OWA Parks & Resort — Hotel in Foley

typically find something good about the places, because I feel that's how you learn to enjoy even the worst of places. But I feel after the experience we had with this place indoor Waterpark, we will NOT come back. we will just go to gulf port water park instead from now on. To start with, we paid 250 for 4 tickets, I feel that is kind of high for the small amount of space it has inside. But the reasons I feel the price is high is not because we can not afford it, clearly we did, but no where was it listed about weight or height sizes. there were MANY slides my husband and my daughter got denied access for due to his weight being 15lbs over. her height being a couple inches taller she missed out on rides! To set the scene, you have to walk all the way about a couple miles just to get into the gated area, to than have your tickets scanned, than walk all the way through the crammed up gift shop, to than walk through another area I guess that is theor arcade food area I assume,than finally you open the doors to the indoor water area.. Ok ,now time to find a locker , everybody in their momma is standing waiting, annoyed ,oh also hot as hell because their indoor area is very humid,muggy because not only do they open the top having the sun scorch you to death, but also their big opening that runs into their out door "wave pool", that barely does waves,but whatever. So we are waiting for our turn, to get out locked,than realize it's not lockers with a code lock on it, that each individual person opens , has a code too ,nooo, it's an electronic box that you stick your card in ,mind you hello wet hands from others dripping water all over this thing, hello water electricity, yeah not such a smart move, but that's their lawsuit issues. So finally, it's our turn, we get it set up, than our door opens we go to out our things in , look down , see wow this damn this is small as heck, and barely fit a couple towels and shoes..so we had to prop our stuff against the walls just to carry the rest of our bag in...oh yeah they also don't provide towels, so byot... But ok moving on, we go to see what the slides are about, my husband & daughter go first because they do not even offer a 3 or 4 person float for the rides which keep in mind Majority of water parks we go to, do offer that for half the price. We did this for our daughter's birthday & allowed her to take a friend, so it was supposed to be a special day..

But there's no one below telling people a weight limit, or having a scale below nothing, (we did see a small sign afterwards that did say in small print, at the very back of all that)... But my husband & daughter go all the way a good what 30-50 feet in the air maybe more at this point waited in the lines for over 40mins, to get told she can go by herself, but he is 15lbs over.. WHAT THE ACTUAL HOLY HELLY?????!!!! You are Freaking kidding me..they made him walk all the back down past over 100 people or more, made my daughter go alone ..

They also stated as he was up there that if he would of been able to go that, he couldn't have his hat on,umm funny person say what?? Because all the other water parks don't say that, the other PROFESSIONAL waterparks actually have life guards who know better, pay attention more and also have scale below &put their weight limit all over the parks!!!

On top of that they have a tonnnn of tubes that are near the going up area, not the exit area,like owa does, and owa has very limited tubes, and alot of their floats tunes were deflatted,popped, or being used in their lazy river and wave pool.

So let's talk about the lazy river, ain't nothing lazy about that thing, one it's very small, and very fast, you legit go around the full circle thats less than a mile long in less than a minute...I honestly feel if it wasn't over packed with the amount of people you could do a full lap in 20 seconds flat! So even the lazy river was not really lazy or relaxing, it's Luke warm water as well... wave pool, there's sand right before you go in ,so the pool is full of grittyness.. This place is...

Our family had a great day visit to OWA! If you’ve never been, I would recommend visiting!

We kept commenting how clean the theme park and water park appeared to be, and our family enjoyed the water and theme park rides! The cleanest wave pool, you’ll ever see! The employees also showed an impressive amount of care in regard to safety before riding the slides and roller coaster rides. They have a huge downtown shop area that we were not expecting to be as big as it was, so you can really spend the entire day there!

The family four pack is less expensive than their military discounted tickets - incase you are military!

I couldn’t give them five stars for a few reasons!

I happened to google whether or not they provide towels before hitting the road and was surprised to learn that they don’t. We’ve been to Kalahari and Great Wolf Lodge, both provide towels. They do have towels for sale for $15 each in a store you walk into before entering the water park.

Also, I advise you not to eat inside the water park. You will have the driest, inedible $17 pizza of your life and pay $13 for drinks that include refills just to learn that the soda machines at the park do not work, requiring you to walk all the way to the restaurant and wait in line to have your cup filled by an employee behind the counter - we never even used the refill feature because of how inconvenient this was. I asked my husband if you can atleast bring the cups back to use for future visits like they offer at Great Wolf Lodge, but he said they are single day use only. I have to say, it was the most ridiculous $60 lunch we’ve ever had.

And as much as we loved the idea of a ‘cave’ where three of the water slides end, the floor is bare concrete making it extremely slippery and it is a trek through the dark, wet cave before you make it to the stairs. While walking slowly through it, my son slipped and fell. And on our last walk in the cave, my husband caught himself mid slip and jammed a toe into the cement sidewall so hard that it is swollen, purple and blue. They really need rubber mats or some kind of texture applied to those floors - no clue how that isn’t a liability for them? Just be extra careful down there so your visit isn’t ruined by an accident!

Other than that, our kids really did have a great time during our visit there, and I would recommend atleast one visit to OWA...

We went to the indoor water park and amusement park on Saturday 7/13. We had a blast. Normally a day at a water park or any amusement park would wear you out, but with the water park being indoors, you dont get that same effect. We rented out a locker and filled it with our belongings and just had fun for hours and hours. Steep slides, fast slides, relazing lazy river, a giant bucket of water dumping water on you for a quick douse. I was truly impressed with the facilities. The icing on the top though was my last interaction of the night. Since none of us had our phones, we didn't quite know what time it was getting. After the water park, we were running around doing amusement park rides and still had our things in the locker at the water park. Once I saw rides starting to shut down, I sprinted to the outside gate to the water park area and it was locked. I ran right around to the main exit and asked some employees how I get into the water park and was told I don't since it was now after closing time. I explained that my keys and wallet and everything was in the locker. The said try lost and found. I again sprinted up to the main building and entered into the gift shop where I was quickly stopped. I explained my problem and need to get to the locker. By this time, it was nearly 20 minutes after closing time. I knew I had overstayed my welcome. The looks on 2 of the employee's face said as much when I was requesting access to the lockers. From just out of site, I hear a girl say that she'll escort me back to the locker. She was gracious about the whole situation and genuinely kind. I apologized multiple times, but she repeatedly let me know it wasn't a big deal and that she was more than happy to help. I hated being "that guy", you know, the one who stays beyond closing time. But out of my interactions with 5 employees during this time, she was the only one that didn't give me a bad look or any grief about it. I didn't think to ask her name. But I just wanted to thank her. I sincerely hope this will get passed along to her. Such a small thing and a short interaction can make all of the difference in the world. I left with a smile instead of frustration. To whomever hired this young lady, great job! I will definitely be visiting the parks again next time I am down. I'll try to remember to wear a watch next...