On Thursday April 3rd I had the privilege of attending the Worlds of Discovery VIP party for Aquatica as well as the opening day event the next morning (April 4). Aquatica is a beautiful water park. Busch Entertainment themed it to the South Seas with Australia and other islands around the area being inspiration for plants and animals as well as names. I did not go on any of the attractions as of yet, but did see many guests on Friday enjoying the slides as well as the animal interactions throughout the park.
It started off driving out to Orlando to stay at the Embassy Suites in Lake Buena vista. It is right against I-4 but you can see the old Dixie stampede theater across the way. Good layout with a free full service breakfast too. After dumping all the Jungala photos onto the lap top my assistant (Katherine) and I drove over the Aquatica, which from the hotel was about a 15 minute drive.
Arriving we were directed to the sign in table and got a name tag and waited for them to open the gates at precisely 7:00p.m. but around 6:55pm they let us in, after checking our bags. Directing us down the small walkway and past complimentary drinks, (open bar) and then past many performers from the luau at Sea World Orlando welcoming us and presenting us with necklaces. Throughout the night they would be creating crafts such as Leis made from Fresh flowers and bags from palms. The performers even made tattoos from makeup which my assistant got.
At night the park looked stupendous, sure the lights are not themed but the atmosphere was great with changing the soundtrack to a party atmosphere and offering samples of all the culinary offerings. The slides did not have too many people going down but those who did were enjoying the attractions that I could see. The dolphin plunge was the hit with many guests attempting to slow down enough to see the Commerson’s Dolphins. Not only were the dolphins doing their own thing many animals were out at night such as the Giant Anteater at the entrance to the park and the Sulcata Tortoise near the Waterstone Grill and wave pools.
All in all, it was an enjoyable night after getting back to the hotel around 10:45 and dumping all the photos onto the laptop then turning around to get back to Aquatica by 10am for the huge grand opening celebrations and media tapings. Where we watched a presentation followed by talking to Dan Brown about the future a little bit. He did mention the SeaWorld Project would be announced in May. The park was packed and still felt alright.
It is a great place to visit, The photos already released from previews don't show everything thats worth seeing.
For photos:
http://floridathrills.net/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=627 - Worlds of Discovery VIP Night
http://floridathrills.net/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=629 - Grand Opening Photos
It started off driving out to Orlando to stay at the Embassy Suites in Lake Buena vista. It is right against I-4 but you can see the old Dixie stampede theater across the way. Good layout with a free full service breakfast too. After dumping all the Jungala photos onto the lap top my assistant (Katherine) and I drove over the Aquatica, which from the hotel was about a 15 minute drive.
Arriving we were directed to the sign in table and got a name tag and waited for them to open the gates at precisely 7:00p.m. but around 6:55pm they let us in, after checking our bags. Directing us down the small walkway and past complimentary drinks, (open bar) and then past many performers from the luau at Sea World Orlando welcoming us and presenting us with necklaces. Throughout the night they would be creating crafts such as Leis made from Fresh flowers and bags from palms. The performers even made tattoos from makeup which my assistant got.
At night the park looked stupendous, sure the lights are not themed but the atmosphere was great with changing the soundtrack to a party atmosphere and offering samples of all the culinary offerings. The slides did not have too many people going down but those who did were enjoying the attractions that I could see. The dolphin plunge was the hit with many guests attempting to slow down enough to see the Commerson’s Dolphins. Not only were the dolphins doing their own thing many animals were out at night such as the Giant Anteater at the entrance to the park and the Sulcata Tortoise near the Waterstone Grill and wave pools.
All in all, it was an enjoyable night after getting back to the hotel around 10:45 and dumping all the photos onto the laptop then turning around to get back to Aquatica by 10am for the huge grand opening celebrations and media tapings. Where we watched a presentation followed by talking to Dan Brown about the future a little bit. He did mention the SeaWorld Project would be announced in May. The park was packed and still felt alright.
It is a great place to visit, The photos already released from previews don't show everything thats worth seeing.
For photos:
http://floridathrills.net/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=627 - Worlds of Discovery VIP Night
http://floridathrills.net/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=629 - Grand Opening Photos