Waterville USA/Escape House — Attraction in Gulf Shores

I visited Waterville USA waterpark on 8/31/14 (the last day of the season). From the moment we stepped into the park, it was clear that most of your employees did not want to be there as they were rude, discourteous and extremely unhelpful. As an example, I would ask "do you have a locker storage area here?" and the guy at the gate simply said "yeah" and looked away. When I asked where, he got huffy and puffy before telling me where it was.

We were yelled at for "not applying sunscreen in the grass", which I guess is the designated sunscreen areas, and when we did go into the grass we walked out with feet full of stickers. I would hope you would take better care of the grassy areas if you wanted your guests to walk there.

I was extremely disappointed at the slides--9 total? and the fact that they all shared the same stairway and platform (3 on one platform, 5 on another and one slide on a separate platform). This led to incredibly long and disorganized lines. There were signs stating "(slide A) to the left and (slide B) to the right" but none of the guests paid attention to them and there was no one to organize the lines at all. This wasn't a huge deal, the slides were mostly fun (aside from the ones that weren't properly built resulting in ridges that would tear up your back and legs). What happened next is what was the dealbreaker.

We were in the wavepool towards the end and I swam over to retrieve a tube that was sitting on the rope (that is there to keep people from crossing into the area that generates waves). As soon as I got there, a husky blonde lifeguard named Grady (didn't look older than 18) pulled out a cone and began yelling at me to get off the ropes (I never once crossed the rope). I understand that this is a safety precaution, but A. There should be signs posted stating "do not cross this point" or the rope should be pulled out further to where you would be comfortable with your guests floating, B. there was absolutely no reason to cause a scene as I was not aware of this rule and began to paddle away as soon as I retrieved the float (which is when he began yelling) and C. Someone should be there to retrieve the ten floats from around the rope and bring them back to the front as there was no free floats in front of the wave pool. I'm a grown man, so I let it slide, but a few minutes later a young preteen girl (who clearly couldn't swim)'s float got caught up in the rope. Grady (I overheard his name from his bearded lifeguard friend who yelled conversations with him over the pool but was much more courteous to the guests) sat there and yelled at her to "GET OUT OF THE ROPES NOW". All the while, the girl was yelling "I can't! I can't swim, help me!" Grady just stood there and continued to yell until a tiny female lifeguard (very young looking with braces) jumped in and pulled the girl back towards the front. Grady sat for the remainder of our time spent in the wavepool with a whistle perched in his lips ready to yell at anyone who violated the unseen rules (it may be beneficial for you to POST THE RULES somewhere around the wavepool area).

All in all it wasn't a completely terrible experience as most of the slides were fun and I enjoyed the wave pool (when not having to hear Grady's power hungry shouts) and the lazy river was okay. However, its very hard to justify the price tag with the overall the demeanor and rudeness of your employees, disorganization of the lines and lack of water slides. I definitely won't come back here until I hear of major changes or renovations and will go to either Mississippi or Florida if I get the urge to visit a water park next year. I will also begin to advise people against visiting this park. Its a shame too, I have very fond memories of visiting this place with my family as a kid, and riding water slides like "the black widow" and amusement rides like "the ejector seat". I definitely hope that this park eventually changes for the better, but I may just chalk up my good memories...

I was a disappointed this time. First of all, the prices to get in are rediculously high. That place ain't that elaborate... JS It's too the point that only rich people can afford to do anything. Second::: I think it is very inappropriate for young teenage girls to be walking around in a thong bathing suit at a water park or any family function where there are kids. As far as that goes, any age.... Y'all should be ashamed for letting it happen.... There was two that I saw and obveiousy the parent figure was ok with it just as y'all were. But NO!!! It's NOT ok. Keep it at the river or the beach but not somewhere like the water park. Kids don't need to be seeing that and parents shouldn't have to worry about their kids seeing it. Again especially at a family oriented place. PERIOD!!! And third::: The food is so expensive that you can't even afford to get a drink. Little kids and special needs kid don't understand things like we do, and they have meltdowns which they get in trouble for and that ruins the rest of their time there, that or they have to leave because now they can't control themselves because they are so upset. Tell me how do you explain to a special needs child or any little child that doesn't understand things like we do, that they can't have anything to drink or eat? Do you think we like it when they have meltdowns? No, not anymore than anyone else does. Y'all have everything so expensive that people like me can't afford to come and then when we finally have enough money to come, we can't afford to buy anything to eat. Not even a drink.... That's really sad. I wish company's of any kind would understand that if they would lower their prices then in the long run they will make the same amount or more money because more people will spend money. Raising prices only keeps people from spending money. Think about it. If your broke you can spend money. And then y'all don't make any money. So lower your prices and let everyone enjoy themselves not just the rich people. JMO. But the big group I was with said they will save enough to go to the one in OWA next time... Sorry. Please...

The young lady who served us at the ticket counter up front was incredibly rude when we inquired about the group rate. It was obvious she didn't even want to fake a good attitude in a customer service job which put me in a sour mood and left a very bad first impression. We then had another bad experience with the staff as we were leaving. We wound up leaving the go-karts after the water park closed at 6 (understaffed so we waited in line for about an hour to get on) and were instructed by the staff to turn around and walk through the parking lot to go get the bag we paid to put in storage at the water park admission area. Half of our party went ahead to the cars and stopped some water park staff from walking to the parking lot with the container holding our bags and towels. They tried to explain we were coming through the park to claim it and the women kept rudely insisting that all the gates were closed and no one was in there. I refuse to believe that staff didn't know we'd get sent through the parking lot after closing so it was not necessary to be so blatantly rude about it. Once we showed up we gave them the pin to claim our things and left.

The two stars I'm giving are for our experience after getting our group in the park. The park and bathrooms were clean and we enjoyed the slides and child play areas in the water park. All of the staff INSIDE the park, including the amusement park area, were a complete 180 from their co-workers outside. They had no problem answering questions and even gave suggestions to resolve any issues we had like the paying party not having a photo ID on them. The only downsides to the inside would be that they are understaffed in the amusement park area and the facility is kinda limited on rides.

I've noticed the negative reviews are mostly for similar experiences with rude staff members throughout the facility. We won't be returning simply because of that. The obvious disrespect we encountered is not worth the $36 it costs per...