Massanutten Indoor WaterPark — Attraction in Elkton

I arrived before the water park section was open, so I shopped in the Gift Store, peeked at the Arcade, and then got some food later in the day. Low on photos at the moment, but I be able to add soon.

The warm water area where you can swim indoors and outdoors is one of my favorite areas. When you walk up the stairs to the larger water slides, The green Country Cooler slide is the slowest and even that one is a little fast for me personally, but it's not too bad once you relax and look up and enjoy the motion. The drop is the part I don't like.

The lazy river is nice to ride on but the water is cold now instead of warm, so I am not a fan of the sprinkles that you have no choice but to go through/under. But the rest of it is nice.

I like that they have an area for small children, so that parents can help their kids on little slides and do tiny activities to help them get acquainted with being in the water.

The surf area looks impressive and hard to do, but surprisingly it really isn't too bad! All you have to do it follow what the helpers tell you, and you can figure out things and learn. I would advise you to try it. The scariest part for me was having to jump down onto the water instead of slide. But they explained how to put your arms on the wave board that they provide and that keeps you balanced. The right and left sides have areas where if you want to just slide down and get off just to get a small mini experience with it, you can. They have a stoplight that lets you know when your turn is up and the next person can go.

There is a 18+ hot tub that's very hot that can be found off the lazy river or if you walk around behind the play area in the middle.

The middle play area with the large water bucket has three slides: blue (tallest, longest and fastest of the 3 main kids slides and you have to cross a rope floor on foot so if you have sensitive feet--a pair of water shoes might come in handy here), green (shortest, and easier to get to (same direction as the blue slide, but you get to the green one first), and the orange slide (which is in between the slower green and faster blue in pace/speed, height, and duration. If you go the shorter route to the orange slide there is a rope floor, however you can go around a longer route to avoid the rope floor and save your feet if you would like to. There is a someone at the bottom who can electronically push a button to communicate with the employee at the top of the water slide to inform the individual waiting to go down the slide if it is safe to begin riding down yet or not. There is a light that turns from to green. It is red when a person is on the slide and green when the person leaves the slide from the bottom and there is confirmation that the previous rider has left the water and is safely on the ground, so there will not be a collision with the following person.

There are also a couple of slides--on the side of the main play area in the middle--to go down that are shorter: a red one and a green one. The red one is shorter, slower and more smaller-kid friendly and the green one is of course faster and taller. You might want to hold your back up a little bit on this one because otherwise you have to watch out for splashing under the water and getting water in your face and nose. Just cautionary. It happened to me! :)

The food area is a decent size and they have kiosks where you can order your food so you don't have to stand in line as long, but make sure you have your receipt number because sometimes technology is not our friend. If a machine runs out of paper, and you order food, you might have to say (for example): my order number is 500B and I only ordered a 20oz ginger ale, but the check-out kiosk did not print a receipt. Just something to be aware of the possibilities because this was my experience when I asked if they had received my order, but we figured it out.

The restaurant has soft pretzels (very salty-which can be good if you need electrolytes!) and they also have mustard and other burger-style condiments. The fries are...

Fun for a five year old. We were still a little chilly in there on this first day of January. Played for four hours before we were done. The arcade is great. Everything is overpriced but that was expected. Many things could use improvement (like the slippery, painted walkways, worn netting on climbing structure, water temperature being cold, and wet bathroom floors) but overall we enjoyed the experience. The staff is top notch and the life guards are hard workers who are serious about their roles. They had excellent staff to patron ratios in all areas. Almost no wait for anything.

Parking: Flat paved parking lot. Short walk to entrance. Can easily go in and out once you have your wristband on.

Restrooms: 2nd level next to arcade is dry and clean, 1st level is the big restroom for Waterpark that is wet all the time on the floor but clean. There are private stall changing rooms in Men/Womens with a semi-private shower area, and two large stall Family changing areas adjacent to lockers.

Lockers: old school key bracelet and expensive. I opted to use a waterproof phone case with a card and ID to carry along rather than rent a locker.

Chairs: There are numerous chairs inside in rows so you can put a bag on a chair to claim it. I recommend placing your towel over everything so people don't drip onto your dry stuff and to help you see your chair later. You probably won't be sitting in a chair there if you are with kids anyway. There are tables to eat at near the snack bar. If you need a few chairs together, arrive before opening or at least within a few minutes of opening.

Snack Shack: decent food, use kiosk over by windows if paying by card for faster service. Use tables to eat at. There are treats, ICEEs, cupcakes and dippin dots along with burgers, sandwiches, chicken strips, hot dogs, fries, and Doritos "walking" tacos.

Winter indoor Rides: basically three youth/adult tube slides and two body slides, three mid-size child size body slides, four small young child size slides, Lazy river using tubes (singles, doubles, and some doubles with one bottom for a small child to sit in), all ages hot tub, adult only hot tub, an all ages play structure and small swimming pool area with seat ledge. The boogie board surf area is an extra cost that we did not do.

Probably best for ages 4+. I think a younger child would have been freezing and not able to enjoy the slides quite yet. Youth over age 12 might even be too bored with the few taller slides available in the winter months. So ideally ages 4-12 would most likely enjoy the Waterpark. As a forty something year old adult, I primarily enjoyed the tube slides and lazy river. The hot tubs were packed. In general, the park did not feel so overcrowded so they did well being at capacity and sold out on the day we had reserved - Jan 1st, it's just people warming up in hot tubs and poor design where not many can use them at once. Definitely plan ahead by several days during December and January. The longest ride line was still under twenty minutes.

Tidbit: This is the smallest Waterpark I've ever visited. It was my first time going here. I plan to go again in summer to get a broader experience when it's all open.

Everything everywhere says not to bring in food (but no one checked my stuff today). Bring an empty cup to fill with water to drink from the water fountains. Life jackets are free and available without issues.

There are fast food restaurants within 25-30 minutes of the park to have before/after if...

In comparing Massanutten with another indoor waterpark, here are some pros and cons

Cons:

-The waterpark claims it's 85 degrees year round, but in both of the times we have gone - once on a cold day, and once on a warmer day - the water has been quite cool. For an adult, maybe this is fine, but my kids are always shivering after a few slides and want to spend the rest of their time in the overly crowded warm pool. By the end of the day, that warm pool is pretty gross. Great Wolf (GW) was also pretty cold, and the one we went to didn't have any warm pools or hot tubs. There isn't any hot water in the shower area! After spending several hours shivering, my kids really were looking forward to a hot shower. Nope. It was cold. And you had to keep pushing a button to make the water spray. There's a huge fan blowing in the shower area to keep things dry, but the combo of cold kids, cold water, and a fan blowing cold air on you is not a pleasant experience. The showers are public and open whereas the changing rooms are private. At GW the showers are hot and the changing room is part of the private shower. We have been twice, about 1.5yrs apart.. The first time, we were charged the full 42" and over rate even though one of my kids was just under. They didn't even measure, just told us they could tell she was 42". We went along with it bc we didn't want her to be the only person in our family not able to go down the slides, but still kinda suss. GW has different height requirements for different slides. If you're staying at the lodge or in one of the townhomes, you still have to pay the full rate for the water park. Compared with GW in which the park admission is included to include the day you arrive and the day you leave and where you can easily find deals for under $150/nt

Pros: Nice to have a warm pool for kids and adults and a hot pool for adults only. Not all GW lodges have this. Smaller and not as loud or crowded as GW, which I consider a good thing. day pass is less expensive than GW (if you don't stay at the lodge in which case it's included with your stay) and there are discounts for weekday and military waterpark is in a standalone building so it's pretty easy to get in and out instead of walking thru a massive resort maze like at GW. This could also be a con if you're staying at Massanutten resort and don't feel like driving to another building. If you are 42" or over you can slide down all the slides. At GW, some slides require you to he taller. At night the park was virtually empty and there was barely any wait for the slides

Food is equally overpriced at both Massanutten and GW, but that's to be expected.

Overall, we enjoy going to both Massanutten and GW for different reasons and to experience different features. Definitely purchase tickets in advance or you'll pay more...