In short, we have been bringing our children to calypso for many years. This year, our family of 6 spent $550 for 45 mins of actual fun. The experience at Calypso was more expensive than ever despite shorter hours of operation, longer lines, fewer rides, rides in subpar condition, and absolutely horrible “food”. We won’t be returning as the value for the money has decreased while the cost has climbed.

Read on for more details.

My cousin and I have been taking our kids to calypso every year for 6 years and it is sad to see how a place we have enjoyed many times has fallen into disrepair. Although calypso has always had challenges due in part to its VERY young staff (despite their best efforts). They are lovely for the most part to interact with but, it’s clear they have absolutely no leadership, problem solving skills, or decision making authority. You’d think by this stage of the game with all the feedback they have received (and legal dealings), Calypso would have remedied their issues vs sliding further and further away from a quality establishment.

Prices went up this year. Fine. Everything is getting more expensive. I get it. I don’t mind paying for value but, there just wasn’t any today. It cost $402 and change online in advance for 6 people (2 adults/4 kids) to go. We arrived at 10:10 a.m. just after the park opened but, waited to get into the parking lot ($22) for over half an hour because there was no one directing traffic. We then waited nearly an hour before actually passing the front gates due to absolutely pointless half hazard “bag checks” and broken scanners not being able to authenticate tickets/wrist bands.

After finally passing the threshold, we found out lockers were no longer by deposit for a key but, are now a pay-to-use PIN system. (Another $15.)

We head in to find many of the attractions are closed so even though the park is significantly under capacity, lines for attractions are very long. 40 mins to an hour. The entire reason we waited until the last week of the season is because it’s usually much quieter and we benefit from shorter wait times despite taking a risk re:weather in late August. This plan, that’s served us well for years, backfired today because of the closures. The lines would have been entirely reasonable had all the attractions been available.

We managed to squeeze in 5 slides (out of 35!), 2 lazy river runs, and 12 mins of wave pool time (WAY too crowded) even though we were there from open to close (which is 5 pm this week instead of 6). We had no time for anything else like the pirate play area, or the group rides, etc.

We brought lots of snacks because we know the prices are steep for food. We usually eat lunch at a restaurant though and this year was nothing short of abysmal. Significantly fewer options, NO vegetarian options (because buying side fries wasn’t even an option -they had to come with a meat entre option). Poutine is beef gravy. Etc.

Ended up receiving 3 shrivelled little chicken tenders, a pathetic pile of undercooked fries, served with a “fruit salad” (see: a few tiny slices of honeydew melon, a sad looking chunk of frayed pineapple, and one measly grape that was all entirely inedible because it was clearly packaged many days prior. It tasted awful) and 3 fountain drinks. No plum sauce available. No ketchup available. That’s one chicken tender combo and 2 extra drinks for $30. …which took over an hour of waiting in lines to receive. My cousin spent $44 on poutine, and a burger & fries. We wasted well over 2 hours of the day just getting in the park and waiting for food. Not to mention attraction lines.

Attractions that were actually open had MANY broken features, there was a distinct smell of sewage while waiting in several LONG lines in the heat of the day (with no shade might I add), the bathroom I used was disgusting, the lazy river was cloudy and the walls felt/floor felt slimy -it needs to be better maintained. The foam boogie boards in the lazy river all have visible mould on them. All of them.

We have decided not to return unfortunately.