Adventure Island
Thursday, November 20, 2008

Tampa's Great Water Park

Location - Ten miles NE of Tampa, Florida
Features - water rides, beach volleyball, restaurants, shops.
Activities - Water rides, swimming, rafting, slides, wave pools, rope walks, river rafts.
Parking - Paid Parking
Kid Friendly - Yes
Map It - Get Map & Directions
Phone - 888-800-5447
Extras - Busch Gardens Theme Park is right next door!
Conditions Now - Sunny, and 57°

Family Water Park

Be sure to hit all the rides, as they are all a bit different. This one is called the Gulf Scream, and the name fits!

Adventure Island is one of the best water parks around and is located across the street from Busch Gardens Tampa. It is a beautiful park, with great flowers and landscaping. The towering trees provide good shade on hot days. The park has full speed water that are a blast and keep you spinning along the way. Most of the rides are really fun, and are not scary. Some are kid focused, and slow, so even the little kids will be happy. On the western side is a huge volleyball area, that seems to be a big hit with the teens. If you get hungry, no problem as there are various places to eat and plenty of shady picnic areas to relax. This is a very pleasant park to enjoy on warm sunny Florida day.

Big Fun for All

Over 30 acres of water cooled fun and island style water play packed into this Tampa based location. Gallons of fun for all ages, with all kinds of whirling waters and slides. Swinging bridges and climbing nets lead kids through a multi-story maze of water towers, twisting water slides and tons of water gadgets. Adventure Island is a full-featured and modern water park with a lot of great rides and beach volleyball.

Try a Ride

Sure, it is all about the rides. These exhilarating water rides propel the adventurous riders down slides with consecutive twists and curves. The rides are great, and when you find one you like a lot you can ride it over and over. The pools are super as well, and very popular. Each pool has some sort of niche to it. Our kids really like the big jumps they let you take into the pool. Be sure to take the Gulf Scream, it is a great ride.

Family Fun

We caught up with a family from Toronto. Asked about the park, and they were all smiles and shaking their head yes. "Up north we don't have anything so neat. This kind of adventure park just makes us want to move to Tampa. We would certainly buy an annual pass. Our kids are at the perfect age to enjoy it." And we also agree.

Adventure Island also seems to do a good job supervising, and keeping the rowdy kids under wraps. They watch everything, plus they have a ton of security and lifeguards at the park. So tell your kids to be on their best behavior, or they will kick them out! If you need to lock up things, keys, or valuables, hit the lockers when you first get in. We rented one for our cameras, after we finished taking a bunch of photos. You may want to consider packing your own lunch, it makes it easy to grab a snack and to save money. We also got discount tickets. Check our site, as we are posting links to the various places that offer ticket discounts to Adventure Island. This saved us about forty percent off the normal price!

 
 
 
 
Adventure Island Guide

∴  Visitor Comments


Questions or Thoughts on Adventure Island

Both Tampa Parks in One Day?

Q: Do you think we can do both Adventure Island and Busch Gardens on the same day? We are on a vacation trip through Tampa, and want to hit both, but are limited in time. Any recommendations or thoughts would be great.

Super, Deb Cole

A: My gut answer is no, but it does depend a bit on the individual. I think you would enjoy both of these Tampa attractions if you have more time to really check out the parks. However, if this is your vacation's only time slot, then I would say do Busch Gardens first. If it is a warm day, after all of the walking the water slides would be refreshing. Let us know how it goes. Good Luck.

Adventure Island Rides

C: You would have to be in really good shape to do both Adventure Island and Busch Gardens on the same day. They are all day parks, perfect for families and children, adults will enjoy them too. Busch Gardens is just too large, it is not Lowry Park Zoo.

Brian Ledger (Pass-a-Grille)

Pool Areas

The disney water parks don't have cliffs that you can jump off of the way this park does. The various cliffs, jumps, and slides around the pools are the best, and children just love them. It is a great family attraction, and one of the best things to do in Tampa. Yes, rip tide is it.

Bobby Courts, Brandon Florida

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Submit Additions & Comments

Adventure Island Photos
The city of Tampa is really lucky to have such a great water park. If you live in Hillsborough county, then that would be the way to go. You can see how much kids love Adventure Island.
 
We spent a bunch of time on Riptide. It is a race, which is neat. This is one of the few rides that you have competition. Up to four zoom off, at 1, 2, 3 go!
 
We were surprised at all of the ages here for the rides. Sure, mostly kids but all sorts of ages were enjoying the action.
 
Lots of fun for sure, and a great workout. If I had a $1 for every staircase climbed. But you are having a ton of fun and don't even think about the stairs.
 
 
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