A new water park with a social media theme has just opened next to Margaritaville Resort Orlando in central Florida.
Dubbed Island H2O Live!, the park has eight water slides with names like Follow Me Falls, Hashtag Heights, and Reply Racers. You'll also find the Chat Creek lazy river, Megabytes snack bar, and adults-only Private Domain pool.
Seems like there should also be a Data Mine slide where you zip through a tube filled with eerily personalized corporate advertising. Maybe that one is still in development.
Beyond the Twitteresque names of its attractions, the park extends the social media theme via opportunities to customize your experience digitally.
Download the H2O Live app before your visit, and you can create music playlists and enable lighting effects that will be activated on the rides by way of an RFID bracelet given to every guest on the premises. Additionally, the wristband can be used to accumulate points toward prizes like food and to connect to social media accounts at selfie video stations throughout the park.
Island H2O Live!'s owners are hoping that these gimmicks will keep the park in competition with similar attractions nearby, such as Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park (about a 15-minute drive away), where the landscaping is lusher and admission is often included in Disney vacation packages.
To put it in social media terms, Disney might end up being the influencer that hogs all the followers.
Open as of June 21, Island H2O Live! charges $49.99 for general admission, $42.99 for kids under 48 inches tall.
