Aquopolis Villanueva: “Just keep swimming”
Welcome to Aquopolis Villanueva, a beautiful water park located just west of Madrid. Aquopolis Villanueva is known for the daring and extreme water slides, the wave pools, and for having activities for all ages. The weather is generally hot and going down the slides and swimming in the pools is a very refreshing and fun way to spend an afternoon. It offers a variety of food and concessions and is your average water/amusement park. Google ratings awarded Aquopolis Villanueva a 3.6/5 although let’s see how Aquopolis Villanueva does on the Drew Scale.
Let’s break down this water park (metaphorically). Let’s begin with the primary attraction, the slides. The slides were built very well, as well each slide served a different purpose. Some of the slides were meant to be relaxing, some were meant for to mak you scream your head off, while others were meant for kids. There were no restrictions on fun at this water park. While the rides and slides were amazing, there were pretty big lines. The lines prohibited me from going on some of the larger more attractive slides as I did not want to spend what restricted time I had there in a line waiting to go on a 30-second ride. I do have to tell you, in fairness to the park, we did go on the hottest Saturday of the summer. My recommendation for anyone who is interested would be to attend this park on any day that is not Saturday as I feel the lines will be shorter and therefore the day will be a lot more enjoyable. The entertainment aspect of the water receives an 8.9/10 on the Drew Scale.
Now on to everyones favourite topic……FOOD! O food where for art thou? The food choices were typical for an amusement park. They had pizza, hot dogs, chicken nuggets etc. The one thing that caught my eye was the buffet. There was a buffet that offered a variety of different foods like ribs, chicken breasts, salads, still common but different. The price range for the food was reasonable (considering you are at an amusement park). I bought 12 chicken nuggets with a medium drink and it cost me $10 Euros. Although this is expensive for what it is, I expected much worse. The food was very greasy, and I had trouble eating my whole meal as the grease was overpowering. For the food aspect of this amusement park, the Drew Scale gives it a 7.6/10. There was room for technical improvement and better pricing although overall pretty average for an amusement park.
I took the time while I was there to ask some of the locals (that could somewhat understand english) how many times they had been here, and if they were returning, why. The first person who I asked who requested to stay anonymous stated (Paraphrasing), “We (his family) have only been here a couple of times although each time it has been with my entire family. It is overall not an expensive outing for a large group like mine and we enjoy it every time. It has become a sort tradition in our family to go together, and I am sure we will be back soon.” He was very nice and seemed to be enjoying himself. He did go on to tell me that Saturdays are generally the most busy days and to get the best bang for your buck, Saturdays are not ideal. I asked him what he would rate the park (for the local rating as part of the Drew Scale) and he told me he would give it a 9/10.
Another local had a different take on the water park. His name is Antonio and he did not seem impressed, this is what he told me, “This is my first time at Aquopolis, and most likely my last.” I asked him why he felt this way and he went on to say, “I know that big parks make themselves look good through the internet although the difference in the pictures and the real thing is much larger than I thought. I expected to come here and be able to just go in line, maybe wait a couple minutes, then go on, but I have been skipping a lot of the slides because of the lines. I also thought there was going to be a much larger selection of slides.” I went on to ask him the same question as to what he would rate the park and he replied with a 7/10. The accumulated score for the local rating is therefore 16/20 (but for calculating purposes, 4/5).
I did enjoy myself at the park, don’t get me wrong, but I felt like it was the friends I was with that made it so fun, not the fake power-puff girls you can take pictures with. The accumulated score for Aquopolis Villanueva on the Drew Scale is 20.5/25 (82%). This is a 10% better rating that Google reviews and I feel like this is a fair score as it not only takes into account my feelings, but the feelings of locals to the area. There is still a lot of improvement that needs to be done, mainly in the food aspect and ensuring customer satisfaction, although it was still a great experience. I would recommend Aquopolis to medium-large groups who enjoy to be in the sun and whose company can make the experience fun without even doing anything. I found that the “best good friends” (Another forrest Gump quote for you Gumpers out there) helped make the experience so good which is why I recommend going in big-ish groups.
Stay tuned for more amazing reviews!
Atentamente! Best regards!
Drew Cohen
