With temperatures headed steadily up and the kids getting steadily restless, here is a list of three waterparks to beat the heat—and two that have enough indoor fun to enjoy year round!
Water Country USA (Williamsburg, VA)
Water Country USA is packed with places to ride and relax. Set your heart racing by dropping straight through the floor of Vanish Point, or ride a wave up the wall on Colossal Curl. In total, there are 11 rides and slides in the park. This is a kid-friendly park, with several water playgrounds installed just for the little ones with tiny slides for the pint-sized riders. There are also plenty of places to relax, with lazy rivers, a wave pool beach and private cabanas.
Water Country USA is just three miles away from Busch Gardens iand is surrounded by the Historic Triangle of Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown.
Dollywood Splash Country (Pigeon Forge, TN)
Named “One of America’s Best Water Parks” by the Travel Channel, Dollywood’s Splash Country Water Park in the Smokey Mountains has been around for 15 years and still delivers the thrills. It has 35 acres of spine-tingling fun, dining options, canopies and retreats, and beautiful scenery for the entire family.
Rides range from the breathtaking thrill of the Fire Tower Falls, with the park’s tallest and fastest slides, to the more sedate Bear Mountain Fire Tower and Downbound Float Trip, where kids and parents can experience the scenic beauty of the Smoky Mountains while floating down the relaxing 1,500-foot-long “river.”
Water World (Denver, CO)
Water World is a 67-acre park about 10 miles north of downtown Denver and one of America’s largest water theme parks. The park has several unique water attractions including the new Warp Speed, a first-generation interactive water slide gaming challenge framed in an intergalactic cosmic setting. Some equate it as if playing Guitar Hero—using your whole body to navigate through 3D space. It’s the area’s first dual flume experience using a Slideboard. Water World’s most famous attraction is a raft water slide that takes place completely inside called “Voyage to the Center of the Earth,” in which riders ride in small circular multi-passenger inflatable rafts and travel through an artificial cavern.
Wilderness Resort (Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin)
Great for year round fun, the Wilderness Territory is considered America’s largest waterpark resort and consists of over 600 wooded acres in Wisconsin Dells and is home to Wilderness Hotel & Golf Resort, the Wilderness on the Lake condominium units overlooking Lake Delton; and Glacier Canyon Lodge upscale condominium units.
Combined, these three properties offer four indoor and four outdoor waterparks that total nearly 500,000 square feet—that’s over 12 football fields’ worth of fun! Visitors can also enjoy the Wild Rock Golf Club; The Woods 9-Hole Executive Course; Dodge ‘Em City; Timberland Play Park, a 35,000 square foot, four story adventure with ball blasters, slides and crawl spaces; the OK Corral Lazer Tag Arena; Marshall Training Lazer Maze; The Wild Abyss and Wild Buccaneer indoor 3-D black light mini golf courses; bumper boats; indoor and outdoor go-karts and kiddy-karts; Wisconsin’s first canopy zip line tour; Northern Lights Sky Ropes Course and the outdoor Jurassic mini golf.
Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark (Tannersville, PA)
Voted #1 Indoor Waterpark in America by the readers of USA Today, Aquatopia is the Poconos’ biggest indoor waterpark. It may be ski weather outside, but within Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark it’s summer year-round. The Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark features a 125,000 square-foot adventure-themed, multilevel water kingdom kept at 84-degrees year-round, Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark is covered by a Texlon Transparent Roof, that allows you to work on your tan by day and gaze at the stars by night from the comfort and luxury of this indoor tropical oasis.
There are two levels of water thrills and excitement here, great for all ages. Think interactive water play centers and a ton of kid’s wading pools, as well as 13 heart-pounding waterslides, including the Venus Slydetrap, the only slide of its kind in the world.
