Toddlerhood can be such a hard age to navigate. Your child desperately wants to be independent but let’s face it, they still need a lot of guidance.
It can be especially hard when deciding where to vacation with a toddler. Many amusement parks and waterparks are geared towards older kids.
So where the heck are you supposed to take your toddler when you want to escape for a while?
Are there toddler friendly indoor waterparks?
Yes, but some more-so than others.
When choosing an indoor waterpark you’re obviously going to choose one near you. If you live in Michigan, Indiana, or Ohio and you’re asking yourself “are there any fun waterparks near me to bring a toddler?” these are two to consider!
Great Wolfe Lodge Vs Soaring Eagle Waterpark
Great Wolf Lodge
There are many Great Wolfe Lodge locations. The ones closest to me, that I have visited, are in Traverse City, Michigan and the other is in Sandusky, Ohio.
I visited the Michigan location many years ago, before I became a mom. I don’t have a personal experience here as a parent but I did research the waterpark again recently and from the images and my memory it had some toddler friendly areas but was mainly geared towards older kids (4-10+).
In October 2021 we made a trip with my then 15 month old to the Ohio Great Wolf Lodge location because it was closer than the Traverse City location and I hadn’t heard of other indoor waterparks in Michigan (at least not any that personal friends or family had visited).
Even though we went during the week, and early in the month of October, it was very busy. They were having a month long Halloween celebration which drew in crowds. A waitress at one of the nearby restaurants we visited mentioned that the waterpark is ALWAYS busy though…
I don’t love a crowd. Especially in a waterpark with a 1 year old who, obviously, is not very water savvy.
The Waterpark dissapointed for a Toddler Mom
This waterpark had a very small toddler area. One slide that had a bridge-like staircase, and it was wide. Wide enough for older kids to shove my 1 year old to the side. I ended up climbing up behind her blocking the other kids (yup, I was that mom) and my husband met her at the bottom.
There were some fountains the sprang up from the floor, BUT they were right at the slide entrance. The one area that could have been safe for my toddler to enjoy was right in a high traffic area. How disappointing, she really loved these but it was very stressful with older kids barreling through to go up the slide.
On the other side of the slide was a somewhat shallow area with dumping buckets and tall pouring sprinklers, but it was still so deep that she couldn’t reach without going under. Since she was 1 years old and way under the 30 pound minimum for the puddle jumpers provided by Great Wolf Lodge she was wearing a Great Wolfe Lodge provided life jacket – which did not keep her upright when the water was so high on her.
There were other smaller slides but they were so crowded and on the opposite side of the waterpark. Why would the smaller slides be so far from the toddler area? We didn’t even bother.
There is a very large water fort (with a very large dumping bucket). Great for older kids, not at all practical for a toddler.
Overall this was a very stressful mini-vacation for mom and dad. My toddler still had a great time, but for us the crowds and lack of toddler friendly areas made it extremely overwhelming.
What we did like
The standard room is very large. It even had a fireplace (not safe for a toddler though – sharp edges, nothing to prevent her from touching the hot glass, and there was a ledge she would not stay off!) and separate seating area. Not separated by a door, but at least by a half wall.
This helped when putting my toddler down for naps and bedtime (in the pack-n-play we brought) since she couldn’t see us.
The arcade was a nice size and had some games that my toddler enjoyed playing, even if she wasn’t understanding the concept. It also entertained mom and dad for a while.
There was also a Build-A-Bear Workshop. We did not go in since we had just purchased one on or last vacation in August, but it was a nice additional feature for a children’s waterpark and hotel.
The free wolf ears! How dang cute!? Each family member gets a free pair of wolf ear headbands. You could purchase fancier ones in the gift shop as well.
Excitement for older kids
- Large Waterpark
- Water basketball area
- Very large water fort with many bridges, fountains, slides, etc.
- Floating agility course
- Large Slides
- Lazy river
- Mining area
- Gift Shop
- Story Time
- Activities based on season or holiday
- Small ball bowling alley
- Magi-quest activities (basically a treasure hunt throughout the hotel)
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Serious safety issue
One safety issue that I want to point out.
The main entrance up to the second floor is an open dual stair case. Completely open stair cases. No door, no gate, no barricade, nothing.
In seconds your toddler could be tumbling down those VERY steep stairs.
In my opinion a gate at each entrance, at least at the top of the stairs, should be added.
Something else to consider
Those fun-for-older-kids Magi-quest activities means that there will likely be kids running and screaming up and down the hallways at all hours. The noise level was very high. Not just during the day for naps, but when I was putting my daughter down for bed at night.
Soaring Eagle Waterpark & Hotel
For our mini vacation to Soaring Eagle Waterpark & Hotel we visited Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The week of Easter.
I was worried that we would have a repeat of being overcrowded since we were visiting so close to a major holiday.
Thankfully that was not the case.
Thursday and Friday I could easily have counted the number of people in the waterpark. A friend of mine even asked if we had the waterpark to ourselves based on pictures I had shared on Facebook that included very few people besides ourselves.
Saturday was quite a bit busier and I did feel overwhelmed as the crowd grew, but I still felt less overwhelmed than Great Wolf Lodge.
What we loved
The main are of the waterpark was SO toddler friendly. There was no deep water in this area, but plenty of puddles, steering wheels and sprinklers to entertain our little one.
The main fort area included:
- An extremely toddler friendly dual slide was definitely the favorite for my daughter. I went down it quite a few times next to her!
- Two small enclosed slides. These were wide enough that I went down with her on my lap (one arm around her abdomen and the other under her knees so her feet couldn’t catch the side). The first time I let her go down the smallest enclosed slide by herself but she wound up face down when she came out the bottom. She was wearing a lifejacket at this time, and I wonder if the constriction of that made it harder for her to stay sitting upright.
- Tall and short sprinklers
- A small overhead dump bucket
- A very large overhead dump bucket (this one made me very nervous but we were able to avoid her being under it at the wrong time the whole trip).
- Wheels to turn
- Floor fountains
- Built in water guns to aim below the fort
Additionally, there was also a slide that was separate from the fort (but in the main area and right next to it) that did not have water going down it / at the bottom, but it ended on a little splash pad near a sprinkler. Great for little ones that needed a confidence boost or that may have been afraid of the water slides.
The lazy river had a bit of pressure to it – my toddler didn’t care to be in the blow up innertubes but liked when we held her hands and walked through it with her (she had her puddle jumper on).
We found this puddle jumper on Amazon – it’s advertised for children 22-66 pounds. It was very hard to find a puddle jumper for children under 30 pounds. This was still a bit big on her (she weighs close to 27 lbs) and I absolutely would not have let her out of reach but the shoulder straps were a nice added safety feature. We saw multiple kids with this exact one!
There was a rather large hot tub that had a bench surrounding the entire interior, great for toddlers to walk along and keep busy while you enjoy some heat.
The pool area had benches as well for your toddler to walk along, or for adults to sit on. It also included a basketball area, a whirlpool and the floating agility area. Even with all of these activities I did not feel crowded.
There was also a separate traditional hotel pool and hot tub area which was not busy and could have been a nice retreat from the waterpark while still enjoying the water.
Don’t forget to buy one of these waterproof cases for your phone! I was so happy to have it to protect my phone while I took pictures. I even had my phone submerged in the pool, hot tub, and lazy river with no leaks!
Excitement for older kids
- There is a small arcade area. During our stay the games were FREE to play (temporarily and probably because it was so new and they were still adding more games).
- Two large water slides
- The basketball hoops
- Floating agility course
- Whirlpool
- Rock climbing wall over water
- Surfing
Less exciting in comparison to Great Wolf Lodge
The room was smaller – but still a really reasonable size.
The gift shop was very small, but there was a pretty nice snack area.
The restaurant was not impressive at Soaring Eagle. We only had 1 breakfast there and decided not to go back, but there are many restaurants nearby.
To be fair we did not eat at the main restaurant at Great Wolf but did enjoy the Dunkin’ Donuts shop and there were more food options overall.
The toddler friendly waterpark winner?
Soaring Eagle Waterpark!
Overall we enjoyed our stay at Soaring Eagle Waterpark and Hotel far more than Great Wolf Lodge. The two biggest reasons we would choose Soaring Eagle Waterpark over Great Wolf Lodge are:
1.) Our daughter’s age
2.) The large crowds at Great Wolf Lodge.
Maybe a few years down the road, when my daughter is 5-7 we might consider Great Wolf Lodge again, but definitely not any time soon.
Have you visited either of these parks? Would you consider them for a future family vacation?
I adore this post! This is really great to think about these things and thank you to helping inform parents where to take their toddlers that will be safe and enjoyable!
Yes, unfortunately the toddler age can be hard to find safe and enjoyable activities – thank you for reading!
Very well written and definitely a great help to parents. Thank you!
Thank you for visiting the site and taking the time to comment!
We have a few families that are deciding between the same two that you were at.
So we haven’t decided yet because not everyone has read this comparison yet.
But this gives us a lot of information on each. We live about the same distance from each.
3 hours from Muskegon. Thanks for taking the time to do this report. It will certainly help in
making our decision. Did you talk about costs of the hotel rooms? I can’t remember.