The H2OBX Water Park in Powells Point is finally open. A bit behind schedule, but by all accounts, it was worth the wait.
The rides are outstanding and the staff well-trained and very pleasant, but what really stands out is how family oriented the experience is.
H2OBX is designed is meant to be an all day experience. There are a couple of places in the park to get something to eat, there are plenty of places to sit and relax and there are enough rides and enough variety to keep everyone happy.
There are some very nice touches—some concepts or ideas that show someone was thinking about how to make the H2OBX experience great for the whole family.
The Rides
The kid's area, as an example, has somewhere between 12-15 slides—baby slides, tube slides, twisting and turning slides. What that does is allow little kids to do is experience some of the thrills an older brother or sister is experiencing and keep them a little more engaged.
There are some very nice family rides that group up to six in a tube that goes shooting down a slide. There's a river of sorts—Teach's Ride Adventure River—that is a leisurely tube ride around the park.
Also for the whole family there are a number of pools with different features.
The thrill rides are, of course, how water parks are evaluated and H2OBX comes through on that as well.
There are two high speed water slides that drop from 90'... The Plank and Paradise Plunge. Both are fun, fast and thrilling.
On the same tower that houses the water slides there are four tube rides that are a blast.
There is also the Endless Flow Wave Rider shoots water down and slope, creating ideal conditions for boogie boarders.
Park management has made the decision to limit visitation to 5000 per day to make sure visitors have the best experience possible. It's probably a good idea to arrive earlier in the day.
Park hours are 10-8.