Water parks Cowabunga Bay, Wet ‘n’ Wild offer new rides for 2015 season
Just in time for spring break, Southern Nevada’s two large water parks are coming into season with new rides and events.
Both parks will open Saturday and then next week for spring break, before moving to a weekend schedule until the season begins in earnest Memorial Day weekend. Even though both parks are still new, they are committed to adding amenities.
Lindy Frye, assistant brand manager at Wet ‘n’ Wild, says since the park opened in 2013 at 7055 S. Fort Apache Road, people have been excited to check it out.
“It was crazy that we hadn’t had a water park in 10 years,” she says. “So I think everyone was excited when we opened and came all at once. I think it evened out last season.”
She encourages those who tried it in 2013 but were overwhelmed by the crowds and haven’t returned to give it a second chance now that it is in its third season.
Each season, Frye says, the water park has launched new rides such as the Tornado, which comes with a zero-gravity drop.
This season, Wet ‘n’ Wild is bringing its new attraction, slideboarding, which opens Memorial Day weekend.
“It’s an interactive video game experience on a slide,” she says. “But it’s not just for gamers.”
On the green slide of Zipp Zapp Zoom, guests enter the tunnel on a board, which has multiple buttons. As they come across certain color light-emitting-diode lights, people have to press the button that corresponds to that color.
“It’s kinda like ‘Guitar Hero,’ ” Frye says, referring to the video game.
At the end of the slide, people have a chance to see their scores and compete with their friends for high scores.
Beyond rides, Frye says Wet ‘n’ Wild is offering more entertainment.
“We want to be your summer playground,” Frye says.
This season, guests can pick up a bracelet that when registered will send photos of them on slides at key action moments to their social media.The bracelet will last the whole season, Frye says.
She adds the water park also is going to offer a free sunscreen kiosk for guests.
Last year, there were multiple concerts and movie nights.
“We are currently talking to our media partners to bring back more concerts this season,” she says.
Frye says the park is working on what bands might perform this year and is arranging celebrity meet and greets.
The park is scheduled to bring back its dive-in movie nights starting in June.
“We want to do more than animated films this year,” she says. “We plan to do throwbacks, too. Something like ‘The Goonies’ or ‘Remember the Titans.’ ”
For the first time, Wet ‘n’ Wild is offering alcohol.
“We realize that other amusement parks have offered this and know our guests have been asking about it,” she says. “But there is a lot of misconceptions about what that means.”
Frye says, for starters, a certain section of the park allows people with proper identification to buy beer and wine.
“And they can only purchase two drinks,” she says. “It’s not going to be hard liquor either.”
Alcohol will not be served an hour before closing or during the time the middle school next door is in session.
“Also, people can’t walk around the entire park with it,” she says. “It’s one designated area. I think it’s no different than when I’m out with my kids at dinner and grab a drink.”
Cowabunga Bay Water Park, across town at 900 Galleria Drive in Henderson, will embark on its first full season this year.
“We opened in July and kind of thought of it as our soft opening,” says Shane Huish, Cowabunga Bay’s general manager.
He says people flocked to the park to experience rides such as Rock-A-Hoola, a 300-foot-long slide that drops into a bowl, and Point Panic, a pitch-black water slide.
“A sleeper hit was our wave pool,” he said. “I think people like that the water is heated.”
The park is already planning on adding new rides.
On Saturday, people can experience the Beach Blanket Banzai, which allows four people on a raft to journey through 600 feet of curves, dips and drops.
Coming Memorial Day weekend, people can also experience the new wild surf, a four-person raft ride that drops people from 60 feet into a wave.
Huish is excited to add entertainment options this summer, such as the proposed disco nights. Details will come later, he says.
In April, Huish says Cowabunga Bay will host auditions for the 25th season of “The Amazing Race” on CBS.
“We’ve been working with our local CBS affiliate for this,” he says. “We are excited to be having on-site auditions. I might even try out.”
Each year, Huish says Cowabunga Bay hopes to get bigger and better.
Contact reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5201. Follow @mjlyle on Twitter.
