Massanutten Resort opens four-season water park

Over the years many EMU students have enjoyed skiing or snowboarding down Massanutten Ski Resort's slopes; now they can also enjoy tubing down the brand new water slides.

Massanutten has added to their facilities this winter by opening the largest indoor water park on the east coast. The indoor park is 42,000 square feet, has 42,000 square feet of dining facilities and arcade areas, and they plan to open 80,000 more square feet as part of the outdoor water park this spring. The indoor park not only places Massanutten on the cutting edge of a relatively new industry, but combined with the outdoor facilities, also makes them a year round attraction.

The indoor park features a lazy river that circles around a large play area. One can float along the river in a tube while being sprayed down by water cannons and hoses in the area. There are body and tube slides on the one side of the park. A play area is located in the center of the park where one can run across bridges, climb towers, and spray other people with water fighting devices. As Ben Ruth described, "It's great to dump water on little kids going down the slides because they have no idea where its coming from, I could do it all day, but the lifeguards yell at you if you dump too much." There is a body board surfing station in which you can ride a simulated wave for as long as possible. When you are ready to take a break from all the activity, hot tubs are located on both sides of the park that allow you to relax and catch your breath. The outdoor park, opening in summer, will add a wave pool, more slides, and an activity pool with spray jets and other fun activities.

The park does solicit a steep fee, however, $40 per day or $32 for just the evening. Freshmen Jake King and Mitch Yoder who, after some trouble, got into the park for free due to knowing an employee at the park agreed that, "I don't think we would go again if we had to pay the $40, it was fun but I'm glad it was free, if you want to go I suggest you befriend an employee." This suggestion might be easier then one would expect; the park seems to have an abnormally large staff, so large that at times it seems there are more employees then customers. Yoder summed up his water park experience stating that "The park was fun and is pretty big but it would be hard to spend more than four or five hours there without getting bored; there is only so much to do."