Hi, my son is turning 10 and wants a weekend away with dad as his birthday present, rather than a gift or a party.
I have miles to send them anywhere in the US and what he'd like is a hotel with an indoor waterslide park.
Can anybody recommend a good one?
All I have heard of is the Great Wolf Lodge company. But they are sorta expensive and I can't use points. So do any other hotels come to mind? Does Starwood or Hilton have anything, because is so, I would use points so that would be very good. Thanks!
Not exactly what you ordered, but I'll promote my local economy anyway, as this place gets great reviews, especially since it's not just a water park. Evergreen Wings & Waves.
San Diego is close enough they wouldn't waste a lot of time flying. They could go to the beach or Seaworld if the weather is nice.
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Experience the epitome of California coastal chic at Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina San Diego vacation resort near SeaWorld San Diego. Expect the best at this remarkable San Diego vacation resort offering incredible ocean views, waterfront dining, a contemporary poolside lounge, eco-friendly spa, and redesigned hotel rooms and suites and meeting rooms. The only resort hotel in San Diego with multiple water slides, you'll delight in a water playground with three new pools, waterfront health club, and a full-service marina with jet skis, sailboats, kayaks, sportfishing and whale excursions.
Starwood does have a great property with indoor water pool attached to it. It's Sheraton on the Falls located in the Canadian side of Niagara Fall area. Great location with a front view of American Fall and also the Canadian Fall a bit far out. Nice property to burn some SPG points. Indoor Water park is good size also.
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Originally Posted by ryanthekiwi
West Edmonton Mall has both a hotel and a world class water park attached.
Indeed, it´s one of the few attractions Edmonton has to offer.
Rates at both the hotel and the swimming pool are pretty reasonable. And if he gets bored of the water park, there are also rollercoasters and submarines and plenty of fast food outlets in the mall.
There's a cat 5 Renaissance and a Cat 4 Residence Inn. I see winter weekend rates around $99.
We're staying at this Renaissance in three weeks. Both of these hotels are very good and well-located for downtown Minneapolis.
Only catch is that the waterpark itself is small and designed mostly for small children. I think a 10-year-old would be kind of bored.
The MSP area has a couple of others...I want to say there's a Club Carlson waterpark hotel out by the Mall of America and maybe a Priority Club somewhere out in the suburbs (a Holidome on steroids). But I don't know whether they're big enough for a 10-year-old to really enjoy or not.
If you have the points and miles to send him anywhere in the U.S., why not send him south where they can just go to a regular outdoor waterpark? Might have to go all the way to FLL or so to get reliably good weather, but mix in a little beach and sun and that could be kind of fun. Lots of cheap Hiltons to be had if you were to pick FLL.
All of that said, we recently did a 9-year-old birthday party at a Great Wolf Lodge. Although I cringed a bit at spending $219/nt. plus taxes for a hotel room in Kansas, it was indeed a huge indoor park that the kids loved. The room slept 7 people and included 7 meals plus the waterpark passes, so at the end of the day I guess it wasn't *that* bad of a deal. So even though it's sort of against our Flyetalker DNA, I would at least consider it...especially if it makes the overall trip easier.
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Kalahari has indoor waterparks in Wisconsin (near Madison) and Ohio (near somewhere else).
I don't think that you can burn points with them, but they tend to have decent weekend specials, and have "adult sized" slides.
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Originally Posted by WIRunner
Kalahari has indoor waterparks in Wisconsin (near Madison) and Ohio (near somewhere else).
I don't think that you can burn points with them, but they tend to have decent weekend specials, and have "adult sized" slides.
IIRC, Kalahari's Ohio location is near Sandusky, OH.
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I agree that the Depot is likely to appeal mostly to little ones. Not surprisingly, it has a train motif. They will organize birthday parties in the waterpark, which is normally open only on weekends. The Renaissance Hotel is nice, with modern rooms plus some unique suites in the historic part of the building. The attached Residence Inn is an older one with dated kitchens (but flat screen TVs). The buildings are connected by the waterpark and share facilities such as the (fee) garage/parking lot. You can order RI room service from the Renaissance menu, but it's delivered in paper and plastic rather than nice dishes.
Near MSP the airport Radisson has a waterpark with big slide. It's close to MSP airport and the Mall of America, with shuttle service. There's a second hotel a bit farther from MSP, IIRC an extended stay property (perhaps Hilton family) or a regular hotel and an extended stay hotel, that's attached to a public waterpark, I believe at a local public park. It has a fee for parking (in the suburbs).
The Wisconsin Dells (rental car needed, this family resort area is several hours from MSP, and probably the same from Milwaukee MKE, but closer to Madison MSN off the interstate) have several hotels with big waterparks. Great Wolf Lodge looks like the most impressive one of those that can be seen from the road.
There's a waterpark in a hotel on the outskirts of Duluth. If you follow Superior Street (one of the main downtown streets) north-east out of town toward the North Shore, this hotel is on the right. I don't think it's a major brand and I forget the name, but it doesn't look all that attractive from the street. Duluth airport is served at least by DL with IIRC mainline and RJ service. It's about three hours from MSP by car, all along interstate roads but you must go north to the other side of Minneapolis/StPaul from the MSP airport.
Thee's a big and well known waterpark in Belgium.
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