a fast one, called Roa Rapids, that you swim in. Myla loved this! The other one is a slow one you float down in tubes, and you go through an aquarium and past dolphins! Very cool, except Myla is really too small for the tubes, so I had to awkwardly hold her in my tube and it was a bit of a pain in the butt. Myla preferred the fast one too and asked to do it a second time, so we did. We all loved this, actually!

Next we played some more in ‘our’ pool and around 3 Myla finally started to get tired and had enough. We went into the restrooms to shower - this was a bit annoying. Keeping in mind I was in here with a 3-year-old and trying to get both of us sorted! There's no shelf or seat to put stuff down on, and the water from the shower was SO hot, it was burning us! With no way to change the temperature either! So quite difficult to get Myla clean and her hair washed but I managed in the end by just scooping some water in my hands (ow ow ow as it was SO hot) before I rinsed her hair with it. So top tip: don't even bother with these showers here, just get showered at home!

Myla, in spite of being tired, didn't actually want to leave the water park, so Michael had to put her on his shoulders as she was refusing to walk - she loved it here that much haha.

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As we were close to Disney Springs we decided to get some dinner there on the way home - we both really wanted to try out the vegan pizza at Blaze. We parked up at 3:45 in the Orange garage, and walked over towards Blaze. Myla was actually sitting in the stroller for a change - she was pretty exhausted after all the swimming!


We went in and ordered our vegan pizza, and did one half with jalopenos for Michael, and the other with pineapple for me. It was yum, and we loved the atmosphere in here too.


After enjoying our food, we asked Myla if she fancied some chocolate icecream. Of course that was a big YESSSS so we walked around to Erin McKenna for that, enjoying the sights on the way. Disney Springs is so photogenic now!


No photo of the icecream today but it's the same as all the other DS days from my trip report lol! We loved it again as usual, and walked a different way back to the Orange garage, again enjoying the atmosphere around us. We didn't go into any shops, as we were all quite tired.


We were home for 5:30 after a very good day! I had a proper shower and did some laundry, and we all just relaxed until bedtime. We hit our pillows not long after Myla - somehow all the swimming actually tires me out more than a day of walking. But we all agreed we really loved Aquatica - we didn't even look at any of the big slides, but the kids' area they have is excellent for little ones who love the water, definitely worth a visit especially if it's included in your SeaWorld tickets anyway!

[Ivegottadream]

Another lovely day! We haven't visited aquatica yet so it's great to see some photos.

[EllieP]

Enjoying reading your report. My 2 children were 4 and 5 the first time we went and they love Aquatica, it’s our favourite family water park.

[mick]

Another lovely day

Joan

[jools1302]

You had a really fun day at Aquatica, its a park we often miss out... might need to get back there next time

[abiknox]

Just found your trippy, very interesting as we are hoping rto visit next year with a 3 year old! Ill be catching up on the rest over the next few days.

Love Blaze pizza btw, how great is it, and such good value too!

[Michyloulou]

Looks & sounds lovely. We never went to SW or Aquatica on our last trip, but both look amazing days out!

[jothp]

We've never visited Aquatica but it looks like you had a fabulous day. We might have to consider going there on our next trip. The trouble is I don't know how we'll fit it all in.

[HakunaMatata]

Haven’t visited aquatica since 2011, it seems to have a lot more slides since then! The pizza looks lovely, will put blaze on the bucket list for next time!