During the winter of January 2023, I was pregnant with my third child. Before baby three arrived, we decided to take a babymoon to spend some quality time with my other two children and we visited Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, OH for two nights, which is about a 3.5-4 hour drive from us.

That was our first indoor water park weekend getaway. Winter can be tough with little kids, so it was a perfect little way to break up winter a bit. We decided to do it again the following year and try a new water park, and after another great trip, I can see indoor water park weekend getaways during the winter becoming a tradition for our family.

In this post, I’d like to highlight some of the parks we have visited and compare some when appropriate, share my bucket list of where we’d like to go next and share some tips for visiting.

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What to Pack and Tips

Here are a few things I like to remember to pack:

  • Swim Ear
  • My kids always seemed to gravitate toward Puddle Jumpers. Sidenote, Castaway Bay provides life jackets, but if you want to use a puddle jumper, they may check to see if it’s Coast Guard-approved.
  • Going in and out of the water park, I find it helpful to mostly hang in shoes like Crocs or my favorite Amoji clogs.
  • I like to plan to swim on our last day past our checkout, requiring us to shower in the showers near the pool. So I find it helpful to load all our wet items in a wet dry bag for the way home.
  • In general, I enjoy wearing mostly bummy clothes for the duration of my stay. Here is my favorite shirt that I think is a regular shirt but I wear it as pajamas. I throw on a zip-up hoodie or sweater and I’m good to go. I also love these joggers from Target that I think are technically pajamas but can also pass as regular clothes in my opinion.
  • We like to pack food to eat in the room as much as possible to save some money. I like to pack things like pepperoni rolls, peanut butter balls, trail mix, Uncrustables, juice boxes, apple sauce pouches, fruit, milk and cereal, string cheese, mac & cheese cups, etc. As far as travel, our Yeti Hopper Flip 18 cooler has been our no-fail, in-the-car travel cooler.
  • These places have towels in the rooms and the water parks. So I would probably leave the towels at home unless you prefer a certain beach towel.
  • One thing that has helped us when staying in one room as a family with a baby is trying to create a separate space for the baby. Putting the pack-n-play near the window and draping the curtain over it creates a decent partition. I crank up the sound machine and it’s almost like the baby is in a separate room leading to better sleep for all of us.

Let’s take a closer look at some water parks we have visited.

Great Wolf Lodge – Sandusky, OH

Here are a few notes on our first trip:

  • Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky
  • Kids ages: (4 years, 2 years, 8 months pregnant)
  • My takeaways:
    • rustic lodge-themed hotel and suites – we chose a room with a bunked wolf den and the kids loved it
    • large indoor waterpark with features for all ages (outdoor pool also available in the summer)
    • additional activities – duck pin bowling, arcade, interactive adventure game MagiQuest, Build-A-Bear Workshop, and mining sluice
    • additional free activities – yoga, story time, dance party, bingo, and more
    • complimentary wolf ears (a hit with my kids)
    • variety of dining options – concessions in the water park, grab-and-go food like pizza, ice cream, etc, Dunkin’, bar and restaurant, small market, and more
    • wristbands – easy scan for room entry and purchases

Castaway Bay – Sandusky, OH

  • Castaway Bay – Sandusky, OH
  • Kids ages: (5 years, 3, years, 11 months)
  • My takeaways:
    • beach-themed hotel and suites – we were fine in the cheapest room (two full beds)
    • large indoor waterpark with water features for all ages
    • additional activities – duck pin bowling, arcade, 9-hole black light mini golf
    • additional free activities – karaoke, dance party, yoga/exercise, character appearances, craft room, live performances like steel drum band, etc.
    • complimentary activity book, coloring sheets, crayons, and storybook
    • variety of dining options – concessions in the water park, grab-and-go food like pizza, ice cream, etc, Starbucks, cafe with breakfast buffet, the resort is attached to Quaker Steak and Lube

Comparing Indoor Water Park Resorts

Since we’ve only been to Great Wolf Lodge and Castaway Bay in Sandusky, I’m going to just compare these two. In the event this post comes off the wrong way, let me preface this comparison with my gratitude for taking my kids to indoor water parks in general. This is something growing up my family could never afford. So I don’t take these experiences for granted. I think if you visit either one of these, you will have a great time with your family.

Additionally, I visited these parks when my kids were very little and maybe we would have had a different experience if they were older. Maybe our interests are different than yours too, so this is just our experience.

But having gone to both, I couldn’t help but compare the two, and if I had to choose one to return to, I would prefer to go to Castaway Bay over Great Wolf Lodge. Here’s why:

  • Cost – I don’t have data here and am not referring to my receipts or anything, and maybe I’m overlooking taxes and fees, but after our visit and after a quick look at the comparison of rates for a future stay, Castaway Bay seems less expensive compared to Great Wolf Lodge with, in my opinion, a very similar if not better experience. In our reservation, we added a Family Fun Package which included a pizza, some arcade credits, and some passes for golf and bowling. We were happy with that package.
  • Activities – Perhaps it was when activities were scheduled and/or where they were held, but it felt like in our natural experience walking through the hotel at Castaway Bay, we more easily accessed free activities such as crafts, yoga, karaoke, dance parties, and more. My kids especially loved the digital aquarium on floor three where they colored a fish and the fish they colored was projected onto a screen in an aquarium scene. Walking around the hotel at Great Wolf Lodge felt like we frequently stumbled upon activities that cost money (e.g. MagiQuest, mining sluice, Build-A-Bear, etc.) and had to seek out free activities like dance parties. So just walking through the lobby at Great Wolf, it felt like the kids were constantly begging us to do activities we weren’t willing to pay for which was a little exhausting. At Castaway Bay, it seemed like we only had to have those conversations of what things cost, using the kid’s own money, etc. at the arcade (which we also had to have at Great Wolf’s arcade) instead of the regular walks through the hotel.
  • Water Park
    • Seating – No real accurate data here, but I felt like there was a lot more seating available in the water park at Castaway Bay versus Great Wolf. We visited Castaway Bay on a holiday weekend, but there was a snowstorm in the forecast, so maybe people canceled. But, we had no issue finding a chair to put our stuff on while we swam. At Great Wolf Lodge, we hardly found an available chair and mostly threw our stuff in a hallway.
    • Water Features – The water parks both had very similar features (e.g. baby pools, hot tubs, slides for toddlers to adults, play pools with basketball hoops, and more). But, one way they differed is that Great Wolf Lodge had a lazy river and Castaway Bay had a wave pool. And it just so happens my kids loved the wave pool and didn’t care for the lazy river.
    • Layout – Taking my kids under 5, I just liked the layout of the Castaway Bay water park more so than that at Great Wolf Lodge. For example, Castaway Bay had a baby pool, with slides for toddlers that fed into the baby pool. Whereas the slides for toddlers at Great Wolf were detached from the baby pool and set back further into the water park. I just felt like the attractions for my little kids seemed closer at Castaway Bay making it more conducive to keeping an eye on everyone and actually trying to hang out with my spouse.
  • Noise Level – I think I’m a little sensitive to noise. After we left Great Wolf Lodge, I felt very overstimulated almost to the point of having a headache. It felt like everything was directed back to the main lobby, where it almost felt like people were on top of each other, and it was noisy. There could be a dance party going on, with noises from MagiQuest on top of noises from the bar, etc. Whereas at Castway Bay, things were a little more spread out. A dance party for example didn’t happen in the main lobby, but in a separate area on the third floor. Some things were going on in the main lobby like musical performances, character appearances, etc, but it never felt overly loud which I appreciated.
  • Location – Now that I’ve studying Strong Towns a bit, I’m a little more sensitive to where things are located and how things make me feel. Great Wolf felt like a big hotel in a giant parking lot in an area of sprawled development. Great Wolf seemed to just keep directing us back toward the noisy hotel lobby and didn’t offer as much connection to the outside as Castaway Bay. I appreciated the views of the water from the lobby at Castaway Bay where we enjoyed observing the water freeze during our stay and watching some birds. I even snapped a picture enjoying a relaxing cup of coffee while taking in the views. This was a small part of the trip that felt like a nice little thing for me, instead of the entire stay directed toward the kids.
  • Fitness Center – I appreciated being able to work out in the fitness center during our stay at Castaway Bay. It’s unclear to me if Great Wolf has a fitness center or not. I saw signs for one but it was either closed or no longer there. I know I didn’t get a workout in during our stay at Great Wolf and I did not see a fitness center on the lodge map during my last glance on the website.
  • Lifeguards – I would say the lifeguards were more strict at Castaway Bay which took a little getting used to the rules and all the whistles, but in the end, I appreciated it. Kids under certain heights needed life jackets, but the water park provided them. They checked to see if the puddle jumpers I brought were Coast Guard-approved. I realized one of ours wasn’t so I used one of the life jackets provided instead.
  • Pluses for Great Wolf – Although I would pick Castaway Bay over Great Wolf there were some great things about Great Wolf worth mentioning.
    • Lazy River – My kids liked the wave pool, but I enjoyed the lazy river which Castaway Bay didn’t offer.
    • Outdoor Pool – Although we didn’t access the outdoor pool, I’m sure it would be nice to access it in the summer.
    • Bracelets – I loved the bracelet system that worked for room and entry and purchases. I saved a lot of time not having to pack and search for room keys, cash, and credit cards.

Venturing Off the Resort in Sandusky

As a family who attends church regularly, I always like how going to church when we travel leads us to discover a sort of snapshot of local community life. We could have easily stayed at these resorts having all of our needs met. But, I’m glad we ventured out because we found some neat things.

First, we attended mass at Holy Angels and St Mary’s with the Catholic Churches of Sandusky. Both churches were beautiful and welcoming.

We loved the Sandusky Book Bar, a former YMCA turned book store, bar, and coffee shop.

We enjoyed breakfasts at Sandusky Bay Pancake House and Wake Up and Waffle. Next time, we would love to check out Vita Sandusky.

We love Thai food and since we don’t have a Thai restaurant where we live, we tend to see it out in our travels. Takeout Thai food from Jo Wok was a great choice.

I’d love to think about returning to visit in the summer. The downtown looked cute and walkable and I was digging the revitalization vibes.

Some other things on my radar to explore in Sandusky:

Water Park Bucklist

Here are several other indoor water parks I have on my radar to hopefully visit someday:

Which one should we visit next?

I hope you found this helpful. Leave a comment if you want to share about your indoor water park experience. If you visit a water park, feel free to tag me on Instagram (@adventureswkelly) so I can see your indoor water park adventures!