Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark

Fort Rapids has been ordered to close as of 2÷29÷16 by Columbus Police. Police said bed bugs, cockroaches, air quality, improper food handling, repairs without permits and numerous fire code violations are all included in the violation history of the waterpark. There have also been reports of guests being sickened from the fumes in the waterpark.
Keep yourself and your family safe; DO NOT GO HERE!

DISGUSTING! Roaches & smells SOOOOO BAD. I got a bacterial infection from the water and have been on medicine for 6 months. That’s how bad it is. STAY AWAY!!!

I’m giving this place 4 stars, partly because I didn’t think it was nearly as bad as some of the reviews here might lead you to believe (there ARE too many negative review to convince me to stay @ the hotel!!), AND because IN SPITE of its shortcomings, it HELPED chase my mid-​winter «it’s tooooooo cold to do ANYTHING» blues away!
Got a Groupon; it was a so-​so savings ($ 49.00 for two, about a $ 10 savings off the $ 29.95 ea. charge without it). I thought it was a tiny bit cheesy that they charged us the $ 2.86 tax (?!?) not covered by the Groupon, but it is what it is… We expected there to be limited/​overpriced food choices, so we grabbed a bite on our way over there (about 45min-​hr. from Spfld.) so we just had to find the locker rooms. Ladies’ room/​locker room was clean (enough), but cramped/​poorly designed, should have more than one machine to pay. Mr. M&P said the men’s room locker machine was broken/​not accepting credit cards, then proceeded to eat his cash, BOO!!! Next time (if there is one) I’d leave valuables in the car and only take in essentials, like towels and keys…
The attractions here are fine, pretty standard for older kids/​adults: slides, lazy river, activity pool w/​basketball hoops and some sort of lily pond rope obstacle, and a hot tub with a WELL-​ENFORCED 18+ policy. The kids’ attractions are GREAT (the younger me would have lost my mind here and wanted to come back every week!!) and there are plenty of attractions for babies-​small/​med. kids. Life guards seemed attentive, for the most part, and there was a feeling of good supervision in all areas.
Obviously, this is a special occasion kind of place, and you can’t expect to leave here without spending a bundle, esp. if you eat here, which… Naaaaaaaah! If you come here with some kind of «tropical paradise» expectations (whyyyyy?!?) you’ll be disappointed, but if you want to chase away the winter doldrums and awake that inner kid hidden deeeeeeep down inside of you that’s just itching to get out, give this place a shot!!!

Not bad except they charge you for everything. Early check in there’s a charge. Late check out there’s a charge.
The prices for the food un the patk are high. The price for rhe buffet is outrageous. You can a pizza from donatos.
The amount of chlorine I know is necessary but oh my god. My eyes were burning after a few minutes, there is no way I could stay for more than a couple of hours.
The slides are fun for kids of all ages, even the racers. If I hadn’t have hurt my foot before coming it would have bedn more fun. I tweeked my foot on the racers, so I went straight to the adult only hot tub.
It is a little run down, the fridge in the room had a big rust spot. The door to the parking lot was missing the end cap for the bar to open the door. The tiny trash by the door leading to the parking lot was full and the smoking butt receptacle was laying on the ground.

Went there for New Years 2016 with three children under 10.
Bottom line: the kids really liked it — but the hotel is in disrepair and populated by either incompetent or incapable employees/​management.
Service issues:
Check in took about 30 – 45 minutes as a line of hotel guests queued around the entire lobby for the 4pm check in time. Three people at the front desk and one employee pre-​registering who he could made the process slow and awkward. This was a glimpse of how things were going to be…
On the whole, it seems as though there were entirely too few employees to service the guests — especially on a holiday when they knew it was going to be busy. More disturbing was the indifference and general poor execution of staff level jobs. The bar/​dining room area was staffed by three people who were completely and utterly overwhelmed by a half full dining room. We sat patiently for over 20 minutes before flagging down a flustered waitress to take our order only to be told it will probably be 45 minutes until we get served. Flabbergasted by this we joined the (literally) 4 other tables out of the dining room and to our cars to find dinner elsewhere in Columbus.
I witnessed an employee at the waterpark door basically rip the towel off a 7 year old girl because park towels were not permitted outside the water park, leaving the child’s mother in disbelieving outrage. The employees response: «I know she’s cold, but if I let her take it to the room, I’ll be in trouble».
The lifeguards seemed vigilant enough and there really weren’t any instances when I was worried for my children’s wellbeing — but my kids are older, good swimmers, and me and my wife were with them at all times.
There were more examples but you get the idea…
Hotel:
Other reviews I’ve read are accurate. Suffice is to say: the accommodations are not 5 star. The rooms are very badly worn, dirty, and without amenities. The whole place was dirty — elevators and hallways littered with post New Year’s Eve paraphernalia well into the next day. Further evidence that this operation is understaffed; in this instance house keeping.
The waterpark, lobby and arcade were good. The best parts of the hotel. The events they had planned for the kids for New Years were just fine — kind of like a cheap cruise ship. If you look at it as a «serviceable» room where you can hit the waterpark at your convenience (during open hours) you’ll be ok. It’s too bad, though, because it could probably be much nicer and me and my family might actually consider returning.
Advice to management:
Put some money into renovations — your hotel is a dive. Hire additional and more capable staff — might want to increase the average age of your staff from high school to college age. You have a university with 40k+ students just miles away — I’m sure you could find a number of capable candidates looking for extra cash who will take ownership and pride in their work. This will improve service issues.

Fort Rapids has all the characteristics of window dressing without inventory. You walk through the front door, and the lobby is filled with a bouncy castle, a bright Christmas tree, and even a couple of hula hoop performers. That’s where the ruse ends. As soon as you move into the main area of the hotel, there are immediate signs of wear, tear, and a generally sub-​par cleaning crew-​but I’ll get back to that in a moment.
We went directly to the water park because our room wasn’t available until four in the afternoon. Inside the men’s locker room, there was paper taped over the credit card slot indicating that it didn’t work. I walked back to the lobby, where I had to pay almost four dollars to pull out cash for the locker that I needed. Then the machine didn’t take cash, either. I had to track down someone in management in order to purchase a locker rental. The entire process took nearly twenty minutes, and ended up taking half an hour after a female employee just walked right up into the locker room without warning to help another customer. I stood there for ten minutes while she walked him through it, waiting for her to leave so that I could change my clothes.
The vast majority of the employees at Fort Rapids appear to be high school or college kids who are not happy to be employed there. There was only one guard at the top of the stairs, monitoring the customer flow into at least seven water slides. The wait took forever because his coworkers downstairs weren’t paying any attention to him.
After getting my kids past the miserable cold of the water being used in the main child play area, we went to the hot tub, which was off limits to kids, even if they were escorted by adults. Eventually, the chlorine was so strong that my vision became cloudy and I had to get out. I went upstairs and decided to make a cup of coffee. This is when I realized that Fort Rapids is a dive motel trying to pass as a hotel.
I went to look for the fitness room on my way upstairs, and was informed that it was «under maintenance.» That was the first significant disappointment. Getting into the elevator, I noticed the dirty, worn walls in the elevator hall, and the chipping brown paint that covered its doors. I stayed on the 8^th floor, and as soon as my elevator doors opened, I was greeted with the sulfur-​stink of open sewer. It permeated the entire hallway, which also had dirty walls, old, musty carpets, and chipped paint. It could be possible that all of these were the result of the apparent gigantic fart that Fort Rapids had decided to trap on my floor, but who knows.
I went to get into my room, and the door didn’t work-​like, mechanically, not electronically. I eventually figured out that if I jimmied it up instead of down just right, it would open. The room smelled like it had been a smoking room for years, but had recently been turned into a non-​smoking room. The toilet bowl was dirty, the lid to the coffee pot was missing, and when I opened the coffee maker to brew myself a hot drink, I was greeted with a used, wet, musty coffee bag. I’m pretty sure that housekeeping didn’t replace our sheets, either-​they looked wrinkly, like the beds had just been remade instead of given a fresh set of linen. I’m guessing they just said «to hell with it» when they pretended to clean our room before we got there.
There were two huge groups of obnoxious people on our floor at either end of the hallway. I counted at least six in each room, which I’m pretty sure is over legal capacity. Their kids ran up and down the hall, banging on peoples’ doors past midnight, screaming all night long, and blowing kazoos or some instrument that produces a similar level of discontent and misery when done at two in the morning. Hotel security did nothing until I got dressed and walked downstairs in person at two-​thirty in the morning in order to impress upon them just how crappy things were on floor eight because of the rooms they had over-​packed, evidently with horrible parents and annoying kids.
My wife, our kids, and our in-​laws woke up exhausted and miserable, having all gotten about 20 minutes of real sleep during the night.
Oh yes-​and the food is insanely overpriced. Two big, stale pretzels for my kids with a little bit of cheese sauce ran me seven dollars. We fed ten at a local restaurant for about a hundred dollars. One of the patrons in the elevator with us said he fed five at the buffet for the same price. Fort Rapids is a hustle.
Fort Rapids is so shamelessly focused on making money and providing as minimal an amount of service and respect to its customers as possible, it’s almost comedy. It would be, if the butt of the joke wasn’t the customer. Save your money and your misery and go somewhere else next time you’re in Columbus. Fort Rapids is a bad business, because it wants your money, but it doesn’t want to provide you with a comparable degree of goods and services for what it charges.

We went to Columbus for a track competition for my daughter. The organization set up a block of rooms at this water park. I have been in many large indoor hotel water parks and this one is by far not one that I would ever ever go to again. When we checked in even though there are only just a few people in line it was exceptionally slow. There was a young kid on his phone that was plugged up into a speaker of some sort playing music I guess to set the mood. That is if you happen to like rap and he would only play about half the song and then moved on to the next one like some sort of high school there with OCD. Once we did check in the first thing you smell is chlorine gas. The pool is way way WAY over chlorinated. We did check into our room the first thing you see is a price sheet for alarm clocks, comforter, pillows, blankets, towels. Basically they’re saying if you want to buy our stuff instead of stealing it here is a price list. What a complete and absolute joke. The bathrooms like more water out of the out of the valves and they actually spray out of the shower head, there’s black mold everywhere, there silicone sealant peeling up everywhere, cracked tile, in a big fat 1997 tube television that barely worked. Literally, 1997 was the manufacture date. We went down to the bar and the bartenders were more interested in goofing off on their phones and actually serving the customers. One bartender, even during that big bar rush, took his dinner break ordered wings and sat at the bar and ate his wings while the other bartenders are running around. The water park only had three lifeguards one of which appeared to be a 12 year old kid. The towels were reminiscent of 120 grit sandpaper and I cannot wait to leave this place. The roaches however seem to be enjoying their stay

One star is the minimum OTHERWISE…
Shame on Fort Rapids! Outdated – yes but that wasn’t the issue.
Poor customer service. Absolutely awful! I asked to see a Manager and the young lady helping me never responded – verbally that is! Instead, she began to shift her eyes to the left. Apparently, the woman on her left (who looked RIGHT at me when I asked to see a Manager)…wait for it… WAS the Manager on Duty. Nope, she never bothered to so much as bid me good morning or ask if she could help me. But, THAT wasn’t even the worst of it.
So, how about:
1. BROWN water in the sink and shower.
2. NO COVER on the HVAC unit and SMOKE when you turned it on (Cool or Heat – didn’t matter – SMOKE).
3. DIRTY sheets
4. DIRTY carpet
5. MYSTERIOUS STAINS in the walls
6. FLYING insects (I managed to kill 4)
7. Doors that may or may not lock correctly
8. One light in the room that actually WORKED
I will not even start on the hotel’s clientele except to say that if you value anything that resembles class – this will NOT be a crowd that you will enjoy – AT ALL!
Yes – a truly nasty, disappointing experience. Oh… did I mention that it was so bad that I took a loss and checked into another hotel. At least I could fall asleep without my skin crawling! YUCK.

We stayed at Fort Rapids for one night last Saturday. After seeing the reviews on google and Unilocal,I was hesitant. A few tips… we went with a group, and got a discounted rate, 89 dollars. Check in is at 4, but if you pay $ 35, you can check in early. Although it is a bit of a scam, I recommend it, as you can get into the water park early, and there are far less people in it.
The rooms are old. I saw pics and reviews of terrible rooms, but ours was ok. I believe that if they put some money into the place, and did a refurb of the tower… more people would go… I’m not sure I would go back, but it was ok for one night. The vending machines also were surprisingly not overpriced, $ 1.50 for a bottle of pop… that was nice…

oh boy. i hate giving bad reviews. and honestly the hotel was not THAT bad.
we were in columbus for the columbus marathon, so because i waited so long to book hotel, choices were limited. my bad, right?!
however, the fort rapids indoor waterpark was where we ended up.
kind of dumpy. the doors are not sound proof, kind of cheaply made, which means you can here pretty much everything all night long.
the bathroom door had what looked like water damage all along the bottom of it.
the theme is cute~if you’re looking for a wild west kind of atmosphere… the cow wallpaper in the bathroom was, um… pretty :)
we did not encounter any bed bugs… a plus in my book.
we did not encounter anything that would necessarily make me say, i will NEVER go back… but i think in the future… note to self. plan in advance so you do not miss out on a better hotel…
if you are looking for just a mediocre place to stay, do not mind a lot of people and a lot of noise, then by all means, you have found it!

It’s not that it wasn’t fun! It was! And the kids had a blast. The rooms were disgusting and smelled moldy. We will never go back. The chlorine in the water was way to high and burned your nose as you walk in. The life guards were very rude! The food in the hotel was way to expensive for the type of place it was. It was inexpensive but next time we will save money and go to Great Wolf Lodge.

Amazing place to spend weekends and holidays. Many interesting events to have fun. Also the indoor waterpark and arcade are really great. There are many options to have no matter what you like.

Husband and I decided to stay here while visiting a family member in the hospital. We never had a chance to use the Waterpark and we had to cut our stay short by one day. They offer no «refunds». Meaning that we were charged a night we didn’t stay even when we checked out at the normal hours. Over $ 200 spent on nothing we used. The room was nice, that’s the only reason they get 2 stars.
I feel these matters should be disclosed in advance. If my husband and I knew this we would have just purchased the minimum in order to keep flexible with our schedule.

I stayed there a few weeks ago and I was hoping to hear back from management but obviously they don’t care. The hotel security walked into my room the 2^nd night at 4 am telling me I didn’t pay for the night. I was escorted by security to the front desk and they had figure they had made a mistake and had me listed under 2 different reservations. It wasn’t my fault but yet waken up at 4 am. Asked to speak to a manager the next morning and was told there wasn’t one on Duty. I was very upset over this so I called them and asked to speak to one when I got home and told was out of town. I also emailed them with no response. The overall water park is overcrowded and was pushed though the lazy river. We stayed only in the water park for about an hr. We did love the Columbus zoo and their water park. Not worth the money spend to stay here.

Pros:
Fun for the whole family. Age appropriate water play. Life vests available free of charge. Outside water allowed in. Many life guards.
Cons:
Food is terrible and overpriced. No outside food allowed in. Water has things floating in it, but is NOT murky. Locker room showers don’t get hot, just warm. Overpriced without groupon or special rate.
Review:
I’ve been here twice with my three kids, ages 9, 7, and 5.
Today we went for our second time and it was generally enjoyable. You have to choose a time when its not packed because if you don’t you’ll have a miserable experience. In our case we went at 11:30 on a Thursday, and left at 3:30, when it was starting to get really busy.
There is an area for young kids to the right with small slides and a suitable 2 foot swimming area, fun waterworks and a bridge that leads up to the slide. I’m the center is a huge area for bigger kids (5+) with larger slides, water buckets that dump on you, and fun bridges.
To the far left is a huge staircase that leads up to the slides, where you can choose to go down one of like, 9 slides, I would say. Some are bigger than others.
The lifeguards are all teenagers, but are fairly nice and attentive.
The downside to this place is the food, the cleanliness, and the locker rooms.
The food is expensive and terrible, except the pizza which is still expensive but ok.
The water in the lazy riding pool (at the bottom of the big slides) has stuff floating in it and isn’t crystal clear. There is a lot of chlorine in the water, but then I remember reading it’s probably not the chlorine that stings your eyes, but the amount of pee. This goes with any public water park so I can’t say this place is more so than others.
The locker rooms are dated and the hand soap is too high for kids to reach. The lockers are so expensive to rent ($ 7 for a small and $ 9 for a large).
All in all, it’s an «okay» place that’s a bit overpriced and not totally clean. Just my FYI.

Family of 4 from Maryland came to Ft. Rapids for a few days to visit somewhere we haven’t ever been before as part of our family vacation. We reserved this trip on Groupon and didn’t check any of the reviews before we did. I was reluctant on our way because of all the negative things posted online. However, I am glad we gave this place a chance.
The waterpark was a fun way to spend a few hours in between exploring downtown Columbus. Our kids, ages 12 and 8, had a blast on the slides and water fort. My husband and I enjoyed the big slides and lazy river. It wasn’t too crowded on the two days we visited (Wednesday and Thursday) and we never had to wait long for slides nor were there too many people anywhere. There were two activities closed in the park, one blue slide on the fort and the obstacle course, but it wasn’t a big deal. There were plenty of lifeguards who actually did their job, so I felt safe letting my kids explore a little on their own.
All the games in the arcade were working and they had a great $ 40 ticket card for $ 21 so both kids got a card and we spent a few hours in the arcade.
We ate dinner and breakfast at the Koo seafood buffet and everyone ate plenty and enjoyed the meals. Price was a little high but we received a 10% off coupon as part of the room, which made it a little more affordable.
We stayed in the Wyatt Earp room and it was clean, stocked, and quiet. The bed was comfortable and we could see downtown Columbus from our room!
Two suggestions:
1. Something to dry wet suits after a day at the water park
2. Add some snack bending machines rather than soda machines on every floor
We enjoyed our stay and a few days in Ohio!

This place is insanely crowded, trashy, and loud. Do not bring young children here. The first floor is one loud bar that goes on ALL NIGHT LONG. This place is filled with drunk adults letting their middle schoolers (and younger!) run around acting like little jerks all night.
Water park is so crowded that we literally could not fit in the pool. All of the slides in the kids area were closed off and on. Not enough lifeguards. It was literally miserable. No courtesy children’s floatations devices, which is unsafe. No towels were available.
Customer service is non-​existent. They’re rude. Aside from that they acted like I was crazy for asking if a children’s water park sold diapers. :/​They said… Well there’s a Walmart. Thanks.
Food is severely overpriced. I have no idea why this place is so crowded.
My neighbors are currently having a drunken laugh fest in the next room, with the door to the hall open, while their rude children roam the halls… at 11pm.
STAY AWAY.
Update: 2^nd day, we were made to throw away our bottled water before going to the waterpark. Coooooolllllll.
My favorite part of the stay? That’d have to be when we saw a cockroach in the changing rooms. When we informed the life guard they calmly asked; «How big was it?». Nothing else.

Let me start by saying overall my family (16 of us — 8 adults and 8 kids ranging from 7 months to 12 years) had a great time at Fort Rapids!
Hotel Room — The kids loved our 2 Bryce Canyon Villas! They had a older feel, the bathrooms were dark and could use both extra lighting and a place to hang/​place clothes, but the dryer in the room was really a nice addition after a water park day! A bigger fridge would’ve been nice too. The kids loved the loft bedroom!
Lobby/​hallway/​water park locker rooms and snack food area — were freezing, additional measures need to be built to heat in the winter. Water was cold Friday evening but felt a touch warmer Saturday. We think they were closed all week and it took a long time to warm up.
Restaurants/​food– breakfast buffet was good and it was nice they offer containers to go! But The only restaurant open before 4 on Friday was the Koo Seafood buffet — very little «normal» American food was offered and we ended up having to goto McDonald’s for a late lunch and ordered papa johns pizza for dinner. In addition to that there was always a long line inside the water park (in the freezing air area) and a LONG wait once you placed your order! It took a hour for the lady in front of us to get her pizza (ended up being burnt on top of it) and it took a HOUR for 2 soft pretzels that we ordered! Ridiculous! On top of that the park opened at 10am, the waterpark café didn’t open until after 11, and they searched my bag for outside food.
Food was the worst part of Fort Rapids and why I gave it 3 stars.
The waterpark was smaller then we are used to but VERY clean and the lifeguards were amazing! They really kept a eye on the area they were in charge of and it was a awesome feeling when you have 8 kids there! It was perfect for younger children and even had a couple nice bigger slides for the adults and older kids! We enjoyed the park very much!
The arcade was fun too! They were out of tokens for some of the games which I thought was weird but all the other games were operational, new, and fun! And the ticket to decent prize ratio was better then most! 2000 tickets gave a lot of options, even 700 did!
Overall we really enjoyed our night at Fort Rapids! Just plan on going out to eat or eating in your room.

Underwhelming Experience.
Booked this for our daughter’s 10^th birthday through Groupon. Booked a suite for $ 240, so figured a great deal at half price. Packed up four little girls and visited over MLK weekend.
Got into the lobby and had no problem checking in, except that the «Resort Fee» jumped from $ 7.95 as listed to $ 40. I asked what it was for and they said cleaning and upkeep. I wasn’t expecting it, but they charged it. I figured I’d look into the paperwork later. Turns out it was a $ 32 error, not in my favor of course. I’m disputing it as we speak. Anyway, I figure I’m still at half price and the kids are excited to get to waterparking. Was offered a VIP !!! rate at the buffet at $ 20 per adult and I said I’d eyeball it.
Got to the room, and it was sort of suite like, but not very sweet. I vote the website picture guy the greatest in the world. Seemed sweeter… It was a couple of queen beds and a pull out sofabed. Had a nice microwave, decent sized fridge and a dryer. The whole hotel is in need of a renovation, as everything is dated. I bet it was really cool in 1989, as the mfg date was imprinted in the lampshades.
I haven’t been in a hotel room with a 27″ analog TV in some time, and I don’t miss them. Nice and fuzzy. Had some hope of entertaining the kids by jacking in a dvd player for some late night movies, but hey, these are not even SVIDEO, just R/​L with a yellow plug. Ahh, nostalgic connections in the digital age. The tv remote backs must have been a hot commodity at some point because both of ours were missing, but replaced elegantly with electrical tape. Video game controllers exist, but the system doesn’t work. Wifi is old and not secure. Sent a simple packet test down the line and it was security swiss cheese. All needs modernized.
After paying an additional $ 40 for cleaning and upkeep, I’d say my money, nor our room’s previous guest’s money was not spent on either, or housekeeping has little eye for detail. It wasn’t «Clean», and we acquired a previous guest’s sock. If you’re missing a sock, and you stayed in the Canyon Suites, I tossed it, so let it go…
Every step of the way, my expectations tumbled.
So we’re not here to sit in a room, so we headed down to the waterpark. Its 11 AM on Saturday, and it is super busy. Expect a very thorough bag check for food/​drinks/​whatever, as they are keen to maximize revenue internally. Kids are excited and we cobbled together a table near the back slide run out and turned them loose. The waterpark was clean, and the staff was attentive and they kept the place clean. We played cards for a while then decided to go try out the park.
Thought we’d take a ride around the lazy river or slide, but you need a tube. No tubes were available, and those that had them were guarding them diligently. So we waited by the inlet/​outlet for the river, awaiting anyone that might want to not be in the slides/​river. Stood there like a jerk for 20 minutes looking longingly at those floating around. Finally gave up and went back to cards. By about 1:30 I had to step out of the park, as the chlorine mist was slaughtering my eyes and I was having a hard time breathing. Had to do this several times during the visit. I guess I prefer chlorine to bacteria?
They also had the water playground area shut down for about 90 minutes and it looks like they were diligently scrubbing it down. This created an even greater demand for the tubes, and a bigger chlorine cloud. Anyhow, it finally started to clear out about 5:30 and I got my spin around the river and a few slides.
Talked about dinner and suggested the buffet (VIP!!!). It looks good and they have the whole side open so you can see it through the glass, but the odd thing about the pricing based on height struck me as odd. We have tall skinny 10 & 8 year old girls who are picky and aren’t going to eat seafood. So at a cost of $ 100 VIP !!!, we skipped it. Googled and drove south a mile to Burger King and bought a giant pile of food for $ 25.
Kids hit the arcade after dinner. Played for a few hours. Half the games worked, but it didn’t seem to phase them, and they were still able to burn through any and all cash we had. They were rewarded for all that ticket grabbing chaos with a $ 2 toy that was broken when they got it. Sent them in less than a minute after they got it to get a replacement… Couldn’t give it to the kids, so we had to convince them to do the right thing. a $ 2 Hassle!
Running out of space in this review. Final say? Underwhelming. The waterpark was the main attraction and I barely used it due to tube issues and red-​eye. Kids didn’t want to go back, which spoke volumes. By Sunday afternoon, we were in just under $ 500. Felt like asking for anything was a hassle (pillows), and some jerk tried to charge $.50 for a plastic spoon. No reason to rush back.

Where do I begin. We have been to this place twice before… and loved it. We went for New Years though… and they dropped the ball in too many ways (pun intended). We really talked this place up to our brother and his family and that is why we decided to come here for New Years. It began with check in. Very slow. The guy was cordial, slow as he pecked away on the computer, but more importantly he was unaccommodating. We had gotten there before our companions did and we wanted to go ahead and start swimming before checking into the room (which you can do is one of the appealing things about this place). He said we had to take all of the tickets though, we couldn’t take our two and just leave their tickets (they had two and three kids). This was odd because although we booked the rooms together we had separate rooms. You can’t take everyone’s tickets and then go swim… how would we know that they arrived? Take our phone in the pool?! So we took the tickets, and waited for them to arrive. No biggie. Just started swimming an hour later. We get to the pool, and the kiddie pool is closed… our niece is two so that wasn’t going to work. Thankfully it opened within a couple hours – we think it was kiddie accident. We swam till four and then went to check into our room, we got our bag of goodies too that came with the package for New Years we bought. But our brother and his family’s room wasn’t ready. By this time the check in line was crazy mind you. So we waited. Waited. Finally after five, maybe 5:30 the room was ready, but the bag of goodies was short. Instead of nice New Years hats my brother and family got these cheap dinky hats, and they only got two, for a family of five – which the hotel knew because they got a family cove room with the bunk beds etc to accommodate this many people.
Bummer. They had some festivities lined up for the evening though. Face painting and games and so forth. Pretty cool really. Lots of people wanted the face painting but with only one face painter that didn’t last long – she stopped at seven I believe. They had their ballroom setup with tables and food, had a bar in there, dance floor and dj, and a screen to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Pretty cool actually. Unfortunately the room just wasn’t big enough to accommodate this many people. There weren’t enough tables or even standing room. So that ended up a bummer… we went to our room for the last several hours before New Years. Lest I forget dinner earlier at Koo. $ 25 per person. Ok. We can handle that. For kids they charge per a height range. Our 9 year old niece grew like a been pole and was higher than their height… they wanted to charge us (well, our brother) full price for her! We couldn’t believe it. We told the lady she was clearly nine, with her little baby face. They would not budge on the price for her… so we left and we ate at the bar. The bar actually has a really nice sitting area and tables and comfy chairs. Typical bar food but it was worth saving the money, especially from not giving it to those money hungry Koo people.
So the next day we check out and go swimming. You can swim all day I think. We didn’t. And here’s why. Me and the wife’s plans were to maybe do some slides a couple more times but mostly just lounge around the lazy river for the better part of the day. Our anniversary is on the second and this trip was the only celebration type thing we were doing. So we were going to lounge. WRONG! From the time we got there a little after ten from when we left at two the lazy river was closed. Very upsetting. Said it was maintenance. Didn’t see anyone working on it. People still exited from the slides into it. No idea what that was about. But then lunch time. They have concessions there. Over priced but that’s all part of it, so I get that. After 15 minutes in line the guy says he’s out of burgers and fries. The only other option is pizza or a hot dog. I don’t get it. How do you not order enough food for a hotel with over 300+ rooms on New Years. It was after this we decided just to go. We won’t be back. I think typically the park is run better, but they were in over their heads for this one. Cost us $ 200 for this New Years celebration is the sad part… that’s a lot of money. I don’t recommend it at all. They left such a bad taste in our mouths ruining our little mini vaca that we will not be back anytime of year. I don’t recommend anyone go… ever. Certainly don’t go to Koo… they are just greedy. Greedy, greedy! Charge a 9 year old adult prices. She’s a bean pole at that. Not like she’s a big girl and they might think she would still eat like an adult. I love supporting local businesses and our community. But no more on this one!
Meanwhile…go Bucks!

We were looking for a romantic get-​away. A hotel with a Hot Tub or Jacuzzi in it. But I didn’t know any off hand in Columbus, without breaking the bank.
We actually found our way to their web site through Groupon but, we didn’t want to do multiple night stay, like in the Groupon offer. So we further checked out the site to see if they hot tubs, even though it is essentially it is a Water Park/​Hotel/​Restaurant/​Bar establishment. It appeared they did, but they were common shared shared Water Park area, not the intimate setting we wanted. So we kept looking and found suites that had there own Jacuzzi in private hotel rooms.
((For New Year’s the price for the room was available for half of what it was normally a night $ 400+. Plus they had free activities and food for New Year’s guests. (Keep in mind this is mainly a family friendly establishment. It’s great, if that’s what your looking for.))
The entrance and lobby area. The mats in walk way were not attended to. The lobby is clean, decorated and very large. Plus the Texas western theme is visible everywhere. (It wasn’t in our room.)
Now the room, was clean and good sized for what it was. (Queen sized bed, TV, large dresser. (It even had a small fridge, microwave and small coffee pot.)
Although the room was in great need of more than a few upgrades/​updates.
–More hangers, a few large ones for (heavy) coats and regular sized for clothes.
–Need more outlets, maybe open ones next to the bed or built into the nightstands?
–Update to a newer model of the heater/​air conditioning unit. We couldn’t turn it off, it was loudly running –constantly, either on heat or fan or air conditioning. Unless you are a deep sleeper, it will keep you up, if you want the room warm or cool. The fan option, was chugging loudly on and off constantly.
–Since this is room with the Jacuzzi, it would be nice to have plenty of extra towels for multiple dips in the Jacuzzi.
The Jacuzzi, take a bit to fill up. It can be really hot if you want it to be or not and the jets were great. Just big enough for two people. Plenty of room for one person too.
The shower was very hard to adjust to a conformable warm setting, it was either cold or extremely hot. The shower head is set on «low flow» and I couldn’t get a good lather. I almost used two travel bottle sizes worth, before get a small lather.
The bathroom tub and fixtures need an update/​upgrade.
The bed, was super comfy and warm. It was easy to fall in a deep sleep, which helped since the heater was constantly running loudly. It was looked, and smelled clean. We did find glitter on the pillows.
The front desk and general customer service. Friendly and helpful, but we did notice that they were a bit understaffed. A very visible security staff. Which helped out with staff issues, when that’s not their job because, they are understaffed.
Parking, –plenty of parking. It just needs to have a visible/​clear sign marking where quick parking and regular parking starts and ends.
We didn’t visit the Water Park area, even though they gave us bracelets. You can replace them at the front at the time they expire, make sure you have the originals. We were told at the front desk, that if you loose your originals, you have to buy them at full price.

Ok, I finally caved and we came on a chilly October day. It was awesome. I’ll admit it.
My favorite of the slides are the racers, where you lie down on your belly on a mat. We went down these four times, as there were four of us, and we each wanted a chance to race on every slide. Had to see which was the fastest. All in the name of science, people.
The big black funnel-​like slide is pretty cool, too. Obviously this is the most popular slide, since it was the only one all day that we had to wait in line for. In my opinion, though, all of the tube-​slides are great. I love the rush! And the really throw you off at the bottom. So fun.
The kids had a great time playing hide-​and-​seek in the big area in the middle with the ladders, bridges, and whatnot, while we sat in the hot tub for a bit.
There are a ton of lifeguards on duty, and they seem to do a good job of always moving and making sure there are no blind spots. I would feel pretty confident if I had younger children there with me that there were plenty of eyes on them at all times.
The only complaint I had, really, was that a ton of the games in the arcade were out of order. But they’re a waste of money, anyway.