Family of 3, two adults and a 7 year old.
I bought single day tickets for this past Sunday and didn't have to reserve a date because the tickets were date-specific. Online ordering was very easy. Knowing that the first weekend after school let out would be busy I would have purchased Quick Queue but $59.99 was too pricey for me. Make sure you check pricing by date because the web site advertises a starting price of $19.99 (which I definitely would have paid).
Parking was easy and since we arrived right at opening we didn't have to walk too far. There were two very long lines to get through security before we got to the front gates. 4 security personnel are stationed at two tables only checking bags so if you didn't bring one you could bypass security completely. Unlike Busch Gardens, there are no metal detectors that everyone has to pass through so if you're weary about people bringing in weapons than you may want to consider this.
After 20 minutes to get through security, in which they made me dump my child's water bottle, we entered the park and bee-lined it for the farthest lockers in the park near the Splash Attack kids area. The two other sets of lockers at the front of the park and at Mango Joe's were extremely busy all day. The Splash Attach lockers had no line so I was able to rent a locker, put away our bag, and get onto the slides within 5 minutes. Plus their proximity to the main slides, the kids area, and lazy river made it a great home base when we needed to retrieve sunscreen, flip flops (the pavement got very hot in the afternoon), and money for food.
We got right in line for Solar Vortex because its the newest slide and I'm glad we did. We got on within 10 minutes and that slide had an hour wait the rest of the day. At this point I would like to mention that as this day went on the park was SUPER busy. One of the busiest water parks I've ever been to. Lines for all the slides were 45 minutes to over an hour at least. Our early arrival allowed us to get on a few of the slides before the park got too crowded.
My son is finally tall enough to ride the big slides (48" requirement) so he loved the family raft rides and especially the Carribbean Corkscrew tube slide and Vanish Point drop slides. Vanish Point's wait was only about 10 minutes both times we went on it. In comparison the longest waits were for the Riptide mat racers (hour and 15 minutes) and Colossal Curl family raft ride (1 hour). This is where the Quick Queue really comes into play because if you have that you're basically walking on the slides. Without it you have to wait while large groups of Quick Queue'rs smugly walk to the front of the line while you're sweltering in the cattle pen. Quick queue basically adds 15-20 minutes onto your line time as they let them walk in front.
But the biggest issue I had during our visit was food service. By my count Adventure Island has 6 food locations, not including Dippin Dots or small drink/snack carts. I'm talking locations that sell lunch and dinner food like burgers, chicken, tacos, etc. On this very crowded day 2-3 of those locations were closed which is unacceptable. The sheer amount of people in the park that day required all food locations to be open and fully staffed. Your customers are spending a hot day in the Florida summer sun and swimming, people are going to be hungry. Without the taco truck and Duval street grill open, lines for Mango Joe's and Surfside Bites were obscene. I waited for an hour to get through the food line at Surfside bites, which stretched almost back to the front gates.
I have to think that Adventure Island is experiencing the same staffing issues that is affecting many businesses because of covid so I understand, but if you don't have the staff to fully open all food locations and run the park at 100%, keep capacity down by reducing the amount of reservations for that day. I know that's asking a lot of a corporation because their goal is to make as much money as possible, but at some point the food situation seemed like abuse rather than an inconvenience for the customers.
Also I have nothing but good things to say for the employees who were working that day. They were doing their best to take orders, serve food in a timely manner, handle complaints, etc. Having worked retail and food service I know the frustration and exhaustion from dealing with that kind of busy day at work. Every employee I personally interacted with had a smile and were very gracious and helpful.
During the last hour of the day the park cleared out so we were able to ride some slides without lines and it was amazing! Adventure Island has a superb selection of slides that are all very fun in their own ways. Hopefully the new slide they are building will spread the crowds to the other side of the park because right now everyone groups near Colossal Curl and Solar Vortex.
Overall I think Adventure Island would be a great water park to visit if the crowd level is low or moderately busy. On extremely crowded days, like ours, you will experience long lines for everything. And I think this will continue until they figure out staffing issues, open ALL the food locations, and add some more slides to spread the crowds out.