Massanutten Water Park Review

Our family had the worst case of the winter blues, so I decided it was time for some family travel, time to get away for a mini-vacation. Luckily for us, we live only about 90 minutes from Massanutten, a 4-seasons resort conveniently located in the Shenandoah Valley. One of the main reasons I chose this location is because of the Massanutten Water Park. It’s indoors and I knew my kids would be thrilled to have some water park fun during the dead of winter! Today I wanted to share my Massanutten Water Park review with you.

Massanutten Water Park Overview

The Massanutten Water Park is heated to 84° Fahrenheit. It certainly felt warm and humid as we entered the building! Inside you’ll find a water fortress, inflatable adventures, body slides, pools, lazy river floats, a hot tub, and even a kiddie pool area.

Fun For All Ages

One of the things I wondered about this water park is if all of our children would enjoy it. They range in age from 2-7 currently. I am pleased to say that every single one of them seemed to have a marvelous time! The kiddie pool was a perfect play area for my younger two children (ages just-turned 2 and 3.5). The water in this pool felt slightly warmer than the water in the main play area to which was nice!

Every single one of my kids enjoyed the lazy river floats. They have three float options available — a 2 person float, a 2-person float with one seat closed so a young child can sit in it (this is what we did for my younger 2 children) and also single floats. I could have floated around that pool for hours!

Of course, the massive water fortress was a huge draw for my kids, but especially Jacob (age 5). The older 2 kids enjoyed going down the slides and climbing all over the fortress. This area was a bit intimidating to my younger children, but they still enjoyed walking around the water portion at the bottom.

My oldest daughter, Maggie (age 7) especially enjoyed the small pool where she could just swim. This girl could swim for HOURS and often does so in the summertime when she goes to the pool.

My husband and I agreed that our favorite pool was the “hot tub” pool. The nice thing about this pool is although it was warmer than all of the other water portions, it was still cool enough for all of our kids to get in with us.

What to Pack for the Massanutten Water Park

When you visit the Massanutten Water Park, you’ll want to bring your own towels. Life vests are provided for all ages. If you have a child who is still wearing diapers, you’ll need to bring a swim diaper (I think that’s pretty obvious). Massanutten does have lockers available if needed. I did notice that many people skipped the lockers and just placed their towels and extra clothing on some of the chairs located around the pool area. Of course, you certainly wouldn’t want to leave any valuables lying around!

I initially planned to bring a packed lunch for us until I read that Massanutten does not allow outside food or drinks. However, there are dining options available at the water park for your convenience. You also have the option to leave the water park to eat and then return later, as long as you don’t remove your wristband.

When To Visit the Massanutten Water Park

We visited the Massanutten Water Park on a Friday. We arrived when it opened (12pm noon) and there weren’t many people there at all. When I asked the lady at the front desk if that was typical she told us that, yes, weekdays during the Fall, Winter, and Spring tend to not be too busy, but the weekends and most days during the summer are generally much busier.

We actually stopped by the location on Saturday to visit the arcade and noticed that it was much busier. The pictures above are from a Saturday visit, around noon. I’d estimate that there were at least 10xs as many people there on Saturday compared to the day before.

For that reason, obviously, I’d suggest that you visit the water park on a weekday if at all possible, to avoid the crowds.

Our Massanutten Water Park Review

Our family had a BLAST at the Massanutten Water Park. Not only did our kids enjoy their time there, but everywhere I looked I saw smiling faces. There are so many options for water fun which feels especially nice when it’s 20 degrees outside. Our kids played for hours and wanted to return the following day (unfortunately we had other plans).

One tip I have would be to not get into the hot tub pool until last. After we had been in the hot tub pool, the other pool water felt so much colder and we didn’t want to get back into that water. As a personal preference, I also wish the indoor air had been a little bit warmer. It felt warm before we got wet, but once wet, if you weren’t submerged in the water it felt rather cool.  When we visited the water park, it was only about 20-25 degrees that day, so it’s possible that it was hard for the heating system to keep up.

You do NOT have to stay overnight at Massanutten to take advantage of the Water Park (although if you do want to spend the night, you should check out my Regal Vistas Massanutten review).

Diamond Jim’s Arcade

Located in the same building as the Water Park is Diamond Jim’s Arcade. My kids (like most kids) really enjoy arcades so we stopped in for a little bit of fun before we headed home on our last day at Massanutten.

Important to note is that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays they offer a $10 All-You-Can-Play Special! Since I love saving my family money, on our next trip, we’ll plan to visit the arcade on one of those days for sure!

Our visit was on a Saturday, so although we weren’t able to take advantage of that special, $20 afforded my children the opportunity to play a number of different games. Since they are all young kids, their favorite games to play were a claw-style game where you were guaranteed to win candy (they all came home with a LOT of candy from it) and another claw-style game where players could win large amounts of tickets (25, 50, 100, etc.)

Like most arcades, many of the games reward players with tickets. My kids loved visiting the ticket store on the way out. They each managed to get a fairly good amount of tickets and then bought lots of little prizes that they enjoyed playing with on the car ride home.

Since we live within driving distance of the resort, we definitely plan to make the Massanutten Water Park an annual tradition for our family. It’s a great way to chase away the winter blues! If you still have questions after reading my Massanutten Water Park review, visit the Massanutten website where you can also find hours and ticket prices.