| Page 2 of 2 < |
Massanutten Makes a Splash
It's always summer at Massanutten Resort's indoor water park, which is good when the winter sports are limited to the man-made snow on the tubing park, left, and some lower downhill runs.
(Water Park Photos By Serena Hepner)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
The resort has a manic devotion to Things to Do, and the place was abuzz even without the draw of snow: Golfers played in the bright sun; a line of tourist-bearing horses filed out of the handsome stables; the basketball courts and indoor pools were uniformly busy. There's an elaborate go-cart track, tennis courts and hiking trails, miniature golf and a catalogue of classes and tours that runs to more than 125 events a week. (Stained-glass lessons, anyone? Wine seminar? Couples' massage?)
But the undisputed headliner of this show is the whacking great water park a mile or so down the main road (there are no shuttles at Massanutten, so expect to be in your car a good deal). The outdoor slides and pool are closed, but the opaque white roof of the indoor facility looms like a glowing timber-frame pyramid. Three stories of arcades, eateries and gift shops overlook the main hall, where splashes and shouts fill the vast, hangar-like space.
The centerpiece is a kind of mountainous waterworks calliope that climbs to the rafters as the kids climb on it, sliding down the chutes, aiming industrial water guns and dumping buckets on one another. Every few minutes, a tank the size of a cement truck tips over, dousing the ecstatic crowd with thousands of gallons of slightly salty water.
A fast-paced wave machine creates a perfect eternal breaker for one surfer or boogie-boarder at a time. There's a commodious indoor-outdoor hot tub; an enchanting frog pond for the littlest pre-swimmers; and a selection of towering extreme waterslides, some pitch dark, some large enough for three-person rafts.
Winding through it all is a wavy river where tubers float serenely through the hubbub.
It's enough to keep water lovers happy for hours, which is good since the admission is an eye-popping $38 a day per person. (Children younger than 2 are free, and those shorter than 42 inches get in for $26. But according to pediatric growth charts, most kids hit 42 inches by the time they're 7, so you can expect to pay full freight on, say, second-graders and above.)
You can leave and return as often as you like, although the two on-site restaurants, the coffee bar and, thank heaven, the full-service bar may keep you going all day. Last week, with the "winter" temps nearing 60 and the golfers going around in their shirt sleeves, the water park was nearly at capacity.
"We're delighted with it," Grandstaff said. "But I really would like for it to snow."
