Family Fun Guide to Wildwater Kingdom

Located in Aurora, Ohio, about 30 minutes east of Cleveland is one of Cedar Point’s sister properties, Wildwater Kingdom. Our family recently was invited to spend a day at the park to enjoy the summer sunshine and have a splashing good time.

First, a short history lesson. Growing up in Ohio, both my wife and I used to visit two parks in Aurora called Geauga Lake Amusement Park and Sea World of Ohio. Both parks were adjacent to each other, separated by Geauga Lake. Over the years, Sea World decided to leave the area and sold the park to Geauga Lake when restrictions were in place allowing it to expand into a new era of entertainment. During a very short three year period (2001-2004), Six Flags purchased all the land and combined the property into Six Flags Worlds of Adventure. In 2004, Cedar Fair (the company that owns and operates eleven amusement parks, including Cedar Point, three outdoor water parks, one indoor water park, and five hotels) purchased the property. Today, the Geauga Lake side of the property is abandoned, and Wildwater Kingdom resides on the former Sea World property.

All photos below, ©Google, show aerial images from the various phases of ownership.

Today, the property is operated solely as a water park on the former Sea World Ohio site.

Upon entry to the park, we were naturally drawn right towards Splash Landing. This giant kids area was perfect for our kids. Slides both large and small for those under 48″ in height.

I was actually quite surprised just how adventurous our 5 and 3 year old boys were with the slides. Normally, at least for our 3 year old, it takes a little bit of coaxing to conquer the slides, but Wildwater Kingdom must have had just the right amount of formula to make our kids play with no issues.

As is normal for most water parks, unfortunately, is that the kids must go down alone. Luckily, our kids went without any issues. However, sometimes it takes going down a single time with the parent to convince them that their fears get washed away in the fun.

We actually spent a good deal of time at Splash Landing, not fully realizing how much more there was to see and do. As we began to wonder, we realized just how much bigger the park was than we thought.

There was Coral Cove, with elevated pools. Also in this area was Riptide Run, a lazy river, which we spent many laps floating around.

Do note, several of the pool areas require kids under 48 inches to wear a provided life jacket.

Guests could also enjoy a large wave pool, Tidal Bay Cove.

Once you made your way to the back of the park, there was a separate play area called Little Tikes Town. This was a great area for our kids because they still really enjoy driving Cozy Coupes and playing in little houses.

The only down side to the Little Tikes area was we were wandering around the park barefoot, since it is a water park. All of the Little Tikes buildings are on pebbles, which was uncomfortable for the kids. Also, there were only some benches on the paved area further down by all the vehicles. It would have been nice for parents to have some benches to sit on while their kids played.

Wildwater Kingdom has preserved a piece of the sand adjacent to the Little Tikes Town, called The Beach. There were large checker and chess boards for people to use, and plenty of seating. Having the sand area was nice; however, you are located next to a lake, and consequently, my wife got bite a couple times by horseflies in the area.

While we did not take advantage of them, there are also some larger water slides/rides for those taller than 48″. Those include Liquid Lightning and Thunder Falls.

Wildwater Kingdom also gives guests the traditional theme park experience with a variety of food options around the park. Dining locations include the following:

Big Daddy’s BBQ featuring grilled hot dogs, burgers, and Italian sausage sandwiches ranging in price from $4.99-6.59.

Tropical Waters Bar and Grille featured a large menu of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and for those interested, alcoholic beverages.

Calypso Coolers served a hometown favorite, Toft’s ice cream.

Coconut Cove, though not open during this visit, sold a variety of snack items.

Happy Harbor Café sold meal combos of cheeseburger, chicken finger, jumbo hot dog, or Aurora pretzel bun club with prices varying from $11.99-13.59, as well as a variety of snack items, including fan favorite funnel cakes.

Pizza Pier featured pizza and snack items.

Tidal Wave Bay Refreshments sells a variety of theme park favorites from Boardwalk fries to pretzels and ICEE.

Kids meals were also available at Pizza Pier and Happy Harbor Café. It was also nice to see special, pre-packaged meals for those with allergens.

In Conclusion

Our family really had a great time at Wildwater Kingdom. The water areas are ideal for our kids, with a variety of different options to suit their skill levels. It was nice to see that several areas had shade clothes over the lounge chairs, which was great to help keep some of the sun away.

As my wife and I wondered around the park, we constantly kept an eye out for various remnants of the parks past. For example, adjacent to Pizza Patio is part of the former sea lion and seal community pool. We constantly kept reminiscing about the parks former glory and all the great memories my wife and I had here as kids.

One of the saddest moments for me was walking over to the former Water Ski Stadium and looking out over Geauga Lake. I used to LOVE watching the daily water ski shows performed in the lake. Now, the lake was barren and empty. Not to mention the abandoned Geauga Lake park on the other side, with glimpses of the old wooden roller coasters peaking out from the vegetation. My wife and I would LOVE the opportunity to tour the former park, even with its limited amount of structures remaining.

We used to love coming to the Geagua Lake area as a change in pace of visiting Cedar Point. However, now with it all being owned by the same company, we learned to adjust and enjoy the new era of park to help make new memories for the little minds that were with us.

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Source: InACents

Note: We were provided with admission to Wildwater Kingdom and meals during our #BloggingatWWK visit. All opinions are those of the author.