Cowabunga Bay Reviewed

I got a 50% off coupon from Screamin' Coupons last week and so we decided to make Monday our Cowabunga Bay day. I had always wondered how my kids (8, 6, 3) would do there. Here are the pros and cons as I saw it:

Pros:
--No pools at the bottom of the slides for kiddos to sink into, just runways.
--VERY warm water in the lazy river/shallow beach pool
--Awesome theme, cute surfer stuff everywhere
--Very fun being splashed by the huge buckets of water
--Little kids (Madelyn's size) can ride almost anything, if they will.
--Little kids (Madelyn's size) can ride in the lap of a parent if unwilling to go alone.
--Fun splashpad/playground equipment-type activities (shooting water guns at people, turning on and off sprinklers, etc)
--Tubes for the lazy river and lifejackets are included in the admission fee.

Cons:
--Unadventurous children (Like my two youngest) will want to spend all their time in the lazy river/shallow pool. Frustrating b/c we can do that at just about any rec center for a fraction of the cost. They will especially want to stay there if temps are in the 80s and there is a breeze, like the day we went(warm water in the lazy river becomes a con in this instance).
--Expensive concessions -- but you expected that.
--Having complete strangers dump water on you repeatedly in the slide play structure
(Seriously, I watched a bunch of teenage boys hang out by the bucket dump toys and wait to let loose on anyone going down the slides or walking underneath them, whether they knew them or not. I lost a pair of sunglasses to their enthusiasm).

OVERALL: I would go again in the future, especially when I can be sure that 100% or more of our family will go on slides. I would recommend paying for the shortest time period possible (I think they sell two hour passes) to see how your family does, then upgrade if you are really enjoying yourselves. And I would let loose a few more buckets of water on unsuspecting teenage boys I don't know to get the need for revenge out of my system. :)