10 Best Indoor Water Park Resorts

When the kids are going stir crazy and all anyone wants is to be splashing in a pool under a warm sun, consider, instead, indoor water park resorts. With locations across the country, all it takes is a car and a weekend to escape winter. (Close your eyes and pretend the 80-degree temps are outdoors.)



1. Great Wolf Lodges, chain
One of the most family-friendly chain of resorts, nearly a dozen Great Wolf Lodges can be found in the Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas, Michigan, Virginia, and Niagara Falls. All feature indoor water parks so massive that you won't even miss the outdoor water parks open during the warmer months. Here you have multi-storied forts, 1,000-gallon soaker buckets, wave pools, lazy rivers, water slides of varying heights and speeds, raft rides, whirlpools, kiddie pools and just your average pool -- all indoors at a balmy 78 degrees. Lifeguards are plentiful and life jackets are available. Of course, with families in mind come rooms to accommodate even larger families, and onsite restaurants so you never need to leave the lodges to brave the wintery winds.

2. Kalahari Resorts, chain
With locations in Wisconsin, Ohio and Virginia, Kalahari also offers its own gargantuan water park environment with indoor options aplenty to keep the family warm in swimsuits while the snow falls outside. Indoor water parks are over 125,000 square feet with attractions for the youngest of children to teens in the form of water slides, water coasters, tube rides, surf simulators, wave pool, lazy river and whirlpools. More than 500 rooms are available in all sizes, and onsite restaurants cater to kids. Rent a cabana for comfortable chaise lounges, flat-screen TV, refrigerator and privacy, then hibernate for the weekend while pruning in the water.

3. Wilderness Resort, Wisconsin Dells, Wisc.
There's not one indoor water park, or two, or even three at Wilderness Resorts -- there are four! Choose the 70,000-square-foot Wild Water Dome at the resort's New Frontier Region for an enormous pool beneath a dome of windows (you'll tan on sunny days, just like at the beach!), the 70,000-square-foot Wild West Waterpark at the Wild West Rehion for bumper boats, the 65,000-square-foot Klondike Kavern at the New Frontier Region for a climbing and activity play in the water, or even Cubby Cove's shallow and quieter waters meant for tony tots. The resort offers four different lodging accommodations from hotels to cabins to villas all able to accommodate large families, as well as five onsite restaurants. They aren't kidding when they say "resort!"

4. Water Park of America, Bloomington, Minn.
Minnesota doesn't just have one enormous American mall, it also has one enormous indoor water park that's just ripe for anyone tired of negative-degree temperatures and ice skating. At Water Park of America kids can climb the country's tallest water park (indoor or outdoor) with its 10-story in 70,000 square feet. Kiddie pool, activity pools, body and tube water slides, surfing simulators, rafting rides, lazy river, whirlpools and a climbing/play structure will make kids forget about building snowmen. If that's not enough, there is also an arcade with video games. More than 400 rooms are available at the park's Radisson Hotel Bloomington by Mall of America -- yes, this is a water park inside a Radisson -- with family suites offering bunk beds, refrigerators and microwaves, and onsite restaurants again keep you from having to brave the elements.

5. Hope Lake Lodge & Indoor Water Park, Finger Lakes, N.Y.
The only indoor water park in Central New York, Cascades Indoor Waterpark can be found at the Hope Lake Lodge in the Finger Lakes region. The water park contains more than 150,000 galloons of water in its 41,000 square feet. A wave pool, 500 feet of slides, toddler activity pool, indoor-outdoor heated pool, and an activity tower with a 500 gallon bucket dumper is kept at 84 degrees even in the dead of winter. The lodge is an all-suite hotel, meaning families will enjoy spacious room with kitchens.

6. Castaway Bay Resort, Cedar Point, Ohio
Cedar Point, Ohio, may be known for its amusement parks in the summer but during the winter, Castaway Bay Resort still provides warm weather-style amusement in its indoor water park. It's always 82 degrees inside Castaway's water park, a five-story amusement center set amidst palm trees to make you feel you've jetted off to the Caribbean. The massive park is divided into various age-appropriate areas that include a toddler's tide pool, a larger wave pool, a lazy river, water slides, dunking bucket, and a number of climbing and activities centers. When the kids' fingers become too pruned and they need a break, visit the arcade or return to family suites that sleep up to six people.

7. KeyLime Cove Indoor WaterPark Resort, Gurnee, Illinois
Can't make it to Florida to escape the winter's cold? Spend a weekend in the Key West-themed KeyLime Cover Indoor WaterPark Resort, just a short drive from Chicago. Tropically decorated rooms -- more than 400 -- are available in eight layouts accommodating up to eight people. Then the fun begins in the 65,000-square-foot water park with RipTide Reef Arcade, Leapin' Lizards adventure spot and Pinki's Pet Palace. The resort offers onsite restaurants like a thatched-roof grill and old-fashioned soda fountain.

8. Radisson Albuquerque Hotel & Water Park, New Mexico
It may be the desert but it still gets a chill in the winter months, and when it does, visit this Radisson Hotel with its own 30,000-sqaure-foot indoor water park. The water park is a 2010 addition to the hotel, which just received an $18.3-million renovation of its property and 280 rooms. Waterslides, body surfing, kiddie pool, bucket dumps, lazy river, and a pool all under one roof, safely away from dropping temperatures.

9. Arrowwood Resort & Conference Center, Alexandria, MN
Located in the Lake Region of Minnesota, Arrowwood is a large family resort with a number of amenities, recreation and room types ranging from standard rooms to four-bedroom townhouses and cottages. It makes our list for it's Big Splash Minnesota Indoor Waterpark, a 38,000-square-foot water park featuring a lazy river, lily pad waterwalk, splash bucket, water fort area with water blasters, basketball shoot out, and tropical whirlpool spa. Guests of the hotel may have admission included in their stay, and non-guests can purchase daily passes.

10. Grand Harbor Resort & Waterpark, Dubuque, Iowa
When the plains of the Midwest are empty of crops and the view to the horizon is nothing but snow, head over to the Mississippi for the Grand Harbor Resort & Waterpark. Inside, its 25,000-square-foot water park comes complete with a lazy river and water slides. When the chlorine becomes too much, the kids can visit the resort's game room or kids' club.


For more water fun, check out:

10 Best Hotel Swimming Pools

10 Best Water Sports Resorts

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