Zoom Flume Water Park — Attraction in Town of Durham

I was here with my family about 2 weeks ago on a Sunday for the first time and I dont even know where to start on how bad it was. We get to the park and the parking lot was all muddy and our car got stuck so we couldn't move to another parking space because of all the mud, we were stuck there for about 5-10mins. Then we finally got some help from people arriving and we were able to move further down where it was kind of "dry" and not so muddy (floor was STILL very moist and moving all over the place) they really need to fix their parking lot. We proceeded to walk to the front and buy our tickets everything was ok, the lady at the front was nice and friendly. We asked her about the cabanas and she sent us to speak to someone else who's in charge of the cabana rentals. We go ahead and purchase a cabana with food vouchers, WIFI, etc and this is where it all starts. Keep in mind that they made it seem like the cabana that we rented was a GREAT DEAL and what not. We go looking for our cabana which was #21 (i believe) upstairs and we are carrying two infants with strollers. We had to struggle going up and down the stairs with our infants, when there was many other cabanas for rent on the lower level. Then we head over to some water slides with my son and nephew and the lifeguard said my son was too tall for the slide when in reality he barely passed the height limit. So only my nephew was able to get on. She suggested my son and I to go on a bigger slide which was next to the one we were at. So my nephew went on and then we walked over to the other slide. My son and I got on that slide but here's the thing.. we went down the slide together and at the bottom my son was drowning and the lifeguard just stood there and watched, I wasn't able to see my son because I was also at the bottom. I finally seen my son when I popped my head out of the water and went over and rescued him. I was so upset & the reason I know this happened was because my husband who was carrying our infant was seeing what was going on & the rest of my family as well. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it because I didn't want to ruin our day. I was also upset because the other lifeguard who didn't let my son in on the other slide suggested the one where he almost drowned!! For the rest of our day at Zoom Flume my son had fear of going on any other rides/slides because of what happened. Fast forwarding to lunch time the food was so SALTY and not fresh at all. Food had an old taste to it & honestly it was disgusting. I wish I would of took pictures of all the fries we threw out because of the salt but I didn't have my phone with me. My brother in law ordered chicken tenders with fries & he couldn't even eat the chicken tenders because of the salt and of how disgusting they were. I complained to the manager and she said "oh its because of the seasoning that we use" honestly they weren't eatable, SALT IN EXCESS!! So there goes those "food vouchers" to the trash. ITS A SCAM THEY SAID WE WON'T WASTE EXTRA MONEY ON FOOD BUT FOOD WAS TERRIBLE & THAT WAS PART OF THE PACKAGE THAT WE GOT FROM THE CABANAS. I forgot to mention cabanas were super small & we were 4 adults, 2 children & 2 infants. They should of mentioned that they aren't that big and we could of got 2 cabanas. Cabanas included WIFI and WIFI kept disconnecting, it was no good. TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE. To top it off before heading to the park we checked the park hours and it said that they closed at 7pm. They were kicking us out by 5:30 because they supposedly changed the hours. When we were heading out we seen 3 big school busses arriving full of kids entering the park. To be honest it was about 150-250 kids plus all the adults with those kids. I asked a staff member and he said that they come every year at this time and they close the park down just for them. So i'm thinking that they kicked us out because of them! We drove 1 hour to get there and it was a terrible experience. They only had about 5 big slides. Not WORTH IT PEOPLE BEWARE! Definitely will not ever be going...

I hesitated to post anything pending a decision to take legal action but given the lapsed time I’d like to speak out about a ride malfunction resulting in injury from 2016. My husband and I decided to ride the canyon plunge first (his pick) - scariest ride. No issues. My pick was next and I picked a “family friendly” ride. We went down the typhoon twister. We decided to do a double tube so we could ride together. It wasn’t until the top that we saw a weight limit of 400 pounds. My husband is almost 7’ tall so we knew we’d be close but still around 20 pounds under. We asked the workers if that was ok or too close. They said it was fine. We started going down and (we think from the momentum from our weight) started going extremely fast and dangerously High towards the sides. We actually almost got launched off the top of the funnel. Luckily he was behind me and as the tube front peaked the edge of the top, his weight pulled us back down. Unfortunately this caused us to start going straight backwards- and diverted us from the normal path, causing us to hit the median (HARD). My husband fell off, and with my hands angled behind me to grasp the handles, and his weight was removed from the tube, it caused the tube to flip forward, sending me face first into the slide plastic. My face bounced three times before I could protect it with my arms, causing my nose to shatter in 3 places. When I got to the bottom after him my nose was literally touching my right cheek and we were standing in a pool of blood. I was in actual shock and the 14 yr old looking attendant just stood there staring at us until my husband started yelling at him to call for help and help us a good 45 seconds later. The kid being underage had no clue what to do. He grabbed a roll of those non absorbent paper towels and started handing us little 5” squares one after another til we demanded the whole roll. Then he pointed me til the bathroom while my husband told him to call for help. The bathroom had no mirrors, toilet paper, or paper towels so I couldn’t even see what had happened or do anything more to help. Someone finally came and walked us over to first aid. The first first aid station they brought us too had beehives outside and bees swarming and my husband is very allergic so we told them we weren’t going in. They proceeded to walk us to a second first aid station. Neither one had any ice packs so they filled leaking ziplock bags with ice that had to be refilled every 5-10 minutes. While my husband went to get the car to bring me to the hospital, they had me sign papers (still in shock and no idea to this day what I signed). As they sent us on our way- without offering any other help or compensation, I quickly thought about how it was the second ride of the day and asked if they were at least going to refund us. They said that was against policy and handed us “free tickets” only good through that season (which ended the following weekend). No where on the original or replacement tickets did it say they couldn’t be held liable for accidents either. We went to urgent care, hospital, dr, ent, and I finally had to have surgery on my nose that did have 3 fractures. It was a painful recovery. When we did talk to a lawyer and they investigated a bit, they found that zoom flume had changed the weight limit of the ride down to 300 pounds for the following season. I had to pay hundreds of dollars for surgery and visits out of pocket, even with my insurance. Would never recommend anyone going there or bringing their kids. Accidents happen but even so they weren’t even equipped with ice packs in a first aid station. Nor did anyone come to actually help us. And having a bee infested first aid station was really another cherry on top. Worst experience of my life and still upset we didn’t follow through with a lawsuit. It just got overwhelming and time lapsed too much to pull...

This was our first time going to Zoom Flume. We went to the park this past Sunday with family and friends. We were a small group of kids and adults. Kid ages ranging from 3 years - 11 years.

Pros:

1. It's a small park but the slides and pools are spread out enough so it doesn't feel overwhelming. There were splash pads and kiddie pools for our younger kids and water slides for our older kids and adults. I liked the set up of the park. There were plenty of splash pad / kiddie pool areas near bigger water slides so that the whole family and our friend's family could stay in the same general area and still have plenty of fun things for everyone to do. Also, they had a small area where they were doing a foam party. The kids loved it!

2. There are plenty of cabana rentals. Even though we did not rent a cabana this visit, there was still plenty of seating available. We found lounge chairs to place our stuff without any issue.

3. The locker rentals are a very good size.

4. Food was decent. Just the basics: chicken tenders, fries, hot dogs, etc. A little pricey but what you would expect at a typical water park. There is also a decent snack bar and vending machines. There are plenty of tables to sit at. Take note: they do not let food into the pool areas. They also have a pavilion right outside the park if you want to bring your own food. You can get stamped, go out and eat there, and then come back in the park.

5. There are tons of lifeguards at every pool and slide.

Cons:

1. We arrived around 11 am. The park was pretty clean at this time. As the day went on, the garbages were overflowing. The tables to eat at and the floor beneath them were disgusting. The bathrooms were so gross. As we were leaving around 5 pm, we did see staff emptying the garbage. This is probably my main complaint. I really wish there had been 1 or 2 staff members just dedicated to keeping the park clean throughout the whole day. I understand this is peak season and it was very busy, but the cleanliness standards were not maintained.

2. There were very few changing rooms. They were very small.

3. There was an unfortunate poopie incident near one of the pool areas. My friend informed a staff member who strangely seemed not to care. She told us to tell "the guy with the green shirt." I understand that maybe staff members are assigned to certain areas that they can't leave or maybe it was "the guy with the green shirt's" job to take care of poop accidents. It would just have been nice to see some concern from the employee.

4. There are signs that they don't allow food near the pool areas. I did see a lot of people still eating in those areas which is not a big deal. I'm not the food police. Although, at one point I saw a staff member speed walking across the pool area to tell off some poor kid who was quietly eating some ice cream in a cup. This could have been done with a little more kindness. The boy apologized and left the area, but I felt bad for him! Not 5 minutes later, two young girls were eating ice cream sandwiches in the same area. No one said a word to them. I get that there are rules but at least enforce them consistently. The way the staff member approached this young kid, you would have thought he was attacking someone. I would have appreciated that sense of urgency about the poop incident!

5. The ground around some of the pool areas could use some repaving. The stones are hard on the bare feet. Glad we brought our water shoes!

Overall we had fun. I don't think I want to be a season pass holder just yet. We will try again next year and see if it's...