Aquavelis Water Park — Attraction in Vélez-Málaga

Had not been back to this place in 4 years, and in that time it's had a lot of improvements made - e.g. Covered parking areas, rental of rubber tubes for the tube rides, more sunbeds, improved locker rental system, etc.

Turn up early for a covered parking spot, otherwise you'll need to have a sunblind in the car to keep the heat down in the car when you come back. Buy your tickets online and save a few Euros (family of 4, we saved €8). Entry should be smooth as long as you have the email confirmation with the QR code they scan for access to the park. We didn't include the VR experience which bumps the cost of tickets up.

Locker rental on the right hand side as you go under the archway in the shop. 2 locker sizes, I used a large one which was €10 of which €5 was a cover charge for the bracelet used to unlock the door.

You can rent rubber rings to the left for those rides that need them. We didn't bother, but similar idea to the lockers - you pay a charge of which the deposit is returned when you return the ring. Either single or double rings are available, but they do run out toward the end of the day.

There are plenty of spaces to set up camp under the parasols that are already there, and you can rent sunbeds, of which there were plenty even when we turned up 1 hour after the park opened. The areas that used to be grass are now fake grass, and can be hot under foot when walking around. The paths that are now what I can only describe as some type of pink carpet (same sort of material) are not. Any concrete or paved areas soon warm up, so for kids they'll need something on their feet for getting about potentially.

There is a pool to the far right of the park (facing from having entered the park), and this has a wave machine that is turned on periodically.

There are a couple of activity areas for smaller kids/toddlers to enjoy in the pool areas in front of the slides.

The slides themselves are at the back of the park, and are either low, medium or high in terms of speed. Queue for the fastest slides was the shortest, but the queues for most slides go down quite quickly depending on the time of day - earlier in the day it's shorter, and toward the end it's a lot longer. I'd say all the rides are good fun for most age groups and adults. Be aware there are height restrictions for most of the rides. The lifeguards will also make you remove any bracelets or jewellery that are sharp. This rule isn't consistently applied from what I could see on the day - some folks going down slides carrying their flip flops, etc.

Plenty of places to eat and drink are on the site. We had access to a cool box, so it was easy to turn up with sandwiches, fruit, crisps, water, etc, which a lot of the Spanish do when they go there. I didn't check the food options, but as you'd expect you can get ice cream, coffee, water on site, and to one side of the park is a restaurant area which appeared to be cooking food on site.

Very well run and a great stress free day out for most. A lot of families had kids who could get on most of the rides, so let them get on with it as they relaxed in the sun. Will go again the next time we are in the area of the kids are...

INFO FOR FAMILIES!

I so want to give it 5 stars. For the actual water park experience, Aquavelis was incredible. Everything is close in proximity, which is great for families. You can bring in your own food—huge plus. To rent a beach chair is 5euros, but to sit under an umbrella is free. Amazing.

OUR ISSUE: we have 3 children age 8 and under. Our two girls, ages 4 and 6, went to use the children’s slides while we waited at the bottom. The way it is set up, the children go around and you can’t see them until they climb up to the top of the slide. We continued to wait and I finally walked around the slide area to find that a male staff worker had cornered them in an area that was hard to see them to pose them for photos. He had my 6 year old on the ground and was touching her legs to pose her with NO other adults around. My husband immediately went to him to tell him we did not give him permission to take photos of our children and to TOUCH THEM and all in private (YUCK) all to bribe us to buy the photo at the end. They are minors and should not be coerced into a literal corner away from their parents. An hour later, I turned to see a female staff member running her fingers through my 8 year old son’s hair to pose him for a picture. DISGUSTING. I yelled at her for doing the same as the man. Absolutely no one asked us for our permission and our children kept being cornered. It’s wrong. How inappropriate to corner children, away from their parents, just to bribe us to buy photos. All 3 of our children said they said no and the workers kept telling them it was ok and just to do it. Shame on Aquavelis. You are training your photographers to be inappropriate. Just let us have fun with the 100 euros we paid to get in instead of having to also keep an eye on your staff members so they aren’t inappropriate with...

Don't be deceived by the size of this park, there are actually quite a lot of slides and my family enjoyed every single one. The queues were quite short (no more than 30mins wait) and since we arrived at around opening time, we were able to go on all the rides twice. The park is very family friendly, with mini slides for little kids, and big ones for everyone else.

There are a few extra costs however, sunbeds cost €5 but umbrellas are free - DON'T BRING YOUR OWN PARASOL THEY WON'T ALLOW IT. You don't have to buy the tubes which you need to go on some of the rides but I recommend just paying because the queues for the free tubes are quite long and slow. If you buy a tube, KEEP THE RECIEPT because after you return it, you get a €5 deposit back for each tube you bought.

I also bought the virtual reality experience which my child really enjoyed. They did the simulator. One thing I will say, when they ask which one you want DON'T DO THE RACING (unless your child knows how to drive😂). It was really complicated and confusing for my child and was a waste of my money since half the time they were stuck. The roller coaster is definitely better and a lot more enjoyable.

Lastly, some of you will have probably seen the review where a mother talks about her children being asked for a photo. This is true, my daughter was asked but she simply said no and they left her alone. Usually, there are a few photographers waiting at the bottom of slides after you've done it who ask to take a photo but its still easy to see your child especially if you went down the slide with them. The staff were touching the children's hair but only to put a few accessories in for the photo.

This park was amazing and I definitely recommend for any families who are thinking...