Summers are hot! Thank goodness for the NEW splash pad that just opened at The Florida Aquarium! This is a great feature which allows you to now enjoy a day at the aquarium, no matter the weather! With Florida being famous for its brief afternoon thunderstorms, you can visit the exhibits inside during the rain and then enjoy the splash pad and playground outside after it clears up. My sister and I loaded up the kids (ages 10, 9 and 3) last week and drove the 45 minutes up to the Aquarium to check it out.
The splash pad is rainforest-themed with lots of froggy fun! The water play area has lots of dump buckets, spray zones and a designated play area just for toddlers. Don’t want to get wet? That’s okay! There are also two playgrounds available (one for older kids and one for younger kids) so kids can still enjoy playing outside.
My daughter really enjoyed the huge dump bucket contraption and spent most of the time filling the buckets and dumping them out. One word of caution for those of you with smaller kids – I noticed that the dump buckets can turn over pretty quickly by themselves once they are filled up with water and they just so happen to be the perfect height when turning over to knock into small children who might be playing there. So definitely keep an eye on smaller children playing in that area!
There are plenty of shaded seats around the splash pad to sit and keep an eye on the kids, all overlooking the waters of beautiful Tampa Bay. Hungry? No need to go inside – you can visit the nearby café (Sandy's Snack Shack) for a snack or drink.
The big boys took off to the giant rope bridge and also enjoyed playing on the bigger playground and play area as well. I think that while the splash pad is definitely geared more towards younger children, our older boys enjoyed it too. They loved the giant rope bridge the best, but spent quite a bit of time playing games in the sprays and filling up the buckets in the dump zone.
The Florida Aquarium is a great day trip option that the whole family can enjoy!
The water park is open from 10AM to 4:45PM daily (weather permitting) and is included in admission to the aquarium.
General admission prices are $26.95 for adults, $24.95 for seniors (60+), $21.95 for children ages 3 to 11 and FREE for children ages 2 and under. Save by buying online - Adult tickets are $24.95, seniors are $23.95 and children are $20.95. Purchase tickets HERE.
Want more information on The Florida Aquarium? Go HERE.
I received complimentary tickets for the purpose of this review. All opinions stated are my own.
