Water-Zoo Clinton Indoor Water Park — Attraction in Clinton

We were very excited to go here for the first time yesterday. A little back story: last year my son spent his 14th birthday in the hospital with my mother after she had a stroke and she hasn't really recovered over the last year. This year I wanted to make it up to him. His birthday was last week and I got stuck working two shifts the day of so he babysat about 15 hours that day with barely a two hour break in between. We moved his celebration to this weekend and he asked last minute to go to the water zoo. I knew it was pricey but we have a pass that says "Admission fee $19.99 1 family per card" so I called the park and verified that it was $19.99 for the entire family. I spoke with an extremely nice lady (who I won't call out here) who assured me it was for the entire family and only $19.99 total. I asked about extra fees (was told there was none unless you wanted extra things), bringing cake and etc (you can't), and closing times. I ended the call excited and told my son we'd go. So, two hours later we walk in the doors after he'd rushed around to get everything ready. We go to buy our arm bands to find out I had been given false information. It was $19.99 each. My son looked devastated. We were going to leave but I just couldn't do it to him. I payed and we went inside planning to make the best of it.

I wanted to have a good time. I wanted him to have a great time. Instead: The lazy river takes alot of work. You can't just "ride" in it. The only floats for use are single or double inner tubes and it's only 3' deep. If you try to recline on them you constantly slam into very rough walls that tear up your skin. If you walk instead, inside the tube or without it, the bottom also tears up your skin. You get constantly stuck in two or three spots/have to paddle your way out through weird rough spots and the afternoon sun is literally blinding at 6pm.

The slides: The "toilet bowl" slide malfunctions almost every time. It is pitch black inside and you get stuck beside the exit 4/5 times you enter into the bowl. You then have to try to find your way out on your own or call for help. The final time my 15 year old rode it a sharp object caught his float and ripped it out from under him and he was thrown through the end of the ride without a float to have the attendee say "oh my gosh that's the second time today!". Another slide features a game. Really cool! Has lights and a board you ride on. You push buttons at just the right time and get a score based on your skill as you go down. So . . . We pick up the decently heavy boards, carry them up the steps to register our accounts (which took forever because the Id bands wouldn't scan properly), then carried the boards up two more sets of steps to get to the slide. Yay! Time for fun . . . Except when we went down the lights were not working properly, the game didn't register a score at all, and the entire reason for dealing with all that mess was a waste of time.

In the end, I left with a bleeding knee from the rough walls, my 15 year old left with a seriously abraded big toe from the rough floors, and my 8 year old left with Scarlet red eyes from the chlorine. We spent more than promised, and the first words out of my birthday boys mouth after 5 hours of water "fun" were "I should have asked to go to the movies, that wasn't worth it".

He never wants to go back and I'll not give them another penny. Ever. The management admitted this issue has happened before (this particular employee giving incorrect pricing information) and never once even offered us a complimentary drink or anything to make amends. It was basically pay the price or leave and half of the rides don't function properly (or easily). The undersides of the rides are rusted and drip that Rusty water on you as you go around the lazy river and the walls/floors are so rough you'll leave bleeding and scabbed. I'm super disappointed since this is in my home town and one of the few things to do here, but I gave three stars because I feel like it's a great idea in theory and is...

The place was overall nice. However there are some pros and cons. We spent around 6 hours here and had a good time. I'm a 25 year old male for some perspective.

Pros: Water and air temperature is regulated since it is an indoor facility, which removes a lot of the feeling you have to getting in to colder water.

I was able to try all the rides and while there weren't many, I did enjoy them multiple times.

The staff was very friendly. I wanted to shout out Kaden, Kelly, and Skylar, as they did make the experience more enjoyable. The water guns and stuff for the staff were a nice touch and some of them had a nice sense of humor. There also were two ladies that worked at the food bar and near the front desk, who helped me loosen up some goggles.

Cons: The number of unique rides is about 4 with 2 of those being tube rides. There were these along with the wave pool and lazy river. This is basically pointing to the fact that you can essentially experience the whole park in an hour or less.

If you're more of an adrenaline junky, then these rides probably won't cut it for you. No free falls. The rides can be fast, but are not stupidly so. I found this enjoyable because I am not the kind of person who wants to get sick in an amusement park.

The food was not the greatest in my opinion, but it wasn't bad either. I see it more as something to get you by and as a convenience. We only really tried the chicken tenders and fries. The prices were low for amusement parks, but still higher than fast food obviously.

The best rides required you to climb up 3 floors of stairs from the bottom. I didn't consider it an issue though, I just considered it leg day.

Personal Story: I actually bought the goggles there to help a random person who lost a necklace in the water. I managed to find the chain, but one of the kids in the water found the actual pendant for it. That was honestly a reasonably fun part of the experience just because it was kinda fun searching the lazy river. They did plan on searching the drains after closing if it wasn't found.

Overview: I listed some cons, but I honestly had a very fun time there. The food could lose it some points, but you can just as easily leave and come back so I didn't consider it a huge issue. I would've put expensive in the cons, but you are getting what you are paying for due to the indoor nature of the park even if it is smaller. Eventhough it's smaller, I also didn't have to wait in line for but a few minutes and most times i could just go down whatever without a line. I was there on a Friday from about 10am-4pm.

In response to previous reviews: The worst I saw from staff is that some of them were tired on arrival, not a big deal in my opinion and something i can understand at the start of the earlier shift. There was one person who looked annoyed, but I think it was just her resting face. Later i saw her and she seemed fine.

Food was more expensive than outside food, but it was about $10 dollars for the chicken tender meal and that's honestly low for comparable theme parks and there was no charge for parking, which can make up for it by itself. They also gave some pretty good sized tenders.

The theme park is smaller and more expensive, but the water temperature being regulated makes a difference on that price tag for a good reason and it's honestly worth it.

The water temperature was definitely the temperature they said it was and the water was clean and clear. I was able to see clearly to the bottom of the water when I first started looking for the necklace. I had to grab goggles, due to not being able to see through the current in...

Edit to respond to the owners response

"1. We have never had dividers between the mens urinals. I travel a great deal and see lots of airports etc with no divider"

This is an odd way to run a business. You shouldn't base what you aren't doing on what others also aren't doing. Do me a favor next time you are at the water park. Go look at the men's toilets a few hours after you open. You will notice that nearly every one of them is covered in urine. This is because children do not like peeing in no divider urinals.

"Now to your comments about the showers. You are absolutely right- they need replacement and replacements have been on order for some time."

I noticed that this is commonly mentioned in your recent reviews. Posting up a sign in the shower room that states what you just said would negate the need for future reviewers to mention it. Also, consider that there are likely many people who notice it and don't read your review responses. They then might think that the Water Zoo is run down and pass the word along to others.

Thank you for your response to my review.

• End of Edit*

We had a blast at this place today. Price seemed reasonable.

A few recommendations for the owner:

The bathrooms/showers really need some work. Its really weird that the urinals don't have privacy dividers and there is a bench where people just sit and stair straight ahead (which is toward everyone's private parts.)

The showers really need to be ripped out and replaced. Many of the shower pans are cracked and look like a cut hazard to bare feet. Both changing rooms could use a couple more benches, instead of just one small one.

The place was freezing on March 13th 2023. The temperature on the temp display said 81-83 degrees, but many many many kids and adults were shivering and had blue lips. My daughter is rarely cold and she just couldn't get warm today during our 6 hour stay. Maybe the thermometer isn't correct.

The pool where the basketball hoop is was freeeeezing. It felt at least 20 degrees colder than the other swim areas of the park.

Back the positive.

I could see us coming back, likely not until it warmed up outside more. The dippin dots were killer, do please keep them around.

The locker setup was really awesome. Much better than having a physical key.

The lifeguards were nice. Didn't see a single one of them playing on their phones.

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