Surfari Joes Indoor wilderness water park — Hotel in Watervliet Township

Staying here tonight and so upset that I am awake writing this review. Drove 2 hours from Dearborn MI to check this place out and boy what a waste of time and money! Stayed at a waterpark for NYE 2015 last year in Sterling Heights and compared to that venue this was a joke! I have three toddlers ages 4, 2 and 1 and an 11 yr old so it was advertised as a fun night with DJ and a good time. No DJ at all or dance floor for the kids unlike the other waterparks, no problem right not worth ruining the night over so I let it go. Well it's 8 pm when we finally get into the water and by 8:30 my 1 and 2 yr old are shaking freezing turning blue. I ask about the water temp I'm told it's 84 degrees um no more like below 70. I even had one of the lifeguards on duty compare the temp from big pool to kiddie pool and she agreed the kiddie pool was chilly and her reasoning behind it was oh there's more bodies in the pool geared towards older crowd and maybe people are urinating in it which keeps it warmer (ew who says that gross) my response was how disgusting why can't u raise the temperature in the kiddie pool that has play area for them to enjoy. Well they don't care they didn't bother to adjust temp instead they said the kiddie section has buckets of water that dumps from the top and they agreed finally that it's colder water. By 9:30 my kids are bored and fussy (the two younger ones) they are cold and crying no towel in sight I go up to the front and get a lame excuse that towels are being laundered ok your having a part why wouldn't you accommodate in advance for enough towels. I asked well until you get towels can I take these two into the hot tub to warm up they are shaking, the life guard sent me to the front desk who isn't turn was rude to me and after making me wait she got a manger who went and got Brad Schmitz the general manager, what an unfriendly and demeaning individual he is and who put him in charge and why, maybe because I was an Asian women and darker in shade then the rest of the guest the guy was a complete jerk, he talked down to me in front of my children, scared them because he was in my face yelling at me telling me the hot tub is 18 and up even thought there were a few kids who were probably 10 or 12 yrs old in there and he told me if I didn't like there hotel rule about the hot tub and I feel my children are having a bad time due to the water temperature being chilly I can leave, like really Brad, is that what you would do if it were you in my shoes who drove across town with family for a New Year's Eve night spent over $300 for a dirty room ( yes the sheets are clean but the room smells and the bath tub is all rusted inside RM 232 it's peeling and I had to bath my kids standing up because I don't trust the floating particles in it) instead of being apologetic or accommodating, even offering my kids some warm towels or even a few tokens for games, Brad decided to make matteres worse by scaring my already shivering kids and making them cry and telling me that I could just go home if the hotel wasn't up to my expectations. Yeah I'm not expecting a refund but it wasn't how I expected to ring in my New Years with my kids. I'm upset because I read the reviews before booking and I thought I made a good selection, I'm not a crazy picky person but yes I expect a clean facility and warm water temperature and polite staff, I'm sorry for asking too much considering you doubled the rate of this room for NYE with false advertisement. My suggestion don't even bother checking this place out at all. My husband did go speak to Brad and of course his tone was a bit different with my husband so maybe he's racist or just doesn't like woman because when my husband asked him why he got in my face all he said in defense was that I embarrassed him by complaining about the facility in front of other guest . Oh I'm so sorry Brad, tonight's stay was all about pleasing you and you having a wonderful time on the clock getting paid to yell and scream at me and make my children cry and tell me to go home if I'm unhappy....

Sadly this has been the lowest grade I have ever given an establishment! We had a horrible experience! To start the website makes this place look and seem so much bigger than it actually is. Saturday my family (myself, husband and 4 boys) were playing and waiting patiently for the slides to open. At 11am the slides were beginning to open and as quick as one was opened they were shut back down due to not enough water! Ok I get it but why was this not checked and taken care of at closing Friday or even before open saturday?? And then it is told to the children they have to wait for a backyard garden hose to fill this to the appropriate level in which this has to fill all the pools with tons of kids already splashing and in and out of the water dragging pounds of water out with them. Then they have ONE life guard on duty until 12pm with roughly 100 people already in there. Not only was he in charge of being lifeguard, but he also had to wash towels, try and get the slides open and God knows what else so was he actually able to do his job of safety properly? ABSOLUTELY not! Then once there was actually more staff there to "play" lifeguard (and yes I put play in quotes because that's exactly what they were doing) they were too busy talking to each other, flirting with the young boys in the building and fanning themselves to actually do their job! They were not there for anyones safety! And yet still this young man is running around doing multiple jobs and still being a better lifeguard than they were and that's saying a lot considering he was not able to do his job well with all the other tasks he was given. Then on to the restaurant, this was another horrible excuse! The ONE lady behind the bar who was supposed to open at 11am told me she couldn't open because they didnt have a cook. When I asked about drinks she told me again I cant open until i have a cook! Really?!?!?!?! Huh ok. Once they finally got a cook around 1230pm (an hour and half late) she got slammed with orders, no help, moved slower than molasses, no computer or cash register so prices were coming up different for each customer! I would like to note I have been in the bar/restaurant/hospitality field for 18 years and I have never seen such disorganized chaos in all my years! This establishment is losing out on a great opportunity to make money simply because they absolutely lack management and structure. Bad attitudes from most of the staff, no sense of care of their position and just downright a disgrace to the hospitality field! We ended up leaving and going to another restaurant twice because we refused to wait, spend our money and time on such horrible service! Then on to our room. We finally give up on the waterpark and choose to stay in our room, order pizza and watch a movie. We no more get settled in and ready to eat pizza when I got zapped by the lamp (literally sparks flew at me) and our power went out in our room! This leaves me to ask 2 simple questions! 1. How in the world is this place still open? 2. Does anyone actually care to run this place properly and hold staff accountable for ANYTHING?? I highly doubt the owner actually cares. It starts at the very top in this line of work and I dont see anything from anyone to say otherwise. Needless to say I will NEVER put my family through this again! I will NEVER recommend this place to anyone ever! And I would rather have a refund and some sort of acknowledgement for the lack of management and disgrace that this place was! Sincerely yours Amanda garrison room 127...

Pros: Hotel is nice. Cons: Water park is disappointing. Overall: Don't make the trip just for the water park.

I was looking for a fun place to take the kids for the weekend that wasn't too far from home and wouldn't cost a ton of money, so when I found Surfari Joe's, I was excited. For $179, I received a one-night stay at the hotel, plus four passes to the water park good for both days of our stay. This sounded like a fantastic deal!

The hotel itself is great - very clean, the staff was friendly, the rooms are spacious and well maintained, and they offer a fantastic (and free!) buffet-style breakfast.

The water park, on the other hand, was a huge disappointment. I was surprised by how small it is. I was also disenchanted by the filthy bathrooms, lack of towels, and life guards who congregated by the doors instead of paying attention to swimmers.

The water in the children's area was freezing. There is also a huge bucket in the children's area that fills up and dumps on you periodically. I think this is a pretty common feature, but it TERRIFIED my boys, who are 5 and 2. It was extremely loud, and even caused me to jump each time it dumped out. As a result, my kids wouldn't go anywhere near that area, and that being the only space for kids, there wasn't much for them to do.

To get to the water slide, you have to walk up several stairs. I did this with my two year old in one arm, and carrying an inner tube in the other. When I got to the top, the life guard informed me that I was using the wrong tube (I had a clear tube and apparently needed a colored one). No one tells you that a specific tube is necessary for the slide, nor is there any signage near the stacks of tubes or at the bottom of the stairs. So I had to walk all the way back down, grab another tube, then walk all the way back up.

I was also surprised that, although the water park doesn't close until 10 p.m., the restaurant inside the park closes at 7:30 p.m. I discovered this after my boys and I decided to grab something to eat around 7:40. I grabbed a menu and as I was reviewing it, someone who works there yelled "Kitchen's closed!" as they walked past us. I'm not really sure why the restaurant would close so early, especially when there are no other dining options inside the hotel. So, we had to go back to our room, dry off, get dressed, and leave the hotel to get something to eat.

When we got back, we decided to try out the arcade. Half of the games didn't work, but weren't labeled as out of order, so they took my money and didn't do anything. We were only able to spend about 10 minutes in there.

Overall, I would say if you're only coming for the water park, don't waste the trip and the money. If you just need a place to stay in Waterveliet, this is a nice option and the water park would be a bonus, but it's definitely not a...