Cariba Creek Waterpark, Alton Towers

.../> I looked into the Cariba Creek waterpark and although it seemed expensive, my boyfriend is a big fan of waterparks so we thought, why not?

Cariba Creek Waterpark is located at the Splash Landings Hotel at Alton Towers. Entrance is free if you are staying at the Splash Landings Hotel, but day visitors pay £12 per adult and child (though under 4's are free). A family ticket is available (2 adults and 2 children OR 1 adult and 3 ...
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We went to Cariba Creek on a Sunday, in the school Easter Holidays. It opened at 11:30am and closed at 8pm. The closing hour was two hours later than quoted on the official Alton Towers website. Hotel guests gain early entry from 10am.

Anyhow, so we got to the waterpark joined a small queue and paid our entry. They gave us a wristband to wear for the day to prove we had paid. We trekked through to the changing rooms...it was ... more

I planned a trip to Alton Towers in April 2006 to celebrate my nearing graduation from University. It was just me and my boyfriend (both early twenties). We booked ourselves into the nearby Travelodge at Uttoxeter as we were doing this trip on a budget. We also bought our one day entrance into Alton Towers with Tesco Clubcard Vouchers saved over the year. Then we thought: what shall we do on the second day?!

I looked into the Cariba Creek waterpark and although it seemed expensive, my boyfriend is a big fan of waterparks so we thought, why not?

Cariba Creek Waterpark is located at the Splash Landings Hotel at Alton Towers. Entrance is free if you are staying at the Splash Landings Hotel, but day visitors pay £12 per adult and child (though under 4's are free). A family ticket is available (2 adults and 2 children OR 1 adult and 3 children) for £37.50 - saving you £10.50. In addition there is a late entry price to the waterpark ...£7.50 each after 4pm.

We went to Cariba Creek on a Sunday, in the school Easter Holidays. It opened at 11:30am and closed at 8pm. The closing hour was two hours later than quoted on the official Alton Towers website. Hotel guests gain early entry from 10am.

Anyhow, so we got to the waterpark joined a small queue and paid our entry. They gave us a wristband to wear for the day to prove we had paid. We trekked through to the changing rooms...it was a unisex very large changing room with lots of family sized cubicles. Once changed we put all our stuff in one of the many lockers (£1 deposit required) and headed for the waterpark. When we first got there we thought, "Oh no, this is totally only for kids!". We seemed to be the only ones there without children! But I knew there were waterslides in there somewhere so off we went in search.

We could see one of the waterslides instantly "The Master Blaster", but the queue was huge so we stumbled across "Flash Floods". Once we got to the entrance of the slides we were convinced these slides must have been closed for the day - they were slides that started and finished in pools OUTSIDE. It is worth noting here that on the day of our visit it was April, it was cold, it was wet and it was miserable. How could we possibly go outside...IN OUR SWIMSUITS?! Surely it wasn't possible?! My boyfriend and I were just discussing this when little lad (aged about 4) overheard and said, "Don't be silly, the water is really hot!". It didn't look it but I'm no wuss so I tentatively put my toe in the water - and sure enough it was warm, hot even. Just as we got into the pool at the top of the slide, the downpour started. None of the adults in the very small queue could quite believe we were outside, in our swimsuits on a cold wintry day. It was crazy!

The slides on "Flash Floods" were ok, nothing to write home about but fun anyway. It was what welcomed me and the bottom that made it the highlight of my day --- "The Bubbly Wubbly Pool". Just a short swim across to the other side of the pool (yes are still outside, and yes it is still raining) is a big steaming hot tub. It. Was. Total. Bliss! I felt like I was on a skiing holiday relaxing in hot water on a cold day. This area was very popular with adults (under 5's are not permitted). I could have stayed there all day. My boyfriend commented on how lovely it would be to be in the "Bubbly Wubbly Pool" when it snowed... mmm I wish!!

After we swam back inside (yes swam!) we decided to brave the "Master Blaster". You could see this slide going all the way around the outside of the waterpark. It was obviously the main event. "The Master Blaster" is the fastest 'Watercoaster' in the UK. It is called a watercoaster as it goes up as well as down (the water pressure allows you to go uphill). It is very similar to Crush N' Gusher at Typhoon Lagoon in Walt Disney World. The queue was still huge. There was two separate lines - one for double tubes and one for singles. We went straight for the double queue and waited for at least 30 minutes until we realised that two adults were not permitted on double tubes. The sign that said this was tiny!! So we hopped across to the singles queue and waited another 30 minutes until we finally got our inflatable tubes. Then we headed to the slide entrance..here there was another small queue but maybe only 10 minutes this time. I say "only" through gritted teeth as 70 minutes is a long time to wait for one slide.

Finally it was my turn. The light goes green and off I go. And what do you now, I hated it!! It was very fast, I did most of it going backwards, half of it was in the dark... oh shall I go on?! I could see why it was popular though - it was one mean waterslide. Once my boyfriend got to the bottom he had a HUGE grin on his face. "That is the most unbelievable waterslide ever!"... I suddenly felt like I was back at Parc Asterix again (see earlier review) - this seems to happen more and more often nowadays!

There was one more waterslide to try. I can't remember what this was called, and it has been left off the official website. We had a 5 minute wait for the inflatable tube then off we went. It was a fairly short indoor tube ride, but was very good fun.

Also in the park was a kids wet play area "Wacky Waterworks Payhouse", a large pool "Lagoona Bay" and an area for kids with mini waterslides "The Little Leak".

After heading outside for a few more goes on "Flash Floods", ok and a few more visits to the "Bubbly Wubbly Pool" we went back to the changing rooms to change for a lunch break. The price we paid was for an all day pass so we could return to the waterpark whenever we wanted.

The main reason for our break was to watch our football team on Sky in the main Sunday lunchtime game. We went upstairs in the hotel to the Ma Garrita's bar. They put the football on for us and we ordered a Combo BBQ platter for two. I think this cost about £8 but don't quote me on that! The food was very good and quite reasonably priced. The football team were rubbish and tried very hard to spoil our day!

After a 2 hour break we found ourselves back in the waterpark. Instantly we could see it was a lot quieter. It must have been about 4:30 pm by this time. We were able to spend another 3 hours in the park. The wait time for "Master Blaster" was now about 10 minutes (maybe about 3 minutes after 7pm). Unfortunately I found myself back on this ride maybe another 4 or 5 times. It got better the more times you went on it, at least thats what I kept telling myself!

The best bit of the day though was late afternoon trip to "Flash Floods" and the "Bubbly Wubbly Pool" We got our dream, it started to snow! I was able to grab some snow off the top of slide, hold it above the water as I went down the slide and plant the snowball on my boyfriends head at the bottom. All whilst we were in hot water! Unbelievable. The "Bubbly Wubbly Pool" was almost deserted, and we lay there in very hot water with snow falling on our heads. Perfect!

At the end of the day we decided that as we had had over 6 hours entertainment in Cariba Creek then the £12 entrance maybe wasn't so bad. We'd had a very fun day.

I would recommend this to any family or fun loving adults who fancy a day trip (or 2 day break if you do Alton Towers too). We would have loved to stay at the Splash Landings hotel but this was VERY expensive (£215) compared to our £26 for the room at the Travelodge. Definately worth the splurge!!

 

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