H2OBX Water Park-A Family Adventure

The Endless Flow Wave Rider.
The Endless Flow Wave Rider at H2OBX.

The H2OBX Water Park in Powells Point is finally open. A bit behind schedule, but by all accounts, it was worth the wait.

The rides are outstanding and the staff well-trained and very pleasant, but what really stands out is how family oriented the experience is.

H2OBX is designed is meant to be an all day experience. There are a couple of places in the park to get something to eat, there are plenty of places to sit and relax and there are enough rides and enough variety to keep everyone happy.

There are some very nice touches—some concepts or ideas that show someone was thinking about how to make the H2OBX experience great for the whole family.

The Rides

The kid’s area, as an example, has somewhere between 12-15 slides—baby slides, tube slides, twisting and turning slides. What that does is allow little kids to do is experience some of the thrills an older brother or sister is experiencing and keep them a little more engaged.

There are some very nice family rides that group up to six in a tube that goes shooting down a slide. There’s a river of sorts—Teach’s Ride Adventure River—that is a leisurely tube ride around the park.

Also for the whole family there are a number of pools with different features.

The thrill rides are, of course, how water parks are evaluated and H2OBX comes through on that as well.

There are two high speed water slides that drop from 90’… The Plank and Paradise Plunge. Both are fun, fast and thrilling.

On the same tower that houses the water slides there are four tube rides that are a blast.

There is also the Endless Flow Wave Rider shoots water down and slope, creating ideal conditions for boogie boarders.

Park management has made the decision to limit visitation to 5000 per day to make sure  visitors have the best experience possible. It’s probably a good idea to arrive earlier in the day.

Park hours are 10-8.

Excitement Builds as H2OBX Water Park Set to Open

H2OBX opening June 21.
H2OBX opening June 21.

Sometimes there is something new under the sun, and for the Outer Banks that’s what the H2OBX Water Park in Powells Point is.

In terms of entertainment, there hasn’t been anything like this on the Outer Banks for some time. Certainly no one has made this kind of an investment in just making people happy and setting aside a place to go and have some fun.

H2OBX—which will be opening this Wednesday June 21—is going to be spectacular.

Some of the Rides

There is the Paradise Plunge—a nine story high water slide. There is the Endless Flow Rider, a wave machine that cranks out perfect waves for boogie boarders. And that’s just a few of the “Thrill Rides” as H2OBX calls them.

There are family rides as well—Queen Anne’s Revenge, a huge tube like float that the whole family can fit into. Teach’s Tides Adventure River is a wonderful tubing drift down a river of adventure. There are swimming areas and other rids as well.

And of course, there is a whole area set aside just for little kids.

About H2OBX

There are 80 acres of water rides at the site. The theme is distinctly Outer Banks—something Aquatic Development Group (ADG), the developer, was very conscious of when they designed the site.

The theme for the park is distinctly Outer Banks, with local and beach names for many of the rides and a decidedly Outer Banks look.

ADG is one of the largest developers of waterparks and indoor pools in the nation and their experience shows in the design.

As an example, although the park uses incredible amounts of water, almost all of it is recycled throughout the day. After bringing the water into the park, very little additional water is taken from local resources. There is some backwash water that is treated and released back into the aquifer, but the actual impact of H2OBX on the environment will be relatively minor.

Plans call for restricting the number of guests each day. The number has not been confirmed yet, but it will be between 5000-6000. Water Park management feels that will enhance the experience for families.