Splash resort

Hi! Our family is thinking of makinga trip to Panama City this summer and I am seeing a lot of publicity for a place called ';Splash';. Anybody been there? I have four kids and they sure make it seem wonderful for children. I can%26#39;t find any photos; looks like everything is still under construction. We aren%26#39;t planning to travel until the first week of June. Also, are there any good pizza places in PCB? Thanks!

Splash resort

http://www.hotels.com/property.do;jsessionid=VHYTNNDVNM3Q1LAQEZBSCN3MCATDOH20?mtnHotelID=353398

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Location. Sterling Resorts - Splash is located on 400 feet of beach on the Gulf of Mexico in Panama City Beach, Fla. The Camp Creek Golf Course is approximately one mile from the resort. The Museum of Man in the Sea features relics and historic displays of scuba diving dating back to 1500, including treasure from sunken ships, two miles from the resort. The Pier Park shopping center is approximately five miles away and Wet %26#39;N%26#39; Wild Adventures is less than seven miles from the resort.

Features. Styled after a water park, the resort features a lazy river, children%26#39;s interactive aqua play pools with water slides and spray toys, heated pools and spa tubs, and a dive-in movie theater. A poolside bar and grille offers snacks, sandwiches and beverages

Splash resort

Salvatore%26#39;s Pizza %26amp; Wings located next door to Publix. Very good pizza.

Splash is over run with little kids and young immature parents drinking beer out of glass bottles pool side. No one is making sure the pools aren%26#39;t being used as a potty. Did not see swim diapers being use. Everything is oriented for little pools, anyone over 14 is not allowed in most of the pools.

The beach is wall to wall people, too many people and not enough space. Not a relaxing vacation.

I would recommend you go next door and stay at Celadon, it is much nicer and calmer. You can get great deals on VRBO from owners. You can always go tryout the lazy river by just walking in from the Beach.

Hey sjm,

When were you at Splash? We actually ended up staying there the second week of our trip and found things to be much the same as you described; especially the ';use of the pools as a potty';. Our condo, however, was really nice and the owner could not have been nicer. We did not really have the issues with the beach being super crowded..... we were there when the gulf was belching out its best waves so maybe folks were just staying away from the water a little more. I did notice a lot of drinking as well. I did a trip report about Splash and gave an account where we saw a little boy peeing into the pool next to the lazy river and his parents sat closeby and laughed.... sounds like you may have witnessed similar incidents! Also, they did implement a bracelet system, in which you are supposed to have on a Splash bracelet in order to use the facilities, but they do not monitor the gates at all, or they didn%26#39;t while we were there. If you stand at the locked gate for a moment, someone (especially if it%26#39;s a kid) will push the button for you. When we go back, it will be to Calypso or maybe Shores of Panama, if they ever get it done.

Its funny you mentioned staying at Celadon. My husband also commented (while we were staying at Splash) that we should have rented a unit a Celadon. There was noone using the pool across the street at the parking garage nor the hottub over there. Also the beach was pretty deserted by Celadon while at Splash wall to wall people.

I realize that you have already taken your trip to PCB but I thought that I would go ahead and post my experience with splash resort so that others may read and not make the same mistake we made. We just got back on Sat.6-16. We took our 2 small children as well as my mother and another couple and rented a 3 bdr condo there. My mother has just had 2 knee replacements so the main requirement for booking a condo was that we be on the 1st floor for her sake. The booking agent assured me that she did have one available for that week and she would put me down for that one. We get to the resort to check in and were told that ';this was only a request and not a promise'; so they stuck on the 17th floor. Check-in is at 3pm however our room was not ready until 5pm. The fire alarm repeatedly went off and the first time I had to walk my mother down 17 flights of stairs only to find out the front desk didn%26#39;t even know there was an alarm blarring. That was only about 1 time out of 20 the whole week. Kind of scarry by the end of the week no one even noticed the alarm at all. The air unit in our 3rd bdr continued to break down and our friends had to move back and forth 3 times to a different condo down the hall. The so called ';mini-bowling alley'; is nothing more that an arcade game. Should I go on...... Our 2 children did have a great time at the waterpark though. In a few years this will probably be a great place to stay. As for right now I would definately STAY AWAY!!!!

1st off - I want to thank coacheswife for her excellent reviews of her personal experience at Splash and the followup e - mails with questions I%26#39;ve sent her about her 1st hand experience at the resort. We%26#39;ll be staying there (at Splash and our 1st time in PCB / Destin) in a couple of weeks. I%26#39;ve heard both a lot of good and bad about the resort and we%26#39;ll have to see 1st hand what it is like.

However I%26#39;m going to play devil%26#39;s advocate here and say that the recent posts by 08003sjm about %26#39;heaven%26#39; (Celadon) and %26#39;hell%26#39; (Splash) appear to the untrained tourist eye (me) to be born out of 08003sjm having a significant financial interest in bookings over at Celadon versus someone taking their money 400 feet to the east at Splash ... meaning I would take what is in 08003sjm%26#39;s (3) posts to the PCB forum with a very minute grain of salt.

Just my hunch on the matter.

Thanks again to everyone on this board who has knowingly / unknowingly helped me plan my trip. I will be posting all of my experiences / reviews after my trip is done.

- Brian

Hey Brian~

You are so welcome for any help I gave you! I hope your trip is wonderful and you have a great experience at Splash.

I had the same thoughts as you about the Celadon poster; that%26#39;s why I asked when he specifically stayed at Splash. In addition, he posted the comments months after I initially placed the post in April, and didn%26#39;t mention the i.d. bracelets Splash guests are asked to wear. It definitely did seem like an ad to me for Celadon. They probably need it; I didn%26#39;t see one soul over there our whole trip.... I take that back; there was one lady by the pool across the street from the condo one day.

Once again, have a terrific time, and PLEASE DO let us know how everything goes!

~Melissa~

Oh my gosh, I am getting nervous again. I absolutely agonized over choosing Splash after all the bad reviews, then I read a bunch of good ones and the families we are going with thought it looked better than Destin West Beach and Bay, which I thought looked good, so we booked it.

Anyway, after the ';poo stew'; or ';butt soup'; story from coacheswife, which by the way, was hysterical, and all these other reviews I am stark raving, stressing over this. We are laid back, don%26#39;t like wall to wall butt cracks between us and the view of the ocean, kind of ppl. It sounds as though we didn%26#39;t make a very good choice. Not that this place isn%26#39;t new and nice, it just probably isn%26#39;t our type of place. Last year we stayed at the Don Cesar in St. Pete and we would leave our camera and camcorder and belongings on the beach while we played and never had to worry about anyone bothering them. It didn%26#39;t have any real kid attractions, but everyone was very respectful of your ';space'; and you just didn%26#39;t see things like that.

The owner of the condo told us that it was a very nice place, away from the big crowds, it was more upscale, and attracted a more mature, quieter crowd of ppl, which we liked, and I%26#39;m not trying to be snotty in the least. I%26#39;m just worried about what we have got ourselves into.

I will be taking plenty of pics to post while I am there.

Don%26#39;t stress about this it is VACATION!!!! The condo%26#39;s at Splash are decorated really nice and we had no complaints about our condo. If the beach is a little crowded in front of Splash just move down the beach a little bit. Honestly when we went there was noone if front of Celadon or right past it. If you are going with young children they will love the Splash Park which is for anyone under 14. My 10 year old wasn%26#39;t impressed but my 6 yr. old loved it. It is Panama City Beach and you will have a good time no matter where you stay. Also you don%26#39;t have to deal with much traffic so that is a big plus.