It was Spring Break and our son was screaming for an adventure. Family in Florida invited us to Aquatica, a mega-water park in Orlando. As we had a week to while away, we decided to drive. We found Travel Math, a great website with a travel calculator, and discovered the distance to Orlando was around 530 miles for us making the drive time over 10 ½ hours. It was a long, long drive, but the upside of a water park destination is that kids can get rid of hours of pent-up energy in a big way.

Aquatica is owned by Sea World and it is unique in that it features live animals and sea creatures like fish, dolphins, turtles, and more. Fantastic for different age groups with everything from kiddie pools to high octane water rides. Whatever sea creature you relate to, there’s something for you at Aquatica.

Tadpoles who want to wiggle and giggle will enjoy Walkabout Waters which features water guns and a whole “factory” of water fun. Kata’s Kookaburra Cove is also a great place to hang out with toddlers.

Dolphins who like being airborne should try the many high impact slides. The Dolphin Plunge is a water slide that shoots you down a tunnel past Commerson’s Dolphins.  The Taumata Racer is a challenging, competitive mat ride.

Turtles who just want to bask in the sun can rent their own cabana or lounge on the enormous white sandy beach. Loggerhead Lane, a lazy river, takes you slowly by an aquarium of fish.

There were a large number of international visitors. In line at the snack bar I heard Italian and Portuguese as well as a few British accents. However, as we were visiting the park as a family I was a little surprised at the number of Brazilian bikinis. If you take children, be prepared for a very European outlook about sun attire. If you can get past the eye-popping fashion, Aquatica is still fantastic fun for families.