Pirates Cove, Burleson

Ahoy, Matey! 

Burleson and surrounding areas have a new place for fun!  Pirates Cove Waterplaypark, part of Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park at Rustic Creek Ranch.   We visited the park for a day full of fun in the sun. 

Sporting it's Pirate theme, the waterpark has fun pirate shapes and flags around the water play structure, which includes slides and lots of things to spin and spray!  There is also a small pirate's ship with a smaller slide.  The water around the structure is about 1.5', very nice for younger visitors, as it's almost impossible to keep up with them!  There is also a seperate toddler play area and a pool with some more water activities!  My children, 12, 10 and 4 had a great time playing, and we were in the water 7 hours! 

With a very active, and fearless four year old, I cringe at the larger waterparks, where there are so many places for him to escape!  I loved that he could run around on just about everything with me being able to keep an eye on him!  And while they don't have many large rides for older children, the less expensive ticket prices definitely justifies the fun!

I also appreciated the attentive life guards, who seemed to constantly keep an eye on my just learning to swim and refuses to wear his life jacket little guy!  I did insist he wear his jacket when we first arrived, and he was able to ride all the slides, another BIG plus! 

Although they don't allow coolers, or any outside food or drinks, you can visit their outside snack stand, or cool off inside at their grill, with lots of air conditioned seating!  The prices are about what you would expect.  We ate lunch before arriving, and the kids shared a couple of orders of nachos about half way through.  Since I prefer my kids to drink water when in the sun, we were happy that they provided us with ice water.  We then cooled off with one of their large Icee cups! 

One of the highlights for all the kids was when Yogi Bear made a couple of appearances at the gate!  But just as I was getting out to grab my camera, I realized he wasn't going to come inside for photo ops, but just wave from outside.

My Mommy Tips:

• The park allows in and out privedges, so you can keep an ice chest in your car.  Unfortunantly, they don't have any tables, or even shade out there.  There are restaurants a few exits away, both North and South on I-35. 

• As a money saver, take advantage of the 1/2 price after 4pm option.  You can still play for 3 hours, plenty of time to explore the park!

What else to do...

To enter their WET ZONE, you must pass through their DRY ZONE.  The Dry Zone is filled with arcade games, a frog hopper ride, a 4 story "soft playground" filled with slides and things to climb on!  The pools close an hour before the Dry Zone, giving us plenty of time to try out some of the games.  My kids opinion, Three Thumbs UP!!

We also took a drive through the RV park.  The park offers lots of parking for RV's and also has cabins.  There are two stores on the property, and also two pools and a hot tub.  You can rent from a great selection of pedal carts for playing around the park.  Lots of kids were riding bikes, and when we arrived they were playing one of the daily scheduled activities.  I was also thrilled with the options for dog owners, which includes a place to walk and run your dog, and a small enclosed off leash yard. 

My kids are already begging to go back camping, and enjoy some of the other fun activities!  They also offer hay rides, fire engine rides, laser tag, story and craft times and so much more!!
There are also Yogi Bear Jellystone Parks in Fredericksburg, Canyon Lake and Waller.