Last Thursday was my first trip of the season. The first thing I noticed while driving into the park were the new cabanas set up. I have no idea how much they cost nor did I see anyone using them yet. (Maybe next time I'll get some more info)
The entrance to the park was lush and green. The landscapers do such a wonderful job with the whole park. Once at the gates I purchased a half price ticket(17.49) for my daughters friend and we waited in line. Sadly, there was only one person working the gate. Two would have been nice , but I guess they didn't think it would be busy @ 1pm. Once inside the park, the photographers on the bridge took our photo. They gave us fancy Kodak bracelets so we could check out our photo later in the day. I ripped mine off 10ft later but the kids thought they were cool, so whatever.
After changing and rinsing off we made our way to the wave pool area. We found some chairs in a not so crowed area to the far left. We were pretty close to those yellow cabanas, lol . Anyway we dropped our stuff and jumped in. The water felt great, but the waves didn't seem as big as I remembered them from last year. The first cycle ended pretty quickly and we were whistled out of the pool. We sat around in the sun until they opened the wave pool. We went in for two more cycles and then headed for the play Structure.
The first thing I did was wait for the 1,000 gallon bucket to drop on my head. Full warning ...the water here is very cold at first! After this I played with the water features, Well, the ones that worked that is ! While I did this the kids went on the slides. We didn't spend to much time here as they wanted to lay around in lagoon with the water falls. Here the water was a little too warm and the two kids with the diapers on made me feel uncomfortable so I sat out.
The cool thing I saw through out the day was an employee and a supervisor would go around and toss a plastic life size baby doll in different parts of the pools. This was insuring lifeguards were paying attention. They also did a full on size drowning in the wave pool with back board and all.
They really didn't need much practice as I saw them save/help three people from drowning in the wave pool alone this day. I guess people don't realize what those waves can do in 5ft of water.
Well, after taking all that in ....we decided to take it easy and float around the lazy river. Here I saw them using rental tubes only, not a good sign if they want to keep people from just walking around and swimming like last year. While drifting away this was the first thing I said to myself .....
(The park hasn't changed in the three years I've been coming here. Why can't they spend a couple thousands dollars on new tubes ..end rant)
Again... this trip around the river had too many people walking, splashing water fighting and diving under the water. There wasn't anything relaxing or lazy about it. How ever once again the landscaping looked great in this whole area!
We made our way back to the Blue Lagoon for one more cycle. After that we packed up, Changed and headed home. Sorry guys for not making it over to the park, a couple of us were too tired.
In conclusion....
The park really does need something new. It's a little out dated and the whole park (except the landscape) has that worn out feeling to it. Not that I don't enjoy it, I just wish they used it to it's full potential. Maybe try and fix everything at the play structure, invest in some new tubes for every ride (just not the lazy river) The cabanas are a nice addition and probably free from Home depot but I think the main focus should be on tubes!
Seriously, I did have a great time! And after seeing them train the lifeguards in live stituations made me feel a little more secure letting my daughter out of my sight even for that split second.(Like that ever happens) so Great Job SF in that regards.
*Note... no cameras are permitted unless they are 35mm and waterproof?