Tidal Cove Water Park, At JW Marriott Turnberry in Aventura, Is Popular. But Is It Safe?
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher
AVENTURA, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2022 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Tidal Cove Water Park in Aventura has become one of the most popular attractions for families in South Florida. Located at the JW Marriott Turnberry Resort in Aventura (NASDAQ: MAR), tickets run up to $150 a day, or are included in room rates that can top $600 a night.
While it looks flashy and splashy, BocaNewsNow.com observed several potential safety issues during a recent visit. Among them: hoards of kids and adults struggling to carry huge, two-person rafts on slippery stairs to the top of a 60 foot tall tower. As guests try to maneuver the rafts — and the slippery steps — they constantly crash into other guests, leading to falls on the steps. There is no Marriott supervision — all safety is outsourced to a third party called ”SAS.” It is unclear why there is no line control before guests enter the steps. Ironically, rafts needed for a slide on a lower deck are automatically transported by a conveyor belt. After apparently conceding that it’s unsafe to carry rafts to lower level slide, it is unclear why Marriott chose to force guests to carry larger rafts to the top of the structure.
There is infrequent enforcement of height restrictions. Some slides require a 42 inch height, others 48 inches. During our observation, we noticed several SAS employees not enforcing the height restrictions that are written on huge information boards. The height and speed of the slides makes the height requirements a serious safety concern. Under-height children could be critically injured.
Inexplicably, Marriott — which has a significant number of security guards walking pool decks — is not enforcing common sense policies when it comes to health, diapering, and child nudity. Despite Marriott claims that the company is concerned about health and safety during COVID-19, guards looked the other way as parents changed children in excrement-filled diapers on deck chairs instead of in bathrooms. During the Memorial Day weekend, when pool decks were packed, exposing guests to poop and pee seems to be a surefire way to spread COVID and other diseases. At no time were parents told to change their children in rooms or in bathrooms.
NO COMMENT FROM MARRIOTT, CITY OF AVENTURA.
We reached out to JW Marriott Turnberry Spokesperson Sianca Lingard. She did not respond. We then sent our safety questions to Marriott’s National Spokeswoman Sara Conneighton. She also did not respond.
Overseen by the City of Aventura, officials seem seem unconcerned with anything that happens on the JW Marriott property. City of Aventura Assistant City Manager Bryan Pegues told BocaNewsNow.com that all safety questions must be directed to Marriott. We again asked who in the city would comment on safety issues that are supposed to be monitored by the municipality. Pegues refused to respond. We note that Marriott pays Miami-Dade County more than $283,000 a year in taxes. A portion of that is sent directly to the City of Aventura.
Tidal Cove Water Park opened in 2019 in an area long known for golf courses and condo canyons. The park sits directly under several condominium buildings on Country Club Drive.
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