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| - Had four visits over the last five or so years. And that passage of time matters.
Seems to me that the sweet spot for this family activity is ages 8-12. Once any part of your brood cycles out of that range, the value really declines. I will say that ages 2-7 do have something to do. There is a dedicated toddler play area that has plenty of safe, splashy fun. And the 4 and up set does have a massive slid, play, squirty area, in addition to pools and such.
But the big slides and such really do skew a little older -- and they are clearly the most fun. The drops and speeds are pretty intense -- particularly at night when you have no clue what is going on as you plunge outside the building into darkness and then spill back inside, in a heap. For the faster stuff, I'd say 13-15 yos eat the stuff up. Beyond that age, it ceases to be cool.
Anyway, the non-water park activities are well thought out and include a recent addition of mini-bowling. The decorations and decor have seasonal themes, so Halloween and Christmas are always nice times to visit and offset the loss of the outside portion of the waterpark.
Only real complaints are the cost -- which can be high if you don't pack bodies into rooms -- and the junky, downmarket food. Maybe I was just so tired and beat from chasing kids around all day, but it certainly seems like the food offerings -- particularly the breakfast buffet -- was higher quality years ago and that you could buy an actual draft beer at the water part snack hut, which now is just 100% HFCS.
Still, I'm glad we spent time at these somewhat unique and well-run properties. Makes me feel old to think that our most recent trip was probably our last.
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