Aquatica San Antonio — Attraction in San Antonio

Our nightmare began when we walked up and one sign said to go to this area and we Get there and it's all closed up with signs telling us to go back to the place we started. I purchased tickets online and didn't know where to go. So we go through security, and he was a complete jerk about telling me that I couldn't bring my disabled child's float into the park because it wasn't coast guard approved. I told him I would deflate it and put it in her backpack. He said no, it needed to go back in our vehicle (that's parked a mile away and the temperature is OVER 100 degrees) or I had to leave it with him and he would throw it out. That wasn't enough though so he proceeded to belittle me by saying "this isn't even safe for your child". My kids were already hot so I said Fine, I wasn't going to argue with this idiot so I left it with him and walked away. Get in the only line we see and have them scan each ticket om my phone and take pictures of all of us. We ended up walking 20 minutes in the wrong direction (2 adults, one with two bad knees, and 4 children, one in a wheelchair who was crying because she was so hot.) We FINALLY get to Aquatica after what seems like an eternity of walking the pits of hell and go through the entire process AGAIN of scanning each electronic ticket and taking pics of all 6 of us. Leave my youngest with my mom in the pool & took my 8 year old to the blue slide all the way in the back. The height requirement was 48 INCHES. We get to the top and I went first so I could be at the bottom to catch him if I needed to (I didn't know how deep the pool was at the bottom). The pool ended up being 3ft 6 inches! I went completely under when I hit the water, I'm 5"2. He comes down and I help him get on his feet & he wants to go again! Back to the top we go to wait in Line and I overhear the "life guard" tell the child in front of us he had to take his life jacket off (the one that the park provides because they're coast guard approved.) And then the next little girl is told to take her life jacket off. Being a nurse and a moma who is extra cautious around water after losing a niece to drowning, I asked him why they weren't allowed to keep their life vests on. He stated that the friction between the slide and life jacket can cause them to get hung up on the slide, and plus he said, there are Life guards at the bottom. So I go down curiously looking for these life guards because I didn't see anyone at the bottom Just now when I came down. They were sitting in chairs About 10-12 feet from the area where you land, so son. Comes down & he wants to go again so this time I just stayed in the pool at the bottom. In the time it took for him to come Back down (5-6 minutes), I pulled THREE children from the bottom of the pool that had gotten turned upside down and twisted and couldn't get up by themselves. Life guards didn't blink an eye. One of the moms came over to thank me for helping her son and tells him, "that's why you're supposed to be wearing a life jacket!" I told her, no ma'am! He WAS wearing his life jacket and the "life guard" made him remove it. Her jaw dropped. On our way out I asked the lifeguard who was "watching them come down the slide", why the hell they're making them take off the life jackets if no one is at the bottom to help them up? He Said the same story as the one at the top about the Friction and that they were supposed to be holding them across their chests. I couldn't even believe the ignorance of these people. I was so disgusted at this point that I had to walk away. The lifeguards didn't blink an eye when those kids went under and couldn't stand back up on their own because they didn't even see them. Running their mouths and daydreaming. I guess. Don't trust that your kids can go slide and they'll be safe because they're wearing a life jacket. These people need to be completely re-trained and the people who trained them need to be fired. Pics posted For reference, and notice the little bitty kids who are wearing life jackets and aren't getting "hung up"...

We went to San Antonio Aquatica hoping to spend a whole day of our short vacation there, we checked the weather to make sure it’d be sunny days and clear skies and we checked the website to make sure that most of the attractions would be open, finally we even called ahead to make sure everything was open, which there is no possible way to get to a customer service rep. We’re from Illinois so we thought spending a day at the water park would be a good time. However upon arrival we realized that we’d wasted not only our money but our time. Walking into the park there was roughly 3 slides open, and 1 pool open. You can imagine the disappoint to come to a WATERPARK and find that the only way you can get into the water is by sitting in a wave pool getting splashed and jostled or waiting in an extraordinarily long line to ride 1 of the 3 rides. Which mind you, after maybe an hour, almost all of that spent in line your enjoyment had run out.

So of course, we did what any reasonable person would do. We went to the front desk at guest services and requested a refund. After a short conversation we were told that since our tickets were “already scanned in” that they’d be unable to give us a refund from their side. Following this the woman gave us a phone number to call in order to get a refund. Mind you, on their website which does mention the rides that are open and closed absolutely none of the information was correct. The website mentioned 2 slides that were closed and the rest being open however after being inside the actual park we noted that not only did they not mention the other closed attractions but the slides that were mentioned as closed WERE OPEN!

Finally on our last straw we followed the phone number offered from guest services and after speaking to multiple different representatives we came to a total dead end. Our “supervisor” who couldn’t give us any help told us to simply “file a complaint”.

If you plan to go here, I’d simply tell you to send a scout ahead. There seems to be no way to see which rides are closed rather than driving to the middle of nowhere paying for parking and then seeing the sign saying EVERYTHING IS CLOSED. There really isn’t a better solution. After heading home in an hour and a half with the feeling that my money is wasted and a complete lack of satisfaction with the park and specifically it’s guest services...

As a military family we decided to try out our one free visit, and I’m very glad we didn’t buy tickets. The fees for JUST a water park are ridiculous. The park itself was alright, we had plenty of fun, but it wasn’t the best water park experience we’ve had. First off, the lines were a bit wonky. There seemed to be zero line/wait management and with the outrageously priced “quick que” option you often have people coming and getting in front of you. This isn’t necessarily an issue in and of itself because Disney does similar things, the issue is there didn’t seem to be much of an alternation between the two lines. It took an hour just to get on the Stingray ride, most of which we spent just staring at the slide at the very top before getting on! Petting the stingrays at the bottom was fun, and many other less popular rides had short waits so we rode those instead. The lazy river was hectic and crowded with all the tubes put together instead of spread out so it wasn’t very fun. It’s also incredibly shallow for a lazy float so watch your knees!

The food was garbage and so was the line we had to stand in waiting for it. I’ve never seen workers move so slow it was almost painful. The food was subpar, dry cheeseburger patties and fried items, all for 50$. It prevented us from starving but we were all a little bummed.

Overall it was a fun day given what we made of it, but it had its downfalls. I’m a Disney girl so I’m no stranger to parks being expensive. But don’t charge an arm and a leg and then give a Walmart experience. Lines were long, food was gross, the water tasted like sewer run off, NO ONE was watching their children so expect screaming crying tantrums everywhere, and on top of it between parking and food, you’re probably gonna pay what the gate price was to...