Big Kahuna's Reviews

kind of limited, not a large park but the kids loved it until they got tired of riding the same stuff over & over

I have been to this water park ever since 1999 whenever I first learned about it. The excuses that people will make on here are absolutely hilarious. I have gotten stuck in a innertube on a slide before at this park but it was so funny. The lifeguards here are so awesome. They and I laughed til we cried. This park is a awesome place. The slides are so much fun. I especially like the room under the 2 planes sticking through the building with the huge strong waterfalls inside of it. Get real people, this is the best waterpark ever. It far surpasses waterville over in Gulf Shores, AL. If you think this park is bad, go to waterville and see what poor service is all about. You will wait in a line after a line after a line at waterville. The lifeguards may come across as short because they are trying to get people on the rides as fast as possible. This is why they are the best park. I went to waterville with a church group and spent more time waiting to get on the rides than I did actually riding them. At waterville, we gave up and sat at the wavepool. The people on here that are leaving the negative reviews don't know how to spell or use proper English. That should be a dead giveaway that they can't be taken seriously. These negative reviewers are just looking for a free ride on the house. Sorry but things don't work like that. If that were the case the waterpark wouldn't be worth going to because it wouldn't be well kept. It was very well kept and the view is to die for when you see the beaches. As for the people complaining about the price of parking. It is only $5. $5 is nothing. At a concert or universal studios or disney world it would be $40+. For the locker people who complain about the price, don't bring so much junk that you have to be storing it in the first place. Leave it in the car. The junk that most people bring that they store in the locker rooms are a change of clothes and towels. If you are so worried about clothes and towels, leave them in your car and then go to a bathroom at a gas station and change. Dry off in the car and then change in a gas station bathroom. It's just that simple.

Nice for spending time with the family. The Cabanas are great if you want a private area. Our waitress was Awesome

Prices were reasonable the amount of options. We went one week out of season and several rides were already shut down but we didnt wait in any lines. Staff was welcoming and polite. The park was clean except the bathrooms were horrendous.

My stepson and his girlfriend went to this water park while we were visiting Destin. They were excited to go but we were shocked that after dropping them off at 10am, when the park opened, that they were ready to go by 1pm. Thankfully we got a bit of discount booking through TripShock, $42 compared to the $54 that they were wanting. That $42 included a free round of putt-putt. I get this is a tourist area, but my goodness, that's a little steep especially when they don't allow you bring a cooler and expect $4 for a bottle of water. If people are going to be paying high prices for tickets they should allow coolers with waters at the very least maybe a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I would suggest they take a look a how Holiday World in Indiana does things...Free Sunscreen, Free Parking, Free Soft Drinks and Free WiFi. My suggestion, not worth the value.

Good water park. I would give four stars, but the water volume was low and several rides and the lazy River was anything but lazy. You really have to work at keeping yourself moving and a lot of the times you would go backwards. Also, very expensive ($225 for a family of four).

I've seen people posting negative comments because of all the walking, junk food, and some things are not fun for adults. Remember, this place is geared towards the little ones. But I, for one, had a great experience. The only bad things were that in Thunder River I constantly got stuck and only one lifeguard was helping people. The other thing is overpriced food. You really can't afford it on top of the parking admission and tickets, but I suppose this is a tourist attraction. Overall, it is worth a season pass and provides fun for both tourists and locals. For the people who prefer to stay dry, they have golfing and some adventure park rides. I had a great time and will go again this summer!

Me and my husband went for there Halloween event and it was really fun. Plan to go back in the summer.

Don t waste your money on this park if you have small kids especially! Staff doesn t care and aren t trained well! Scott and Haley are the names of two employees I took to management after my son was shoved down the rapids ride not fully on his float! I was reading the reviews and it looks like several people had this same issue with this park. What a joke this place is!

I would not recommend. The park is not handicap friendly for wheel chairs and strollers. Half of the water slides were closed. You have to pay to park in a unleveled gravel parking lot. Pools were dirty with hair, grass and other debris. The park is also confusing to get around.

Great place staff was great , but could use some after hours work construction and upkeep wise especially bathrooms...

Always crazy busy but a fun respite from the heat for the family!

Awesome place to spend the day with the family or just be yourself on the lazy river. Food prices aren't as bad as I thought and ride waits are bad either.

Restrooms are filthy..food is not good and too pricey..overall experience rates 2.

Too too expensive. I mean people this place is the big RIP off. The only water park around which is absolutely sad!

Very fun waterpark, but the food is pricey and the lockers are unreasonably priced.

What a joke... If your have money to waste and nothing to do.... Sure

It was great we had children from the age of two all the way up to 16 and we all had a blast very age-appropriate rides and very accommodating

A little pricey, and don't forget the $5 for parking, but a lot of fun!

Purchased tickets for water park two days early to save money. Which was great idea. But...... upon our arrival part of the water park was closed and they ended up closing two attractions for the rest of the day. Very upset that they never reopened the slides. They should warn people on their websites if things will be closed for maintenance.

I go every year, and always have a blast! I probably have more fun than my kids!

We came, we played, we had a BLAST!!!!! Hours of fun to be had!

Yes the park is a bit run down and the employees could be friendlier. But the tickets are very affordable and the upkeep of a park that size is probably not easy. Also most employees are teenagers and they can be moody. We get season passes every year and enjoy every trip we make there.

Dirty and water turned from cloudy to green by noon

My only complaint is there is a lot of stairs, which is normal for a water park. So just be prepared for stairs.

The miniature golf in the evening is great 3 different courses and not crowded. Family can take time and enjoy.

Lots of fun! Went there while on vacation and was there from opening until closing and it wasn't enough time!! Staff was nice and helpful and they have lots of lockers to store your items in. Lifeguards are everywhere and do a good job.

The mini golf course was pathetic. Don t give them your money. Very poorly maintained, in fact not maintained at all. They have no interest in keeping in clean or nice. It was trashy and it stunk like dirty water on several holes. The water was greenish brown with algae.

Would be great if they provided any type of shower area Plus a place to change after a shower like most other water parks have.

Great beach alternative! Can't wait for the new play area!

A few very cool slides. Wouldn't recommend the lazy rivers with rapids because you get trapped in eddies and can't move forward. The life guards will not allow you to get off your float to keep moving. It's a nice, big water park with lots and lots of stairs everywhere (not just to the water slides themselves.) Be prepared to stay lost as it's hard to figure out where everything is located.

This place was really disappointing.had to pay to park. Then had to pay 150 dollars to get into the park.Way over priced for what they have. Great for little kids but nothing to write home about.Then you have to get checked for not weapons but for water and any outside food
Let's falk about the food.over priced for something I had to wait 15 minutes for fries and then they where cold.My wife's burger was not meat.Don't know what it was but made her sick.Will not waste money on this place again.

Great place for kids! Tons of rides and things to do. Of course things are pricey since it's a tourist trap, but I highly recommend getting season passes and souvenir cups if you're a local or you visit often. Lots of life guards on duty, they're very observant.

It was a good time and i can uderstand the higher prices for the park, the lockers, and maybe even the food... but to kick you again with a "parking" charge as you leave is low.

Good park, food service could improve but other than that the experience is nice.

Fun water park, kids had a blast. If you go during the summer, the pavement can and will burn your feet. There's not much shade and they don't have water mist sprayers on the pavement (like Disney does). Wear flip flops or water shoes when going around the park. Also, they don't allow you to bring snacks or water in, which was disappointing. Even Disney let's you do that. I tried to get a cup of water from one of the booths and a young lady wanted to charge me for it. No problem, but then I had to walk all the way back across the park on the burning hot pavement to the locker to get some money. I went to a booth nearby my locker to get the cup of water. They told me it was free. So I guess the lady was trying to steal my money? All in all, it was ok and the kids had a great time. Just bring sunscreen, water shoes and a lot of money.

The rides are ok, the food sucks, and probably half the employees are friendly and helpful. But hey...its something to do I guess.

Cool slides and lazy rivers. A bit steep on the price, but given the location it fits the overall feel of Destin

Great to take your children! We had a blast! Great for adults too!

We played the putt putt course, and it was a really fun night for our family. The course is not very challenging, but for $7/adult it was very reasonably priced.

Bc it had lots of rides in fun but my nose was bleeding

Big Kahuna...more like Big Letdown! We went here yesterday to play mini-golf and were sorely disappointed. From the street it looks great but as soon as you actually get onto the course you start noticing all the problems this park has.
1. The water was turned off/broken so none of the "rivers/waterfalls" worked.
2. Many holes were so tightly packed that you couldn't even hit the ball without
turning around & switching to the other hand.
3. Clubs & balls were all over the place.
4. Everyone in our group had sticky clubs.

I did not experience the other areas of the Big Kahuna park but would not return from that experience.

Pretty cool water park. I went with two eleven-year-olds one 12 year old. Had a great time on the slides. Has two lazy pools could use a couple more floats they were kind of hard to find sometimes. Love the fact that you can leave out and come back in. This is great for families who have food allergies. You can bring your own food. Was able to leave out the park and go back in

This place was just ok. I would tell anyone please don t waste your money.
1. Parking horrible,
2. Food cost is ridiculously over price, ( pack sandwiches in coolers ) keep in your car.,
3. Not enough tubes, so you will wait hours,
4. Very unclean, and unsanitary,
5. The park itself is very unorganize.
There s so much other things you can do while in Destin that is cheaper.

It was pretty fun. There's lost of shady spots so you won't be terribly burned unless you're after getting that. Prices inside the park are pricey but it's par for the course. Some of the rides are closed at the moment due to understaffing.

Been coming here since I was a kid. Just got another season pass. Can't wait for next year!!

Why don't they close this park down. not worth the money. I which i could give them a minus 5 stars.

Wish this place had some competition to bring the prices down and force them to open all the slides. $35 a person and they had slides closed, not enough tubes for the lazy river, charged an extra $9 for a locker, and kids were bored after half the day.

Was good until a corporation bought it and dulled it down.

Needs more floats and knowledgeable staff. Half of them didnt speak clear english . Had fun though.

Was not impressed. For the price, nahhhh. Kinda little compared to splashtown in humble,tx., or schlitterbalm in Galveston,tx.

Good water slide for all ages. The Thunder River is not good, you constantly get stuck. The layout is a little confusing as well.

My kids love this place to me there are to many people not enough life guards

My favorite FL destination. They are my standard for what an awesome waterpark should be like.

The cabanas are well placed. The staff are nice. The rides and swim areas are perfect.

My family enjoyed the water park. There are plenty of fun slides, pools, and activities. My only issue is the park isn't clean. It has an off-smell and is in dire need of cleaning and repainting. We had a fun day, but will not go back for the money that is charged for a dirty place.

It was awesome but got a little repetitive, cant wait for Buccaneer cove

Best water park in the world but they need more life gaurds half of the rides were closed

This place is a little over-rated. I think that the line waits are ridiculous. Besides that it has a great selection, but the wait is where you decide whether it's worth it. I am impatient so this didn't work out too well for me.

Update: It has been a little over six weeks since I went to Big Kahunas and made my formal complaint to the local BBB. They returned a little over $72 of the $83 that I spent at the park. I'm glad that I was able to at least get most of my money back from this place considering how poorly we were treated.

I would love to say that I enjoyed our experience at Big Kahuna's Water park; however, we were only able to enjoy a single ride at the waterpark, and even that ride gave us trouble. My girlfriend got stuck in her innertube for nearly a half hour with a lifeguard ten feet away. I had go into the lifeguard area, jump in the water, and get her out from where she was stuck. As I was getting her out of the water, they announced to us that they were closing the part because of the light rain. I would have been okay with this if we wouldn't have been told just minutes before that they wouldn't close unless the wind would gust25-30mph or if it started to have lightning and thunder. After we left the waterpark, we ran into one of the lifeguards and he told us that the only reason why they closed the park wasn't because of the rain, but because of the lack of people in the park. It was true that they only had about 20-25 people in the park; however, they didn't even give us the refund we deserved!

As they were telling us we had to leave, the lady said we could go to customer server to get our refund; however, they didn't offer us any refund. They only gave me my $5 deposit for my locker that I was never able to use, and didn't offer any refund for us to get our money back. $70+ gone, and the ladies at the customer service desk didn't even bother to look like she cared that we lost out on our money. These kinds of places are the ones you want to avoid!

I am beyond upset right now and will never be going back to this park again. There are several areas that need to be redone, the innertubes were all stained and just didn't look sanitary at all. I did talk to one or two of the lifeguards that seemed rather nice; however, the members of management that I spoke to were mean, disrespectful, and just didn't care about the money that we lost out on because they just wanted to go home!

We also witnessed multiple others getting stuck in the tube ride in which other customers had to push you out of the way just for you to go onto the next area of the ride and then the person that was nice enough to push you along either had to get out of her innertube in order to get over to the next part of the ride or wait for someone else to push them alone. All while the lifeguards just look at you and laugh. I can't say all of the lifeguards since we had one or two of them seemed rather nice and would help a little; however, the majority of them just did nothing and watched or pretended not to noticed.

If you are in Destin, Fl, don't go to Big Kahuna's Waterpark if you believe there is even a 10% chance of rain!

I take my god daughter here every year. We both love it. The lines move fast, the staff is friendly, and it has not only one but 2 lazy rivers. Theres a ton of slides for kids and adults. Totally worth it!

food was discusting and cold and made me ill. very rude staff. food was also overpriced and the place is crowded. EVERY seat was taken

I wasn't really please with the park. I paid 130 dollars and the water was nasty. The one kiddie area was full of bugs. The lazy river smelled like urine and the bathroom smelled awful. They could use signs to tell you where things are located. I walked around the park with 3 small children in circles trying to figure out where things were. Then to pay 5 dollars to park in the uncut grass. I was just here to visit my grandchildren. Not sure I would recommend this water park.

Fun rides , but lots of steps and hills , foods ok , very expensive for what u get , good over all for a 1 time experience

Absolutely ridiculous that you can buy season tickets online and then have to wait outside the park entrance longer than people that are buying day passes!! Buyers beware, if you buy tickets online you WILL wait longer than day pass folks. Just Saying!!! Highly disappointed.

Nice water park .fun for all ages. Food is moderately priced and decent qualityfor a theme park. Only down side parking cost 5 dollars even with basic season pass.

They are open but the prices are still the normal price and more than half of the attractions are closed. They use the excuse of COVID to keep things closed to help with social distancing but that s just an excuse. The rides that were open were fun and a good time.

Great waterpark, expensive beverages and food though. Dont bring any drinks with you because they won't let you bring anything in. Also try ordering online to save some money and get a multi day pass for 5 dollars more then a single day pass.

My favorite water park me and the family enjoy ourselves everytime we come....

The park was fun, but there are not enough large slides for adults to enjoy. Also the no flip flops rule makes your feet hurt and burn.

Fun for the family. Pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, shrimp, fries. Nice picnic areas. Many slides to pick from

Beautiful and pleasant. A little expensive but worth it.

Park is a little hard to navigate when it's your first time there. Other than that, it's an amazing park! If you want some family fun, come here!