By Jay Whipple
Trend Magazine Online™
A Kid's Paradise!
Re-published from a previous edition...
Trend Magazine Online™
A Kid's Paradise!
Re-published from a previous edition...
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 dont’s 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.
