SeaWorld’s waterslide park is across International Drive from its parent park (a free, 3-min. van ride links it), and you can pay for admission as an add-on to your SeaWorld visit. On hot days, it can be busier than SeaWorld itself. It’s a perfectly nice park, favored somewhat by locals because it’s less gimmicky than the others in town, but it’s not the best in town. Some highlights: Ray Rush is a family raft slide through a few elements like an enclosed sphere and a manta-shaped parabola, and KareKare Curl feels like you’re rushing across the swoop of a giant Frito. The Dolphin Plunge slide is a tube that curls off a tower and then turns clear acrylic as it passes through a habitat for Commerson’s dolphins. It looks exciting on paper, but in truth you’re going too fast to see anything, even if the dolphins could be reliably near the tubes (they aren’t) and there wasn’t water splashing in your eyes (there is)—but don’t fret, because you can see them later from a viewing cave opposite Kiwi Traders.

There are nearly two dozen slides, many of them similar to each other, the most intense of which is Ihu’s Breakaway Falls, three curling slides that start you eight stories up, standing in a shower-sized chamber on a floor that gives way, dropping you onto the ride. The pleasantly aggressive lazy river of Loggerhead Lane passes you by a big window into an aquarium. Roa’s Rapids is novel in that it’s a river with a very fast current meant to sweep your body along without a tube (floaters, grab a life vest—they’re free).

When you get hungry, you can pay $40 adults, $20 kids for unlimited fare. Otherwise, Banana Beach does not-so-great chicken, pizza, and hot dogs at typical prices; Mango Market sells chicken tenders, burgers, and sandwiches; and Waterstone Grill slings the usual grub, all $11 to $15. If you’re bringing a picnic, stick to snack-size bags; large ones will be confiscated or forced into a rental locker, and straws of any kind, which choke animals, are banned. For free wristbands that allow you to go cashless, sign up at the ticket booth or info desks as you enter. Tip: Bring pool footwear because the sidewalks get hot. There are unattended shoe cubbies by each ride. If you pay for Quick Queue (another $30–$60 for the basic version), you can jump the lines.

Warning: Aquatica is popular with locals, so parking can fill up early on hot days.

5800 Water Play Way, Orlando. aquatica.com/orlando. 888/800-5447. $73–$104, depending on the day, online tickets about $30 less, online discounts available for combination SeaWorld tickets. Lockers $10–$20; reserved loungers $35–$39; private cabanas $89–$229. Parking $30 (free if you visited SeaWorld earlier that day).
 

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.