"Ow!" someone screamed. "Ow!" someone else echoed, as she began to prance about on her tiptoes like a ballerina. Soon it was a Broadway-style chorus line: hundreds of scantily clad people, lined up in perfect rows, kicking their feet into the air.

I was in Las Vegas, of course, where this sort of thing isn't all that unusual. People are always scantily clad and forming chorus lines in Las Vegas. But this time was a little different. As I viewed this spectacle I was in a queue line at Wet 'n' Wild Waterpark on a painfully hot July day. Well, maybe "viewing" isn't an accurate description of what I was doing. I myself was engaging in Olympian leaps in attempt to keep my feet anywhere but on the ground.

It was hot. And when I say "hot," I don't mean what-nice-summer-weather hot, I mean please-hydrate-me-before-I die hot. The large flashing billboard above the park entrance read 113 degrees. I felt like a fire-walker as I stood on the white concrete pavement, which seemed to doubly reflect the harsh rays of the desert sun. I darted from shadow to shadow as I moved about the park like an FBI agent, but even in the shadows, the cement wasn't cool enough for comfort. Without a shadow, I felt like I was perusing the fiery corridors of Hell itself; in a shadow, it was only like standing inside of the campfire.

The point is: Whatever you do, do not enter Wet and Wild in Las Vegas without your thongs! No, not your bikini thongs--this is a family park--I am talking about your basic cheap pair of flip-flops. Don't bring expensive sandals or shoes that are hard to take on and off; you are not allowed to wear them as you ride. At slides you are allowed to hold them in your hands as you ride down but at some attractions you need to set them to the side in a thief-friendly fashion. Neither I nor any of my party thought to bring shoes for the queue lines, and they would have saved us from a great deal of suffering. Considering the crowds, which are typical of any waterpark in the summer months, the lines to get to a slide or attraction were not unreasonable and moved fairly quickly. I think that if I had been wearing shoes, they wouldn't have bothered me at all. Some lifeguards were kind enough to occasionally throw a bucket of water out onto the queue line and at lines that surrounded pools of water, some guests were kind enough to splash at the crowd as they exited. Unfortunately, in weather like that, the water evaporates almost as soon as it hits you.

As for the park itself, it is a good-sized waterpark with a wide variety of slides and water attractions to choose from. I spent the full afternoon there and still hadn't tried everything. One of the universal favorites was a ride that was shaped like a big bowl at the bottom that would spin the rider around and around like one of those quarter-donation funnels before spitting the rider out. One feature was a disappointment: the wave pool sends out such wimpy miniature ripples that I felt like I should be fishing or something. However, there are several slides that are high enough and fast enough to give a real thrill.

While the adult slides are a lot of fun, the best feature is the children's section. The kid's area is an enormous wading pool full of life-size toys like rope swings, squirt guns, bouncing toys and boats. In a very adult-friendly town like Las Vegas, this is one of the few attractions that families with children will love--provided, of course, that they can afford the exorbitant entrance prices. As we stood in line, the family ahead of us offered us several discount coupons that they had received from various Vegas venues and reduced our entrance fee considerably. (If you are out there, thank you.) If you go to Vegas, ask around and see if your hotel or casino distributes coupons like that before you go to the waterpark.


Recommended: Yes