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Trend Magazine Online™
Wet N' Wild Emerald Pointe NC Water Park
Part I of II
Travel Review Summer 2019


By Jay Whipple

Trend Magazine Online™

A Kid's Paradise!

Re-published from a previous edition...
Emerald Pointe NC Review Pic


Emerald Pointe NC Review Pic! 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.


Emerald Pointe NC Review Pic!
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.



Emerald Pointe NC Review Pic!
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.


Emerald Pointe NC Review Pic!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.


Emerald Pointe NC Review Pic!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.

Emerald Pointe NC Review Pic!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!

Emerald Pointe NC Review Pic!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

Emerald Pointe NC Review Pic!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.

Continued in next edition >>>

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