Big Kahuna's Reviews

Just went to play putt putt. The course was not taken care of but it was a super cheap fun thing to do to kill some time.

AWSOME they have so many slides short lines friendly staff, a half pipe, very sick i suggest you go.

Nice place to go for clean salt free water when its hot. Great family fun

Fantastic day at Big Kahuna's just like always. Wonderful courteous staff. Fun slides and a great lazy river. The food isn't half bad either. We always get the season pass even if we're there for a day because it's such a great deal.

Impressed. Great time! We don't eat there, so we don't know about food prices, but overall a great experience.

I've been here in the past and it was great but I can off season during the week because the website said it was open and when we got there, us and a few other cars called and the answering machine said they were only open on weekends. They should change their hours so people are informed.

Fantastic place to go not usually too crowded nor expensive. Definitely best water park within the area.

Parking wasn't bad. We got there around 2pm and stayed until 5pm. My 15mo and 8yo had a blast. Mom and Dad did too!! They have baby, toddler, and little kids play areas. There's something for everyone to do. You can take snack/drink for little kids, just not adults. Concessions were theme park prices, but with a souviner cup it wasn't horrible. We just ate before we went and got drinks there. We will definately go back if we get the oppertunity. The lifeguards/staff were friendly and helpful. We took our stroller around the entire park- not the best idea but there were places to park it where no one messed with it(so it wasn't horrible). They do have lockers for valuables.

Nice water park. We have season passes and were last there in June. This visit in July was quite different. Many of the rules were not being followed and the lifeguards were not enforcing them. For some things, this was ok, but other things seemed to be safety issues that should have been followed. They needed more tubes as well.

It was perfect weather for the past 2 hours at my daughters birthday party, and they didn t even let us swim once.... They kept telling us 30 more minutes...... 3 hours later they sent an announcement saying the park is closed due to weather conditions WHEN IT WAS HOT AND SUNNY!!!!!!!!! And they didn t want to give our money back!!! But after 45 min we finally got our money back.

Overpriced, several rides & concessions stands were closed, bathrooms needed cleaning, several pool chairs were stained, bottom of pools needed painted. $5 parking is ridiculous! Seems to be poorly managed.

Kids love this water park. Plenty for everyone to do.

We go every year. My family and I get season passes. We love it!!!!

Love going here! Great slides and attractions for all ages.

It's not open all year round.. does not mention that prominently on the website.

Golf was fun. Course was well-kept and had some shady areas.

Had a great time but I would say they need more tubs. It would be nice if the staff I would enforce the rules. I feel like the staff has just gave up this year.

Sucks! Have to have tubes for some rides and they do not offer tubes. You have to run around all day hoping some one with a float leaves. They say get in lazy river to get one but never was any tubes there.

This was great! We came during Twilight and paid kids price. The water slides were great! It's very hard to navigate because there are no direction signs. This place also isn't handicap friendly. There are WAY too many steps and tight pathways. The lockers are WAY WAY WAY too small for even a family of 3! They have plenty of kids areas and. The funnel cakes tasted great. You can bring food into the park and eat in the picnic area. They should make more slides that little kids can ride with a older person. Other than all this, It's great...yay

Water was filthy, cloudy, and smelled real bad. Staff didn't speak English, which was very dangerous. The staff is ALL exchange students from numerous countries. No one could understand their directions. Nastiest water park I've been to.

Well at first I gave a 5 stars because this place was great the first few times. Then my 1 and a half year old kept getting sick. Turns out it was to much bacteria in the water. She's on her last 10 day antibiotic. Be aware of the contaminated water. Maybe it won't be so bad now that summer is pretty much over. Idk but I used to love this place growing up and really wanted my baby to love it like I did but probably not now unless they get the water fixed.

We love big kahunas- we just got a season pass for our second year. Honestly this park is so big, going weekly all summer no one got bored! There is plenty of seating unlike some other parks we ve been to and multiple kiddie areas that vary in slides (some are pretty big but not too big so it s really good for a 3-6 year old who isn t quite ready for big slides but is bored of splash parks).

Staff is friendly and well trained, the water is clean and so are the bathrooms.

One negative is the food is expensive and not good so we usually bring lunches and eat outside then renter or eat before and after and only get a pretzel and dippin dots snacks.

We will continue to get season passes.

For the price we paid per person and a cabana, the park should have been in better conditions. The food was over priced and tasted freezer burnt. The Bathrooms smelled HORRIBLE and were filthy. Overall, TOO EXPENSIVE AND WAY OVERRATED. NOR WORTH THE MONEY.

Decided to take a day trip to Destin all the way from Latimer Mississippi. Saw that there was a water park and of course had to try it out. It was one of the WORST decisions of my life. I paid $45 to ride water slides that honestly were not worth a single penny. The lifeguards were extremely rude and the rules that this waterpark has are so questionable. I would've gotten a better experience at the blowup slides and blow up trampolines at the beach for $35 all day. WILL NEVER RETURN

I'm only giving it a 2 due to COVID, not totally the business itself. This place is literally for the kids. Kids having a BLAST!! However. no social distancing taking place. In this instance it's more up to the parents to make it happen but it was not happening. Not really a place for the big kid adult. STAFF - Great staff! There was a young lady who was helpful and polite. She showed she really cares for her customer's experience. Ill find my receipt to look for her name and list it. They have lockers for a small fee. If you can, wear beach shoes because they won't let you ride with flip flops on. You'll have to leave them at the top of the slide and go back and get them. Cannot bring in outdoor food or drinks. They do have all types of foods. Pepsi products (yayyy), and aluminum bottle beers. Price for 2 adults was $104. They provide military discounts. Parking $5. You are able to leave and re-enter. They staff will put a stamp on your hand.

Plenty of lifeguards to ensure everyone's safety especially kids. Wonderful cold waters in their pools during the excruciating hot summer months. My children loved the slides. There are so many. It can be crowded. The food is not bad. There is an option to upgrade to an annual pass same price as the day pass. Staff are mostly friendly. The bathrooms are clean. They have no knowledge of how to deal with special needs kids but because majority of the staff are young this does not surprise me. They should have some training. Other than that great experience. They are only open a certain times of the year.

Great slides, great atmosphere. Little more than i was hoping to spend...

There are no showers. My family and I like to stay in Destin area and shop around after we swim. It would be nice to be able to shower completely after swimming but all they have is the shower faucet outside like the beaches. The changing stalls and bathrooms are disgusting and with the humidity, I am sure there is mold and mildew. There is a lot of attraction, but all cramped in this small park. Food is expensive and the employees at the food court are always rude so we just make sure we eat a big breakfast or brunch before we arrive and have a big meal after we leave.

They food are horrible I bought a chicken strip basket and there were black stuff in the strips that gave me food poisoning for 3 weeks I tried to sue but my lawyer was sick

Stopped in to play putt-putt and had a decent time with our friends. Some of the "tee" boxes need to be moved as they are impossible to hit from. The layout is great, however the holes could be more challenging and could use a bit of an update.

I have been to many water parks, this was the worst. Me and my nine year old daughter went for the day. Drove 2 hours to pay outrageous prices on a place that was filthy. 103.00$ for 2 people plus 11$ for a locker and 5$ for parking. I except to pay honestly but not for a place with murky green water, inattentive life guards and OMG the women's bathroom smelled of raw sewage. It was filthy. I hope that it was just water all over the floor in there. Then after our visit I find that the lazy river had been shut down the week prior for not meeting water quality levels. There was one shower in the entire park and it was by the lazy river. Oh and if you wanted to ride a slide that required a tube get ready to wait because there are not enough. I have decided we will spend the extra hour to drive to ship wreck island next. Not as big but a lot cleaner.

I brought my family of 5 (2 adults and 3 children) and I think this place is really great! What a wonderful family memory! I am truly not understanding the negative reviews-- the employees were awesome and very nice to us. The parking attendant was smiling very friendly. The people who are at the beginning of slides have to keep things flowing properly and watch out for proper height and safety in general of the guests. If you had to deal with hundreds of people in 100 degree heat not listening to you constantly and acting crazy, as well as trying to keep everyone safe, of course you will come off as a little short when getting people through the ride. If people think it's the Lifeguards who are being rude, they need to understand a Lifeguard's job is not to tell you how to get to things or talk small talk to-- they have other jobs to do such as making sure everyone is safe and no one drowns (which a place like this takes very seriously.) They go through rituals, head-shaking, finger-pointing, and other code to communicate with one another and keep each other attentive. The Lifeguards seemed on their game and extremely attentive, even when a kid faked drowning in the lazy river (the lifeguard jumped in right away to help.)

It is a smaller waterpark compared to Disney's Typhoon Lagoon (which cost $60 a ticket, btw, and is run by a corporation instead of a single owner such as this place). It has maybe 12 or so big slides, but there is at least 4 different kiddie areas with pools and slides for the little ones, something I wasn't expecting and thought was wonderful for my almost 2 year old (my almost 7 year old liked it, too.) There is also 2 lazy rivers that you have to use to get to certain areas. They really have made great use of such a small area to put everything they did in there.

The employees DO follow the height restrictions, pretty strictly. If your child is over 42", they will have a great time on all but 4 of the big slides (the 2 black ones I counted as one, the 2 white ones, and the red one are only for those over 48".) The new waterslide that they have is a really great free-fall type ride and anyone over 42" can ride that one.

The place really wasn't dirty at all, especially since hundreds of people were there yesterday. I saw maintenance going around changing trash cans and cleaning in general. There might be some minor repairs such as paint and cracking concrete that need repair, but for the price of the tickets I'm willing to sacrifice a little cosmetic problems. The lazy river by the back of the park has a really beautiful landscape with the rock walls with waterfalls.

We will definitely be back here soon!!

Worse place ever. Stood in line for over an hour to buy tickets. Once we got to the window, the cashier said her drawer was over and had to close. The window behind her then opened and the entire line shifted, putting me and my family at the back of the line. We voiced our opinions to the unfairness and the manager only can say sorry there's nothing I can do.
Do yourself a favor and go to the free ocean across the street. This place will be shut down soon with that kind of management.

Enjoyed a great afternoon. Got a great rate that included next year! Can't wait to go back.

Great time. Wonderful place for family and friends. Twas sad that the whole place wasnt open.

Very disappointing this time, bad customer service and not informing the people when they close certain parts of the park for water testing which takes about 20 to 30 minutes to do. Have always enjoyed going but this time was lied to twice and then couldn't get into water.

This is a fun place when the crowd isn't present. Not all the rides were open near the end of the season. No showers near lockers or bathrooms. Cabanas and lockers available for rent. There is a weight limit on most slides of either 250 or 300 lbs. It's a fun escape even on a light rainy day. Food and fun for all ages.

food is absolutely horrible hard pretzels chicken tenders undercooked burgers looked microwaved when I say the food was so gross I was so disgusted every person was complaining the only good thing we ate was funnel sticks. the price for a season pass is great. the lifeguards dont do anything there. shipwreck they stand in every corner of there lakes rivers etc and guide the customers down nah kahunas they sit in there chairs and dont move while people continue to pile up stuck in whirlpools instead of going down the slide. all the drains in there pools are raised up an inch or two and will cut your toes open. the slides are so shallow in an inch of water your bottom drags and it hurts severely you have to try to balance yourself sort of flat on top of your float so you dont drag your butt. the wave pool is a joke its like for babies there is barely any waves. the water at the park is so dirty especially the more busy it gets. parking cost 5$ unless you buy a season pass. and the concrete is scorching hot everywhere they dont have sprinklers that spray the concrete like shipwreck. this park is cool n all but it could be way better but i guess you get what you pay for. I would rate this park overall a 4 out of 10. This is our first and last season. I wont say it was a complete waste of money because we have enjoyed but next time I will spend the extra for shipwreck. The main pluses of this park is you can take the floats just about every where and the lifeguards like I said dont get on to anyone for anything but that has its pros and cons. Also another good thing about this park is there season pass is sold online deeply doscounted for only 10 dollars more than a day pass and you can buy a souvenir cup and bucket combo on top of your season pass for 30$ unlimited free drink and popcorn refills all season advertised as cotton candy also but they dont have that either
pros- cheap season passes
digital lockers
drink and bucket combo
floats almost everywhere
cons- lazy lifeguards
scorching hot concrete
horrible food
raised drains will cut feet
very shallow slides
stuck on slides
dirty water

It's ok. I thought it was way to much money for what was offered.

Beware Blue #8 and the right hole. It was eeating balls like it was the last hole. Happened to us probably 7 times. Each time dropping a ball down to knock the other loose before finally taking 2. And there's a brick missing right in front of hole so if you don't catch it, aren't lucky, or aren't paying attention, your ball could make its way down the hill 2 paths down near the parking lot. Told the attendant and he said he'd have someone look at it. Didn't offer me 2 other balls to replace those lost. It worked out sharing our other ones until Hole 18 where they're gone for good. All that aside, really enjoyed our evening there and the kids had a good time. I'd recommend if you're in town looking for something to do. We've often done The Track in years passed but I'd say they're probably pretty comparable. Foooooore!!!!

Great park, pricey but quite a few slides and 2 lazy rivers. The tube rides need some redesign as you can get stuck in an area for a while going in circles. Pricey food and drinks with no real options for kids drinks other than water or fruit punch and soda. Had a good fun day there to make sure we got the most out of the admissions.

Only 50% of the park was open nobody tells you this and still charges full price to get in. Food was awhile they couldn't get an order right even screwed up a drink order...

A fun place to spend all day with the family!! Slides & attractions for every age.

It's great summer fun and getting season passes has become a family tradition! The reason for not having 5 stars is due to the overcrowding and every year we have gone one or more attractions have been closed. The food isn't great and you can't bring food inside, we typically pack a cooler and eat in the car! There are many different slides and lots of kiddie areas! Overall a great place for family fun!

Most of the rides are closed because short staff and the staff left ummmm not very friendly at least my kids had fun.

Pathetic! We drove an hour further to Panama City to shipwreck island where the employees were patient and actually trained to life guard. No one shoved small children down slides without tubes and it was inexpensive! Also had really fun big slides for kids! 2 lagoons with tons of different activities and pools for kids as well! If you have small kids don t take them to big kahunas, it s a waste of money! Go to shipwreck island instead!

Fun, but bring some cheap water socks or shoes so you don't burn your feet on.the hot sidewalk all day.

Pretty cool place to beat the heat. Very pricey $$$$ especially if you have a big family.

It was unpleasant. Staff was rude and not helpful at all. All in all I was not happy with the waterpark.

My teenagers love this place... Very small lines... Stay away from the food...

I love this waterpark. A very good mix of slides for younger kids as well as more intense slides!

Amazing amount of fun for very cheap if you get season passes.

Seriously... take your precious vacation time darn near anywhere else. Pretty weak park. They had a fraction of the inner tubes they needed to accommodate customers, so we could not even try out some slides. Daughter didn't like it, as we've been to decent water parks. We left much earlier than planned and had a nice time back on the beach instead. We had just been looking to do something different besides the beach that day, but obviously we should have just stuck to what's best about Destin.

Clean, family fun. Plenty of slide options and the park is well organized to manage traffic flow. Skip the cabanas, plenty of seating.

So much fun but really overpriced. Still a good time....but it was $350 when we factored in parking for 7 of us for about 3 and half hours of fun, just to give you other potential visitors a heads up. Food is overpriced, as to be expected, I guess. (It was $22ish for 2 pieces of pizza and 2 beers.)

Lifeguards could use some lessons in hospitality. Literally everyone we talked to was rude and acted like they didn't want to be there. The little boy that found it appropriate to dump my fiancee out of the tube when she was trying to get out should probably not be a lifeguard....maybe put him at the parking exit booth. You caused her to slam her shin on the ground and shes still dealing with the soreness bothering her hours later now. Not ok with that...at all.

Best water park I have ever been too! Had a few rides shut down but overall amazing experience!

Great water park for all ages to go to!!! Had a good time with family and friends!!

I've been visiting this place since 2011 ever since I got first stationed here while serving in the Army. Now I got kids (7, 4 and 1 year old) and family myself, so I take them there at least 2 each summer. It's nicely setup and fun place to spend time. However, since mid summer of 2019 we haven't gone back there. The reason we didn't go back there since 2019 summer is because after our last visit both of my kids got sick. They both had high fevers on the same evening after our visit. We had to take them both to ER to make sure that there was nothing major. Luckily it was just a stomach flu. We're told that kids probably ended up accidentally drinking that water while they were swimming in their big pool. Later I read on internet about Big Kahuna's having issues with their water quality and them being warned by Department of Health. Since then we haven't gone back there.

This place was a waste of time and money. My children had fun because I shielded them from the rest of the experience. The pirate ship, the tadpole pond, the wave pool, fun fountains, thunder river, tahiti twister, hydro max, piranha, blue mamba, 7 of their snack bars, and the pirates escape were ALL CLOSED due to being short staffed today!!! It's the Friday of Memorial Day weekend!!!! What was open was being staffed by some very rude teenagers, and when I spoke with the manager regarding the issues we were having getting our refills for our unlimited season cups that were $20 each, he was extremely rude to me as well. I paid well over $400 to buy season passes, drink refills, and rented a cabana for me and my family to enjoy for the first day of what was supposed to be our summer hangout. If the staff were reasonably trained, and the manager wasn't a jerk to us, as well as having almost half of the park closed this might have been a positive experience. I have been to Big Kahunas many summers as I was growing up, and I have never seen the park in as bad shape as it is now. They need to clean house where their management is concerned. Poor managers mean poor employees because the decent ones won't stick around!!! Have a little courtesy, and people won't care as much that the whole place smells like urine and chlorine.

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Kids had a great time at the park. Unfortunately the manager was not friendly & certainly didn't seem to care about whether or not we come back. They have signs all over the park offering a season pass upgrade for only $10...when it wasn't honored he didn't act like he cared. He didn't offer anything other than just a "too bad"

Needs Some Modern Updates and Amenities. Price is Right Though!

The water park is fun and the life guards are helpful and knowledgeable. BUT THE customer service at the food stations are garbage they are rude and have attitudes out of this world! Not onky was my husband and I treated as if we didn't exist. As we were leaving another coustmer was very upset how poor hers service was. Sad thing is its been like that for years. For the prices you have to pay for food and beverages the people serving should have a decent attitude.

We went 5/22/16. 2 of the attractions were closed. We stood in line for 45 minutes to get 2 burger baskets and 2 drinks - to FINALLY get our food and it was soggy, cold and nasty! Very very disappointed to say the least!! The lifeguards are rude and the rules are different for different lifeguards! The heads nodding to music is just annoying!!!!

Great water park, generally clean. Staff is nice. Bought season passes for the first time this year (locals). Every time we've went (family of 9), half the water park has been closed due to maintenance or construction. I would think that this would be something that was done in the off season. Haven't been in ten years, a little bummed that the path under the waterfalls in the pirate area was permanently blocked off. Also traffic in and out is atrocious.