Review Archive/July 2013

By Jay Whipple/Trend Magazine Online™

I visited this tourist attraction back in the 1990’s just after they had decided to reopen to the public. I and an associate met with the then park point of contact for group visitors/motor coach groups. My company, Queen City Tours^®, was preparing to promote bus trips to the newly remodeled water park, from Charlotte, NC. Our point of contact – cannot remember her name – was very prompt, professional, and courteous during all of our business dealings, and was even nice enough to give us a personal tour of their remodeled facility. She was quick to point out that the park was then a work in progress and that many upgrades were planned for the near future.

Fast forward over a decade later and I decided to revisit this seasonal attraction that can be seen from the Interstate depending on which direction you are traveling. I visited during the week and on a Wednesday (June 12) during just their 10th operating day of the 2013 season which commenced on May 25th. I arrived at the park at approximately 10:50 AM and just 50 minutes after it opened at 10 AM. There was practically no traffic at that time; however, things started picking up shortly thereafter as a steady flow of vehicles entered the park just after my arrival. The parking fee was $7 and I found the attendant very friendly and cordial. The small parking lot began to fill up quick after my arrival so I decided to park away to avoid the grid lock. They have the parking areas numbered so that makes it easier to locate your ride for the departure; that is, if you can remember what letter you parked near. You have to leave your yellow parking pass on your dashboard inside your vehicle so writing the letter on it would be pointless. In hind sight, it would be a good idea to just snap a pic of the letter for future reference as most of us do have camera phones now. There were a few minibuses and motor coaches lined up for a fun day in the water park as well.

My first order of business was to decide what to, and not to, take inside the park. The park provides you with a list of do’s and don’ts on your parking pass that include items that are not allowed like rocket launchers, IDE’s, etc… Just kidding! Just read the parking pass like I did. In the process of gathering my items for entry I discovered that I forgot to bring my sandals so I decided to check to see if they sold them in their gift/souvenir shop. I noticed some of the guests traveled light while others had elaborate loads that included very large coolers. Those were mainly the bus groups that more than likely packed for many. I decided to place my personal items inside a freezer bag that zipped shut; and I also wrapped a rubber band around it to hermitically seal the deal.That way you will save a few bucks by not having to rent one of their lockers for a few hours or the entire day. It was somewhat difficult for me to figure out which gate to go to for walk up tickets. You can purchase your tickets online in advance; however, I decided to do the walk up thing to take advantage of the $7 discount promotion for presenting my Food Lion MVP card. Yeah Food Lion! My total, with discount, came to $28.99, for a day pass. They have shorter period options if you do not plan to spend the entire day. At the time of purchase I had plan to stay at least three hours but for some reason it did not dawn on me to opt for the shorter period ticket; so the moral of this story is – stay alert at all times!

I entered the park with much anticipation of a Wet N Wild day at Emerald Pointe after a decade plus hiatus. I was met immediately with light rock music playing throughout the park; and just like most theme parks it was the type music that is played before a concert or show. I grabbed a map/brochure and located the gift shop for my first order of business, which was to purchase a pair of flip flops. Unfortunately, the cheapest pair costs $9.99, and the largest size was 10. I decided to forgo the flips 1. Because I was not going over $10 for a pair of $3 flip fops, and 2. A two size difference was a bit too small for my size 12 feet, and 3. I observed quite a few guests that were bare foot throughout the park. I t was nice to see that if I had brought or bought some flip flops, the park was kind enough to supply these PVC tubes to store them in while enjoying the ride. You should not have to worry about drowning if you are a weak swimmer because they had ample lifeguards on duty keenly watching over everyone in the water. It was a bit of an overcast morning but the nice cool breeze that accompanied it was quite pleasing. I did my usual site overview, using their map, to plot my strategy for the most efficient route to take to avoid back tracking. Efficiency is my thing as I typically start to the left and travel clockwise. From a brief site observation, and their site map, I could tell that what that lady told us over a decade ago had come to fruition. They have added many more water rides, and trees since then. So much so that I could not see the entire park as I was able to before; during my inaugural visit. As I began to walk my planned route I noticed that the park map was a bit challenging to read -- especially when navigating from one ride to the next. They do have directional signs throughout the park but I did not find them very useful either.

There were relatively moderate to long lines at each of the water rides with the most popular ones having the longest. It did not take me long to abandon my plans to partake in some of the rides as the park was heavily populated with mostly school-aged children and some parents/chaperones. Well, I was not either of the two so in an effort to save face, I decided to assume the spectator role to avoid being labeled just plain old weird. The first water ride/experience that I came upon was called Thunder Bay Wave Pool which required a lot of patience since it took about 15 minutes for each mini tidal wave to formulate. Finding a restroom was also a challenge at first because the signs point you to upstairs but you have to go around the back of the building to get up there. I did manage to make it over to a very nice pit stop that included sort of an indoor cabana-style restaurant that served pizza, soft drinks, and yes – beer. I was quite surprised to see the sign that read “No alcoholic beverages beyond this point.” It was indeed nice to see that they had the grownups in mind too; especially those that had to chase – or keep up with – their young ones as the scampered from one ride to the next. They also included an electrical socket for me to recharge my mobile phone while engaging in one of my favorite spectator sports – people watching. I always try and guess a little bit of something about the people that I watch like, where are the from, what do they do for a living, and what were they thinking when they left the house looking like that? Smile! Everyone that I watched appeared to be having a great time at the park; grow ups included.

I was quite pleased to learn the mystery surrounding the—what I call – metallic humps to nowhere that can be seen from the highway miles away. One of the very nice park manager ladies explained that those humps used to be part of a ride that included a swing that would raise folks up to the top and then travel from one hump to the next. I think I remember seeing that ride in action in one of my dreams; or was it real? Just rambling. I had high hopes of sampling their turkey legs but was not willing to fork over $10 for what appeared to be the same ones that I could by at the grocery store for less than $5 for two of them. I expected them to be of the King Henry VIII variety. You know the kind that could be used as a lethal weapon if necessary? I just had to pick at the young woman staffing that booth by asking if people were buying those way over-priced turkey legs. She hesitated before saying yes; not realizing that I had been watching her for nearly 30 minutes and none had sold. I guess she thought that I was an undercover boss? As with most theme parks, the food is rather pricy at Emerald Pointe, and don’t even think about bringing your own because it is simply not allowed. Remember, this is a business folks. If you plan to dine while in the park it is best to purchase that option with your admission ticket. I think it’s something like $7 extra -- which seems like a lot at first until you browse the meal prices throughout the park. I also did not like the fact that there were very few games on site as I am an avid gammer who prefers games that require some type of skill set like shooting, and my favorite “Wack A Mole” game. On the flip side, it was nice to find out that those neat inner tubes I saw a lot of folks carrying around were actually provided by the water park for free. Well, free as in the price is probably included in your admission as nothing in this life is really free..

All in all it was a pretty fun sort of half day at Wet N Wild Emerald Pointe in Greensboro, NC; even though I did not partake in any of the water rides -- due to a shear fear of making a public fool of myself. Next time I will perhaps rent-a-kid for the day and have just as much fun as all those that I observed. I left the water park at about 1:20 PM; just 30 minutes shy of my 3-hour projected limit. There were folks still streaming in and the small parking lot was nearly full. I decided to stop at a convenience store with a deli – just outside the water park -- and order some chow at a much more reasonable price. I also had the choice of K & W Cafeteria, Arby’s, or a Burger King Restaurant before hitting the road back home. By the way, if you need to go south on I-85 Business, do not go right as the signage suggests because that takes you to the regular I-85.

Wet N’ Wild Emerald Pointe is located at 3910 S. Holden Rd., in Greensboro, NC. Their web site is www.emeraldpointe.com, and phone number is 336-852-9721.




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