Breakers Water Parks

I can’t believe I paid $ 15 dollars (and that is with a groupon… normally it is a $ 30) and wasted my morning with this place. The place looks like a poor refurb job of a water park. In fact it is barely a water park in the sense that you only really have one real slide set (granted it has 3 slides on top). The fact that there have garden hoses to bring in the water SHOULD be a sign of the quality of this place.
If anything it is more like a hang out in the sun place. Oh and yes… this is geared towards families and small children (which I have no problem with!). However other water parks I have experienced in the past could still be fun for adults… This one has non of the amenities for adults.
Oh and the food is beyond expensive. $ 5 for once slice of papa johns. $ 6 for three chicken tenders.
I know Tucson has a water problem… but seriously this is BAAAD… OH AND NEVER EVER EVER EVER TAKE a DATE OR MAKE THAT A FRIEND… (unless you hate the person and you want to break up at this place).

Like everyone has said. its ok. I would suggest eating before you go because yes there food is $$$. We did a groupon 2 for $ 30 and my daughter who was 2 got in for free. with the groupon you get 2 cups and 1 free refill and then $ 1 per refill after that. We went and got a tube and a locker. they charge you more and then when you come back and return the key/​tube they give you a refund ok cool. There is a total of 7 slides. We were able to work with 2 of them because of my daughters height (i knew that going in so no biggie there) She had fun in the kiddy area. There are some good lifeguards and some not so good lifeguards out there. More of the guys out there seem to be vocal and to keep the kids safe from getting hurt. which i enjoyed. After a while of going down the small kiddy slides we went to the wave pool. it was fun as much as a wave pool can be. They recently added a high jump show which is pretty cool. but they really need to keep up on the park and maybe add something else. This park has been the same for many years now. You know they are making money being the ONLY water park in Tucson so come on add a little to it…

We have one kid, and I saw Breakers on Groupon and thought, eh why not. I was in a weird mood — weird enough to be willing to drive 1hr — 20 minutes to a water park. Because: yolo. So, we get there, and the turn is down a dirt road. Time to pave your drive, Breakers. Come on.
–10 pts.
The we get there and not even my daughters animal crackers can slide through the gate. — 10 pts.
We hand over our groupon voucher of $ 30 for 2 admissions, 2 souvi cups and 2 free fills.
Snag a locker: $ 6.00. ALMOST PISSED MY PANTS, because the sign said cash only. I was like WHATTT she was using the paypal scanner and said if I had my ID she could use card. *PHEW* because it’s 2015 and I don’t know what cash is. Accepts CC and decent priced lockers: +3 pts. Getting half back with return of the key: +3 pts.
Get to the bathrooms to change, but they think that this is the YMCA and everyone’s gonna be super okay with getting naked in front of strangers; so there’s this HUGE room of just benches where i’m presuming you’re suppose to change and about 6 stalls of toilets that everyone’s hoarding so they can change their clothing. Strange layout gives them a whole +1pt. (debating going negative there.)
Get the kid (5 year old) lathered up and we play in the kids area for a bit. The kids area is fun for the kids, but theres a few drawbacks. First is the lack of filtration of the water. You think: oh I’ll just lounge in the water as my child plays. Think again. there’s rocks, dead bees, flies, flowers, all this fun debris just floating around. so you’ll stand up dirtier than you say down. Secondly — not everything was in working function. Hard to explain to those who haven’t been there — but let me just tell you that their splash pad squirting heads are made of old vacuum attachments and sprinkler heads. it’d work if the park had a «recycle reuse DIY» feel. but really it just looks horrible. Especially when they’re not all on and working. Water’s nasty but my kid had fun +10pts.
So we get hungry, and I go and drag her to get food. But they DONT TAKE DEBIT CARD IN TIM-​BUCK-​TWO so you have to go to the front office, have them run your card, give you the cash back, then you have to pay their over priced food prices with the cash you just took out. Paid 9 dollars for a hot dog and a cheeseburger. Tasted good. Got two cones of ice cream that ALSO cost 9 dollars. No CC/​Debt: –10pts.
Then we went back to playing. But like as my husband said, «theres only 5 slides,» and so if for some reason YOU’RE IN THE AREA, go here and waste some money and time — ESPECIALLY if its 109 degrees out. BUT totally not worth the 1hr –20 minute drive.
Also, go the speed limit (which is 75mph) because there are plenty of cops out there wanting your hard earned money.

This is a sadly run-​down water park. I went with one of my kids on opening weekend and was dismayed at the state of things. So much of the park is dilapidated. The grounds are in terrible shape, so it’s easy to step in a hole and hurt yourself. The food is ok but very expensive. The concrete and wood steps get hot enough to burn your feet yet they won’t let you wear aqua socks on the slides or even hold them in your hands (even though the signs say you can). It’s hard to believe that they couldn’t have done some basic painting and yard work during the off season. Very sad. The only reason I rate it two stars is that, as the only water park in the Tucson area, older kids can have fun and cool off, but the NW YMCA pool and the county pool at Marana High School are FAR better and safer.

For a city the size of Tucson our one and only waterpark that we have left is pretty bad some of the rides are unsafe it looks like a waterpark someone would have in their backyard I wish they’d step it up but at least we have a waterpark

Having so much fun at breakers water park! There are so msny fun attractions here. Including 5+ incredibly fast and safe slides. Wave pool is awfully big too.

I had so much fun for my first time ! I like how you get a refund back for turning in the inner tube ! And the staff are very polite !

Mixed feelings on this one. It is close and the other option is two hours away so it’s this or nothing. You can tell it’s family owned and all that entails. I had fun but I busted my face open on one of the tube slides in one of the turns. All in all it was a bit pricey for what was offered. But… Better than nothing.

Great place, fun for the family. Grounds are clean and prices are reasonable! Cash only for everything but if u forget that they let u take cash out at the front with no fees which was awesome for us. Definitely would recommend coming here! Escape the heat!

My son and I were visiting from San Diego where it was a cool 75°. Needless to say when the thermometer reached 105° here in Tucson we were looking for a way to beat the heat. I remembered that there was a water park nearby so I decided to try and find a coupon… I don’t go anywhere without one. I found a deal for two admissions for $ 25…normally we would have paid over $ 40 for the two of us. After reading the other reviews on Unilocal we went with an open mind and just wanted to get wet.
We went on a Tuesday at 10am right when it opened and it wasn’t crowded at all. We were able to pull two lounge chairs from the wave pool under the the shade area to stay out of the sun. There were about 6 slides to choose from, a small kiddie area and a wave pool. My sons favorite slide was the straight down one in which you sit on a sled type thing… it was pretty fun. The other slides were fun too. The wave pool was huge… but just ok. We would have liked the waves to be a bit bigger :-) It can get hot on your feet so wear flip flops from slide to slide.
We each had nachos for about $ 3.95 each… they could have used more cheese and I’m sure if I would have asked they would have thrown a bit more on there for me. All of the workers were very helpful and polite.
Its an older park but I knew that. It gave us just what we needed for about 3 ½ hours of fun.
If I can find another coupon next time we are in town I’d definitely go back.

Ugh. Terrible, rude staff. $ 28.15 for 4 hamburgers and four drinks. Asked for medium drinks, received medium drinks and got charged for large drinks. Gave us 4 plain hamburgers with no toppings or ketchup at all. Yup, bun, meat, bun. When I pointed this out to the «manager» at the snack bar she got an attitude with me a if it was somehow my fault. She did reluctantly make the order again so I’ll give her credit for that. I’ve had worse food.
I really don’t feel like you get your money’s worth. The kids had a great time and left all worn out, which I guess is the point of it all.

In this instance, I wish I could give a 2.5. I agree with previous posters, there are much better water parks out there, but unfortunately none of them are all that close to Tucson. And yes, the normal prices can be a little steep.
Thus, I recommend catching their twilight hours (after 3pm I think). It’s much cheaper, the lines are shorter and you don’t really want to hang out there for more than a couple of hours anyway. It’s a good deal if you want to ride all the slides a few times and hang out in wave pool for a few minutes before calling it a day.
The slides are reasonably fun and the water is refreshing, but it is not a place to stay all-​day at. If you want all-​day fun, head up to the salt river or phoenix attractions.

I grew up here but hadn’t been to Breakers in 25 years until yesterday. I bought my ticket on LivingSocial and my two kids received theirs as a reward for completing the Pima County Library summer reading program. The kids had a great time but I would NEVER pay full price for this place. Save your money and drive to Phoenix or even California for some water fun.
Here’s why:
— The staff are the most unhappy, unfriendly bunch you’ve ever seen. I saw lifeguards roll their eyes and sneer at kids who were asking them a question. They yawn and stare off with utter boredom.
— The bathrooms + changing rooms were ABOMINABLE. Picture this: feces covered toilet paper soggy from wet feet, ancient fixtures (toilets, sinks, faucets, etc.) — only one sink worked properly to wash your hands, which you’d clearly want to do after using this place. The whole bathroom was worse than a truck stop.
— More feces — rodent feces covered the edges of the stairs all the way up to the three colored slides.
— Food is really bad and expensive. I suggest you pack a cooler with food and leave it in your car. You can get a stamp to go out to your car and come back in.
— Not all slides were working. They were just taped off with caution tape but no signs indicated why.
— The Rock n Roll slides supposedly has rock and roll music and strobe lights. Neither of which were on. It was just pitch black and completely weird and unenjoyable. One ride on that was plenty. No wonder there was no line at that one.
— Rust and grime everywhere, and I mean, everywhere you looked.
— They don’t use the shade available to protect guests as they wait in line. They could have easily created paths on some of the attractions to be in the shade. Instead they let thousands of kids’ feet get burned on concrete paths. One path is literally 20 feet from a large amount of shade but just far enough that the shade isn’t used. Clearly brains weren’t being used either when designing this.
–One of the two drinking fountains in the whole place wasn’t working.
–Management doesn’t seem to care or they might have addressed these things years ago. There doesn’t seem to be any response on all of the negative Unilocal reviews.
— The whole place just gave me the creeps. Good luck!

Updating my review from 2011, we bought season passes and visited almost weekly this year. This year the gravel road does seem to be better maintained and a smoother ride. The cartoon characters were there as advertised but not as soon nor stayed as long as advertised. I see a maintenance crew running around fixing things on a regular basis so I give them an A for effort in trying to keep the place up. The kids always have fun and my grandson uses the slides this year. He did get a big scrape on his back from one tube slide though. We try to be there for the opening so we can be done before everyone gets hungry. So we usually get in 3 hrs before leaving. We do bring our own water. Soft drinks or the occasional nachos are the only refreshments I’ll allow. I’m still not a fan of the food sales area.
The dining area on the north side has tables but no chairs. The overhead boards on the canopy look rotted. Only the south side area by the ice cream shop has shaded places to sit and eat. I think they should add two more large umbrellas like the one on the concrete next to the large expanse of concrete in front of the shaded table and chairs ramada that is under utilized. No one ever sunbathes there and I think that is what they left that area for. Also some more large umbrellas in the side grassy areas would be welcomed, I’m sure, saving people from having to bring their own canopy tents.
Edit: 2014 — This year they have added many shaded areas! Three large canopies on each side of the wave pool plus they added more large umbrella shade to the grassy areas. And they bought tons of more lounge chairs; no worries about not getting one now.
I’m seeing a regular shortage of the pink tubes from two yrs. ago when there were stacks of them. I think a lot of them have popped and at least one guard agrees with me. I have not seen the big clear plastic balls you can get inside and roll around on the water this year. They were available in 2011 and 2012 and four of my grandchildren’s favorite.
Edit: 2014 — They only bring out a large number of pink tubes on weekends and holidays. During the weekdays I only see six or so.
And yes, the regular price of admission for one day is outrageous. $ 56 for the pass with at least 10 visits a season makes it a $ 5.60 charge for a day which is something I can justify easier. The kids get wet, have fun for 3 hrs and are happy. They don’t complain when its time to go. So after learning to avoid the snack bar (the fries are terrible; please get the kind eegee’s sells) and just taking it for what I need, a place to get wet for awhile, I’m bumping my star rating one level for some slight improvements and maintaining it from falling apart.
Edit: 2014 — They added four surfboard decorations to the wave wall. They did a LOT of repainting! All of the slides got complete new paint jobs as well as the lockers, the roofs, new signage where needed. Plus the wood that had peeling white paint that was mostly gone got a coat of brown to make it look like wood again.
Other improvements are the north eating area has been repainted and restocked with tables and chairs making it useable again.
Some refreshments have been improved. The grilled chicken sandwich is very good. The kids will eat their cheeseburgers again.
I can tell they sank a lot of money into the park this past off season. I can recommend Breakers again and bring out-​of-​town guests as well.
Bumping up another star to 4 for this effort. Good job Breakers; keep it up!

I was also hesitant to try this place out because there are some discouraging reviews on here. I have an 8 and 10 year old and we were in the area so we decided to go. Before you go you should really ask what you’re expecting. This is Tucson. 2 hours up the road are some pretty awesome, big water attractions. We’ve got a small city with a gigantic sister up the road. If you want a bigger, newer, snazzier kind of place you really want to do the drive up there.
So first, the price. It seems high to me at $ 23 plus tax for an adult. I don’t know if I would pay that. We found a deal on Groupon and I’ve seen Living Social deals plus the local Costco has discount tickets. I would look around and check their Facebook page to see what kind of a deal you can get because regular admission is high.
That said, we had a great day there. They only allow bottled water in the park so we brought a small cooler full of ice and water bottles. I’m glad we did because the concession lines were pretty long and slow all day. We went on a weekday so no DJ or characters like they have on weekends but also minimal lines at the slides and the wave pool was not uncomfortably packed. The slides were great! They have a couple of the open, steeper ones, a couple that you go down on a tube (which is provided), 3 that require a mat (provided) and one steep tube. Mats looked new. I never saw a beat up one. At the peak of the day there was a short, fast line to get a mat but because of this, the line at the slide itself was never very long. The slides that require a tube were fun. We had rented tubes for the day so we used those, sped things up a little.
The wave pool was a blast. Kids swam in and out of the tubes and had a great time while mom and dad lounged.
Grabbed lunch late hoping for shorter lines. About 30 minutes for food and lunch was about $ 30 for burgers, hot dogs, pizza, fries, nachos, sodas. Not any higher than I’d have expected. Bring cash because no cards once you get past the main entrance. I thought the food was ok. Papa John’s pizza, typical burgers. I’ve had way worse for more money (looking at you, San Diego Zoo!).
There is an area for littler kiddos that we checked out. Very cute. Some shallow pools with little slides. A fountain and splash pad. Also a lot of toys set up on the grounds in the area.
We rented a locker for cell phones, cash and car keys. Left our other stuff sitting at our table (get there early for a shady one or bring a blanket and plant yourself under a tree. There are lots once you’re past the parking lot). No one messed with our stuff.
Lifeguards were plentiful and with 2 exceptions, very helpful and attentive. A couple of them were really friendly after we’d gone down a few times and were fun and pleasant. I felt comfortable letting the kids go down by themselves and I tend to be conservative with that kind of thing.
So for what we paid it was well worth the expense. Kids had a great time and that made it fun for us.

The only reason why it doesn’t get just one star is because it’s the only water park in Southern Arizona. I enjoyed this place when I was a kid, but this place has lost it’s touch. It is the same thing each year. The food has lost it’s taste, all the slides have become outdated, and the employees now just act like they don’t want to be there. Trust me when I say it will be more fun (and less costlier) to go to a public swimming pool or host a party at a house than come here. Your kids will thank you later.

since we just moved into town and it’s super hot! we went looking for some waterpark to cool off and found this place.
First of all, we came from a small town in Louisiana and we have a waterpark in town. Breakers doesn’t even come close to our waterpark back in LA. Breakers is way overpriced for such a small park. They don’t have most of the attractions that waterparks should have, they don’t even have a lazy river! even with the promotions that they run, it is still expensive to go there. I don’t think we’ll be coming back here coz it’s not even worth the money. I would just waste my money in public pools than spend it here, coz it’s just like going to one.
But on the other note, we did enjoy the water esp in this hot weather.

The worst.
Did I mention the plugged in leaf blower being used to inflate the hamster balls… while they are in the water… with the children in them? Hey-​whats that smell and flash of light? Wha? The leaf blower shorted out where the cord is NAILED INTO THE WOODEN POST? So weird that that would happen… are you sure you unplugged the extension cord its attached to that runs across the main walkway where thousands of people traipse? Whew! Good thinking making it bright orange so no one trips over it!!! Nooo, I didnt fall over it… that 6 inch scrape on my knee is from the concrete swimmin hole with its 12″ of water at the bottom of the 30′ water slide I was just catapulted into.
Surly rude teenagers in the tube rental with no ability to speak a sentence or exchange a pleasantry.
Oh, the wave pool was fun.

I ONLY do it for the kids. I hate this place. Inadequate slides and water features that are not well cared for. Staff obviously hate their jobs. The oven, I mean parking lot, has no shade. The bathrooms are vile. The price is freakin’ outrageous for what you get. You can only use cash inside for food… and more. I only did it for my kids WITH the ½ off Groupon. They have a blast while I linger in the pee pool… I mean the wave pool so I stay cool. For me the only positive is the people watching… I’d give that a 5!
Tip: Take a REALLY good shower when you get home!

We go here at least once a summer if not more
Positive: it is a great place to get wet and ride a few good slides, they have a great wave pool, their is a pretty decent kids area (for little ones), the staff and life guards look like the are rude but are actually super nice and have no problem helping you, the snack bar is actually priced ok
Negative: I dont think it is worth $ 20.95 (go to the website and get a coupon) because there are not that many slides for that price (IMO), also I really wish they had an idea on how to get the sidewalks wet or try and cool them off some how because going between the slides your feet are burning
Things to know: get there early to get a shady spot for your stuff otherwise you will be in the sun, also they only let you bring it bottled water