It’s winter time. The snow is falling; the earth is frozen, and all the water parks you can find are closed for the season. Does that mean your winter fun should be cancelled? No! Indoor waterparks are everywhere, and with their temperature controls and year-round fun, you can have all the pool parties you want all year long!
1. Great Wolf Lodge
Great Wolf Lodge is one of the most famous indoor waterpark chains in the United States. Great Wolf has locations around the country, including in California, Pennsylvania, Texas, Kansas, and more! Every Great Wolf waterpark is a part of a Great Wolf Lodge. The waterpark entry is included in the price of the hotel. WiFi is resort wide. Towels are free, and multiple lifeguards are on duty. Great Wolf goes one step further with story time, kids’ activities, and lobby shows. Great Wolf goes all in!
2. Kalahari Resort
Kalahari resorts are in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and (soon to be) Texas. Kalahari resorts are famous for their 84-degree year-round temperature, and their authentically African experience. Experience halotherapy and show your family that snow shouldn’t stop you from waterpark fun.
3. CoCo Key Water Resort
The tropical-themed CoCo Key Waterpark resorts can be found in Jersey and Pennsylvania. With small wading pools for kids, warm whirlpools for relaxing, and thrill rides for older kids and adults. Every CoCo resort has an adult only Palm Grotto/Spa where you can escape from kids and have a peaceful, relaxing vacation.
4. Indiana Big Splash Adventure
Big Splash Adventure is an impressively large indoor waterpark. With 40,000 square feet of water park, boredom does not come easily. This family friendly waterpark has lodging available, including rooms with four bunk beds for families with children. Big Splash includes four large waterslides, a lazy river, a family friendly restaurant, and more. If you want to leave the water park, you can even find laser tag, bowling, and indoor go karting in the area. For a whole package vacation, Indiana is the place to go!
5. Cape Codder Resort
The Cape Codder resort, located in Massachusetts, offers year-round summer fun in an area that has a short summer season. Cape Codder includes lodging, a lazy river, four slides, a wave pool, and a hot tub for parents who get tired after chasing their little ones around all day. In the summer they even have a retractable roof to make sure you can enjoy the short-lived sunny season.
6. Grand Country Resort
Located in Branson, Missouri, Grand Country resort is so much more than just an indoor water park. On campus there are go karts, miniature golf, laser tag, and an arcade. The water park itself is two-stories, features a kiddie pool, slides, a lazy river, a tree house and a huge 1000-gallon tipping bucket.
7. Castle Rock Resort
Also in Branson Missouri, Castle Rock Resort is designed for the family unit looking for a vacation. The resort offers family rooms that can sleep up to seven people, bunk beds, and TV’s. The water park is 30,000 square feet of pools, kiddie slides, lap pools, a lazy river, and four large water slides across three stories of waterpark. The resort also includes free life jackets for children who haven’t quite mastered swimming yet, putting safety and comfort together!
8. Kahuna Laguna
The indoor waterpark of New Hampshire, Kahuna Laguna boasts two waterfalls, a wave pool, and a place for water basketball! A three-story tower has four different slides coming from it, and a bamboo adventure tour with a giant tipping bucket, slides, and water cannons. The water park has a small café and a fun name! The only downside to Kahuna Laguna is that the park has its own separate fee, unless you pay for a resort package that includes it.
9. Wings & Waves Waterpark
If you find the summers in Oregon too hot, or the winters in Oregon too rainy, the year-round Wings & Waves waterpark is just for you. Aptly named (it has an actual Boeing airplane that you can slide from) wings & waves has ten waterslides, kiddie pools and a wave pool. The slides range from child sized to daredevil sized, so the fun never ends for the whole family.
10. Wilderness at the Smokies
Located near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, this park consists of a multilevel splash park, complete with a dumping bucket, water slides, the storm chaser thrill ride, a wave pool, an indoor ropes course, laser tag, and rock wall climbing. Bonus, during the summer the Wilderness also has an outdoor park! Enjoy your time here indoors or outdoors!
11. The Wilderness Hotel and Golf Resort
The Wilderness Hotel and Golf Resort covers 600 acres, and a large portion of this is dedicated to one of the US’s biggest indoor waterparks. With private cabanas, family lodgings, and fun passes that give you access to all their attractions, not just the water park, Wilderness Hotel turns out to be a family getaway. The wilderness resort is special, as it has four indoor waterparks that run all year long. These parks offer non-stop fun, free lifejackets for kids, and relaxing swim-up bars for adults. One of the parks is even Wild West themed, so the kids can have fun pretending to be cowboys on a fantasy voyage, without ever leaving the temperature-controlled indoors. This full family experience is a must-do.
12. World Waterpark
Rounding out this list is The World Waterpark. The World Waterpark, located inside West Edmonton Mall, in Canada, is located in North America’s largest shopping and entertainment complex. On top of that, World Waterpark is North America’s largest indoor waterpark! This five-acre water wonderland is kept at a warm 88 degrees. There’s an indoor zipline, slide boarding, a cyclone ride, and a flow rider for some indoor surfing fun. The splash pad fountains and the kiddie pools are perfect for little ones trying to swim their winter away, while the howler and twister slides are perfect for adventurous adults. With four places to eat during the day, no one goes hungry. Private cabana’s can be rented so your family can enjoy the warmth in privacy, and the two hotels in the mall offer packages that include entry to this amazing sprawling winter wonderland.
Just because the winter has come does not mean the fun must go. Remember, winter fun what you make it!
*Hotel images are from the hotel websites.
