Adventure Cove Waterpark

Resorts World Sentosa's latest attraction, the Marine Life Park, opened to the public in late November 2012. There are 2 separately ticketed attractions, the SEA Aquarium and Adventure Cove Waterpark. Both cost $29, with opening hours from 10am to 6pm. We visited on a weekday, and even though it was the school holiday period, the park was not crowded. Average wait times for rides were about 5-10 minutes.

Whirlpool Washout

SLIDES:

Riptide Rocket (10/10) is undeniably the best slide in the park. It is marketed as Southeast Asia's first hydro-magnetic water coaster. It really feels like a roller coaster. Firstly you have a slow, long ascend via conveyor belt to the top of the slide (where you see the platform for Dueling Racer on the right), and then your dinghy races along a course consisting of 3 hills. It seems that the hills have acceleration capabilities (hence the term hydro-magnetic I guess), so you receive decent air-time upon descent (the drops are pretty steep) and at the top of the hills. The acceleration seems to be the fastest on the 2nd hill. I do not know if someone actually controls the acceleration, but most likely the ride technology allows the acceleration to be customised to your dinghy's weight. A really interesting and unique ride. Single and double rider options are available. I think the single rider feels slightly faster. Overall an extremely enjoyable ride. No diminishing returns on this one. I think I rode this about 5 or 6 times. From observation, it appears that there are about 3 dinghies on the ride simultaneously, but still, receives the longest waiting times of all the rides due to its popularity. I would suggest taking this ride last, though, because other rides would pale in comparison to this one after you attempt this.

Dueling Racer (8/10) is short and sweet. You race down side-by-side with another rider down a ramp while lying belly down on a mat. Gotta be careful on this one, you must try to stick yourself to your mat, if not you could suffer minor abrasions on the knees. Enjoyable in terms of thrill and speed but personally did not find it particularly comfortable.

Pipeline Plunge (8/10) and Tidal Twister (7/10) share the same entrance. Pipeline Plunge is shorter and faster, while Tidal Twister is longer and more twisty. Tidal Twister was fun the first time around, but thanks to the slower speed, didn't really find it very exhilarating on subsequent tries. Prime example of diminishing returns. Yet, it still tends to have the longer queue of the two, also partially due to the greater length. At Adventure Cove, most of the slides only have 1 rider in the slide at any time (perhaps that is the standard practice at other water parks). Meanwhile, Pipeline Plunge is comparatively shorter, also due to higher speed and shorter length. I think it is also slightly steeper, and it is mostly enclosed, but there is a small open segment where your float may (with very low probability) turn backwards. I enjoyed this one more, and it usually has a shorter queue anyway.

Spiral Washout (6/10) and Whirlpool Washout (6/10), located at the same place, are rather short, and not very fast. However, for Whirlpool Washout, there is a chance that your float could turn backwards when entering the whirlpool, which will cause a slightly more interesting ride! Both utilize 2-rider floats. Only attempted these slides once each. Felt that they were rather mediocre.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS:

Of course, no water park is complete without a lazy river. Adventure River, which is apparently about 600 metres long, has some interesting segments like an underwater tunnel where you see fishes swimming around you and a dark cave. There is also a wave pool, Bluwater Bay. which doesn't seem too big. Big Bucket Treehouse is a small water playground with a couple of small slides targeted at younger kids, so we skipped it this time. Splashworks is an obstacle course with platform jumps, rope bridges and a rope climb, but it was closed when we visited.

Adventure Cove does offer a few more unique experiences. Ray Bay gives you the opportunity to swim with stingrays. There are VERY limited slots available. Only 6 people are allowed to experience this at 3 different time slots, 11am, 3pm and 5pm. We waited a frustratingly long time only to be told that there were only 2 slots remaining for the entire day despite arriving when the park opened. Perhaps you need to make arrangements in advance. Rainbow Reef allows you to snorkel in a saltwater pool. Heard that it was a pretty interesting experience, but personally didn't attempt it because I couldn't see a thing in the snorkel thanks to my severe myopia.

FOOD:

The only food option inside the park is Bay Restaurant. We received $5 meal vouchers per ticket purchased and were able to combine them for our meal. So we ordered 2 "Family Feasts" costing $60 each, which comprises 8 pieces of fried fish, 1 portion of cheese fries, 4 desserts and 4 drinks. We ordered 2 sets so that everyone would have a dessert and drink and 2 pieces of fish, because 1 piece was not very big. With a $40 discount from the vouchers, we paid $10 a person. I thought it was pretty worth it, and the fish and chips were quite decent! This is the only dining outlet in the park at the moment, but it definitely did not disappoint. Individual meals are actually approximately the same price if I am not mistaken.

OTHER TIPS AND THOUGHTS:

Locker Rental costs $10 for small lockers which are the same size as those found in Universal Studios Singapore, and $20 for large ones that can fit about 8 bags. They can be re-opened at any time and available for re-use throughout the day. Apparently they increased the price barely 2 weeks after the park opened. In terms of safety regulations, goggles and spectacles are not allowed on the rides, which really sucked for a half-blind like me.

On the whole, I feel that the admission price is reasonable for the number of rides and attractions available. However, I also think that Universal Studios, despite being over double the price, is much more exciting, and also benefits from a decent number of indoor attractions (including Revenge of the Mummy and Transformers) which shields visitors from the horrendous local weather. The rain was the only mood dampener on the day. Rides were closed at about 3.30 when lightning was detected and we waited till about 5 before they re-opened them. Then, after just 1 ride, they closed the rides again. I'm just grateful that we didn't completely waste our time waiting.