Chaos Water Park — Attraction in Eau Claire

It was hard to decide on a rating. There are some good things and some not good things.

As for the good, the staff was polite and the lifeguards were overall consistent. (It really doesn't matter to me if they are strict or easy going as long as everyone is consistent so my kids know exactly what to expect.) The setup is small, but in a nice, contained way that lets the kids roam free without losing them. It's loud in there, but there is nothing that can be done about that; if you want a water park to be inside, it's going to be noisy. You get acclimated to it after a bit. Temperature of the air and water were fine. Overall, a happy environment, and not overpacked or uncomfortable for a January weekend event.

On the bad side, the signage is very unclear about the fact that a 36" child can't go down the big water slide (the one without the tubes) with a parent. Signage expresses that they must be 36" to ride the tube slide with a parent (48" to ride alone) and 36" to ride the regular slide, but does NOT express the very important fact that they are not allowed to ride the regular slide at all with a parent. The slide isn't very fast, but it was impossible to get my 3 year old onto it by himself without the option of me going with him once or twice first. As mentioned, the slide isn't very fast either. Following the posted body positioning instructions, I got stuck quite a bit and had to push myself along often to get to the bottom. The entry pace of the slide is also painfully slow. The lifeguards wait until the slide is completely clear (I guess they would have to with people getting stuck on the way down) so even with a short line, you are waiting at the the top for a very long time before actually going down. The main comparison I can make is with the city pool (Fairfax), which also has a similar (though outdoor) slide. I can go down that one with my kids, the slide is fast and fun, and even a long line moves very quickly--all with a high level of safety and supervision. We were considering skipping our annual passes to Fairfax this year and trying annual passes to Chaos instead, but these negatives were the deciding factor in choosing Fairfax for our family of five once again, even without the year round accessibility that Chaos offers.

The other negative I encountered is purely subjective. The tube ridden slide is completely dark most of the way down. Though much faster and more thrilling than the other slide, getting jostled around in the dark made me a little nauseated. I tend to get motion sickness easily in those situations, so I'm sure most people will be fine.

Even though it wouldn't be a regular, local destination for us, it was still a fun, warm afternoon during a time of year that is frigid outside. That pushes it up to three stars. Just be aware of the limitations before you go if you have young children. I would say the optimal age range for the place is between 5 to...

This place is great! Splashing around water and going down slides. For families with children, this place is very nice! I took my two little ones there, who don't know how to swim yet, and we all had a great time! There is a water, play area for little kids; water looked like it was less than 2 feet deep. Fun buildings to climb and plenty of splashing and water falls in that area. My kids played in there for hours.

There is the large slide that wraps outside the building and back inside. You have to go down on a tube and the tube has to be either a single for one person or a double if two people want to go down together. It is an enclosed slide, so it gets pitch black in there. Very thrilling and fun! My son, 8 years old, loved this one the most! You come out at the end in a little pool area, where a lifeguard is in there waiting to push you into the connecting lazy river. We all loved the lazy river!

There are areas on the lazy river that hit you with water from above! It's awesome! There's even a hot tub behind the lazy river. Then, there's the slide that wraps around in loops several times, and that one is a slow one. Not super fast, but still fun to go down on. That one you don't use a tube at all. My little girl and I went down that slide more than a dozen times! Right next to that one is the super fast, green slide of terror, as I call it! You don't use a tube on that one either. It's not for everyone! It feels like you freefall for several feet before making a huge splash at the end. I went down once; once was enough for me!

There's a pool area with several basketballs floating in the water and I saw two hoops outside the pool, right on the edge. Right next to that there is a fun area with giant, floating lily pads and a rope net hanging above, for children to balance and jump across. We then ate a large pizza with Gatorade. I noticed that they do serve beer,so bonus on that for next time!

My kids and I loved this place. I spent only $24 to get into this place with my kids. We spent 5.5 hours there that day and had a blast! I ordered the largest pizza they had and their prize was $17.99. Pizza was delicious!

I want to mention that for $24, my kiddos and I played for 5.5 hours in a very clean indoor water park with fun slides, fun play areas, food and drinks, nice seating areas, free towels to dry with, I saw 5 to 6 lifeguards constantly walking and checking their assigned areas. They seemed to be on a rotation schedule. After so many minutes they would all rotate among the different sections of the park. It was nice to see that they staffed the park with lifeguards all around. They have a small gift shop, also.

Overall, it was a great day at Chaos Water Park! My kiddos and I had fun, got exercise, ate yummy pizza, and then it was home to crash into bed! What a great day it was and my kiddos can't wait...

I honestly would give it no stars but that's not an option. Where should we start. The water was so dirty it was cloudy white. The water slides were so dirty there was hair in all the drains and they were so dirty on the sides, like buildup. The floors were recently repainted but it was a horrible choice of paint. People were slipping left and right. I saw countless adults slipping while walking, kids every few seconds falling. Two of them flat on their back next to me. Also my own son almost fell about 5 times holding my hand till right before we left he fell flat on his back and smacked his head on the cement. Surprising they had ice packs left. The locker rooms I can't even describe well enough how filthy they were. There were dirty towels everywhere on the floor, the clean towel racks had nothing but used towels on it from when we first got there till we changed to leave. My wife says the women's restroom was dirty as well for the same reasons including used feminine products on the floor the entire day! No one has checked or cleaned for at least 3 hours. The length of time we were there. From what I can tell there wasn't nearly enough staff to keep up with the amount of people in the building. They either need to hire more workers or have a limit on the number of people allowed in the park. I guess that one star can be good for the food in the Action City part of the resort. Needless to say we got our money back...