Aquapalace, Prague, Czech Republic

Temperatures in Germany were heating up.  Todd went TDY to Virginia, and since we don't have central air conditioning (I mean, no one really does!), I knew I had to take the kids and get out of here.  Temps were forecast to be in the mid to upper 90s.  No thanks!

I waffled back and forth on where to go.  Perhaps a couple of nights near Lucerne and Interlaken in Switzerland.  But I couldn't find anything affordable.  I thought about maybe a night or two in Lake Constance.  But it was going to be just as brutally hot there as it was in Auerbach.  So at the advice of my friend Mary, I decided to take the kids to the biggest water park in Czech Republic - the Aquapalace!

But one does not simply "go to the Aquapalace for a few hours."  Especially if you live 3 hours away.  It's on the southeast side of Prague - not really anywhere near the city.  So we left the day before and arrived in the very late afternoon.  We stayed at a little bed and breakfast about 2 minutes away from the park (you can stay at the park, but it's a lot more expensive, even though they do provide you with passes to the park.)  We walked down to Pizzeria Grosseto for some yummy pizza!

We knew we had to get up kind of early for our big day at the Aquapalace, but I need a Makers and Coke before bed.  I know you guys probably think I'm this crazy strong mom who just takes off for Prague with her kids for a few days and is unafraid of anything, but truthfully, I do have a lot of anxiety when I travel without Todd.  Not because I'm not competent, but because I have two kids and only one set of eyes.  I went down to the bar to get a couple of Coke Zero's and they said, "We don't have that but we do have Royal Crown Cola!"  What the what?  First of all... am I back in Mississippi?  Second of all, where is my banana moon pie????  Bonus points that it was slim though.

But now, for the main event!  The Aquapalace!  It's the biggest water park in all of the Czech Republic!

We really loved the 450 meter lazy river that flowed throughout the inside part of the park.  The water was only a couple of degrees cooler than I like (you know my standards) so I sucked it up and had fun letting the water send us from one part of the park to the other.

In case I was second guessing coming here... nope.  The Aquapalace is SO much fun, and this was what the temp was at home.  I can only imagine what it felt like upstairs in my house.

If you like water slides, you MUST visit the Aquapalace.  There are 12 slides of varying levels.  We rode a couple that I didn't get any pictures of but were wicked fun, like the triple person tube slide called the Crazy Tube (we all rode together!) and the psychedelic Torpedo Toboggan.  There was also this CRAZY ride called the Canyon, which started inside... paused just outside of the building so you could choose to exit the slide, or you could keep going and the slide then became the Wild River, which was entirely outdoors.  It reminded me of the one at Tropical Islands, but I hurt my bum bum on the Wild River, so I only went on it once.  Natalie went a few times though!  The slides in the picture above are considered one slide - it's of course called the "Speed Slide." 

Here they come!  Grant took off before Natalie, hence why he won.

I think Natalie had a bigger splash, though!

The kids got in line for the Magic Tube a few times.  You could ride this ride with a tube, or without. If you paid a few more koruna, you could do the ride with virtual reality goggles.  If you wanted the VR goggles, you had to use the tube though (no just laying on your back.)  If you decide to use the VR goggles, you also must choose whether you want "space" or "sky."  We, of course, did both.  I think I liked the sky one better.  But it was SUPER trippy.

We all really loved the yellow Body Slide.  I think I rode this like 4 times!  A couple of the slides we DIDN'T ride were the Kamikaze (we watched people slam into the walls as they came down the slide and it didn't seem appealing to anyone) and the Space Bowl.  Grant has never been a fan of the bowl slides since our visit to Therme Erding in Munich.

We also loved this much warmer pool in between the slide area and the lazy river area. You can see behind the kids there were these giant fish tanks and you felt like you were swimming with the fishies!

The kids also spent a few minutes in the hot tub before we headed upstairs to grab some dinner.

Interestingly, they had a tank that you could learn how to scuba dive!

We went upstairs to grab some dinner before we left, and they had a little balcony where you could overlook the outdoor facilities.  It definitely seemed more geared toward adults with the swim up pool bars and loud music. There's fun for all ages at the Aquapalace!

They had a steel drum band playing music and I just wanted to dive into the pool from way up above and join everyone.

But alas, I'm a mom and I had to get these kiddos back to the hotel where I knew they were going to crash because we ALL were tired.  We really had a blast there today, but we definitely missed Daddy.  Natalie said later, "This place is awesome!  But I think one day is enough."  (This is how tired we were!)

Until next time, Aquapalace!