This week I had it scheduled to go check out a water park and of course it ended up being cold here again.  But that wasn’t going to stop me, but I didn’t decide against actually going in the water.  Plus as an added perk due to the cold the park was nice and quite with not a lot of visitors making my tour around a nice leisurely one.

There were quite a few different water parks around Orlando to I could visit, but I decided to check out SeaWorld’s Aquatica.

This park was definitely much larger than I had anticipated.  When you first walk in you cross over a bridge that had part of the lazy river.

There is also a very large water slide that is clear and goes directly through a Dolphin tank which is where I found the first penny press machine.

Just to the right side of the dolphin viewing area is where the penny machine was located.

   

The designs on these pennies were really unique.  They are of very common animals we have all seen at different aquariums and zoos, but the way these were designed was really cool.  This set included designs of a Manta Ray, a Lizard, a Flat-billed bird, and a dolphin.

I started my tour around the park and basically followed the lazy river for most of the trip.  Eventually I did come to an area which was designed for some younger visitors and looks like a lot of fun.  Various buckets drop water on unsuspecting swimmers, and there are water sprinklers all over the place.

In one area of the park is a large sand “beach” covered with lounge chairs for sun tanning or just relaxing.  As you can see due to the colder temperature this day I had the pick of any chair I wanted.

Near the sand “beach” are two large wave pools.  On my visit only one of them was operational but you can see the size of it in the picture above.

Throughout the park there are various water attractions and slides.

As with a lot of parks there is always something new being added.  Aquatica is no different and there was an area with construction walls to hide the magic going on behind them.

In one area near the lazy river there are private cabanas that you can rent for the day.  During busier times of the year it’s recommended to book these ahead of your visit to ensure you can get one as they are very popular.  Since I didn’t have one I could go back into the area, but this was the private bridge heading back to the cabanas which include covered areas, private seating, and concierge to help get you anything you want like food or drinks.

Seeing things like this water fall, and the slides really made me regret I didn’t bring my bathing suit.

After touring around the entire park I headed back to the large gift shop called Kiwi Traders.  This was actually right near the dolphin viewing tank.

Inside the gift shop you can guy beach towels, sun tan lotion, and all store of standard theme park souvenirs.  They also do sell bathing suits which was tempting.  Outside the gift shop was this sculpture / water fountain which looked to have the same type of animal designs I found on the first set of pressed pennies.  Then I noticed behind the fountain was a second penny machine.

   

Just like I found with the rest of the park this penny machine was very colorful.  The set of pennies at this machine had images of a Kiwi Bird, a Puffin, a Woodpecker (maybe), and a Turtle.

My quick (and dry) tour of the park was a lot of fun.  I haven’t really been to a water park since I was a teenager and this made me miss it.  I can’t wait to get back here as soon as the weather warms up a bit.  Plus I must say it again, these coin designs are really cool and not something I’ve seen before and made a nice addition to my collection.