Why You Should Avoid Going to Adventure Landing Water Park in Jacksonville, FL

In its prime Adventure Landing was a great entertainment center. Its theming was on par with major theme parks such as Disney. It was voted as the best Family Entertainment Center in the country. Unfortunately, since its opening over ten years ago, the park has decayed into a dirty, overpriced, unkempt run of the mill local park. It seems the owners have given up on caring about what the place looks like and if their attractions function properly.

When you walk in over the rickety wooden pathway, you'll see the 15+ little alligators cramped up in their dirty, trash-ridden pen. I suppose they used to be fun to look at, but now it's just depressing. As you enter through the rusty doors you'll be greeted by a lot of loud noise and flashing lights (and most the time overflowing trash cans and dirty floors). If you choose to purchase some tokens and try your hand at the games you'll notice how many of the games are posted as out of order. If they are not, you will notice that there is not a single game on the floor that functions completely as it is supposed to.

Sometimes the problems are small, other times they are not. When you eventually collect all your tickets and make your way to the ticket counting machines you will see that at least one of the four is out of order. The ones that are not do not count correctly. However when you get your receipt and go to claim your prizes you will see how little you have to choose from. By then you will probably see that the prizes are not worth the time and effort and will probably choose to give your receipt to a random child or just throw it away.

Also in the game room is the laser tag arena. The once wicked-cool arena is now just a piece of trash. For seven dollars you first enter the "briefing room". They used to have a video you would watch, now you just get a speech. Once you don your dirty vest you are given seven and a half minutes to WALK around (no running in this arena) in a disorganized match.

At one time this arena was very cool and pirate themed. When Adventure Landing decided to abandon the theming of the park, they simply went ahead and got rid of all the props and covered everything with black paint. Bumps and obstacles are hard to see in the dark and you are likely to trip at least once. They no longer give score cards either, I hope you have quick eyes and catch your score at the end of the game.

In the back corner of the game room you will see the Max Flight Simulator. I'll make this short. I once saw an inspector put a red sign stating it did not pass inspection in it. That pretty much sums it up. Although they got it to pass inspection on a later date, I do not know how. It is almost impossible to see the screen, there is hydraulic fluid on the floor, it is rickety and EXTREMELY dirty and smells of feet. It is not fun.

The water park costs about $25 dollars plus tax with no discounts. It used to be clean and have a very nice atmosphere. Now it is just dirty and nothing is kept up. A lot of the things are broken and the place is usually overcrowded. It may be fun for a little kid if it is their first time or they have not been in a while but even the kids will probably get sick of it quick.

The food at adventure landing is nothing to write home about. A slice of pepperoni pizza runs for $4.50. It is usually not fresh unless it is a crowded day and I have had much tastier pizza from gas stations. This goes for most of the food there although they do cook some mean churros, I'll give them that. Expect to pay way too much if you want to eat (you are not allowed to bring food into the park).

Finally, the staff. Good luck finding a staff member over the age of 18. Many of the cashiers are 15 and 16. The staff members fixing the games are mostly 16 and 17. The managers on duty are mostly 21 or under. The kids working there mostly do not know what they are doing and are not informative. The upper management seem to be the only sensible ones but you will not be seeing them around.

So to sum up, I recommend avoiding Adventure Landing as much as possible. It is pretty much your only choice in Jacksonville for arcades and overpriced fun however so pretty much everyone ends up going at least once or twice a year. Sometimes it is not bad but that is usually not the case.