One of the centerpieces of Royal Caribbean's Perfect Day Mexico plans is an enormous water park that is all about one type of slides: rafts.
This will be the second water park that Royal Caribbean will operate, but this one is shifting its plans because the cruise line acknowledges that, "raft slides are by far the best slides that we offer our guests and what they're looking for."
Royal Caribbean revealed its plans last week for a new private destination in what is now Costa Maya, Mexico. By far the most visible feature is the addition of Loco Waterpark.
There will be more than 30 waterslides spread across three towers, and there will be many more raft slides compared to Thrill Waterpark at Perfect Day at CocoCay.
The decision to have more raft slides instead of body slides is something the cruise line decided after reviewing feedback from its customers.
"What we've learned is there's significant amount of guest demand for raft slides and a lesser demand on body slides. And so we are dialing back the number of body slides and dialing up the number of raft slides," said Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President and Chief Product Innovation Officer Jay Schneider during a review of the park plans.
Why do passengers like rafts better? Because they can share the experience.
"What we've learned in this journey is people love family raft slides," he shared and said this includes any slide you can go on with someone else.
Moreover, this trend is going to be something Royal Caribbean is going to lean into even more with future projects outside of Costa Maya.
"That doesn't mean we walk away from drop slides or body slides, but you will see us go much heavier in raft slides here and likely in the future expansion of [CocoCay], go heavier in raft slides as you look at future Icons," alluding to work on new Icon Class cruise ships as well as adding more slides to CocoCay.
Royal Caribbean hired a water slide influencer to help design it all
Loco Waterpark will encompass 15 acres, and have the world's tallest dueling waterslides. And it was designed with the help of a waterslide expert.
Alex Ojeda is an influencer with over 8.4 million followers on TikTok, and he's been collaborating with Royal Caribbean for years.
This time, Royal Caribbean hired him to help out.
"I was hired to help design this waterpark. Shaping slides, guest experience and how the thrill flows from tower to tower," he shared in an Instagram reel.
During the reveal event in New York City, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley pointed out Mr. Ojeda and credited him with helping shape the vision for the waterpark.
Clearly, Mr. Ojeda's vision was to add big, thrilling, and fast slides.
Perfect Day Mexico will be home to the tallest water slide tower in the Americas. Standing over 170ft tall, you can ride the longest water slide coaster and two of the tallest family raft slides on Earth.
The park also features the world's first Sombrero waterslide, as well as a hydro launch slide that launches riders 40ft into the air.
Mr. Schneider said they want to hear people screaming on these slides, "we want the want the Jaguar to basically be just the sounding board of screaming."
Other slides you can expect include:
- Sombrero toilet bowl slide
- Boomerang slide
- Body drop slide
- Trap door body slide
- Freefall corkscrew slide
- High speed body slide
- 3 tube slides that dial back a little bit of the intensity
- Mat racer slides
- Helix twist slide
If that wasn't enough, there will be also a wave pool, along with an adventure pool for kids.
There's an admission cost to Loco Waterpark, but prices aren't available yet.
Royal Caribbean employs dynamic pricing based on demand, so there will be a range of prices that will be revealed closer to the opening of Perfect Day Mexico.
