Our Magical Getaway Day 2: Aquatica

I am loving our summer of mini-vacations! It is so nice to just get away for a few days every couple of weeks. Good thing we don't have anything else planned for a while so I can finish telling you about the last two trips!

A few weekends ago we took a Magical Getaway to the Hilton Garden Inn Orlando at SeaWorld. I already told you about the super fun slumber party and the awesome accommodations at the Hilton Garden Inn, so now we move on to Day 2, which we spent splashing around at Aquatica by SeaWorld.

We arrived at Aquatica early Saturday morning, accompanied by the crew from Thanks, Mail Carrier. One thing I immediately liked about Orlando's newest water park was the fact that they provide life jackets for everyone. They have them in every size on different racks throughout the park. This was great for our families since we have little kids that aren't the best swimmers yet.

As we walked through the park to find a shady area to set our stuff down, the bright colors of Walkabout Waters caught our attention. The kids couldn't wait to get out there and play!

Photo by Aquatica

We found some chairs under umbrellas to set our towels on, applied sunscreen to everyone, suited the kids up in their life jackets and watched them play in the water. Unfortunately, my kids weren't tall enough for most of the slides in that particular section of the park, but they didn't care. They found a few they could slide down and had a blast climbing up the steps while getting sprayed by water and sliding down, again and again.

The kids played in that area for a while and then we headed off to find the area for smaller kids. We found that in Kata's Kookaburra Cove. That is when the real fun started. Rylie and Thanks, Mail Carrier's "Big Sister E" saw people sliding down the slides in double tubes, and they quickly snatched up a tube for themselves and headed up to get in line. There was a yellow slide and a blue slide, and they had to try them both out to see which one was the best.

The yellow slide quickly became their favorite since it was faster and they went further out in the pool at the end of the slide. Up and down they went. Brian and I were lucky enough to get in on a few slides with the kids, and I think we had as much fun as they did!

After several slides, everyone had worked up an appetite, so we stopped in to one of the restaurants for some lunch. We thought about checking out Banana Beach, where you can pay for unlimited dining at the buffet, but ultimately decided on Mango Market where we had pizza, chicken fingers and sandwiches.

Once everyone had full bellies, we all put life jackets on to float around in Roa's Rapids. Although we learned very quickly that we would be doing a little more than just floating because this was no "lazy" river. We had a blast in the rapids! It is like a big river that carries you around the park. We went under waterfalls and around rocks. The life jackets made it easier for us to navigate the rapids, so I highly recommend them for everyone in the family.

After a few laps in the rapids, we went back over to the cove so the kids could do some more sliding. There were so many slides available for the littles, and they had fun trying them all out. There were some slower slides...

...and some with curves that went a little faster. Bryce loved this yellow slide!

I really liked this area because the kids could navigate the entire area by themselves. There were attendants at the top of the slides, so we were able to allow Rylie and Bryce to go up by themselves so we could be waiting at the bottom when they came down. The pool area was very shallow, so they were able to play wherever they wanted to.

Rylie and E had fun getting rained on...

...while Bryce practiced his Karate in the fountains.

I was initially concerned that there wouldn't be much for our little kids to do while we were there, but there was, and they had a great time splashing around!

Aquatica by Sea World is a great water park for the entire family! We ended up buying annual passes, and Brian and I are planning to go back by ourselves at some point so we can experience some of the thrill rides like the Dolphin Plunge.

Photos by Aquatica

Doesn't that look like fun? You start at the top in the curvy slides, and then plunge down into a pool of dolphins! If that isn't thrilling enough, we are sure to have a blast on the Taumata Racer. I wonder who will win?

Photo by Aquatica

If you are in Orlando or will be visiting this summer, you should definitely check out Aquatica!

After our fun day at Aquatica, we headed back to our hotel to get dressed for dinner. We met up with the Thanks, Mail Carrier gang for what we thought would be a quiet dinner at Olive Garden. Although it wasn't too quiet in the presence of these two little goofballs!

It was the last night together for Rylie and her new buddy, and they enjoyed every minute of it! Bryce and "Little Sister B" didn't seem to have the energy that the older kids had...I think their day in the sun wore them out.

Of course I had a great time chatting with my good friend Xenia. It was so great to finally spend some time together in person, and I can't wait until we can get together again!

One might think that we had enough fun during the first two days, but nope, there is one more day. Stay tuned to hear about Day 3 at SeaWorld...

Disclosure: All opinions are my own. Our hotel stay, some attraction tickets and trip expenses were provided by Hilton Garden Inn. However, I was not required to write this or any other posts about our Magical Getaway. We purchased annual passes to Aquatica and will definitely be going back soon!