a modern and technologically filled water park situated around the margaritaville
resort in kissimmee some saying the spiritual successor to wet and wild but themed entirely
around social media where promoting this water park using your social media is part of the fun
hi i'm the frugal brit and for this video i'm going to provide a breakdown of the good and the
not so good things about island h2o live to help you decide whether this water park is worth a trip
in addition to that i'll be providing a full tour of all these slides and
attractions as well as providing my top tips to get the best out of any visit here
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island h2o live is located off highway 192 in kissimmee and not too far from
animal kingdom lodge as the crow flies it is located in the margaritaville resort and sunset
walk entertainment district but this water park is separate in the sense that you don't have to
be a guest at margaritaville and also you do still need a ticket if you are staying at margaritaville
a single day ticket will cost you 44.99 but 37.99 for seniors and children under 48 inches
however the extremely popular season pass costs only 69.99 the theme for this water park is around
social media and technology to take advantage of this you were encouraged to download the free h2o
live app which when combined with the smart band which is handed to you when you arrive
allows you to do some cool things such as changing the music and lighting on certain attractions
capture photos and videos locate your family and friends and also earn points when riding
the slides which can be redeemed on food and drinks as well as merchandise within the park
all right for my tour i'll be taking you around the park in a sort of clockwise direction
which conveniently ends with my favorite attractions
with that said let's head over to the island for the kids section of the park
first up we have candy stripe cove this area provides an array of slides for children 36 inches
and above and offers a slightly less chaotic environment for the smaller kids a short walk nor
from candy stripe will take you over to pelican paradise this is a large splash area for young
kids with a tipping bucket spraying fountains mini slides and other fun water activities
just above pelican paradise is the level up area this is a sport focused pool with in-water
basketball nets and floating lily pads to climb across using the overhead rope net all three of
the previous attractions are surrounded by the next attraction on my tour which is chat creek
this is h2o live's lazy river where you can chill out and drift seamlessly through the park
whilst dodging the overhead tipping buckets
as we leave the island section of the park we're headed to the northwest section
arriving at live lagoon this is the wave pool and the social hub of the park whether you're there
for the waves the music or just hoping for a bit of respite from the sun guests will want to make
use of this beautiful pool area in the center of the action guests intent on relaxation may
want to check out private domain which is a few minutes walk east away from live lagoon this is a
small pool where adults over 21 can get some down time away from the noisiest sections of the park
just north of private domain you'll arrive at reply races live streaming and drop down which
is a group of attractions with a focus on speed first up is reply races where
single rider guests compete head first in a head-to-head race against five other guests
to see who can get to the bottom first with a timer system showing who is the fastest rider
after two drops the slide eventually ends in a shallow run-out
next you have live streaming which is a flatline loop capsule slide beginning with a drop start
making riders plummet down a big drop before sliding through a tight helix with high g-forces
the last slide in this group of three is the drop down slide which is another free-fall
slide beginning with a drop stop right next door to live streaming riders step into the launch
cabin before the trapdoor opens beneath their feet as they plummet down the huge drop section
heading south you'll arrive at the two-person raft
slides which are follow me falls the downloader and reload rapids
the first of three is follow me falls this raft slide which can be ridden solo or with a friend
that combines an uphill water coaster with a zero gravity wall towards the finish after the
first drop guests are propelled upwards by strong water jets followed by an enclosed section after
a big drop rather slide up the wall of the zero gravity half pipe before reaching the exit area
facing east you have the downloader raft slide
which offers audio and visual playlist personalization
riders plunge down through the tube followed by some spinning in the bowl after reaching the
center of the funnel riders enter a second piece of slide sending them smoothly towards the exit
the final rough slide in this group is reload rapids on the right hand side
riders will rapidly move from one enclosed tube to the next through tight corners
followed by an elongated funnel where the raft swings from left to right several times
heading towards the final section of the park in the south east corner you will find the
huge family raft slides which are profile plunge and hashtag heights
we'll begin with profile plunge which is the orange slide on your right hand side
this slide provides unexpected drops and twisty turns through both open and enclosed sections
fitted with the daylight rings for a fun light show the more people on your
raft the more thrilling you'll find the experience
the final slide of my tour which is also my favorite within h2o live is hashtag heights
the green slide over on the left hand side as with its neighbor this slide is best experienced when
it's full up this ride consists of a short open section that is followed by a big steep
drop that leads into the zero gravity wall section before plunging back down to the pool
one of the best things that h2o life has going for is how clean and
modern it feels whether that's the condition of the attractions the restaurants the restrooms
whilst the disney world alternatives have better theming those attractions are decades
older and h2o live is in noticeably better condition the park is on the
small side compared to its competitors but despite that it still feels quite spacious
moving on to the value as mentioned earlier at the time of making this video your annual pass only
costs you 69.99 which is the cost of less than two visits here and that includes free parking
this is less than the cost of one day at volcano bay so really impressive for those who are able to
visit more frequently so you can understand why this water park is such a hit locally
another big appeal of this park is that typically it's reasonable to expect that
the wait times and crowds will be quite a bit lower than some of its competing water parks
such as aquatica and volcano bay speaking of appeal if this video has appealed to you at
all please leave a like down below to support the channel which would be much appreciated
so anyway crowds there's decent parking space availability as well as seating near the wave pool
you'll get on more slides throughout the day if you're just looking for a simple
and fun afternoon at a water park without the stress that is often associated with the disney
universal and sea world parks then h2o live is a fantastic choice and this is where i think h2o
live almost fills the void left by wet and wild with regard to the technology at this park i must
say i was impressed by the family and friends feature allowing you to locate others in your
group and also i did find that i enjoyed gaining reward points more than i expected a couple of
other notable points i found that staff were very friendly and accommodating and i think also worth
mentioning that this water park is open throughout the winter like it's competing water parks
so for the not so good i should probably start with the theming whilst the concept
is unique with it being focused exclusively on social media i did not care for it personally
the main reason being that a theme of social media doesn't really affect the design or the landscape
of the park in any meaningful way unfortunately there are quite a lot of cement areas with no sand
and it is lacking a bit in tropical foliage even by comparison to wet and wild but i expect the
theming was fairly inexpensive to execute and provides obvious promotional benefits for the
park so i can see the owners feeling that they've delivered precisely what they set out to achieve
with regards to food it doesn't really fit in the good or the not so good
the food is on par but not the best value the menu is quite limited and
service not the quickest it has to be said but the fries were very tasty here
for those interested they do have some gluten-free and vegan options if needed
for anyone that's purchased the unlimited drinks you may find that the coca-cola freestyle machines
are not sufficiently maintained which is a fairly common complaint from guests
moving on to the technology hmm
unfortunately i did experience several technical issues at the park including the video features
points were not always added to my profile and i couldn't always find my friends using the app
hopefully this will get better in time but given how long it's been open for you would have hoped
for a bit more progress in this area before the park opened its management had also promoted a
virtual queue system connected to your wristband but after contacting the park i understand that
this is unfortunately still in development given how disastrous the tapu tapu system
was initially for volcano bay spending more time on development may prove to be the right approach
so value the cost for a one day ticket is 45 and that's only five dollars cheaper than aquatica
and i'm not sure this water park beats aquatic in enough areas to really justify that of course the
season pass is incredibly good value but they may need to rethink their pricing for an online single
day ticket in my opinion i will put something in the description if this changes at any point
one thing that doesn't help with value is that they have a very strict food and drink policy so
any food including snacks cannot be brought in if you want to take a drink into the park it needs to
be an unopened bottle of water 20 ounces or less per person a couple of other very minor niggles i
had with this park are that the floor on the wave pool is really quite uncomfortable so be careful
not to drag your feet here and lastly this park has very recently started charging 10 for parking
in fairness though that's less than half the price of its competitors but still disappointing
so before i get into my top tips for getting the best out of this water park i'm just going
to summarize very briefly island h2o has an impressive array of water slides and whilst
it is weak on theming its use of summer pop music played at the perfect decibel
provides a great atmosphere that almost makes up for it but is island h2o worth a trip
well if you're on vacation in orlando and you already have your disney world
universal or sea world tickets taken care of for the duration of your vacation then i do think it's
difficult to make the case that it is worth a trip unless it's very conveniently located to
you or if you have access to any special discounts having said all that if you are
able to visit regularly throughout the year the season pass makes it 100 percent worth the trip
whilst not as important that h2o live the obligatory theme park tip is to arrive at
rope drop ie before the park officially opens if you want to reduce those wait times but before
all this make sure you bring your id with you if you are planning on purchasing tickets on the day
as you will be turned away otherwise be sure to also pack a towel with you as these are not
provided at the park whilst you can't bring soda etc into the park you are encouraged to
bring a cup to the park to get water and ice at the freestyle coca-cola machines as well as the
water fountains and the park did confirm that to me if you need something a bit more interesting
then you may want to grab the all-day cup for the coca-cola machines for 15 if you are interested in
buying the season pass be mindful that the park is not open on a monday or a tuesday for most of
the year it's only open on these days for the peak summer months and the last two weeks of december
one of the benefits to a season pass that not everyone is aware of is that
it allows you to bring one friend for half the price of a one day ticket
there's really any capacity issues in terms of seating so there's no real issues heading to the
wave pool however the frequent alarm signal for the start of the wave action can be irritating for
some so if you're without kids you may want to head over to the private domain section
that's it for this video thank you for watching if you know of any discounts or if you have any
tips you can share please throw them in the comments and if you're interested in
future park reviews and other orlando vacation content don't forget to subscribe