After 9 years of living in Hastings, we FINALLY went to Splash Planet (water theme park) today!!!
A bunch of us mums from Jaimee's class organised the trip before school ended last year as something fun to do in the school holidays...its about time we went, so it was nice to have a date to look forward to. I managed to get half price tickets (thanks to residents rate - and Shelley for loaning me her club card), and Kate scrapped in for free as she doesn't turn 4 for another month, so the whole day cost us $35!
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| The pirate pool was so cool for kids! |
Shelley gave us the most vital tip of the trip - to get our tickets a few days early so that we don't have to queue...BEST TIP EVER!!! Our poor friends were in line for about an hour, and we hear that people were queuing from 9am....but we arrived at opening time and still walked straight in when the doors opened through the prepaid line!
We had a blast - the kids loved the pirate play area in a pool perfect depth for them (although Kate lost a bit of confidence after a bad landing from the water slide where she went underwater much to her shock). The toddler splash pad was awesome - and not half as crowded as you would think it would be! I much preferred it to the one at Cornwall Park, which the big kids always take over. The 'endless river' was so much fun, we went as a family (so no photos sorry), taking Luke in his baby float seat and Kate in her hippo inflatable ring. You just lie on these big squabs and float lazily as a current drags you around the complex....it was lovely for all of us together. Kate did 2 laps before she was ready to get out, but Marty took Jaimee and Luke around for 3 laps!!! Luke giggled the entire trip, after simply raising his eyebrows when we popped him in the cold water for the first time in his life! Typical cruiser Luke.
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| Swinging in water - great idea! |
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| On the train ride with Laura (from Jaimee's class) |
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| Splash Planet! |
I was keen to have a go on the slides, and had done my research - there was only one slide that I could take the kids on with me, so off the to 'Double Dipper" we went (The swirly slide in this photo). You ride down on figure 8 inner tubes, sounded like lots of fun. I used my best mummy skills to secure myself a 'double' tube for 2 people after failing by simple standing waiting nicely on the side of the pool. I waded into the water, approaching some adults who had just come down on a double tube, and asked them if I could please have their tube as I was taking a child down and couldn't use a single tube. They kindly gave it up. Success! Jaimee happily climbed to the top of the tower with me, and hopped on board at the top of the slide with confidence. About 2 seconds into the ride (and the only way off is now to finish the ride) she burst into tears and cried the entire slide down, with me saying extra-enthusiastically in her ear "ooohh, look Jaimee, its so fun! wheee!" through her wails. Ah well, I tried! She sat on the sidelines with a friend while I went back (on a single tube this time!) for more because it actually was heaps of fun! Anne-Marie encouraged me to do some of the other slides with her, so we giggled like the zillions of teenagers around us as we slide down a pitch black tunnel (very odd feeling indeed) and another open air slide (kind of felt like I was going to slip off the side as the water goes around each bend). The kids cheered me on with Marty from the bottom.
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| Tiny Town Fun! |
After a quick dip in the very slightly warmer indoor pool (Luke LOVED it), we had some lunch and then decided to explore the rest of the park. The kids loved Tiny Town, where the rode through bright buildings together.
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| Ella and Jaimee ride the merry-go-round |
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| Lunch with friends |
There was still SO much to do - the kids rode the merry-go-round (not exactly thrilling with tinny Hi-5 playing as they rode around at about 1km an hour with all us bored parents watching) before we introduced them to putt-putt. It was packed, so there was no time to muck around showing them how to play properly. Putt-putt with my kids turned into a kind of hockey/sweeping the floor/curling kind of game, with plenty of cheating and starting 'after the hard bit' in order to get through the ordeal. I gave up after 3 holes and left Marty and his friend Geremy to cope with their 3 girls while I chatted with the other mums on the sidelines. They did very well, and had almost finished when I came waltzing back into the scene and totally ruined it by trying to give Jaimee some tips. She screamed at me. Literally! She opened her mouth, stared at me and let out a high-pitched scream. How rude, I was only trying to help. I took her off for a reminder about self-control (our latest 'faithbox' topic) and then we regrouped and explored the rest of the park.
The flying fox was very popular, the girls would have stayed there for the rest of the afternoon if we had let them - they went 3 times each. It was funny watching their stopping methods - just stay on until they are scooting along the barked ground flat on their bums!
They also enjoyed the rocket slide, a leftover from the fantasyland days of the park which is tucked quietly away in a corner. The slide is a basic concrete tunnel set into a hill, but it has some real speed on it and even Luke had a go!
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| Still chilled out after 7 hours and only about 20 mins sleep! |
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| Luke rides the rocket slide! |
We didn't leave the park until 5pm - it closes at 5.30pm, so we did the whole day and never got bored. Next time we would do the 'dry' rides first, because by the time we wandered over to them the queues were far too long for our kids to wait in, so we never got a go on the bumper boats, go karts or jungle jeeps. The water is cold, so leaving it until later in the day would be better for my kids, who were shivering and cold after an hour in the water at 10am! The good news is that there will be a next time, we are sold on Splash Planet!
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| The Splash Pad |
A bunch of us mums from Jaimee's class organised the trip before school ended last year as something fun to do in the school holidays...its about time we went, so it was nice to have a date to look forward to. I managed to get half price tickets (thanks to residents rate - and Shelley for loaning me her club card), and Kate scrapped in for free as she doesn't turn 4 for another month, so the whole day cost us $35! 
We had a blast - the kids loved the pirate play area in a pool perfect depth for them (although Kate lost a bit of confidence after a bad landing from the water slide where she went underwater much to her shock). The toddler splash pad was awesome - and not half as crowded as you would think it would be! I much preferred it to the one at Cornwall Park, which the big kids always take over. The 'endless river' was so much fun, we went as a family (so no photos sorry), taking Luke in his baby float seat and Kate in her hippo inflatable ring. You just lie on these big squabs and float lazily as a current drags you around the complex....it was lovely for all of us together. Kate did 2 laps before she was ready to get out, but Marty took Jaimee and Luke around for 3 laps!!! Luke giggled the entire trip, after simply raising his eyebrows when we popped him in the cold water for the first time in his life! Typical cruiser Luke. 
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