So you’ve meandered along the mangroves – tick. You’ve braved the Sky Bridge and cable car – tick. You’ve spent time splashing in the sea and soaking up the sun on one of the island’s many sumptuous, soft sanded beaches – tick and tick. And the more adventurous among you may have even zip-lined through the trees of its lush Geopark – no tick in my case. Just when you thought you’d seen it all and were about to cross Langkawi off your list of possible holiday destinations, it waves hello to a brand new attraction.
Recently opened, Splash Out Langkawi is a brand new water park that is spread over 12 acres and cost RM60 million to build. It boasts 12 rides ranging from the family-friendly kind to those designed to test even the most fearless, thrill seeking, adrenalin junkie.
When a Happy Go KL writer and their family were invited to attend the soft launch, we weren’t going to miss the opportunity to try something new for our readers. We braved the unusually drizzly morning to be the first to sample the rides to get the full experiece. The truth being that when you’ve lived most your life in England if you didn’t go out in a little light rain, you’d never leave the house!
I can personally recommend the River of Life. I volunteered to take the children numerous times along the 330 meter stretch of lazy river, whilst my husband accompanied them on the more adventurous Rainbow Riders and took a turn on the 50km per hour Ragin’ Racers.
But neither of us volunteered to go on the jaw dropping Perfect Storm ride. It’s described as a 40 degree parabolic bowl shaped ride. To ‘enjoy’ this ride you sit on a raft to experience the kaleidoscopic twisting effect before splashing down to the safety of ground level. Given that I was starting to feel sea sick on my third trip down the lazy river, this definitely was not the ride for me!
Tips for visiting Splash Out Langkawi:
- Check the website before you go to see if they have any offers on.
- Get there early to try and grab a gazebo or sun lounger before the park gets too busy. The sun beds are free, but the gazebos cost RM80 for the day.
- Make sure you have everything you need, as once you’re in you can’t leave and go back in.
- Don’t forget your towels, lots of sun block and rash vests.
- Load money on to your wrist band when you go in, you can use this in the food and beverage shops as well as to pay for lockers. It means you don’t have to carry cash around with you. This is very helpful if you don’t want your wallet to get wet on the rides.
- The lockers are not enormous caverns and cost RM30 for a medium locker and RM50 for a large one, so don’t go crazy when packing for your day out. Once you have opened them, you will need to pay to close it again.
- You can get a refund on anything you don’t spend on the wristband, but you will need to keep your original receipt.
- Life vests and floats are readily available for those that are not confident swimmers. There are also lifeguards everywhere you look.
- You need to be at least 90cm or more to go on some of the rides, but those that are smaller than that can still enjoy a few attractions and don’t pay to go in.
- There are a few snack shacks and fast food restaurants on site for when you’re ready to refuel. They sell the usual selection of burgers, noodles, pizza and fried chicken. There is also a rather nice cake and coffee shop.
- It’s a very family focused park with nursing rooms and baby changing facilities and although 12 acres sounds a lot, it is manageable without wearing yourself out.
Splash Out is located about 25 minutes from Langkawi’s international airport in the Kuah Town area. It’s surrounded by hotels, including the Bella Vista that is owned by the same company as the water park. The Langkawi water park is open 10am to 6pm, Monday to Thursday and from 10am to 7pm on Fridays, weekends, public and school holidays.
Tickets that are available to buy online or at the gate cost RM67.50 for those aged 13 to 60 years old and RM49.50 for those over 90cm in height and aged up to 12 years. Those under 90cm go in for free.
If the thought of a day at Splash Out floats your boat, you can find out more at their website or Facebook or by calling the park on +60 4 9611520.