Wildwater Kingdom Bring a Friend for free.

^ Found the video. Starts at 2:17.

Anyone thinking of taking advantage of this may want to note WWK has already gone down to weekend only hours. Seriously, it's the middle of August and they are closed already this week. No wonder we're allowed to bring a friend free, they're hardly open. We were going to do this Wednesday kids still not in school high of 85 but nope...

I took advantage of this yesterday. It's a cool little waterpark. I haven't been there since that was Six Flags. I think alot of their staff is local high school students. Maybe school started in that area this week.

I haven't been there since Geauga Lake's last season. I don't really care to go to begin with now that the coasters are gone but my kids keep whining about it and we can bring their friend for free so maybe I'll fit it in a weekend I don't know. Of the 3 weekends left we have obligations already for part of two of them.

Well we got there. It was about how I remembered it I suppose except for the depressing view across the lake. So things the park has in it's favor...the landscaping is prettier than SC. Of course they have completely different soil and a gentle slope to work with but it didn't feel like the vast pad of concrete SC does. The concrete was textured with that natural look in many places. Just a nicer look I guess we could consider that part of landscaping in a way. I liked the music better. It would be nice if SC had an area like the cove in the middle of WWK's lazy river except for the water cannons. Squirt me a couple times ya got me ha ha OK don't fire the damn thing stright into my eye for minutes at a time and then get surprised when I start walking towards you with the look...I saw two grown men almost start a fight over the things. The whirlpool was neat. The little lawn chairs in the water at the wave pool were neat. They have plenty of parking. I think they have more parking lot than they do park. Things they do not so great...tube rental. I'm not paying extra for a tube in the wave pool. Maybe if I was local I would feel differently but there are tube galore at SC so to me this seems like a rip. There aren't enough tubes in the lazy river or maybe there are just too many people in the lazy river. I kept getting kicked in the head. Of course the big one for me and why this was the first time I've been there in 8 years no rides. As usual 3 hours in the water tops and I'm finished. I just can't make a full day of a water park. The kids weren't done so I busied myself taking pictures of Big Dipper. I also noticed that they seem to make a point of encouraging guests to drive to the water park taking the route that doesn't include the view of the ugly fence around the dead amusement park. The website plotted me a route coming in to the park from the east even though I was coming from the west and there was no signage at SOM Center Road indicating you could get to WWK from that exit. I thought that was interesting.

I made it there four times this season. I guess I was making up for not being at the park since Geauga Lake closed. So much of the park still has the Sea World vibe. I can still walk paths and expect to come out at the ski stadium or high dive show. I love the lush landscaping here and I think it really adds to the park. But one thing the park lacks is slides. They have one large complex and one funnel slide. I know stand alone water parks don't do the attendance as ones that compliment amusement parks. But it's been 10 seasons since the last large addition (the wave pool). I would love to see a mat racer slide tower. Or even the slide complex that is being cloned through out Cedar Fair.

Whine session over.

If you enjoy waterparks, do yourself a favor and try and spend at least one day a season here. Get over GL closing and support this little park before we lose it too.

Paisley said:

Things they do not so great...tube rental. I'm not paying extra for a tube in the wave pool. Maybe if I was local I would feel differently but there are tube galore at SC so to me this seems like a rip. There aren't enough tubes in the lazy river or maybe there are just too many people in the lazy river.

This gets me, too, and I've complained about it on here before. I don't understand the disparity between SC and WWK with the tubes. If anything feels like nickeling and diming, that sure does. I can't believe CF is doing it, withholding tubes in order to get people to rent them. You use them for the attraction and that's it. Even if, I wouldn't want to hold onto that raft all day like a souvenir cup. I ended up wading the Lazy River last time because there were too many people waiting for a tube and probably too many people because they closed the wave pool/basketball attraction as they were short staffed. I left with a bad taste in my mouth and feel it's just not worth going anymore there. We went mostly to gawk at the wasteland across the lake.

I also went to WWK Sunday as the weather was beautiful. After going many times throughout the season since the water rides were moved/built onto old Sea World in 2005, the tubes have always been an issue.

In fact, for the first two or three years, the park had a surplus of tubes, especially by the wave pool. It was a disaster. You couldn't go in the wave pool without getting bumped in the head every 5 seconds by a tube. I think the current process they have now was to eliminate that. The only tubes allowed in the wave pool are the clear ones that you can either rent ($5+$1 deposit), or receive when you rent a cabana.

The lazy river has always had a shortage of tubes. My thinking is because the lazy river is somewhat short and there's a ton of people always in there. Add those two things with the fact that there just isn't a lot of attractions to spread the guests out, but the place is ALWAYS packed.

Season passes are on sale for 2016, so it will remain open. Also, in my previous visit, I noticed a lot of the lazy river water gadgets/waterfalls, the flow of the wave pool and all the areas in the middle had terrible water pressure. Sunday, that was all fixed as I think they replaced the pumps, which I'm sure isn't cheap.

We just had a second visit. Tried again to bring a friend for free and that was a bust because my son's preteen lady friend was unavailable. One nice little touch we've noticed is that after they anounce the park is closing all the music turns to songs with a goodbye sort of theme. It's a subtle sort of thing I'm probably a nerd for noticing.

I was there from 1-6:45 yesterday. We split a cabana with our friends and their kids. In glad we did because there was a serious lack of chairs. I was surprised to see it that busy, but also glad that it's getting business. I'd really like to see them expand and give people some other things to do, especially if they're charging $32.99 for a full price ticket and not running this promotion.

I didn't have a problem with chairs of course I just stow my stuff there and come back once in a while to call hubby or check radar whe the sky gets dark. I never even went to the wave pool yesterday. If they are going to keep it I think they do need to use some of that open space they've got and expand. It's not a bad place with already having platinum passes but it is small.