Hold onto endless summer fun and embrace the indoors. No matter the weather, the forecast is warm and dispositions are sunny at our region’s best indoor water parks.
In Northern Virginia:
Claude Moore Recreation Center
The leisure pool at Claude Moore is a local family favorite and is equipped with a giant water slide, children’s water playground that includes a small slide and spray features, vortex, lazy river, hot tub and a free swim area. Dry off and enjoy additional fun. Older kids will love climbing on the indoor rock wall. Bring little ones down the road to the Heritage Farm Museum where they can pretend to be farmers and enjoy hands-on agricultural exhibits and play. / 46105 Loudoun Park Lane, Sterling
Cub Run Recreation Center
Splash for hours at the huge 4,860- square-foot natatorium that boasts an in-water playground, lazy river, several spray features, a vortex and two huge water slides: a 30-foot-high slide that exits and reenters the building in an enclosed tube and a 20-foot-high open-tube slide. Visitors must be 48 inches tall to use the vortex and the waterslides. / 4630 Stonecroft Blvd., Chantilly
Freedom Aquatic and Swim Center
Come play at one of the largest indoor pools in Northern Virginia. The Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center has a great aquatics area that is open to the public each weekend. Visitors will find a vortex, lazy river current channel, many tumble buckets and an open, spiral water slide. / 9100 Freedom Center Blvd., Manassas
Warrenton Aquatic and Recreation Facility
This facility run by the town of Warrenton offers a one-day pass for visitors. The WARF boasts a zero-depth entry kiddie play pool with small slides, waterfalls and sprayers. There is a larger water slide for kids 48 inches and up (or those who pass a swimming test) and a lazy river with a strong, flowing current. Weather permitting, families can head outdoors for more enjoyment. The park area surrounding the WARF features hiking trails, an inline skating rink and skate park and the Claude Moore Fun for All Playground, a large, accessible playground that’s sure to impress any kid. / 800 Waterloo Road, Warrenton
Worth the Trip:
Courtesy of Great Wolf Lodge
Great Wolf Lodge
Bring the family for the ultimate indoor water park getaway. Great Wolf Lodge is packed with world-class indoor water slides to satisfy any thrill-seeker. Visitors can test their balance with surfing; climb through Fort Mackenzie, a multi-story interactive tree house; float in a tube down the lazy river; jump breakers in the wave pool; or just relax in the hot tub. New to Great Wolf this year is slideboarding, the world’s first responsive video game water slide. Using rafts that double as video game controllers, riders score points by touching flashing lights as they zoom down select slides. Besides the water park, Great Wolf Lodge is a resort filled with restaurants, a new outdoor adventure ropes course, mini golf, interactive arcade and fantasy games, bowling, loveable characters and more. / 549 E. Rochambeau Drive, Williamsburg>
Massanutten Indoor Waterpark
You don’t need to be a guest of the resort to experience the massive indoor water park. Slip down the flume on the many tube and body water slides or attempt the Pipeline, a FlowRider that simulates surfing. Massanutten’s indoor water park also includes an indoor water playground structure called Massanutten Meltdown, the Blue Ridge Rapids lazy river, a splash and play area for little ones and relaxing hot springs. Save time by prepurchasing daily tickets online. / 1822 Resort Drive, McGaheysville
(January 2016)
Courtesy of Tiffany Brown, Mamaratzy Photography Micaela Williamson is a coauthor of local travel guide “Kid Trips Northern Virginia,” an extraordinary resource that provides descriptions, useful information and insider tips for hundreds of local destinations. Micaela is also an award-winning blogger who enjoys supporting area businesses and scouting out family-friendly venues with her two young sons.
