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Sea World San Diego’s Water Park: Aquatica

By: dmvollmer

SeaWorldSanDiegoAquatica

San Diego, CA is one of our favorite destinations for a short road trip from Phoenix. This past Labor Day weekend we decided to fit in one more trip to San Diego while it was still beach weather (and to escape our 100+ degree weather at home). Besides lots of time at the beach we like to visit one attraction – the last two trips we visited SeaWorld and this trip we decided to experience Aquatica, SeaWorld’s Water Park. The park is located in Chula Vista, CA – its not located near Sea World San Diego but it was an easy drive down the freeway and we combined it with a visit to Coronado Island which was on the way home back to our hotel.  Aquatica opened in 2013 – the park was previously called Knott’s Soak City.

I was impressed by the size, lushness, and how all the attractions looked brand new. The weather was prefect – warm enough that the water felt refreshing and not as hot as it is at the water parks at home where you burn your feet and over heat while waiting in line. The lines were pretty short too – much better than any water park I’ve visited.

Sea World Aquatica collage 
My son and I always love lazy rivers and we enjoyed Aquatica’s Loggerhead Lane – my son loved the waterfall where he got soaked! (don’t worry, you can avoid it if you prefer to keep your head dry). He also loves wave pools and he thought Aquatica’s Big Surf Shores was a blast. While he hung out in the wave pool, I enjoyed getting some sun on the lounge chairs (moms need their time to relax!).

After spending some time in the wave pool, my son wanted to try out the kids play area, Walkabout Waters. He could have spent all day there – his favorite part is when the bells rings and the giant barrel filled with 500 gallons of water spills over completely soaking anyone standing under it.

Next we decided to try out the rides. Aquatica has a great mix of rides with tubes and without tubes and it was hard to pick our favorite.

Mom’s pick – WooHoo Falls
Brendan’s pick – Walhalla Wave
WooHoo Falls is a single tube ride where you have a choice of several different paths that are either enclosed or open and after lots of twists and turns you are dumped in a large pool of water. The Wallhalla Wave experience involves an over sized raft where you can sit up to 4 people and you twists, turn and spin down the 78 foot slide.

Aquatic collage 2
Aquatica has lots of food options for lunch, dinner or snacks. We opted to pack a lunch which we ate in their picnic area outside of the parking lot (with my food allergies its simpler to pack my own food when we go places). I bought my son Dippin’ Dots at the end of the day and he thought these were the best thing ever! You are allowed to bring in a bottles of water. 


disclosure: We were provided complimentary tickets to Aquatica for the purposes of this review. All opinions are our own.

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Comments

  1. Melissa says

    at

    That green funnel looks dangerous! In AZ we have a great water park called Big Surf. I take my daughter every summer!

Hi there and welcome to Sweet Shoppe Mom. My name is Dana and my son is Brendan, also known as B. Welcome to our blog where we chat about every day life with tweens and teens.

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Did I commit a crime? With B at home for #virtual Did I commit a crime?

With B at home for #virtuallearning and me #workingfromhome we’ve been making an effort to find ways to get out of the house while being safe with regards to the pandemic and supporting local businesses. The past few years local businesses have popped up that we haven’t yet tried so I made a list. B has been wanting to try @urbanbobateahouse at @shopsatnorterra so we took an after school break for some #bobatea 

Now here’s question for you. I removed the boba tea cover from my drink and B was horrified 🤣 I don’t think it was a big deal. BUT apparently in the eyes of teens I committed a crime (he even backed up his claim by snapchatting his friends for confirmation). Let me know in the comments whose side you’re on

#momofteens #boymom #teenagersareawesome #momofteenagers #midlifemom
💛💚💜 Happy Mardi Gras!! 💜💚💛 Did y 💛💚💜 Happy Mardi Gras!! 💜💚💛 Did you have your paczkis and King cake today? 

Usually we head to Southern Rail, a local restaurant for their Mardi Gras celebration (we go for an early dinner before it turns into too much of a party scene). Jambalaya, beignets, fried okra, Sazerac (for me), and of course King Cake. This year we’re making Jambalaya at home.

#mardigras #kingcake #arizonamom #momofteens
❤️ Pizzas for dinner. A Valentine tradition we ❤️ Pizzas for dinner. A Valentine tradition we’ve been doing since B was just old enough to start helping with dinner.

@lillunakristyn pizza dough recipe + @traderjoes pizza sauce 😋

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Happy Valentine’s Day 💕 Double Chocolate Hea Happy Valentine’s Day 💕

Double Chocolate Heart-shaped Pazookie 😋 as requested by B. Slowing down because of the pandemic, has given me the chance to cook more. I’ve been baking lately...after owning a cake shop for 8 years (and then closing it) I was burned out on baking but now a few years later I’m starting to enjoy it again. B is a big sweets fan, so that makes it fun too.

#valentinesday #pazookie #heart #dessert #chocolate #instayum #valentinesdessert
Disneyland or Disney California Adventure - which Disneyland or Disney California Adventure - which is your favorite???

Happy 20th Disney California Adventure! Looking forward to the day we can visit again. I took this photo at the end of February 2020 not realizing it would be my last visit for awhile. I even upgraded my ticket to a season pass and had plans for bring @wheresbnow for a visit soon (he’s never been). Next year ✈️

#disneyland #disneycaliforniaadventure #visitanaheim #visitcalifornia #pixarpier
Death by Chocolate 😋 We took an after school br Death by Chocolate 😋 We took an after school break and went to check out a new sweet shop. We really needed a break and to get out for a bit. @sodajerkmilkshakebar opened in @highstreetaz near the end of 2020 and its been our list. Cute little shop with over the top shakes and floats. B went for the Death by Chocolate and it was 👍👍. Lots of outdoor tables set up for a safer dining experience.

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I let B plan his day and like most teenagers it revolved around food. Our birthday breakfast tradition of pancakes in the shape of his age. For dinner he wanted our homemade pizza. I let him choose his cake (I did used to own a cake shop, so choices are endless) but he chose a Chocolate Chip Skillet Cake - it was quite yummy and so much easier than a decorated cake so the decision was fine with me. 

This kid is chicken obsessed 🐓 Especially fried chicken, chicken nuggets and chicken wings. The foodie in him is always searching for the best so as part of his celebration we made a list of all the fast food fried chicken places in town that he will taste to determine the best. Because you can only eat so much food in one day, he tackled 2 places the first day and we covered the rest over the next few weeks...video and his picks coming soon. Now he wants to do chicken strips - maybe for next year’s birthday as I need a fast food break.

#momofteens #teenlife #thisisfifteen #teenagersareawesome
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