Once your kids spot the tower at Thrill Waterpark, good luck keeping them satisfied with a beach pail and shovel. Found to the right of the island as you enter from the pier, the park has 13 slides and a 135-foot-tall tower (the tallest in North America; stairs only) crowned by Daredevil’s Tower, which is hands-down the most harrowing and intense water slide I’ve ever been on anywhere. The speeding red spiral is definitely too aggressive for some people, and the line to ride it is daunting, too; I waited for about an hour, and that was when only one ship was docked at the island. Waits can get untenable, especially when the ships in port include a 6,000-passenger Oasis-class ship.
The second, smaller slide tower, Splash Summit, has six more slides on it.
What’s the extra fee for all this watery fun? Royal Caribbean reserves the right to change the price of CocoCay at whim, but we’ve personally seen it go as high as $240*. That’s several times expensive than most dry theme parks on the mainland, let alone water slide parks. And because the ships sail by dinnertime, you won’t even get to play all day. Worth it to ya?
Located outside the waterpark, the Up Up and Away helium balloon ride costs between $25 and $100 a rider, but it’s often grounded when weather conditions aren’t perfect, so don’t count on it necessarily being a part of your day’s thrills.
* Royal Caribbean’s official line is that all costs at CocoCay will “vary by season and are subject to change without notice.”