Four Broward County water parks

The parks are now open on weekends until May 4

By Nick Sortal | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

March 2, 2008

Signs that spring is coming in Broward County: exhibition baseball games, a little more daylight and the opening of water parks.

The four parks operated by the Broward Parks and Recreation Division began their weekend-only schedule Saturday.

This year, there's a new park: Tropical Splash at Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill. Tropical Splash is similar to Castaway Island at Topeekeegee-Yugnee Park in Hollywood, Central Broward manager Duncan Finch said, in that it has two play areas, each with slides, cascading water buckets and squirters.

"One area is for preschool children, and the other is for kids about age 5 through 12," he said.

All the water parks have play areas stationed in water about a foot deep and have concession stands, lounge chairs and changing rooms.

The water parks will be open on weekends until May 4, then will be open daily until public school resumes in the fall.

When school is out and water park attendance increases, three water parks will operate on one-hour, 50-minute sessions. Finch said he doesn't expect turnout to be so large that Tropical Splash would have to go to sessions before public school ends June 5 but didn't eliminate them as an option.

The fourth water park, Paradise Cove at C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines, has a capacity of about 1,200 — twice the size of the other parks — so sessions aren't necessary.

Meanwhile, Castaway Island is unveiling a remodeled lagoon area. Workers took out the sandy-bottomed surface and replaced it with a concrete one, and added waterfalls. The renovation, part of $10 million in park improvements, was completed last fall and displayed on Oct. 27, the final day the water park was open in 2007.

All the parks have either gone through a renovation or opened in the past decade: Splash Adventure at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach opened in 1996, Castaway Island opened in 1998 and Paradise Cove, which opened in 1982, completed a $6 million makeover in 2004. The water parks are inside county parks and scattered across the county so that every person in Broward is within 20 minutes of one, county officials say.

The water parks have become popular sites for parents booking birthday parties. Each water park has a picnic area and food service. To book a party, contact the specific park you're interested in.

For information, go to www.broward.org/parks/waterfun.htm.

Nick Sortal can be reached at nsortal@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7906.