Rapids Waterpark — Attraction in Riviera Beach

Have been to Rapids several times since they opened. Used to drive an hour to go and now have been a local for many years. Since they started offering annual passes, purchased them for my family and I every year. Throughout the years, I have noticed a big change in staffing attitude. Then started noticing stricter rules not regarding safety but regarding food/drinks to increase purchases from guests. This last visit was downright insulting and sadly I can only say the motivation is driven by greed. I did not bring any chips or such for my young son since in a prior visit had been asked to discard it or take it back to my vehicle. I brought only water and my youngest had a bottle of gatorade which I was immediately told to discard at bag check. I was then asked to open our canteens of water so I asked if they did a sniff check for alcohol? The young attendant responded coldly that she could breathe? Next I was told my pineapple book bag could not go in because it had the insulation of a cooler??? I explained I’ve have always used it as a beach bag to keep my phone cool as well as pouch with sunscreen and waters cool and furthermore have brought it there several times in the past. She could care less and said thats the rule. I asked to speak to a manager, offered I would go to customer service she said no stay here. A younger looking attendant came out- was told she was the supervisor. She said the rule had to be enforced. I requested someone else in management, while waiting for several minutes a woman with a baby- was flagged for having "baby food!" In her bag.... a supervisor was called to "approve" the contraband. Then the manager finally came out to tell me the same thing, she seemed sincere and explained upper management was so adamant about this new "policy" that they walked around and took pictures if a soft cooler was found within the park. Ridiculous! The insane part and the reason I decided to write a review is because whilst in the part I noticed huge safety concerns in 3 different parts of the park. A young girl being slammed into the wall in the wave pool, the lifeguard above (young guy) completely oblivious, a lifeguard by the projector way down was the one that noticed several minutes later. On the splash zone side a kid went down the striped slides standing up! And the lifeguard at the top said "what the f*!” Never seen that before" which my youngest son overheard and shared with me, said nothing to the kid, the lifeguard at the bottom at least had the sense to tell him not to do it again. Not 10 minutes later, in the deep pool next to it, a kid free jumped from the top of the stairs 3 x's! … before the lifeguard noticed. Lastly the main food area which now we all have to visit if you want to eat/drink something in the actual park had only 2 working windows (out of 8?) and the attendants would tell you to stay at the window to wait for the food instead of moving to one of the other closed windows without an attendant (not sure if this was so they would have to help less guests or that was the process) but it made no sense and delayed all that were waiting. The whole thing felt like a joke. I truly think the owner/managing company should worry more about safety and staffing inside the park and the guest experience, rather then obsessing over bags and contraband food and drinks. It's a shame bc these neighborhood waterparks depend on the support of the locals and all they are doing are leaving guests with unpleasant...

I've been coming to rapids water park my whole life. As a kid and now as a father/adult with his own son I looked forward to bringing him. But I was really disappointed by the parks condition. I went to ride black thunder and I was legit worried the whole damn thing would collapse and we'd all fall and die because the conditions of the stairs are absolutely petrifying, and being that we live in south Florida a place known for corruption and scams and shortcuts that has had its fair shares of not only buildings collapsing due to owner negligence, but also bridges(fiu), I couldn't help but think wow these greedy ppl are pocketing the money theyre supposed to be spending on maintenance. Similar to the surfside building. I honestly couldn't wait to get off the ride, albeit the ride was extremely fun but what blew my mind the most besides the ridiculous 1hr and 40m wait was the fact that there was a damn BEES NEST as u reach the top of the slide, yes you read that correctly and you can see it in the pictures I posted. I told the lifeguard who walked up and past me as they were switching shifts, and I pointed it out to him and I was baffled to hear him tell me hes "already told management and they dont do anything about it". This is a huge concern because, well..no one wants to get stung by bees, but can u imagine someone who is allergic to bees getting stung up there that person is dying up there, and they'd have a major lawsuit in their hands which is apparently what theyre waiting for to happen. I was extremely disappointed. The wait is also ridiculous the wait on big thunder(blue and yellow slide) was 45m i waited an 1hr and 40m!!!!! On black thunder which is a slide that is much smaller and shorter in height so that there was frustrating and made zero sense to me. They ALSO have to work on being more efficient with their guests, i was there from open to close and I barely got on 5 slides which is ridiculous considering how much youre spending at the park. They have to invest in a better system to get riders going much faster, lots of slides dont have the red or green light to alert the staff to allow the next rider to go they have to look down themselves and sometimes they get distracted talking to guests or other employees, and that makes the wait much worst. My son had a blast no doubt. But I was extremely let down when I went and got on big thunder and saw ANOTHER BEES NEST on that ride as well. Theres no excuse for it. This is a reflection of negligence its a reflection of GREEDY AND CARELESS MANAGEMENT! and it is a cause for concern for all guests and parents who want to spend a safe nice fun filled family day, guests should not be worried if the rust under the stairs is gonna give out and end up collapsing in a finals destination scenerio, guests should not be worried about getting stung by bees, its completely UNACCEPTABLE!! MY word to the management is do better or sell the park to an owner/management who will take care of the park the way theyre supposed to! Do better rapids and fix your park and upgrade its infrastructure and quit being greedy and cutting corners to pocket more money. That is bad business and it stains your reputation as a safe family fun...

I have been visiting Rapids Water Park for years, and I can honestly say I have never seen it in such poor condition. The park looks run down, unsafe, and neglected. Many rides were closed due to “pipe issues,” and throughout the park you could see oxidized pipes, broken stairs, and areas that felt unsafe. On some of the rides without tubes, the slides were so rough that riders could actually scratch their backs. As disappointing as the condition of the park was, the customer service was even worse. Our group consisted of three couples. For one of the rides requiring a two-person tube, the three men in our group waited in line for over an hour to collect three tubes (one for each couple) while the women stayed out of line because of the heat and the sun burning our feet on the pavement. When it was finally our turn, the staff member handing out the tubes insisted that both riders for each tube had to be present to pick them up. One of the men stepped out to bring us over, and when we joined them at the front, the staff member immediately began yelling that we were “cutting the line” and “saving spots.” That accusation was completely false. The men had already done the full wait in line, and no extra tubes were taken only three tubes for the three couples. The staff pointed to a posted sign, but the sign only said “no saving spots.” That rule was never broken, because nobody skipped the line and no one received more tubes than the group was entitled to. When we asked to speak with a manager, the situation only escalated. Other staff came over before the actual manager arrived, and instead of listening, they were extremely rude and dismissive. One staff member flat-out refused to give us the tubes and argued with us aggressively. We decided to take the tubes anyway since we had waited in line properly, but when we reached the top of the ride, the same staff member was waiting there and told us again we couldn’t ride. At that point we asked for either a refund or to be allowed to ride, especially considering that so many attractions were closed. His response was sarcastic, saying “only four rides are closed,” as if that excused the problem. LOL Eventually, the actual manager arrived, but she was even ruder than the others. Instead of resolving the issue, she threatened us with a trespassing order. Things escalated further, and the police were called to escort us out of the park all without any refund for our tickets, even though we had done nothing wrong and had been treated with complete disrespect. This experience was beyond frustrating and unacceptable. We followed the rules, yet we were yelled at, accused unfairly, denied service, threatened, and removed from the park. The rides are in poor condition, many attractions are closed, and the staff treat paying guests as if they are a burden. The police officers were the only one that were actually nice to us . Save your time and money do not go to this park!!! It is not the Rapids it once was, and it is absolutely not worth the cost, the unsafe environment, or the terrible way customers...