Wild Waves Theme and Water Park — Attraction in Federal Way

It was fine and the kids did have fun, but it definitely is a cheap old theme park. We knew it wasn’t a world class place when we decided to come, but hoped that it would be a fun way to make memories while visiting family from out of state.

My parents actually bought season passes for all of the local family so they could have buddy passes for all of us out of state family. That part worked out smoothly and was great. We loved that we were able to bring in some small snacks for our babies and toddlers, that was extremely helpful.

The water park was fun, and the kids enjoyed themselves. The kiddie slides were not well monitored though, and another mom got mad when I asked her son to wait until people were out of the way at the bottom of one of them after he took out my 1 year old niece when he went head first down before she even had a chance to stand up at the bottom with me right there helping her. The guards whistled a couple of times at kids, but it was inconsistent and really not well monitored nor rules enforced. Kids were constantly going down the little toddler slides headfirst, not waiting until the bottoms of the slides were clear, and pushing past the littlest ones. There was a whole section completely closed with guards watching the empty pools all day, which was a disappointment. The lazy river set up was ridiculous and clogged up with empty tubes floating through the river. With one entrance point, people wouldn’t step into the river to grab tubes, leading to a 10-15 minute wait to enter the river with the guard not helping the line at all. They needed a staff member, guard or not, helping grab tubes and get people going and then there would have been no line. The designated exits were also in fast moving water, and with all of the extra empty tubes in the river, difficult to exit especially with kids. Having the empty tubes stacked at the entrance would have helped a lot too. The wave pool had music videos playing that were not family friendly, but also waves didn’t run very often. A guard said 20ish min. It would have been nice to have a countdown on the screen to when the waves were going to start, as well as counting the break when they clear the pool once an hour. Overall, the water park was about what we expected except for the lack of monitoring around the kiddie area.

The rides were a different story, and made me question the integrity and safety of the ones running. The rides that were closed were actually quite a lot. The Disco one was on and off all day because it kept breaking. The mini kid roller coaster was broken and off. The mousetrap roller coaster was broken and off. The Brain Drain was on and off. The pirate ship was one at the beginning of the day but off the rest. The coastal clipper was on and off. There was another kiddie ride that was just off. Then, they were filming promotional videos and closed the log ride at 4, with no warning that it would be closing, and it was out of commission to the public the rest of the day. Filming a promotional video on their already limited open rides was ridiculous and should have happened before opening or after closing. Additionally, I’ve never been to an amusement park with a slower transition between riders. The workers were moving slowly, but this didn’t feel like they were checking extra well, they were just slower than molasses. I understand safety, but it was brutally slow. It was almost as if there was no incentive to attempt to work quickly at all. Many of the lines were not organized well, and overall the design was poor surrounding them. Height check sticks were inside yellow boxes by the front of the ride, that as soon as you entered you were asked to leave. They needed signs/something indicating to not enter the boxes, and needed a second measuring stick for most all of the kiddie rides outside the box so you didn’t waste time in line if your wasn’t tall enough.

There was a staff member at the carousel whose name tag said Audrey who was the most kind, refreshing staff we met all day. Brooklyn at the train was...

Wild Waves is an excellent, independent water and theme park with a "small town" vibe. Their season pass is a steal- if you buy at the right time from them or from groupon you only have to pay 50 dollars for unlimited visits. I had a season pass for a few years as a kid, and for the last two years as an adult.

The water park is their strength. Wild Waves has a wave pool, an activity pool, four different slide towers, a kid's play area with slides, and two different lazy river-style rides. On the theme park side, they have two quality roller coasters, one metal rollercoaster that goes upside down and one wooden roller coaster built during their "Six Flags" days, and a variety of carnival style rides (bumper cars, an extreme scream drop ride, pirate ship, a log ride, etc.) They have a nice-sized collection of kiddie rides, though many of them have a height "maximum" so parents cannot ride with their kids. My toddler nephew loves that their is a mini-rollercoaster we can all ride together.

Wild Waves other strength is their special events. They do movie nights during the summer where they show movies on a blow-up screen over the wave pool. During October, they offer Fright Fest where they have 3 different haunted houses at night, and some kiddie activities during the day. Each December, they decorate the entire theme park for Christmas with lights and blowups and a laser show.

Wild Waves does have some "small park" quirks that can be frustrating at times. Consistency is NOT their strong-suit. Some of the height requirements seem arbitrary, and depending on the life guard or ride attendant, what rides your little one can go on can fluctuate from shift to shift. For instance, 8 times out of 10, my 2-year-old nephew could go in the hot tub with us, but every once in a while, they'd kick him out for being too short. The bathrooms aren't always the cleanest, and a lot of the food is mediocre. (However, the hand-dipped, made-to-order corn dog food truck is consistently delicious. Other good dessert options include soft-serve ice cream, dip-n-dots, homemade fudge, and freshly made elephant ears.) - Many of the lifeguards and ride attendants are local teenagers. Some are excellent and on-the-ball. For example, we had one lifeguard who stood up for a little girl when an unrelated adult was trying to bully her into giving up her seat in the hot tub. The Wild Waves staff is ethnically diverse, which is great for the overall culture of the water park and reflects the diversity of attendees. However, a few of the staff struggled with English to the point that they seemed unable to answer basic questions about the rides they were operating. There also were a couple of apathetic life guards that concerned me with their complacency towards addressing obnoxious or unsafe customer behavior like line-cutting or rough-housing in the lazy river.

One major plus is that Wild Wave was brought under new management a couple years ago, and the new management seems responsive to guest feedback and is slowly, but surely, making improvements to the park. They put in stairs to replace a dangerously steep and slippery ramp. They replaced the water heater for the activity pool and raging river ride so those attractions are now enjoyable even on a chilly summer day. They also responded to guest feedback about Fright Fest: When they proposed limiting season pass holders to only getting in free the first few weekends, season pass holders expressed their discontent and they changed the policy before it ever went into effect. In 2018, we experienced a lot of problems with line-jumping and cutting at the haunted houses that made the lines ridiculously long (over an hour wait). This year, they added additional line queues/barriers, hired an outside security agency to patrol and manage lines, and posted signs saying you could be kicked out of the park for line-cutting. As a result, the line process went...

⭐ 1 out of 5 – Wild Waves Was an Absolute Nightmare

I don’t usually write reviews, but our experience at Wild Waves in Federal Way was so frustrating and unacceptable that I feel obligated to warn other families. What was supposed to be a fun summer day turned into a chaotic, overpriced mess. Here is everything that went wrong:

Charged Full Price for a 1-Year-Old We were charged full admission for our 1-year-old. We told staff multiple times he’s only one. We questioned it before paying and were still forced to pay full price. Military discount? Ignored. We eventually got a refund, but only after pushing for it. It shouldn’t be that difficult.

Broken Lockers for $25 Lockers cost $25 and barely function. The kiosks were malfunctioning and half the lockers didn’t work. Even the staff admitted they were having issues. You’re basically paying for frustration.

Outrageous Food Prices and Unsafe Quality Food prices were insulting. $15.99 for a grocery store salad. Orders were constantly wrong. We asked for a chicken sandwich and were handed a burnt waffle with raw chicken. I wish I was exaggerating.

Blatant Health Code Violations Condiments like ranch and mayo were left out in 90 degree weather. Warm to the touch, no ice, no refrigeration. Employees weren’t using gloves. We saw and overheard multiple people complaining of stomach issues after eating there. It’s flat-out dangerous.

$40 for Two Cans of Beer?????? We were charged $40 for two beers thanks to a mandatory 20 percent gratuity just to open the cans. No table service. No glass. Just overpriced drinks and an extra fee for doing nothing.

Multiple Rides Were Shut Down Several rides including main attractions and kid rides were shut down. We weren’t told which ones were closed when we bought tickets and there was no effort made to accommodate guests for the lack of access.

No Disability Accommodation There were almost no ADA-accessible stalls in the bathrooms. Totally unacceptable and inconsiderate for guests with disabilities.

Changing Tables Are a Joke The only diaper changing stations we saw were outdoors, fully exposed to the public with no privacy or cover from the weather. This is incredibly inappropriate for both children and parents. There needs to be an indoor or private family stall specifically designated for changing tables. One little sign saying “please respect the changing tables” is not enough. This setup is not safe, respectful, or sanitary.

Unsafe Wave Pool Environment We left the wave pool after witnessing teenagers performing sexual acts in the water. Not supervised. Not addressed. Completely unmonitored. It was disgusting and no staff stepped in.

Overwhelming Smell of Weed Throughout the Park Everywhere you walk there’s the smell of weed. Not in just one area. Everywhere. It was impossible to avoid and felt completely inappropriate in a family setting.

Run by Teenagers with No Oversight The entire park seems to be staffed and run by high schoolers. Most of them were either clueless untrained or just didn’t care. There was little to no adult supervision or professional management. It shows in every part of the experience from food safety to guest service to ride operations.

Bottom line: This park is a mess. It’s overpriced unsafe unsanitary and clearly mismanaged. If Wild Waves wants to be considered a real family-friendly theme park they need a total overhaul starting with health and safety staff training and basic customer respect. Until then I wouldn’t recommend this...