Crystal Springs in East Brunswick - Great Value and Fun

Lots of sprinklers in splash pad.

I've known about Crystal Springs Family Aquatic Center in East Brunswick for years but just never got around to trying it out -- until today. And I wish I had gone sooner. It is a smaller water park, but offers a lot, and it is easily within a short drive for many in Central Jersey and a very good value.

Their web page really under sells this attraction so I'm going to tell you some more about it and my experience there. We arrived a little before 1 pm and the parking lot was pretty full but there was a short line for the ticket booth and once inside it was pretty busy (a lot of camp groups were there) but not overly crowded. Four our family it was $84 ($22 per adult and $18 for my son who was under 48 inches. If you live in East Brunswick, it's even cheaper for the day. 

There were two very cute areas for the smaller crowd. The first area had a set of 6 small slides that you accessed via a little wading pool with a mushroom waterfall. The slides dropped into a 2 to 3 foot wading pool that had a few sprinklers and "dunking" areas. I'd say this area is most enjoyed by children up to 6 years old, because of the slide, but preschoolers and older (like my son) may want to quickly move to the Splash Pad area.

The Splash Pad area was a lot of fun for kids of various ages and even for adults. There were animal spray fountains that kids could aim at each other, rings of sprayers and more water dunking buckets that are very refreshing on a hot day. My husband took great pleasure in pushing me under one.

There is a very neat area that has a Lily Pad and a Log Crossing. My daughter is about 52 inches tall and could do the Lily Pad fairly easily but she was not tall enough for the Log Crossing. It still was a lot of fun for her.

Of course, there is a lazy river which is just that, a river that flows along but it's a nice ride and it was just as nice as the one we tried at Six Flags White Water in Georgia.

There are several pools including a lap pool, a pool that went up to 5 feet and a wading pool that went up to about 3 feet (you could access it if you wanted to leave the lazy river). The 3-foot wading pool was a nice area to relax with a chair and dip your feet in the water while the kids played. 

The water park also offers 3 water slides that look like they would be fun for kids at least 8 years old. We didn't try the slides because my 10-year-old doesn't like slides that don't use mats so I can't really comment on how "fun" they were.

You can bring food with you and have a picnic or grab a bite at the concession stand which I thought was pretty affordable. We got 4 hot dogs, 3 fries, 3 waters and a slushie for $20, which is comparable to what we've spent at McDonalds or Burger King except this tasted better.

If you have older teens or daredevils, they might become bored with this park after a couple of hours and prefer something like a Six Flags or Action Park. However, for kids who enjoy swimming with a little extra fun - and especially toddlers to elementary school kids - this is a great way to beat the summer heat.

Visitor tips:

• Save money with Discount Days (although I'd guess the park will be more crowded)
• Weekdays are probably better than weekends
• You can still get a lot out of the park after 4 pm and it will be a discounted price - and all of the camp groups will have cleared out by then.
• Save money and bring a cooler and snacks
• Lockers are cheap but small so save that for valuables. You can leave beach towels on chairs.
• The website says cash only but you can pay by credit card for tickets or food
• For safety reasons snorkels, fins and goggles that cover the nose are not permitted.
• Noodles, floating rings, arm bubbles, kickboards (only allowed during a swim lesson or swim team practice) and bathing suits with built in floats are not permitted.

Great things about the park:

• Something to do for all ages
• Relatively affordable 
• Clean (staff regularly cleans bathrooms)
• Lots of lifeguards
• Good food for a decent price
• Free parking
• There are a limited number of life vests available for kids

Things you might miss:

• There's no wave pool (not a deal breaker for me but my 10 year old was disappointed)
• I wish some of the other pools had a few more sprinkler fountains
• There is no great signage directing you to the main entrance from the parking lot

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Waiting to get dunked

The Lily Pad and Log Crossing

Animal sprayers in splash pad