The end of August is here, and it is already getting darker earlier. The days are still very hot, but the evenings have a pleasant breeze. But not in Eilat. In Eilat, it is hot even in the evenings. Although people do not sweat as much and there is no humidity like in other parts of the country, the warm wind of the southern resort city will continue for many more weeks.
So at Eilat’s water park, Waterland, they decided to continue operations into the evening (5:00 PM–8:30 PM), as is done in Shefayim and other places, currently twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in coordination with hotel cycles. The night activity will continue until October and through the popular holiday season, which will officially end the summer.
As a reminder, Waterland opened about two and a half years ago, although after many delays, but in the end, the initiative by Ofer Glazer, who invested NIS 115 million, according to him, materialized with slides and water attractions, providing a good solution for Israeli vacationers in Eilat, who want to replace the hotel pool atmosphere with something more extreme.
The opening of Waterland was not smooth, with expected initial problems that we reported here, such as lack of shade and slides that were not smooth. Nevertheless, we were happy to see that most of the deficiencies have been corrected, although there is still a need for some shade in the exposed wave pool because anyone who does not want to wait in line for the slides but just wants to cool off a little from the heat has no escape without it. According to Glazer, the war delayed him from completing the shading, there were problems with the contractor and other “issues,” but he says they are on it, and the matter is being addressed. We will wait and see.
Meanwhile, last May, several reports were published about safety incidents in the park that caused injuries to riders. According to Glazer, almost 100 percent of the cases were not related to park negligence but to the riders themselves. "It’s a challenging, extreme park, and there are slides that even I haven’t tried," he says. "We deal with parents who style their children’s hair with gel to reach the required height for sliding. Those who choose to slide, we emphasize that they must follow the instructions, but people hide cameras and GoPros that are not allowed, and instead of holding the tube with both hands inside, they film and then flip over."
Glazer adds that, according to the park clinic report, it is one of the safest in the world. "We put more staff in the park than required," he says. "Worldwide, 5 per mille of visitors to water parks are injured, whereas here it’s less than 1.5 per mille, but the power of social media is so strong that there’s nothing we can say." He refers to a child who rode the red slide in the park and broke a tooth, after which social media posts blamed the park for negligence. According to Glazer, he was the only rider injured who did not follow the instructions. "Our park rating is 4.4, while Shefayim is 4.1 and the rest are lower. The audience votes with their hands," he says.
How much can you manage in three and a half hours?
At Waterland park there are 23 slides, 14 of them for adults, divided across three towers. Tower 1 is the more extreme one, with 8 slides (one with 4 lanes). It also has the two tallest slides in the Middle East, 24 meters high (the blue KAMIKAZE-X) – like sliding from an eight-story building – steep, fast, and definitely scary. The other slides in the tower are quite familiar from other water parks, like Shefayim, where you slide on your back or with a mat on your stomach (the red RACE WATERLAND slides with four lanes), and there are also two green slides – IT-SNAKE and DOWN4FUN, which are winding and familiar. According to Glazer, there are plans to expand the park with additional attractions in collaboration with the Tourism Ministry.
The current major problem of the park is the long lines at the slides, especially in the evenings, when fewer people come compared to daytime, but the activity time is also shorter – just three and a half hours – meaning waits can be up to 40 minutes. Do the math to see how much you can enjoy in three and a half hours. However, it should be noted that we visited the park this month, meaning in the busy August, and hopefully the waiting situation will improve in the next two months (or the activity could be extended by another hour).
The Israeli workaround
In addition, the park is trying to deal with "the painful issue of all attractions in the country" – skipping the line. For those unfamiliar, people with disabilities + a companion get (rightfully) a wristband allowing them to skip the crowd climbing the stairs to the desired slide. And in Israel, like in Israel, there are always those who exploit this, even if they don’t truly need it, and some whose parent has a disability percentage, and by showing a disability certificate, they are entitled to the same "line skip," similar to those who take the family car with a "disabled badge" and park in disabled spaces even if they don’t.
According to Glazer, more than 22 percent of Israeli children have a "line skip," and those who take a tube can go up to four times at the expense of those waiting in a normal line. "For this," he says, "we still haven’t found a solution," but explains that anyone presenting a disability certificate receives a wristband with eight punches for attractions, and you cannot do more than allowed – a solution also present in other water parks.
Prices:
Adult/Child Ticket – NIS 135
Family Ticket (minimum 4 people) – NIS 440