On a baking hot Sunday there was only one place to go to cool down – Fasouri Water Park says KATY TURNER
‘I’m going to the loo,’ number two son yelled as we walked into Fasouri Water Park. ‘OK,’ I replied as he ran off in the opposite direction of the toilets. Time to follow suit. He was heading for the ride that resembles being flushed down the aforementioned facility, known as the Probowl. After sliding down a tube, the rider is ejected into a bowl like structure, and after shooting around it sent down a hole in the middle into a pool below. After standing on a viewing balcony and spraying water at him it was time to follow suit again.
Climbing the stairs to the top of the ride – one of the few with a queue even on a busy Sunday morning in July it didn’t look too bad. After working out what to do with my sunglasses, it was time to hurl myself down the tube. I shot down it and was forcibly thrust out at the end, only to swoosh round before being disposed of head first and back to front into the pool below. I certainly felt I had been flushed away.
But before I could give it too much thought it was time to head to the next ride, again trying to keep up with the kids who seemed to need only nano seconds to get over one ride before heading for the next.
Conveniently situated on the same stairwell as the Probowl are a choice of tube rides that take you at top speed into the pool below. With three to a raft we took the only ride open to us and whizzed down to the pool below. There is a choice of four rides at the top of the stairs and we made sure we came down all of them in various combinations of one and two before heading to the interactive pool that forms the centre of the park to find child number three with his father. A giant climbing frame has various water splashers and two rides to entertain younger children while the highlight is the massive jug that violently showers those below every ten minutes. I assumed the bell ringing immediately prior to this was to warn bathers away but it seems it is the signal to charge towards the torrent to ensure you get absolutely soaked.
Time for a pitstop. There are several options including the standard burgers and chips fare, a waffle and crepe stand, a grill and even a Costa Coffee. Suitably sated it was time t head off for more rides – because we couldn’t think of leaving until we had partaken of everything on offer.
First up, the black cannons, two parallel tubes that throw the riders onto an upwards pointing tube that ejects them into a pool below. While you only have to be 1.2m and a good swimmer to have a go – as with most rides here – son number 2 managed to only plop over the edge as he was so light. Heavier men were thrown into the pool with force while an off duty lifeguard even managed a somersault!
For those who really want to push adrenalin levels is the Kamikaze ride – a 50m ride on which it is possible to reach speeds of 50km/hr. I chose not to but managed to watch as son number one was transformed from a tiny dot at the top of the staircase into a splash at the bottom of the ride. Would he do it again? He was back up the stairs before I had completed the question.
In the interests of appeasing his tiring mom, we then went on the body slides that start from half way up the same staircase. One is a leisurely descent into the waters below while the second seems to project you with considerable force into the same pool.
That just left more tube slides that seemed to whiz me round at quite a speed before throwing me into the waiting waters.
As I felt I would not need to do anymore step aerobics for the rest of the summer I had climbed so many stairs there was just time to head to the lazy river to reflect on the day and make sure we hadn’t missed anything. Family rafts are available for you all to pile into or you go round in the usual tubes. After a relaxing float around most of the park we realized there was just the six-lane racer to go. After climbing more stairs and enjoying the views across the surrounding citrus trees it was time to fling a mat onto a giant slide and get to the bottom before the kids. Did I manage it? You bet ya (weight seems to be a factor here too).
