Family, travel, mom blog | Theme Park Mom (Leigh Caldwell)

Adventure Island water park in Tampa is staying open late on weekend nights this summer for Island Nights. I took my family to check out the festivities.

There’s a special Island Nights menu, with coconut shrimp, conch fritters and shrimp simmered in a sauce of beer and garlic.

There are animal encounters with some of the residents of Busch Gardens, which is right across the street.

A DJ sets up on the beach to spin hit songs (all family-friendly).

And there’s a special Island Nights show with a fire twirler and hula dancers. It happens at the beach a couple of times each evening, and it’s definitely worth watching.

Island Nights is happening every Thursday, Friday and Saturday through August 14th. Evening is a great time to visit Adventure Island — the sun is setting, which means less heat (a little less Florida heat) and less sunscreen applications.

If you haven’t visited Adventure Island water park, it’s worth a visit if you’re in the Tampa area. It is one of the most well-maintained and cleanest water parks I have visited, and there’s something for everyone.

There are splash play areas for the little ones, and water slides for every age. I’m partial to just floating along on the park’s lazy river.

And my school-age kids love the pool area with tube slides and a “cliff” to jump off.

Island Nights is included with any Adventure Island admission. You will save money by buying your tickets online in advance, and there are some great package deals that will get you a day at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, too.

Disclosure Notice: Adventure Island sponsored my trip to the park to check out Island Nights.

Adventure Island water park in Tampa officially opens for this season this weekend, after a preview last weekend.

The Tampa water park across the street from Busch Gardens has made some improvements for the season, including 11 new cabanas. Each cabana has four chaise lounges, a locker, a mini-fridge stocked with drinks and four souvenir towels. The cabanas rent for $149 to $179 per day.

The park has also expanded, with a new beach on the south side of RipTide, the four-mat water slide.

Adventure Island is offering two special ticket deals this summer: a weekday pass and a Florida resident special.

The water park will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting this Saturday, March 20,  through Sept. 6.

Adventure Island opens for the season later this week, and the Tampa water park is offering two new ticket deals this year:

The Adventure Island Weekday Pass allows you to pay for a day at the park and come back on weekdays for the rest of the season. You can buy this pass online for $41.95 for both children and adults.

The weekday pass is obviously a great deal for local residents who want to visit several times during the season. But it’s also a good deal if you are vacationing in Tampa and think you will want to go to Adventure Island more than once.

If you live in Florida, the water park is also offering an Online Exclusive Florida Resident Offer, which gives you a free ticket to Adventure Island if you buy a ticket to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. This ticket costs $74.95, and you must buy it online before you get to the park. Choose this deal if you are a Florida resident and you just plan to visit each of these Tampa parks once this year.

Adventure Island opens March 13-14 for a preview weekend and will be open for the season from March 22 through Sept. 6.

The new all-day dining plans being offered by many theme parks are a great solution for limiting your spending at the parks. I think they are especially good for groups that include tweens and teens, who might not be good at budgeting their spending money throughout the day. Many moms and dads aren’t so great at that either. But when you make a decision at the beginning of the day to buy an all-day dining plan, you have to wonder if it’s worth it.

So today I want to take a look at Adventure Island’s All Day Dining deal. The meal plan is available at the Tampa water park for a price of $22.95 for adults and $13.95 for children ages 3-9. It includes meals from two dining locations Surfside Cafe, which is near the front of the park, beach and wave pool, and Mango Joes, which is near many of the Water Slides and Rambling Bayou.

For adults, you can get an entree platter, side item OR dessert, and a soft drink, iced tea or 20 oz. bottled water each time you go through the line at one of the participating restaurants. Children have to order off the kid’s menu.

Here are some sample food prices from Mango Joe’s: (more…)