Lord knows, Washington’s Beltway can often (always?) seem like a jungle with warring pols at each other’s throats. Next year, the red and blue reps will be able to cool off by taking a plunge down a water slide at the Kalahari Resorts’ newest location in Spotsylvania, Virginia. The chain of African-themed, family-friendly resorts features enormous indoor water parks along with a myriad of other ways to have fun. The D.C.-area Kalahari will include a 175,000-square foot indoor water park along with a 90,000-sqaure-foot indoor theme park and an outdoor water park. When it opens in November 2026, the $900-million, 135-acre resort will also offer 907 hotel rooms, many of which will be suites, as well as a huge convention and function space.
The company hasn’t released too many details about the park it is building in Virginia other than that it would include a large wave pool, a surfing simulator, and a zone in which young children will be able to frolic. However, I’ve been to Kalahari’s locations in Wisconsin Dells, Sandusky, Ohio, and the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania (there is also a resort in Round Rock, Texas), and I’ve got a good sense of what is likely on the way. When I say the indoor water parks are humongous, that doesn’t begin to describe them. Imagine a cavernous space that’s bigger than most big-box stores, but considerably taller. Then imagine it crammed with virtually every kind of water slide and attraction found at large, outdoor water parks.
In addition to what will likely be a FlowRider surfing experience, I expect guests at the Virginia park will be able to get soaked aboard an uphill water coaster, a funnel ride, a family raft ride, a bowl slide, a lazy river, a speed slide with a trap-door launch chamber, a multi-lane, mat racing slide, an interactive play zone with a tipping bucket, and a boatload of other ways to get wet. I’m also guessing the indoor water park will offer a large indoor-to-outdoor whirlpool spa that will allow guests to venture outside, even when the wintertime temperatures in Virginia drop well below freezing. One of the coolest (pun intended) experiences I ever had was when I meandered outdoors and chilled in the Kalahari’s luxuriously warm, bubbling spa under the Pocono Mountains’ night sky as light snow was falling. Ahh!
What makes indoor water parks unique and especially enticing to folks living in cooler climates is that they can don a bathing suit year round and go barreling down slides in a climate-controlled environment. In warmer weather however, guests at the Virginia resort will also be able to enjoy the slides, pool, and other attractions at the resort’s more conventional outdoor water park. At 10 acres, the outdoor park should boast a fair amount of attractions in its own right.
Most indoor water parks include arcades. But Kalahari takes it to the next level. As at its other locations, the D.C.-area resort will include Tom Foolery’s, an indoor theme park. Sure, there will be video games and redemption games–the company says there will be a whopping 250 token-takers–but the company also revealed that there would be bowling, laser tag, mini golf, a ropes course, a climbing structure, and a zip line. Using the other resorts as a guide, the park will likely include a few flat rides as well. (The Wisconsin location even offers a small roller coaster.) So in addition to racing down slides in the dead of winter, folks will probably be able to enjoy some amusement park thrills as well.
At 150,000 square feet, the Kalahari’s convention and meeting facility will be able to welcome large groups and host major functions. The company seems to have hit on a winning formula. Its huge indoor water parks are a unique amenity that make the resorts an attractive place for companies and organizations to host events. Attendees surely feel compelled to bring their families, thereby filling the hotel’s rooms.
And the resort’s restaurants. Guests at the newest Kalahari will be able to chow down at the chain’s signature eatery, Double Cut Steak House. For a hotel restaurant, I was especially impressed with the food and dining experience at the Pennsylvania location’s Double Cut. Likewise, the Virginia resort will offer Sortino’s Italian Kitchen, another Kalahari staple that served appetizing fare during my stay in the Poconos. Rounding out the full-service restaurants will be B-Lux Grill & Bar, which will feature burgers and shakes, and the Tex-Mex-focused Cinco Niños.
The first Kalahari Resort opened in 2000 in Wisconsin Dells, the self-described water park capital of the world. The company was founded by and remains under the ownership and operation of Todd Nelson and his family. The indoor water park phenomenon first took hold in the Midwest vacation town, and the Kalahari shares the stage with other mega-sized indoor water parks, such as the Wilderness Resort, the Chula Vista, and Great Wolf Lodge.
The Nelson’s original Wisconsin Dells property is undergoing an $85-million expansion that will add 75,000 square feet to the existing 125,000-square-foot indoor water park. The addition will be glass enclosed and include a retractable roof that can be opened during warmer weather. The Kalahari will introduce new attractions including raft slides, a spa pool, a kiddie slide pool, and an adult swim-up bar.
Have you been to a Kalahari Resort? How about other indoor water park resorts?