Margaritaville Resort & Island H20 Live Water Park

[SeventyOne]

The tech is built into the park and was one of the first things installed after breaking ground. There are a million different pvc pipes with wires inside buried underneath the park. This isn’t a rash thing they decided to incorporate last minute but rather a decision made early on to seperate it from other parks. Whether it ends up successful or Tapu Tapu-esque will have to be seen.

Initially I thought not going after the Buffet/Margartavila branding was a mistake. Now, tho, I realize that fan base is already well served by existing water parks, and H2O Live doesn't have the money to compete in that league.

This, tho. This is brilliantly aimed square at tweens, teens and cash-strapped 20-somethings, three groups traditionally underserved by Orlando. I heard a group of CMs the other night at the movies gushing over the $20 a month for 4 months AP (remember CMs blocked out of Disney water parks all Summer). I know this is a Universal/Disney board and it's fun to slag on Fun Spot, but try getting a parking spot there Friday night. I suspect this will do quite well, as will the various restaurants. Locals and a surprising number of tourists can't afford the big two, at least no more than a day there. This park will have a ton of social media presence to let them know it's around.

 

[Nick]

Initially I thought not going after the Buffet/Margartavila branding was a mistake. Now, tho, I realize that fan base is already well served by existing water parks, and H2O Live doesn't have the money to compete in that league.

This, tho. This is brilliantly aimed square at tweens, teens and cash-strapped 20-somethings, three groups traditionally underserved by Orlando. I heard a group of CMs the other night at the movies gushing over the $20 a month for 4 months AP (remember CMs blocked out of Disney water parks all Summer). I know this is a Universal/Disney board and it's fun to slag on Fun Spot, but try getting a parking spot there Friday night. I suspect this will do quite well, as will the various restaurants. Locals and a surprising number of tourists can't afford the big two, at least no more than a day there. This park will have a ton of social media presence to let them know it's around.

Agreed all around. This water park seems like it will pick up the demographic Wet n Wild left behind.

 

[Coasted]

Cheddars close by;



I have never been to a Cheddars (from the UK)
though is one of many new restaurants nearby

 

[SeventyOne]

I have never been to a Cheddars (from the UK)
though is one of many new restaurants nearby

One of the new Darden chains (not surprising, given Longhorn, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze all within a block, and some of the busiest outlets for the company). Pride themselves on everything being scratch-made in-house. Otherwise pretty typical eclectic American menu.

 

[s8film40]

There's also a Walk-On's going in next to Chuy's. I had never heard of it before, but it sounds interesting.

 

[SeventyOne]

There's also a Walk-On's going in next to Chuy's. I had never heard of it before, but it sounds interesting.

Sports bar, one semi-famous QB a partner but can't for the life of me remember which one.

 

[Viator]

Y'know, looking at one of Bio's recent aerials, and it really does seem that they're planning for a large expansion of H20 eventually down the road, considering the plot of dirt next to the waterpark.

 

[Coasted]

Sports bar, one semi-famous QB a partner but can't for the life of me remember which one.

Drew Brees QB New Orleans Saints
Super Bowl winners Feb-2010 XLIV

 

[WAJAS]

Y'know, looking at one of Bio's recent aerials, and it really does seem that they're planning for a large expansion of H20 eventually down the road, considering the plot of dirt next to the waterpark.

True! Plus, it looks like they placed the entrance, so it’s be in the middle of the park once the expansion is built.

 

[SeventyOne]

Drew Brees QB New Orleans Saints
Super Bowl winners Feb-2010 XLIV

Thank you, senior moment.

 

[Coasted]

Welcome. Thx re Darden chains - I had no idea those restaurants were the same chain (am a UK tourist). Interesting re all that positive investment in close proximity, in this rapidly changing area

 

[Magic Feather]

So... Island H2O started public previews yesterday. Had a family member send me this quasi-review after visiting (posted with his permission):

Just got back from Island H2O, and I am simultaneously impressed and confused. For starters, some basics: this is a mid-sized waterpark off of 192 that adjoins the Margaritaville Development, and when I say off of 192, I mean a bad car crash could go through a fence and be in line for the mat racers. It has the standard modern water park suspects- wave pool, lazy river, mat racer, trapdoor slides, a couple of family raft rides, kids area, and three two seaters (which don’t allow single riders). All slides were done by Whitewater, which I have always felt to be a little cheaper than groups like ProSlide. It was all still fun, but I’m not the biggest fan of sitting in a tub with 5 other people where nobody has a designated space.

One of the biggest things about the park is it’s technology tie ins, which were impressive, but poorly utilized, and it lack some key aspects for effective implementation. Upon entering, everyone gets a bracelet (more magicband than Tapu Tapu), who’s purpose is not explained. Turns out, it acts as a gateway to your account, to track you and your activity as you go around the park, and it doesn’t even hide it. You can literally see the last slide that someone in your party “tapped in” on either on your phone or at one of the in park kiosks. The purpose of the bands was near nonexistent, as I could have never used it. Supposedly the bands triggered special music and lights on the rides, but I didn’t notice that.

The one way that the bracelets seemed to try to affect is with the points system. Every time you do an activity, ride a slide, etc. you get “points” whose value changes throughout the day. Most rides are worth 500 points, but if it gets a long Line, it’s point value goes down. Now, this seems like a cute idea to balance crowds, but there are two issues. The points are, ironically, pointless, and the wait times are mostly fabricated. On the former, these points have a place on the app to “spend” them, but, at the moment, the most they can do is unlock a new theme (which just changes the app’s color scheme). Maybe if they started offering a free soda for every 10,000 points or something, they might be useful. Also, there is no real system for wait time reporting.

All in all, this seems like a replacement for the Wet n Wild demographic, but in a very inconvenient place for that demographic. While marketing hasn’t quite kicked into full gear, it is dissapointing that this preview day (and according to employees the opening day) were practically empty with no waits whatsoever. Hopefully the word spreads and this fun park survives.

—
If anyone has questions, I am happy to pass them along and get a response. He’s usually fast at responding to texts, lol.

 

[ragerunner]

Our family visited the park today and really enjoyed it. It has a strong slide line up, nice landscaping and the interactive tech is easy to use and worked with no problems. It’s also has plenty of land to expanded on. We will be back.

 

[Verbolten]

I will say that if you want to go to Island H2O, bring a friend. Besides the two drop down slides and mat racers, there is absolutely nothing for a single rider to do in this park.

It has a pretty nice lineup but the lack of real body slides is apparent after you’ve tried everything on the 3 slide towers.

Good park, hope it does well. Expansion sorely needed.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

Needs more shade

 

[ragerunner]

Needs more shade

I would agree - they need more shade in the walkways. But they have some of the best shade structures over the lounge areas near the wave pool and kids areas.

 

[ragerunner]

I will say that if you want to go to Island H2O, bring a friend. Besides the two drop down slides and mat racers, there is absolutely nothing for a single rider to do in this park.

It has a pretty nice lineup but the lack of real body slides is apparent after you’ve tried everything on the 3 slide towers.

Good park, hope it does well. Expansion sorely needed.

This is an issue. I think a single riders line would do well in this park.

 

[ragerunner]

This is an issue. I think a single riders line would do well in this park.

I think they could quickly fix this with a single rider line down at the entrance for the water coaster slide tower and a group of 2 or less line at the base of the raft slides tower ( because it requires 3 or more).

 

[Magic-Man]

From all the videos and reviews that I've seen, this looks to be the worst major water park in Central Florida. And with the lack of single-rider slides, I'd rather save my money and head to Volcano Bay or Typhoon Lagoon once instead of going to this place twice.

Also, is it just me or do all the slides seem like they were cut in half? The "water-coaster" is the biggest failure in this department, as it's barely a water coaster. Jeez.

 

[s8film40]

Maybe it’s just me, but I expected this to be basically at the bottom of the list for Central FL water parks and I certainly wouldn’t consider it to be a “major water park”. More like a new version of Water Mania. I do think they probably over hyped this some and built it up as more than what it is. My wife and son got the annual pass and went a couple days ago and seemed to enjoy it. We primarily decided to get the pass because we can get to the park in 15 minutes and should make for some nice short visits over the summer.