How long do you stay at an indoor waterpark?

[worm761]

We are thinking of visiting Wilderness at the Smokies. It looks like there is plenty to do. I am thinking 4 days/5 nights. I have never been to a waterpark of any kind. I am not a big water person. But DS17 and DH love them. And DD3 loves playing in the water. We would drive there. It is about 8 hours from us.

Is that too long? How long do you typically stay at one?

 

[soccerdad72]

2 nights, max. Many trips, we just do one overnight (but then it's only an hour from our favorite indoor waterpark). We often drive up by about 5pm, close the waterpark that night (usually it's open until 10pm), then get breakfast early and get in the park when it opens and do all the slides until mid-afternoon and head home.

 

[Kellydelly]

Three nights. Usually they let you use the facilities right at check in and the full day of checkout too . We stayed at Wilderness Resort in the Dells and three nights was plenty (we arrived Wednesday and left Saturday, park started getting really busy Friday night).

 

[mombrontrent]

That place looks awesome (just checked it out online). It looks like there is plenty to do and my family would love it. I could easily see us staying there for 5 nights.

In fact we did stay at an indoor water park for 5 nights this past August. We stayed at the Maui Sands in Sandusky Ohio. That place was great. We spent a couple days at the water park and a couple days at Cedar Point. It was a great trip. One of our favourites

 

[sksjasams]

I think you will have a great time! There is a ton to do in the area and the Wilderness at the Smokies is a great place to stay. We stayed there for 5 nights in 2010 and 2013 when my DS had a competition in Knoxville. It was very nice, comfortable and clean.

The waterpark is not as big as the one in the Dells, but besides the waterpark, arcade and dry play areas at the Wilderness at the Smokies, you are so close to everything Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg have to offer. Do a disboards search on Pigeon Forge. There are lots of threads about the area.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[worm761]

I think you will have a great time! There is a ton to do in the area and the Wilderness at the Smokies is a great place to stay. We stayed there for 5 nights in 2008 and 2012 when my DS had a competition in Knoxville. It was very nice, comfortable and clean.

The waterpark is not as big as the one in the Dells, but besides the waterpark, arcade and dry play areas at the Wilderness at the Smokies, you are so close to everything Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg have to offer. Do a disboards search on Pigeon Forge. There are lots of threads about the area.

Enjoy your trip!

Thank you for this. I was looking at reviews this morning after posting and some were pretty bad.

 

[sksjasams]

Thank you for this. I was looking at reviews this morning after posting and some were pretty bad.

I edited my post, it was actually May 2010 and this past May in 2013 when we stayed the second time. Try not to worry. Reviews are always so mixed. I did post a positive review on trip advisor after the first time we stayed in 2010. Just didn't get around to it this last time, but my review would have been good again.

We drove 12 hrs each way and stopped only on the way down for one night both trips. All of us preferred the Wilderness to the Hyatt Place and the Hampton Inn we stayed at on the way down.

 

[MAD4EEYORE]

We've been there about six times. We live about 4 hours from there. I agree with the others that there is so much to do in the area if you get tired of the water park you'll find other things to do.

We've had a great time and no complaints either. We've had trouble once with a coupon but it was quickly handled with the manager. All was good.

The food is pricey. I know food is subjective but we don't care for their dinner buffet. Never tried there breakfast buffet. They do offer kids under 11 eat free when the adults eat off the buffets. We also don't like their pizza. We've had it twice and once was good second time was raw in the middle. We still enjoy going. We take snacks, drinks, breakfast stuff, lunch stuff and eat out for dinner. It does say no outside food or drinks but everyone does it and no one has ever said something to us about it.


Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[Mom loves Disney]

We have been there and stayed for two nights. I felt there was plenty for the two nights we were there. Like others have mentioned there is plenty to do in the area if you do get bored. Our room was clean and we enjoyed it.

 

[Fortuosity]

til the toes wrinkle

 

[3Gsandme]

Two days is my limit. I have little ones, so it's a lot of standing on hard concrete in my barefeet and I'm wiped.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

The only one I've been to is Great Wolf, which is about 2.5 hours from me. We only ever go for one night. My logic is that if you go for 1 night you pay X amount for 2 days. If you go 2 nights you pay 2x for 3 days, so each day costs more.

So, if I can afford 2 nights in a year (GWL is lots of fun but it isn't cheap!) I'll go 2 different times and get 4 days.

If I had to drive 8 hours, I might feel differently.

 

[mnrose]

We just went to Wilderness in the Dells in mid-October. We arrived on Sunday afternoon, and left Friday morning (5 nights), and honestly, it was about 1 day too many. By the end, my kids were pretty burnt out on the waterparks, and they started to get super crowded. It was nice M-W, and then got busier and busier....long lines, etc.

It was fun though!