Adventure Cove Waterpark Singapore Review

A complete guide to Adventure Cove which includes videos, photographs, directions and detailed information on the slides and what to expect at the park.

Directions to Adventure Cove:

Simply put, just head to the main RWS area where the USS globe is and look for the Marine Life Park entrance.

As seen in the video above, there are two distinct paths when you reach Marine Life Park. The first path on the left leads to the Maritime SEA museum and the second on the right will take you right behind the museum and to Adventure Cove.

Before the entrance of adventure cove are various vintage ship models which you can board and explore for free. This was free which made it really cool. The ships seemed authentic down to the nitty gritty details – they had hatches, inside, cargo compartments so perhaps they were even the real deal.

Adventure Cove Waterpark

Good news – swimming attire is much more lax than public swimming pools. Feel free to wear bodysuits, tee-shirts and even swim shoes!

Attention all babies, please put on your speedos. Diapers are not allowed.

Tip 3: Do not use the first toilets / lockers at the entrance. Use the ones in the center next to the food court "The Bay" restaurant. The toilets are uncharacteristically small and do not accommodate the guests sufficiently. There are just 9 male showers to accommodate the whole park! Imagine that! Well that's because most visitors will not be aware of the one in the centre. So use that instead and you won't have to queue 20 minutes to take your shower at the end.

There are all together 13 rides in this park. You will first come across “Adventure River” commonly known as the lazy river in other parks where you can chill on a float while an automated current pushes you forward. You get to see the overview of the whole park and its one of the longest lazy rivers in the world, so expect to be in there for a good 20 minutes if you want to go an entire round. There is quite a strong current though so good luck trying to swim against it.

Floats are free, which is great! Never understood why the Jurong East Swimming Complex charged for them. All in all, the Adventure River is done up amazingly well. You float into mysteriously looking waves, under the cover of pretty lanterns and you get to see all the attractions in the park, whetting your appetite for what’s to come later.

In some sections you can see dolphins underneath you and in other areas you get up close and personal experiences with stingrays and underwater world type tunnels.

The Slides:

Hidden very awkwardly at the first aid area near the fence and with no signage to indicate its entrance, you will probably miss this unless you pay attention. These slides are the appetizer before the main course. It leads to two different rides, the “spiral washout” and the “whirlpool washout“.

The spiral lives up to its name as a series of turns and as such it isn’t very fast. The whirpool washout leads your to a voyeuristic whirpool area where everyone queuing can witness you getting sucked into the whirpool! It looked pretty cool I must say and these are both awesome slides.

“Bluewater Bay” is the wave pool area built in an enclave surrounded by sunbeds and 5 luxurious looking cabanas that can be rented at…. wait for it…. $88 a day. Fa Fa Fa your money away! Update: This price is actually okay if you’re going in a big group of 8 considering lockers are at $20.

The pool is only 1.6M deep but waves can go up to 2 meters high. The waves are of a decent size and it was fun to hang out at the forefront. You probably need a float to enjoy this otherwise you will be struggling against the waves so get on top one in the shallow areas and start paddling your way to the front!

The next two rides whos lines are next to each other are the “Tidal twister” and “Pipeline Plunge“. The twister is again the lower speed ride because of all the twisting but it is still fast and fun. The pipeline plunge is a lot scarier because its faster and in the dark! My second favourite ride at the park!

“Riptide Rocket” is undoubtedly the star attraction of adventure cove. In fact on that day this was the only ride with a queue, and the queue was LONG! First cool thing is there isn’t any walking up stairs. You sit on an escalator with your float while making your way to what has to be the highest point of the park. You then plunge into darkness before getting propelled up again by hydro-magnets.

Its 225 metres long but its way shorter then the other rides because its so damn fast. Hands down the best ride at the park and not for the faint-hearted. While queuing up I heard terrifying screams from a woman in the water tunnels, and when she emerged and her face was pale in horror, no joke. Her son with her was all smiles though haha!

“Dueling Racer” is two solo slides next to each other where you can race a friend. Its really really fast at the start and a tip is to hold on tight and lift your legs up or you’re going to get slide burned!

The Others:

“Sunbathing” areas – there are plenty of them all around the park.

“Rainbow Reef” is a super cool snorkel area. For anyone who has not experienced snorkeling before, go for this. You will love it and you don’t have to pay anything additional! Don’t underestimate its size!

So if you aren’t a good swimmer or don’t want to swim one whole round just stick to the sides so you can go back easily to the starting point. Because its something like 1.5 swim laps in total distance and there are plenty of fish everywhere which could rival some of the bigger tanks at the SEA aquarium. There are really heaps of them everywhere!

“Splashworks” is kinda like the “Ninja Warrior” area and its basically an obstacle course. There are a few simple ones and the most challenging had to be the tightrope walk. You can also climb up a rope and ring the bell for all to hear upon reaching the top. Should you not succeed in passing the obstacles, just drop down into the 4 metre deep pool.

There is also a diving platform, with two levels, the highest probably 2 stories tall. They don’t look too high until you actually stand and the water suddenly seems so far below you. Some girls queued up for the first level one only to end up squealing in fear and turning back!

The final attraction was “Ray Bay” where it costs you $25 for the chance to feed the small stingrays smaller fish. They look slick and velvety but its kinda pricey still and I would say and I rather spend $15 feeding myself them in sambal. Bookings have to be made and there are 3 feeding times every day.

Of the two kids areas, the “Big Bucket Tree House” is the more elaborate one with a big bucket of water that comes splashing down and a treehouse with slides. “Seahorse hideaway” is more of a chilling wading pool with fountains.

The Good Stuff

The whole park is very well staffed with lifeguards at every conceivable turn and slide exit.
Among the best public toilets in Singapore. Built in soap dispensers + rainshowers with 3 different modes? Amazing. Now they just need more stalls in the toilets.
Loved the variety and freshness in rides and how well trained the staff were.
I learned from talking to one of them that every single ride had to be tested over 500 times by the staff to as part of the quality assurance. So the staff know all the rides inside out.
It rained at about 5.15pm so the park was shut down. Closing time was 6pm but they still bothered to re-open the park at 5.45pm when it stopped raining. I found this nice.
There is an official photographer roaming around taking shots you can purchase at the shop at $25. They looked really good quality and the customisation was nice, most places just have a generic shot but you can be sure yours will be unique.

Bad Stuff

Small Lockers are $10 and Big Lockers are $20. You have no choice but to get lockers. Come on overcharging like that is not cool.
Too little showers in the toilets.
Adventure River could have used some more features like a jacuzzi area in their tunnel. There was so much potential for this in the caves!
There were too little people on weekdays and it might seem weird for me to complain about this. But it makes me worry about their sustainability. I hope they start publicising it more like how Jia Jia and Kai Kai are everywhere in Singapore. People see the pictures I took and still ask me.. where is that?! What does it have? Has it opened yet? How do i get there? People just have no clue!

Verdict:

Older Singaporeans would remember Fantasy Island fondly while younger Singaporeans only had wild wild wet to experience. Its great that Singapore now finally has a world class water theme park again. They also have an “Annual Package” at just $88 which you can book here. I will definitely return, and will probably be getting that package too.