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The wife threw me a curve ball and suggested an early season visit to Oceans of Fun. We usually put off our visits until late June or July. This wound up being a great idea. The park was about as empty as we have ever seen it and the lines for the slides were almost nonexistent.

We got to the park about 1pm and found a spot to park our stuff near the Caribbean Cooler. Finding a couple of lounge chairs at 1pm on a Saturday or even later in the summer is close to impossible. After tossing our stuff in a chair we headed over to the Diamond Head slide complex. There were only a couple of people in line so the wait was only a minute or two. We started with the middle slide, Waikiki Wipeout. The water was pretty cold so lying down wasn’t something my body wanted to allow. Because of this my trip down was pretty slow. Hitting the catch pool wasn’t much fun.

Next was a trip down each side of Aruba Tuba. The wait was less than 5 minutes for each side. We both preferred the larger tube shoot. The enclosed one is plenty fun but we didn’t pick up as much speed. We also noticed that the water was a little bit warmer.

We crossed back over the park and hopped in line for Hurricane Falls. This is usually the longest wait in the park so we were stoked to find a 10 minute wait. We usually only score 1 ride because of the line but today we got 3 rides in. Later in the afternoon we probably waited closer to 15 minutes, which is still far from the normal wait time. Each time we rode we were paired with some youngsters. The extra weight probably led to more speed. We flew down the slide and climbed the walls with each turn. The ending is like a low speed car accident. When the raft hits the water everyone gets jumbled up.

Janessa decided to lounge for a bit and I decided to hit the slides again. I went back to Diamond Head and tried Honolulu Lulu. The water was much nicer and this time I flew down like a missile. When I hit a top speed on any of the Diamond Head slides I’m near death. I’m literally out of control. It’s pretty spectacular. I gave Waikiki Wipeout another shot but Honolulu Lulu blows it out of the water. Waikiki ends aggressively but the first half ain’t as spectacular.

Typhoon was right next door so I took the plunge. It was close to a 10 minute wait but well worth it since I absolutely destroyed the lady I raced against. I was half way back to the wife when she hit the water. I love that there’s a bit of airtime on the second hill.

After rendezvousing with the wife at the Lazy River we decided to take a final ride on Hurricane Falls before heading home.

We were only at the park for 3 hours and we were able to do more than we’ve ever done. The early season idea is apparently a pretty good one.