I thought that it would be fun riding the featured waterslide at the Aquatica Waterpark. Shooting down a tube, gliding on a jet of water, through a dolphin habitat and then out into a pool of water. Sounds Awesome! Right? Nope, more like torture.

(Let me first say this, Aquatica is awesome, I loved the place. From the wave pool, to the slides and lazy river, lots of fun. Its just this one slide that is awful.)

I began my climb up the Dolphin Plunge tower at the end of the day. The lines were too long earlier, and it seemed like a fitting end, riding their slide that is prominently featured in all of their advertising. On the walk up you see the dolphins frolicking in the pool, swimming up and over the waterslide tubes, splashing, having a good old time. I was eager and excited, checking out the sea life up close, thats how I want to see it. It took a few minutes to get to the top, I loaded myself into the tube and looked to the guard to give me the thumbs up for departure.

I launched myself into the tube, bareback (this ride there is no mat to lay on), and it starts off enclosed. Left, right, up, down, I had no idea which way I was going, all you see are small lights along the bottom of the slide to guide your way. WHOOOOOSH…The faster that I was going, the rougher the ride started to get and the more pain I began to feel. This waterslide felt as though it was raking my back, hard, and was ripping at the skin and hair. Water was splashing into my face, the excitement to see the dolphins was replaced by my screaming, “when will this ride be over?”. WHOOOOOSH…

Bright light, ok here’s the dolphins, fogged up tube, WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHH. Back into the dark, back is getting destroyed. What the? End of ride…

…SPLAAAAASSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Where were the friendly, smiling dolphins? The school of fish playfully swimming around my head? What a waste of time. This ride sucked. You travel through the observation tube at such a high rate of speed, that nothing can be seen. AND, the tube is so fogged up, you cannot see through it. I feel bad for the visitors that spend an hour in line for this let down. All I can say is avoid, spend your time in the lazy river instead.

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How do you feel about the Dolphin Plunge experience?