Six Flags Great Escape Lodge & Indoor Waterpark Family Activities

At the Great Escape Lodge, there is absolutely no chance for kids to get bored, with the White Water Bay indoor water park as part of the property, as well as an active Kids Club onsite. Add to the mix a few days spent at The Great Escape Theme Park and the Splashwater Kingdom outdoor water park, and you'll have a very busy, if not overwhelming, week.

White Water Bay Indoor Water Park
Upon checking-in as a lodge guest, everyone will get a wristband, which is required to gain access to White Water Bay. Admission is complimentary to lodge guests, while day passes are available to the public. This 38,000-square foot indoor water park features a multi-level play structure, a shallow activity pool for children, a lazy river, several waterslides, and an adults-only hot tub. While there are enough rides and attractions to keep kids occupied for several hours, the park is small enough to keep tabs on them.

My 11-year-old loved The Tall Timbers Treehouse, which is designed for ages 3 and up. There was only one lifeguard on duty for this 4,375-square-foot play area, which concerned me. There are approximately 160 interactive elements, including a huge bucket which fills and spills over every few minutes, and three body slides up to 18 feet high. When I inquired, I was told on busy days an attendant is posted at the top of the slides also. Lifeguards were plentiful at all the other attractions.

My 4-year old preferred the shallow, calm Tip-A-Kanu-Beach area for toddlers with several fountains and a pint-sized slide. White Water Bay also features Boogie Bear Surf, a unique FlowRider attraction with simulated waves. Guests take it on one at a time, facing the rapid current on a boogie board. After several tries, my son could stay on the board for a good clip, and he was hooked. Standing surf lessons are offered for a charge.

Kids Klub
While the main family recreation feature at the Lodge is the indoor water park, there are other programs available. The Kids Klub offers scheduled crafts activities, as well as character meals and bedtime story sessions. You'll recognize Scooby Doo, Scrappy Doo, and Shaggy, but you'll also meet the property's own new "Timbertown" characters, like Spruce the Moose, Frankie the Fox, and Sheldon the Turtle.

Most of these programs require advance reservations, cost extra, and require parents to stay with their children. We checked in on a Friday and found that all the evening programs through the weekend were full, such as "Sundaes with Scrappy" and "S'mores with Scooby."

The highlight of my 4-year-old daughter's day was the "dance party" in the lobby at 4 p.m. with characters Scrappy Doo and Frankie the Fox. For an hour, the characters danced with the kids to Top-40 hits and line dances. This was free, and not crowded, except for the parents tripping over each other to take photos.

The scheduled activities during the day are great for rainy days, or when a quiet break is needed from the theme park or water parks. We attended a T-shirt coloring session. For $10 per child, we were given white Great Escape T-shirts to color with fabric markers. Older kids will appreciate the evening Guitar Hero tournaments held in the video arcade.

The Star Light Arcade features over 45 games, from classic Skee Ball to new video games. Many of the games issue tickets after play, which can be collected and redeemed for small toys.

The Great Escape
The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom is a combination of theme park and water park. It's open seasonally, between late May and early September. The theme park alone is open on select weekends for Halloween and holiday celebrations.

The Great Escape has over 135 rides, shows and attractions, including seven roller coasters. It's an attractive park, with ample shade from trees and oversized umbrellas. Some attractions, dating back to the 1980's, are showing their age with faded and peeling paint.

When you arrive, pick up a map, and a separate show schedule. Our favorite was the Arctic Olympic Games Splash Theater, with divers dressed like rascally penguins training for a diving competition. They dove from several platforms reaching up to 100 feet. We also watched "Rock Nation," a loud song and dance production aimed at tweens and teens, at the Alpine Fest Haus.

If you're bringing pre-schoolers, you'll spend most of your time in the Kidzopolis, Storytown, and Timbertown sections of the park. There are three rides in Kidzopolis sized just right for two and three-year olds, and a stage for interactive song and dance shows. Storytown features the ubiquitous carousel and train ride.

In Timbertown, there's a theater offering a dress up show with a magical trunk filled with costumes. Junior-sized versions of a roller coaster, free-fall ride, swings and a car ride are all worth the wait. There are new "Timbertown" characters this season, including Frankie the Fox and Sheldon the Turtle. These critters come out for meet-and-greets on the stage in the Fest Area.

For older thrill-seekers, there are several coasters: the Alpine Bobsled, Boomerang, Steamin' Demon, Canyon Blaster, and the highly-rated Comet wooden coaster. There's a 192-foot tower drop, the Sasquatch. For an additional fee, you can try the Skycoaster fall attraction, or the Turbo Bungee trampoline.

Most of the rides were hits with my kids, with some unlike those we've seen at other parks, like the Swan Boats. The Thunder Alley go-karts were unique in that the cars were '50s convertibles -- including some pink ones -- traveling Route 66, with music of the era playing. However, there are several common, carnival-caliber rides, like the bumper cars and the convoy truck ride.

Splashwater Kingdom
Splashwater Kingdom is the water park located behind The Great Escape. It operates on the same seasonal schedule from late May to early September, and admission includes both parks. You can only access the water park by walking through the expanse of The Great Escape theme park. It's a long walk carrying beach bags and towels.

This water park features a giant wave pool, numerous slides and water-play areas. The most popular attractions include Paul Bunyan's Bucket Brigade, a multi-slide activity complex resembling a giant tree house, with 150 water play features like geysers and shower bursts, as well as a 1,000-gallon water barrel that tips over and spills at regular intervals.

Noah's Sprayground is a younger water play area with a giant ark in the middle with two twisted slides starting at the top. Mini-slides in the shape of an elephant and frog sit in an adjacent kiddie pool. Captain Hook's Adventure River is a slow-paced lazy river ride, with mild water shooters, bubblers, and varied currents. It's shallow enough to allow a parent to walk alongside a child floating in the tube.

For speed and thrills, the Banshee Plunge, Black Cobra, and Twister Falls tube rides deliver, as does the Mega Wedgie, a swirling, bowl-style ride. The 500,000-gallon Lumberjack Splash wave pool produces ocean-sized waves. It's a popular attraction, but it doesn't operate every day. It progresses in depth from zero-entry to five feet. Tube rentals are available, and you can't bring your own flotation devices.