Minnesota Water Park Resorts: Bath Your Kids in Water Pool this Winter

The simple fun of a playful getaway is a great break during the school year, and a time to enjoy some quality family time with sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, or grandchildren. A real winter treat for the kids in your life is a hotel stay with lots of pool time.

Just because it’s winter, it doesn’t mean that you can’t go for a dip. A real winter treat for the kids in your life is a hotel stay with lots of pool time, topped off with some action in the game room and a pizza. Several Minnesota indoor water parks add to the fun.

Among Minnesota’s indoor water playgrounds is the safari-themed Great Serengeti Water Park at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Owatonna. Kids get a kick out of the Kilimanjaro tube slide and the Python body slide, and guests of all ages enjoy the tube float under the waterfall. Giraffes, elephants and monkeys peer through the trees. To see more animals, check out the displays of African and North American animals at nearby Cabela’s Outfitters.

In the northwest corner of the state, the Thief River Falls Seven Clans Casino Hotel’s  indoor water park has four large water slides and three starter slides for the little kids. A wading pool, water basketball hoops, shooting geysers and floating water toys round out the fun.

The elegant 1899 Milwaukee Road train depot in downtown Minneapolis has been reborn as a hotel, event and entertainment complex. A centerpiece of The Depot is an indoor water park linking a Courtyard by Marriott hotel with the Residence Inn. A three-story, 185-foot water slide drops riders into one of four pools. In the center of one of them is a model of a full-size steam engine that kids can climb on and slide out the front of the train into the water.

Another Twin Cities area option is the Tropics Indoor Water Park at the suburban Shoreview Community Center.

In Brainerd, the Comfort Suites/Rapid River Lodge also has a water park, with a 250-foot tube slide, a 150-foot body slide and a lazy river with waterfall and rapids for tubing. The kiddy pool has a tree fort, as well as slides for the smaller kids. Adults who get to come along with the kids enjoy the indoor-outdoor whirlpool.

Grand View Lodge, in Nisswa, also has a water slide, connecting swimming pools with a walk-in entry, fountains and water jets. The Best Western Holland House hotel in Detroit Lakes has a 133-foot slide and the Quality Inn in St. Cloud also has a giant water slide and separate kiddy pool.