Water Park Rankings

With my visit to Wet 'n Wild Hawaii, I have now visited 10 different water parks!

With this, for the first time on this blog, I will directly compare the water parks I have been to, listing them from favorite to least favorite.

Without further ado....

1. Wet n' Wild Phoenix - While there are a few things I wish were done differently, and it can get a bit on the crowded side, I believe this to be the best water park I have visited at this point. It had almost every exciting ride one could ask for, including the Water Coaster. (3.5/4 stars)

2. Aquatica Orlando - A close second to WnW Phoenix, it had many great slides and was very large. (3.5/4 stars)

3. Adventure Island (Tampa) - A very unique looking park, with lots of great water slides. (3/4 stars)

4. Wet n' Wild Hawaii - It was hard to determine whether Wet n Wild Hawaii or Adventure Island should get the better ranking, but I did feel that the slides were slightly more fun in Tampa. I would say that as a whole, Oahu is much more preferable for vacation than Tampa, but when it comes to the water park, I ultimately feel the the water park in Tampa holds a slight edge due to the larger availability of activities. (3/4 stars)

5. Splash Lagoon (Erie)  - While it is a smaller indoor water park, if you go at the right time, there are almost no lines and many fun attractions. (3/4 stars)

6. Splish Splash Long Island - I haven't been to this water park in a while, and two new rides have been added since the last time I have been here, so this ranking is subject to change pending a future visit. The reason this water park is harder to compare to the other water parks I have been to is that Splish Splash is about the only water park I can visit where I know I would have access to the multi-person water slides (which many of the slides are). Despite the exciting rides, the water park is really brought down by the excessively long lines. Also, the 'bowl' requires two riders, which is not true of 'bowl' rides in almost any other water park. (2.5/4 stars)

7. Golfland SunSplash (Phoenix-Mesa) - While Phoenix does have the amazing Wet 'n Wild water park, it also has SunSplash, which is basically just okay. The water park was very crammed (not in terms of crowds, but in terms of space), and most of the rides seemed on the 'okay' side. Even the water coaster didn't seem especially exciting here. (2.5/4 stars)

8. Great Wolf Lodge - Charlotte - A small water park with exciting rides, but two of the five rides were multi person (I wasn't by myself here, so I could ride those two rides), and you pretty much have to either stay at the hotel or be a guest of a hotel guest to use the water park, so access is limited. (2.5/4 stars).

9. Water Park of America (Minneapolis/St. Paul) - Very few rides, but still can be a nice diversion if you're in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. (2/4 stars)

10. Splash Works of Canada's Wonderland (Toronto) - while it was convenient to have the water park attached directly to the theme park, the water here was way too cold to enjoy. (2/4 stars)