Summer… can you have finally arrived in Ottawa?
This Canada Day long weekend, my family took in Calypso Water Park for the first time. Strategically located (east of Ottawa off highway 417, and 75 minutes from Montreal) the water park is bound to attract crowds on a hot day. We were lucky the Sunday afternoon we visited – either the layout of the park helped diffuse the feeling of sharing slides with thousands of our nearest and dearest, or we just hit it lucky and didn’t catch a big crowd the 32+ degree day we went.
Admission is fairly pricy (anyone above 1.32 m pays $33.63 for a full day, and under that mark pay $26.55 – see https://www.securecalypsopark.com/Product.aspx?type=19&id=3 ), but my family did have a fun-filled 4 hours or so (not sure how anyone could be there for much longer…) Word to the wise, too – while various forms of payment are taken for admission, parking is kind of mandatory to get in 🙂 – and $5 cash only is required.
Life jackets are free, but you are required to hand over either a photo id or $40 security deposit (so make sure you don’t get separated from the person holding the locker key before you get that sorted… it makes for a long walk on very hot concrete to find them.)
DD5 enjoyed the wave pool, as well as riding the Jungle Run (a terrific lazy river set up that requires you to work a bit, as there are no inner tubes -only boogie board/ floaties. It’s confused exit/ entry point means multiple crossovers between folks exiting/ entering, but the upside is you don’t have to exit the river, if you want to continue on.) [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4inni3AZNk&feature=player_embedded]
DD5 also enjoyed both the Zoo Lagoon and the Pirate’s Aquaplay (although the Pirate set up is an annoyance to parents – it’s very hard to keep an eye on young ones, and if you chase your kid up the pirate stairs and weavings that are very much like being routed through Cosmic Adventure, you’ll find you can’t get down the ride at the top- it isn’t set up for adult weight.)
Rides like Acid Test [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS22FnkVGeY&feature=player_embedded] and Canyon Rafting were popular with all family members. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D4J3rQIYNU&feature=player_embedded]
DD11 loved the thrill rides – like Summit Tower, Adrenalin, and Boomerango
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxBCQgkbavg&feature=player_embedded]
Biggest complaints : 1.) it was very hard to keep an eye on young kids or tweens on the different rides, unless you were right next to them every moment; 2.) the concrete around the park is very uncomfortable to walk on in bare feet; 3.) the youngsters working the rides and concession stands could use some Disneyfied training wrt cheerfulness, and customer service (hearing after the fact that my 9 year old niece had been told that her ride was better than Justin Bieber because it wasn’t “gay” was ridiculous), and 4.) we encountered probably the slowest moving line (totally unshaded) I’ve ever stood in to buy ice cream.
Biggest pros: 1.) Calypso is a large, well laidout park with plenty of picnic tables, chaise chairs, and open space; 2.) there is a variety of activites to suit all age groups, 3.) there are plenty of lifeguards and attendants around every attraction, and 4.) people are not discouraged from bringing in their own food and drink.
Come prepared, but definitely worth a day trip!