Grand Paradise Waterpark — Attraction in Collins

I went yesterday. It was small, but fun. Not bad. I spent 5 & 1/2 hours there.

I hope you don't mind climbing stairs with an inner-tube and waiting, because you'll probably be doing a lot of that.

Plenty of inner-tubes (for one or two people), life-jackets, and lifeguards available.

1 lazy river. Nice, but can get crowded with people and abandoned inner-tubes.

1 splash pad (vertical water jet area) for kids.

6 big slides (2 or 3 of which are for 4-foot tall and up). ----- An orange and yellow one that you slide down using a mat with handles on it. The line for that was very short, because it's actually 4 slides. ----- A magenta one that requires an inner-tube. Slow and good for kids. ----- A big red and white one that requires an inner-tube. The one with the big bowl thing. The best slide at the park, in my opinion. ----- A blue one. I think it was the dark one that's dimly illuminated. Probably the worst slide, in my opinion, because I like to see. ----- A white and green one with a good drop. Pretty fun. ----- A light blue one with a single loop. Pretty basic.

5-or-so small slides for kids - all leading to the 2 swimming pools.

2 swimming pools. Both are shallow enough that I could stand up in them. One pool was very nice, and the other one that has the pirate fort thing in the middle was not as nice, but probably still fun for a kid. It seemed over-chlorinated - almost gooey.

The food was okay, but a little expensive, as expected. They have the usual things like pizza, nachos, chicken strips, BBQ sandwich, corn-dogs, soda, icee, etc. Nothing healthy, of course.

1 gift shop. I didn't really look around it, so I have no opinion about it.

MISC. CONS: Very hot ground. Felt like a burned the bottom of my feet. I would recommend bringing water shoes, except they make you take them off to go down most of the slides. No wave pool. Lockers are $5, but kind of small. Food was smaller than expected. There were some unkept trees hanging into the walkway and some dangerous, slippery spots, but only 2 in particular that I remember. Scraped my back and elbows at least 3 times on the slides. Got pretty bad red marks where my spine and shoulder-blades are. #skinnypeopleproblems

CONCLUSION: I don't regret going. It was fun (mostly thanks to the two multicolored slides). But I do recommend waiting for a deal (like $20 or less for the day or an Early Season Pass), so it'll be more worth your money. Don't...

Height 48” and above $32 each ticket Height 42” and under $28 each ticket Military tickets $22 each Senior tickets 60+ $21 each Children 42” and under are free ( but they had a paper on their front entrance door that said children age 3 and under are free ) so may have to call and ask for clarification. Small cabana $50 all day or $35 for 1/2 a day Large cabana $60 all day or $40 for 1/2 day VIP cabana $125 all day or $70 for 1/2 day The difference in the large and vip cabana: large cabana has about 8-12 chairs VIP cabana has about 8-12 chairs with cushions and a ceiling type fan They have season passes Group discounts You can purchase tickets online as well as in person. If you don’t wanna wait online to get tickets and all I’d advise you be there waiting at the door as soon as they open. Hours are Monday - Friday 10am-5pm Saturday 10am-6pm Sunday 1pm-6pm The months of June and July only Saturday nights from 6pm-9pm and tickets are $17.25 each Keep in mind prices are always subject to change. Also keep in mind they charge taxes just like anywhere else and there is a 4% charge for all debit and credit transactions. Now this place is great for all of the family, unless you have a kid that is scared of getting water in their face or just scared of fast slides and all. Souvenir cups are $6 each and super cute. With the souvenir cup you save $0.75 for each refill which is $3.00. Without the souvenir cup you pay $3.75 each drink. Not sure about the food, I’ve never ate inside the park, always walked down to the bk beside the park, which I will never do again because my burger and fries tasted like fish and so forth.. my mistake, next time I’ll try the food in the park! They have a first aid section if needed, which we needed due to my child deciding she’d go belly first on the kid slide at the activity pool. By no means was this accident the parks fault, it was my child’s fault because she was told not to go down belly first but she did anyways, and I also believe the life guard told her not to as well. She went belly first tho and ripped the hid off her little lady area.. so I advise to keep reminding your child not to go belly first. First aid guy was super helpful gave me everything we needed to fix her up. Wear water shoes! The concrete is super hot and will blister your feet. Park is always kept clean and all the staff are...

This "park" seems more like an over-priced splash pad that lacks consistent maintenance/cleaning and the staff has proven time and time again to be unkind, unaccommodating, and uninformed. With significant rainfall expected in counties surrounding Collins, two people within my group of 10 as well as I made several telephone calls to this location before making a 70mi journey. We were all assured each time that the park was open and would remain open provided that lightening and thunder did not impose on safety regulations for a solid sixty minutes or more. We made the trip. Less than twenty minutes after our last call we arrived at grand paradise only to find that the people who had already entered were being forced out. My group, along with several other vehicles full of potential park guests, were told that due to heavy thunder and lightning the park was being closed for the last two hours of the business day; however, we all could clearly see the clear skies over us. I attempted to call in and speak with any person in charge to ask why we were not being allowed into the park. I was dryly told that the decision to shut it down had been made fifteen minutes before my call and because it was still thundering (it wasn't) they evacuated everyone. I explained my dissatisfaction with whoever we had spoken to several times before telling us repeatedly that the park was not going to close only to watch the staff direct customers out once we pulled into the parking lot. I was told something along the lines of 'we should have watched the weather radar' ourselves. Nah brah.. being aware of weather changes has got to be someone's responsibility on that staff.

I'm not even sure why I spent time describing yet another customer relations fail by the notoriously rude and lazy people who work here......