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As summer heats up, cool down at one of the country's 20 Best Water Parks

20 BEST WATER PARKS

BY PAM GEORGE

Thirty years ago, water attractions were limited to log flume rides. If you were lucky, the ride ended with a big splash caught on film. Today, water parks do more than just get you soaking wet. They thrill, chill and spill you into churning torrents of water.

1 Sandusky, OH
Soak City

About two hours from Akron-Canton Airport, this 18-acre water park has earned its name. Consider the Splash Zone, a multistoried interactive play area with more than 100 different water gadgets that spray, squirt and drench. There are more than 12 water slides, including the enclosed Eerie Falls and the 76-foot-tall Zoom Flume. Breakers Bay is a half-million-gallon wave pool for bodysurfing. While the kids play in Tadpole Town and Choo-Choo Lagoon, adults can head to the Bubbles Swim-up Bar for adultonly refreshments.
http://soakcity.cedarpoint.com

2 Buena Park, CA
Knott’s Soak City Water Park

Travel 30 miles from LAX to Knott’s Soak City, and it may feel as though you have been sent back in time. This park displays a beach blanket bingo theme reminiscent of the ’50s and ’60s. Highlights include Pacific Spin, a four-person raft ride, and Malibu Run, a four-person inner tube ride through both open and dark flumes. Among the more popular rides, Banzai Falls features six multilane speed slides that start from a 41-foot platform. Shop at the Wipe Out! Surf Shop and grab a bite at Surf Daddy’s Food Hut.
www.knotts.com/soakcity

3 Lake Buena Vista, fl
Blizzard Beach Water Park Walt Disney World

Perhaps only Disney could successfully marry a warmweather water park with a ski resort. “Skiers” on Mt. Gushmore slip down the face of the 90-foot snow-capped mountain or hurtle side by side down the 230-foot-long Downhill Double Dipper slides. The 66-acre park in Orlando also has Teamboat Springs, one of the longest family raft rides and Tobaggan Racer, an eight-lane water slide. There’s even a chair lift, which was converted from ski- to beach-resort use.
www.disneyworld.disney.go.com

4 Great Wolf Lodge, PA
Pocono Mountains

This indoor waterpark, about two hours from Philadelphia, is patterned after Wisconsin’s rustic Northwoods. The 95-acre Pocono property, opened in 2005, is home to the 78,000-square-foot Bear Track Landing, which has 11 water slides and six pools—including a wave pool. Fort MacKenzie is a tree house water fort with a 1,000-gallon tipping bucket. And while the kids are splish-splashing, parents can relax in the resort’s Aveda spa.
www.greatwolfresorts.com

5 Wisconsin Dells, WI
Kalahari Waterpark

Fly into Milwaukee’s airport, and head to 125,000 square feet of indoor space—Kalahari is the largest water park under one roof. You can boogie board on the five-foot waves of the FlowRider or scream with delight on the MasterBlaster, a 570-foot uphill roller coaster-like ride. There is also an outdoor water park.
www.kalahariresort.com

6 Darien Center, NY
Darien Lake Theme Park Resort

Located between Buffalo and Rochester, Darien Lake offers guests two parks for the price of one: Water rides are interspersed between traditional amusement park favorites. The park features the Tornado, where guests leave a 75-foot platform and swirl down a 132-foot-long tunnel. The Big Kahuna, which also starts 75 feet up in the air, is a four-person “extreme” tubing experience down a 700-foot-long spiral, complete with triple dips. Children can hang out in Hook’s Lagoon, while adults catch rays on lounge chairs surrounding Crocodile Isle.
www.godarienlake.com

7 Wisconsin Dells, WI
Noah’s Ark

There is wet fun for everyone at one of the Midwest’s favorite parks, where water attractions started in 1980 with a mere water slide complex. Located about two hours from Milwaukee it has stayed firmly on the cutting edge with rides such as Time Warp, reported in 2006 as the world’s largest bowl ride, and Black Anaconda, which in 2005 was billed as America’s longest “water coaster.” The Flash Flood ride definitely lives up to its name; boat passengers plunge down a 50-foot hill into a 40-foot splash. Dark Voyage is a 600-foot-long tube ride—in the dark. New this year: a four-dimensional Dive-In Theater, featuring a SpongeBob SquarePants™ 4-D movie.
www.noahsarkwaterpark.com

8 Phoenix, AZ
The Oasis at Pointe South Mountain Resort

Built at a cost of $12.3 million, The Oasis offers six acres of refreshing fun, including a 10,000-square-foot wave pool; two 83-foot high slides; and the 950-feet-long Zuni Active River, a rolling side-by-side “river” for double inner-tubing. Don’t forget about the dramatic 67-foot free-fall slide that stretches out 225 feet. Enjoy all of this along with upscale resort ambiance.
www.pointesouthmtn.com

9 Denver
Elitch Gardens

Elitch Gardens’ Island Kingdom Water Park is the cool place to be on a hot day. Guests can free-fall from the 60-foot-high Acapulco Cliff Dive or slip down the 62-foot Sun Plunge speed slide. To relax, meander down Castaway Creek, a lazy river with geysers, water bubbles and waterfalls. Water rides are free with admission to the amusement park. The newest slide, the Rip Qurl, opens this summer.
www.elitchgardens.com

10 San Dimas, CA
Raging Waters

This park, about 45 miles from LA, was ranked by the Travel Channel as one of the “Best Water Parks in America.” You don’t need dips and curves to test your nerve here. Challenge your coordination and balance on Lily Pad; using overhead ropes, step from pad to pad and try not to fall into the soup. If you’d rather whiteknuckle it, unleash Neptune’s Fury, a 600- foot-long wild ride through a tunnel that ends with a 30-mile-per-hour, 60-foot drop. The Dragon’s Den, a two-person bowl slide, is the newest wave in slide design and technology.
www.ragingwaters.com

11 Tampa
Adventure Island

Adjacent to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Adventure Island delivers 30 acres of water-drenched, sunsoaked fun. The park, which exudes a laidback Key West attitude, blends water experiences with outdoor cafés, sunbathing areas and a championship white-sand volleyball complex. Guests on the Everglides slide down a 72-foot incline before hydroplaning up to 20 yards across the pool’s surface. The six-story Key West Rapids turns, twists and slopes more than 700 feet. And if that’s not enough, hurl down a 210-foot body slide on the Gulf Scream.
www.adventureisland.com

12 Saco, ME
Splashtown USA

This year Splashtown USA, located about 20 minutes from Portland, is opening the 518-footlong Mammoth family raft ride and the seven-story Tornado ride. The two attractions join last season’s hit, Pirate’s Paradise, an area with kiddy slides, water hoses, water cannons, overhead sprinklers and dumping water troughs. The large pirate’s head in the center of the attraction periodically dumps 500 gallons of water on the unsuspecting guests below.
www.funtownsplashtownusa.com

13 Long Island, NY
Splish Splash

Splish Splash’s 1991 debut was remarkable not only for its watery attractions, but also for its environmental attitude—builders worked around former farmland, avoiding the trees. Now spread out over 96 acres, 60 miles east of New York City, the park includes Hollywood Stunt Rider, a ride hosted by an animatronics figure that auditions guests for his latest blockbuster. Between rides, take a break at the Parrots of the Caribbean Tropical Bird Show.
www.splishsplashlongisland.com

14 Marietta, GA
Six Flags White Water

What sets this Six Flags location apart from the rest is the sheer number of attractions in one place and the woodsy setting amid the Georgia pine trees, about 30 miles from downtown Atlanta. The park boasts many of the most thrilling—and familiar—water rides, including Tornado, The Rapids and The 100-Meter Splash, a head-first racing slide. Little Squirt’s Island features fountains, squirt guns and other water toys for children.
www.sixflags.com/whitewater

15 Gurnee, IL
Six Flags Hurricane Harbor

About 45 minutes from Chicago, Hurricane Harbor circulates more than two million gallons of water, half a million of which fills the wave pool. The park’s current claim to fame is the Tornado—more than 5,000 gallons of water pushes guests down a 132-foot tunnel and into a 60-foot wide funnel. To create a tropical setting in the Midwest, the park brought in 1,650 tons of sand and 100 live palm trees.
www.sixflags.com/greatAmerica

16 Denver
Water World

When the slopes are closed, adrenaline junkies head to the Bermuda Triangle, a twisting, turning trio of enclosed body slides with a 60-foot, three-second drop. The park pulls out all the stops with the Disney-esque Voyage to the Center of the Earth, an animated ride that cruises by snarling dinosaurs with jagged teeth.
www.waterworldcolorado.com

17 Orlando
Wet ‘n Wild

Wet ‘n Wild pioneered the water park concept when it opened in 1977,and it hasn’t stopped thrilling crowds since. This spring it will unveil its latest attraction, Brain Wash. Riders will drop 53 vertical feet into a 65-foot domed funnel, where they’ll churn around before threading the needle-nose funnel. The Storm simulates a whirling cyclone, and The Bomb Bay boasts a trapdoor that sends surprised guests down a 76-foot slide.
www.wetnwildorlando.com

18 Williamsburg, VA
Water Country USA

With names like Wild Thang, Hubba-Hubba Highway and Big Daddy Falls, the rides provide clues to this park’s theme: the fabulous 1950s. Hubba-Hubba, which covers 3½ acres, sends guests on a cruise that starts in a 2,000-square-foot lagoon. The tangled tubes of the Peppermint Twist carry guests around a 180-degree curve. Take time out for Island Quest, a 20-minute show featuring divers, acrobats and trampoline artists.
www.watercountryusa.com

19 Irvine, CA
Wild Rivers

Many of Wild Rivers’ rides shoot sliders into free falls over tanks filled with water. The aptly named Bazooka Bowls launches its riders from a four-story platform into a barrel, from which they spin into bowls and then drop 3 feet down into a 9-foot pool. The Patriot, another exciting adventure, starts atop a seven-story tower and ends with a two-story vertical drop. Its located just outside of LA.
www.wildrivers.com

20 Lake Buena Vista, FL
Typhoon Lagoon, Walt Disney World

“Flash flooding” has a new meaning for Disney guests who dare to ride the Crush ‘n’ Gusher, a new water coaster ride in Typhoon Lagoon. Situated in the “remains” of a fruit-exporting plant in the jungle, the plant has become a gushing water flume, spiraling out of control. This park can provide a refreshing way to explore Disney during Orlando’s summer heat.
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com

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