Venue: Swansea LC Water Park
Who Went: Just me.
Introduction
Officially this was the final day of RCCGB Mega-GLOW-Mania weekend 2017. After the Club visited Folly Farm on Friday 11 August and Oakwood Theme Park on Saturday 12 August, some members chose to spend Sunday 13 August at Heatherton World of Activities. Although I attended Folly Farm and Oakwood the previous two days, I gave Heatherton a miss for various reasons. Whilst planning my Sunday train travel, I discovered that by leaving Kilgetty at 11:26, I could reach Swansea around 13:15, and thus enjoy a session of water sliding at Swansea LC Water Park during the rest of the afternoon before resuming my train journey home to Bath in the evening.Welcome to Swansea LC
I finally reached the LC reception around 13:40, and managed to get in straightaway. Without further ado I proceeded to the changing rooms where I had no problem finding a tall locker big enough to contain my large holdall, rucksack and laptop bag.Background Information
The old Swansea Leisure Centre opened in 1977 and closed in 2003. During 2007 the building was gutted out and rebuilt internally at a cost of £32 million. In March 2008, the current LC opened on the site of the old Leisure Centre, and it's completely different to what it used to be inside. I know; I went to the fun pool and slides at the old Swansea Leisure Centre during my week long Swansea holiday in June 2000. The current LC has commonly been known as LC2 (even I've called it that), since the wave logo which appears after the initials LC resembles a 2, but officially it is LC. Logically though, one could say the current LC is the second leisure centre to be housed within the same building shell. This was my seventh visit to the LC Water Park in its current form, having previously been there early September 2008, August 2012, August 2013, August 2014, August 2015 and August 2016.Swansea LC Water Park Features
The water park boasts several features, outlined below.Aqua Tube
A narrow twisting closed tube water slide, which lands in a catch tray. This slide is really fast.Aqua Slide
This water slide is wider and open-top all the way down. There's a u-bend to the right just after the start, followed by a straight bit, a bend to the right, a straight bit, u-bend to the left and finally land in a catch tray. This slide gives a longer and slower ride than Aqua Tube.Master Blaster
You need an inflatable tyre to ride this roller coaster water slide. There are several places where it goes up as well as down. If the RCCGB decided to do an organised visit here (e.g. outside the coaster season) this would be the one for the Club to have an ERS on.The Aqua Tube, Aqua Slide and Master Blaster were made by Aqua Leisure International, but I don't know the heights of the slides.
Wave Pool
A funny shaped fun pool with wave machine. It's not on continuously, but the wave sessions are quite frequent. Lazy River
This spurs off the Wave Pool. You swim around clockwise with the flow. Boardrider
A surf facility which you have to wear a surf suit and helmet for. I think you have to pay extra for it; anyhow I gave this a miss.All of the above have been there since the place opened in 2008.
Volcano Bay
This opened in summer 2010. It's a mock-up of a volcano with a slide descending from it. I didn't bother with this during my visit.The only extra Swansea LC Water Park could do with is a space bowl. Every good water park should have one. Strangely enough, the old Swansea Leisure Centre actually had a space bowl.
My Session in the Water Park
Having changed I was issued with a wristband. I entered the pool / slides area at 13:53 for a session that was officially due to last about two hours. My wristband was blue, and when that particular colour was called, all bathers with blue wristbands including me would be asked to leave.Once in the pool area, I took straight to the slides, starting with five goes on the Aqua Tube. Next I approached the Master Blaster tyre collection point. Since the queue for tyres was reasonably short, I waited for a tyre to have my first go on Master Blaster. Having collected a tyre a few minutes later I went up the stairs and joined another queue for its launch point. When it was my turn to slide, I sat on my tyre and set off on the Master Blaster roller coaster water slide, which runs around much of the water park, taking in uphill as well as downhill sections. This was a mega fun ride which was all over too soon. When I reached the end of the slide, the queue for tyres was still quite short, so I queued for another tyre to have a second go on Master Blaster. At the end of my second go, the tyre collection queue was considerably longer, so I had my first two goes on the Aqua Slide for this session. Next I enjoyed four more goes on the Aqua Tube followed by two more goes on the Aqua Slide.
So far I hadn't heard any wristband colours from previous intakes being called out. I pointed that out to one of the lifeguards. The lifeguard I spoke to told me the place wasn't busy enough for them to have to call colours out. I approached the Master Blaster tyre collection point again. The tyre collection queue was, once again, reasonably short so I waited for a tyre. When I had one, I climbed the stairs and waited my turn to enjoy the Master Blaster. Once I had completed this go, the tyre collection queue was still short, so I waited for another tyre to have a second go on the Master Blaster. Once I had completed that go, I enjoyed seven goes on the Aqua Tube.
The time was now around 16:00 and my wristband colour (blue) had not yet been called. In fact I still hadn't heard any other colours from previous intakes called. For now I continued sliding until if and when I heard a blue call-out. Knowing my time to leave ought to be soon, I decided to finish off with one or two more goes on the Master Blaster. Thankfully its tyre collection queue was quite short, and very soon afterwards I climbed the stairs and waited my turn to slide the Master Blaster. After I had completed this go, the tyre collection queue was still very short, so I waited to collect another tyre for a second go. This process continued and I ended up having four goes altogether on the Master Blaster, which was more than I expected. Having completed my fourth go, I checked the time again, and it was now 16:25. Although I still hadn't heard a call-out for my wristband colour (blue), I left the pool area voluntarily at this point in order to allow myself adequate time to dry myself, dress and get a meal somewhere in the city centre before resuming my train journey home at 18:51. Having dried myself, dressed and collected my luggage, I finally left the building around 16:45.
Summary of my sliding in actual order
Aqua Tube 5
Master Blaster 2
Aqua Slide 2
Aqua Tube 4
Aqua Slide 2
Master Blaster 2
Aqua Tube 7
Master Blaster 4
Cumulative summary of slides
| Slide | Total |
| Aqua Slide | 4 |
| Aqua Tube | 16 |
| Master Blaster | 8 |
| TOTAL | 28 |
Outro
Highlights
Sliding the Aqua Tube and Aqua Slide.Eight goes on Master Blaster roller coaster water slide, my highest number to-date for a single visit.
Good overall slide count.
Lowlights
Queuing time for Aqua Slide generally longer than Aqua Tube, hence fewer goes on Aqua Slide than Aqua Tube.Summing Up
Altogether a wet and wild afternoon session at Swansea LC Water Park for me to round off Mega-GLOW-Mania weekend. In order to maximise my slide count, I didn't go in the fun pool or the Lazy River at all this time. Nonetheless it was great to slide the Aqua Tube, Aqua Slide and Master Blaster again one year on from my previous visit in August 2016. The Master Blaster roller coaster water slide is definitely the best of the three. I was amazed I managed to get eight goes on the Master Blaster (four of which were just before I left); I didn't expect to have anywhere near that many goes on it. That's my highest number of goes on the Master Blaster to-date for a single visit to Swansea LC, beating my previous record of five in 2016. My overall slide count was equal to that of my 2016 visit, even though my cumulative counts for the Aqua Slide and the Aqua Tube were slightly down on 2016.Back to the top
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