WaterWorks Park — Attraction in Redding

We moved to Redding this summer & bought season passes for the whole family. I read many of the reviews before buying and they are very mixed. Overall we greatly enjoyed our experience. Ill address some of the common complaints. Park cleanliness: most days it was fine w/ a few minor exceptions. During the peak season(mainly July), when the park was especially full, the food stand would run out of trays and the trash cans would overflow. Food Service: The service isn't very fast & the food is just ok. We ordered their special meal deal package, the kids recived hot dogs, a bag of Doritos & a fountain soda. Not the most nutritious & delicious but the kids were happy. Since we live in town, most days we opted to eat lunch @ home before leaving, then we would go play @ the water park for 3-4 hours, then head home to eat dinner. This was a great strategy for us. Some people opt to leave the park for lunch. Some folks pack a cooler & eat in the parking-lot tailgate style. They have provided picnic tables outside the park, at the far end of the parking lot, however they aren't shaded so its just too dang hot to sit there. Pool cleanliness. There was only once that we came that we found the pools a bit murky & in need of cleaning. This particular day was a Sunday, they were having a special 'family night' event, so the park stayed open a few hours longer than usual. We just stuck to the flume slides & my little one really enjoyed the inflatable bouncy water slide that was brought in for just this one event. We came back 2 days later to find the pools clean & clear again. Parking lot safety: Keep you vehicles locked and don't leave any valuables in your car. We purchased a locker deal at the front ticket window so that we could lock up our wallets & cell phones while we played. The normal cost to rent a small locker is $5 up front, but then they give you $2 back when you return your key. Drinking water: The park allows you to bring in your own empty water bottles & then you can fill them up for free in the same little shop where we picked up our locker key when we first arrived. But there is plenty of bottled waters available to purchase too. Lifeguards: Most were professional & did their jobs well. I had no major complaints like I read in other reviews. The wave pool: All kids are measured w/ a stick before entering the wave pool area, if they are under a certain height they will be required to wear a life vest the entire time they are in this area. They provide life jackets or you may bring one from home. Additionally, small children are not to hang onto their parents near the deeper wave portion. This is a rule that they are required to enforce but I saw many parents get upset about it. My little guy is only 4 so I stayed within an arms reach of him. Most of the time he was able to bobble up and down just fine but there were a couple times I chose to grab him and pull him back to shallower water & the life guards didn't have a problem with me. So if your little one isn't adventurous enough or a strong enough swimmer stick to the shallower waves. One more common complaints regarding the wave pool. There is an invisible line near the front of the wave pool that swimmers are not allowed to pass. There are 2 lifeguards that enforce this invisible line. I heard many folks ask why a sign wasn't posted stating as such or why one of those floaty line things wasn't in place to visually mark the limit. My 8yo loved getting as close as he could to the invisible line & bobbing in the water. He learned the limit and enjoyed himself so it wasn't really any issue for us but, as I said, I heard many folks complain about this imaginary limit line in the wave pool. Tube rentals: honestly I don't think you need to rent one to have a good time. If you choose to rent one just know that you're responsible for keeping track of it & turning it back in so keep this in mind if you were planning to leave the park for lunch. Overall we had...

This park has been such an attraction since I was a small kid here, born and raised. This year was the first year I bought season passes for the family (equaling close to 400$ after taxes and fees). I have a family of 4, with one toddler. For some reason, we've had the pleasure of experiencing a few "lifeguards" who are absolutely disgusting and rude to children all over the kiddie area, which is absolutely disheartening considering its a place for these kids to play and have fun. Not only is the kiddie area basically falling to peices, the pools around the park are quite disgusting as well. One night we had a lifeguard snap at our 4 yr old after comming almost daily for the summer, that they needed to be measured to go down the kiddie slide! Not once has this happened all summer! And my child is nowhere near the height bar that disallows her to go down the slides! This lifeguard was snapping and yelling at almost every child in the kiddie area untill everyone just ended up leaving to a different pool. Another time my kid was yelled at for having goggles, EVERY KID THERE HAS GOGGLES! To say these lifeguards nit pick certain kids is an understatement! My children are very respectful and have never disrespected any of the rules, yet when I see other kids doing so its ignored by the more laid back lifeguards. One mother even complained to this lifeguard when she seen her yell at my child to be "measured", as I didn't see what had happened when my kid went to the top of the slide area to go down the slide for the 50th time that day. I understand these young people are in the sun watching hundreds of kids per day , but it gives nobody any right to be rude at the end of the day just because they want to go home. Maybe put these lifeguards in the wave pool so they can yell at the older kids who are constantly rough housing and hurting people around them with no regard. The park is dirty. There's always balls of hair and bandaids in every single pool there. The food is gross and overpriced. One day they make u dump out your water at the gate, the next day its fine. Having gone through cancer I do not drink tap water, so I bring my own. You can clearly see its water. I don't think we'll ever get season passes again. Sure they pay for themselves, but the only reason we got them this year was because of the swimmers itch at our local lake. There's nice days and then theres completely crappy days where 1-2 lifeguards on a power trip can ruin many kids' entire days here. Family nights are overcrowded. Nowhere to park. Nowhere to sit. Hardly any room to swim. You'd think with as much money as they bring in, they'd put some back into the park. But no. Things have remained the same for decades. The kiddie slides are litterally falling apart. The large pool has tiles crumbling into the water. It seriously needs a deep update, structure wise and...

My family of 5 rented a 6person cabana and we were all so excited for our day of fun. When we got to the cabana we were pretty disappointed because of how dirty it was but we weren’t planning on spending much time in there so we dropped our stuff off on the chairs and off we went. Then came lunch time we put our flag out for our server to come get our order. She came and got our order fairly quick so that was nice. We got our food but unfortunately even though our server read back to use that we had ordered deep fried Oreos she did not have it on our receipt so we called her back and asked if we could order the Oreos not saying anything about them being forgotten. She asked me if I would like a receipt and I declined that and gave her an $20 cash, $15 for Oreos and $5 for tip.All good right? Nope! Chicken burger was cold , two burgers were cold so we walked them up and the staff didn’t seem very happy but they remade the hamburgers and when we sat to eat them they were uncooked like really uncooked. We thought oh well we will let the kids eat the oreos and head back out. About 45 minutes went by and still not Oreos so I went up and asked what’s up with it and the girl said “what order?” I was like umm the two orders of Oreos and she oh ok I will bring them right there another 15 min went by and still nothing so I just went to the office. Lady was nice gave me a pass for 5free ice creams and wanted to give me more burgers I said nah we just want to go in the water and are tired of waiting. She then goes to the cafe to see what was up as I walked back to my cabana. As I stand at my cabana the office lady comes up to me along with the server and the cook. The cook aggressively snaps at me and said “you already got your Oreos!!” I said no we’ve been waiting for them at our cabana he said “no you came to the window and showed me your Receipt and I gave them to you. “ As they all were looking at me for answers I said no that did not happen I didn’t get a receipt remember as I looked over to the server. I said I don’t care we just want to get in the water so it is what it is. The office lady said come to me before you leave and we can get you the burgers. I said ok. My family and I went off to get back in the water a few minutes later we noticed the staff back at our cabana going threw our trash!!! Freaking unbelievable. I told my children it was ok our things will be fine. Literally the worst experience EVER!!! At the end at about 5 ish I went to the office and as I walked it the office lady was holding a small child behind the counter and she just left. I gave up at that point and just wanted to get my family out of...