Wet-n-Wild 2.0

This my report about the new Las Vegas Wet-n-Wild. It opened on Friday to "gold" season pass holders. I went two days later, on Memorial day, to check out Vegas' first water park in seven years.

One of the saddest days in Vegas was when they closed the original Wet-n-Wild, which was located south of the Sahara casino. It has been a vacant lot ever since. How Anchorage could have a water park, and Las Vegas not, for seven years, is one of those things I have yet to understand.

The new Wet-n-Wild is literally on the edge of down, near the intersection of Sunset and Fort Apache. Anyone wishing to visit will pretty much need a car, as the location is way out in the suburbs. The business plan of the park seems to market to locals much more than tourists.

I heard on the news that on Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend the park was very crowded. My philosophy for all amusement parks is to either be there when they open, or arrive late and stay until closing. The time between lunch and dinner is the worst possible time. Following my own advice, my family and I showed up about 4:00, and planned to stay until the 8:00 closing.

When we arrived signage indicated the main parking lot was full and we were directed to a dirt lot near the park. It was about 10-minute walk to get to the front entrance. There I waited for about five minutes to convert my season pass vouchers to actual season passes. Then a perfunctory bag search and we were in. There was a very short line to rent lockers. The only size available was small ones, which was barely sufficient.

Then my wife took my 6-year-old daughter to the lazy river while I took my 11-year-old son to check out the rest of the park. The place was CROWDED. I also counted only six different kinds of slides. I'm very inpatient about standing in lines, so after getting a feel for the place we watched people coming down the four-story high and nearly-vertical slide drop slide. After this I found my wife and daughter and spent some time with my daughter in the kiddie section, which was very well done.

Next, my son and I spent about 20 minutes in the wave pool. This is much better than the one at the Mandalay Bay, which makes a single wave about every five minutes. A Wet-n-Wild it makes waves non-stop for about seven minutes, alternating with another seven minutes of calm water. My advice is head close to the source of the waves, where the waves are bigger and the crowds thinner.

Then I felt the lines were about 25% shorter than when we first arrived, so my son and I hit the water slides. First we did one with six lanes where riders go down on mats at the same time. This one attains a pretty fast speed and has a pretty good excitement factor. I passed the time in line studying Spanish flash cards. The name of the ride is the Desert Racers.

Next we went for the nearly vertical drop slide we had been watching before. Any respectable water park should have one of these. You go so fast at first you feel weightless. It was truly fun and exciting.

Then we headed over the north side for a type of water slide I've never done before. It is done on two-person inflatable "rafts," for lack of a better term. You start out going through a tunnel which then dumps up down a steep drop-off. A high speed is attained as you up the opposite side. I've never gone up on a water slide before, but on this slide you are flung pretty high. Then you come back down another chute on the side. A clever design and a high fun factor. The name of this one is the Hoover Half Pipe.

Next we went down a slide that was also on the same kind of two-person raft. This one had much milder slopes, thus slower speeds. While it lasted longer I felt it was too tame and not very fun. This is the kind of slide that is good for those looking for something more exciting than the kiddie slides but still on the tame side.

Then we did the Royal Flush. This is another two-person raft ride. Again, you start in a tunnel, which leads you to the toilet bowl. Here you rotate around it a few times before going down the drain, which is another short slide leading you to the bottom. for those who remember the original Royal Flush at the first Las Vegas Wet-n-Wild, this one is much more tame. Despite the longer wait them for than the Hoover Half Pipe, I didn't think it was as much fun.

There was one slide only I never did, because the line was enormous. It was called the Constrictor. All I can tell you is that it also involved multi-person rafts and looked interesting.

We ended the day doing the steep vertical slide again and then the park closed. Perhaps we could have repeated one more slide, but it was already pretty cold by this time, and my son opted to call it a day.

One unexpected treat was that I saw my first desert tortoise in the wild. From standing in line for one ride I overhead other people standing trying to spot the tortoise by the fence. After we did the slide we walked over to have a look. Sure enough there was a tortoise, about the size of a football, trying to get in. As I mentioned before, the park is on the edge of town, and two sides of it face nothing by vacant land. I get the impression the park was built on the poor guys burrow and he was trying desperately to get under or through the fence to look for it.

I hear the park owns the land surrounding it, and plans to expand. Hopefully the tortoise can be relocated to somewhere less developed. I don't want him holding up plans to expand, as I hope to see that happen. As it stand, there are too many people for two few slides, resulting in long lines.

Good report. But you should have expected long lines since it was new and on Memorial Day! Go on some random day in August, and I am sure the lines won't be nearly as bad. Also I now learned something about you that my g/f would love. She has to convince me to go on any type of "ride".

Wizard you are a brave man. Is there anything for a chicken like me?

Quote: tringlomane

Good report. But you should have expected long lines since it was new and on Memorial Day! Go on some random day in August, and I am sure the lines won't be nearly as bad. Also I now learned something about you that my g/f would love. She has to convince me to go on any type of "ride".

Thanks. I have season passes so expect to go back, and will report on the line situation on random days. Yes, it was Memorial Day, and they just opened, but the park was also open only to "gold" season pass holders. This is not to be confused to second-class season pass holders, who may start going there today. They start selling day tickets on June 1, I believe.

I love a good fast scary ride.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Wizard you are a brave man. Is there anything for a chicken like me?

Overall the park is tamer than the previous Wet-n-Wild. I don't know the names of the rides, but as you come in there is one on your left that is quite tame. It is on rafts and your basic slide that has some tunnels and lots of turns, but it isn't very fast. The Royal Flush was quite tame too.

For the little kids there are several slides in the kiddie area. I tried to coax my daughter to try them, but she did only a couple that were more suitable for toddlers.

Nice to see this open. Staying at Red Rock next week and thinking of visiting a day for a diversion from gambling.

Quote: Boz

Nice to see this open. Staying at Red Rock next week and thinking of visiting a day for a diversion from gambling.

Let me suggest another diversion. Enjoying the lovely cocktail waitresses at the Red Rock pool. Click on either image for a larger version.

One of the downsides to Ahigh not currently being able to post is that his response to this thread, if he gives one, will be delayed. Hoping that I am not speaking out of place, I'll just note that when I bumped into him on Sunday, he said that he was going to take his family there later that afternoon. When he is again active here, perhaps he will provide a second review.