Everybody Out of the Water!
Click over to the Six Flags Great Escape Lodge & Indoor Waterpark Web site and you'll get a headline promising "365 Days of Summer!" Not quite. In a change to its always-open policy, the Lake George, New York attraction will be open weekends only through the fall and into the winter. Folks will still be able to ride the Boogie Bear surfing simulator and other attractions at the Great Escape Lodge on weekdays during school vacations and holidays, however. (Correction: According to The Great Escape, the hotel and indoor water park will be open select weekdays through the end of the year and is scheduled to be open daily in 2009.) It's a trend that appears to be gaining some traction.
The largest chain of indoor water park resorts, Great Wolf Lodge, has kept its Wisconsin Dells and Sandusky, Ohio water parks closed most mid-week days in November and will be closed December 2, 3, 9, and 10 as well. (The hotels, restaurants, and the rest of the resorts will be open those days.) "We're not having any economic difficulties," assures Scott Maupin, GM of the Dells GWL. "We're just looking for ways to operate efficiently during a time that of year that's always had slow demand." Considering the labor and water costs--not to mention the heating costs to maintain a balmy 84 degrees in the cavernous parks--the closures make sense.
Still, the whole concept of indoor water parks is that there is no off-season. They offer year-round water park fun, even if the weather outside is frightful. Might more resorts close their indoor water parks on weekdays during the slower fall and winter periods? Have you visited indoor water park resorts between November and February? Would you be upset if you tried to plan a vacation and discovered that an indoor water park resort would be closed during your preferred days? Click on "Comments" below to respond.
Photo: Arthur Levine. Licensed to About.com.
Comments
I wouldn’t travel to a waterpark or anyplace else - especially in the offseason - without checking the attraction’s times first. Even Disneyland was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays during its early years.
We were at Wilderness resort a year ago end of October & beginning of November. It has 3 waterparks but the Klondike was closed durning the week & the other 2 had had shorter hours. Klondike was closed due to renovations not economy & I knew ahead of time since I had checked waterpark hours before we left. We were bummed because Klondike has the lazy river & that’s about the only water feature my mom will do. My cousin visited this same resort this year in September & experienced the same situation only with the Wild West waterpark being closed for renovations. Seems off season is the renovation season at this resort.
Becky offers some wise advice: Check with the resort before you make your reservations to determine operating hours, closed attractions, etc.