Kalahari coming to Sandusky

I got a new Ohio travel magazine, and I had no idea I would end up seeing an ad for Kalahari Indoor Waterpark Resort opening in May, (one other exists, most of you know, in Wisconsin.). But I never knew anything about it, and we were just in Sandusky this past weekend at Great Wolf Lodge.

I did searches here at CB to see if anything came up about Kalahari coming to Sandusky, and nothing came up, but an article from '02 about waterparks in general. Did anybody know about this, or am I the only person again?

The website says it's "indoor" waterpark will be 80,000 sq. feet, (Castaway Bay's is 38,000), and the outdoor park is 125,000. This thing is going to be immense! Plus 596 rooms! It's located on Milan Rd./Rt. 250 just past Rt. 2

http://www.kalahariresort.com

If there has been something about this in the past, I appologize...but it was news to me!

This is old, old news to us.

How Old? Granted, I don't visit CB every day of the week, but I never knew about it!

I think that this was the first mention of it on here. http://www.coasterbuzz.com/2003-106-189288.htm

The waterparks of the Wisconsin Dells are really awesome, It seems a new indoor water park gets built every other year. With Ohio getting one, that makes it cool as heck. Living in Wisconsin, you can obvisiouly see why that an indoor waterpark is a great idea. Ohio gets cold as a witch's t*ttie in the winter, so an indoor waterpark is awesome.

As far as being old news, it's not that old as some posts. I read a post from a while back that announced Big Cheif changeing it's name and stuff to Mt. Olypmus Theme Park. The post was about 1 year to late. WOW! *** Edited 1/21/2005 12:42:12 AM UTC by cyber_demon***

I checked the date of the article Pale Rider dug up, and I was a newbie to CB back then, explains why I didn't know. Thanks though for the info. Can't wait! I love Great Wolf, this and Castaway will be awesome!

I welcome Kalahari to Northern Ohio, because it seems to be a good-sized indoor park. Castaway Bay just seems too small of an indoor waterpark. I've been going to Splash Lagoon in Erie for the past 2 winters, which was 77,000 sq.ft. originally and has grown some in the past year (park is less than 2 years old), and also has 4 hotels involved, for now, totalling 366 rooms. SL has 7 big waterslides, besides all the other offerings, and also allows 'daypass' guests if the park isn't too crowded, and you have your choice of staying at 4 hotels. On top of this, you get some great deals on food in the waterpark and down the street.

...Christmas Holiday 2005....Kalahari OR Splash Lagoon :)

The new Kalahari in Sandusky is going to have a launched water slide coaster called a zip coaster. This is probably old news too, but I have not seen it here yet.

It's been under construction since last March or so. Y'all probably drove past it on the way to Cedar Point. :-P

I did:).

I may have to squeeze an indoor park into some part of 2005...They seem like all the rage now (yay).

Great Bear Lodge - 271 Rooms
Kalahari Resort - 596 Rooms
Castaway Bay - 237 Rooms

Can the Sandusky market truly support 1104 rooms? They seem to be counting on the "if you build it they will come" business model. To me it seems that a majority of the rooms will be left unoccupied for a majority of the year.

But then again I could be proved wrong.

Josh

Aren't all 3 of those owned by separate companies? If they are, it doesn't seem as much of an "If you build it they will come" philosophy as it is trying to compete in a market within a small space.

Plus, let's not forget how much of the white stuff is on the ground. There may be a lot of people wanting a pseudo-tropical escape to a water park.

As for the summer, CP is a huge draw, and if you're (like me) not interested in the extra charge Soak City, it might be worth a couple bucks to get the waterpark in my hotel. I imagine families will like this.. drive/shuttle to the amusement park one day, and then the next stay at "home" and do the waterpark instead of having to venture out and get lobster-red sunburn.

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it might be worth a couple bucks to get the waterpark in my hotel

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These hotels are much more expensive than one without an indoor waterpark. A visit to a waterpark of that size is only $15-$20. Castaway Bay charges between $200-$362 per night + tax and gratuities. Subtraction will help to to figure out how much you are paying for the hotel room.

I do not believe that these properties will do all that well after they all get built unless they compete with each other by lowering their prices a little. When you add in all of the pre-existing high end properties, how many $200-$400 hotel rooms can sandusky sustain?

These new hotels look very nice, by the way.

yes, but how much do you spend in gas to drive to CP, parking, sun tan lotion, etc. not to mention the value of your time in driving/waiting in lines?

For the economical guests, true, it's not a good value, but from the standpoint of the we're-on-vacation family, I think it makes sense. Especially in the winter.

They already do compete! We were able to stay at Great Wolf because of lowering od room rates + an online coupon for $100 off per night. Because of our schedule we were only able to stay for one night, but because of lower than usual room rates, and that coupon, we still saved over a $100 even after tax and gratuities. Castaway was competing equally with similar online coupons, but by the time we got to them they were completely sold out for the night we needed.

There is room in Sandusky for these "three", but anybody else who would think about building there should think twice. In Sandusky, to me, three is good, four would be overkill!

This just came to me, but to compete with Kalahari on the indoor/outdoor waterpark idea, do you think CP might think about working out a pass for Castaway Bay visitors to get admission to Soak City for free? Just a thought.

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dannerman said:
Aren't all 3 of those owned by separate companies?

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They are. Cedar Fair, everyone knows. Great Wolf Resorts actually went public last month -- and their next three announced resorts will be much larger than the original Dells location or the one in Sandusky.

Kalahari isn't public as far as I know but it's following in Wolf's exact footsteps (Dells first, Sandusky second).

Personally I think Surrounding Areas at CP are still stuck in the 70's (most of those who have been there know what I mean.) The area surrounding CP needs DESPERATELY updated BAD.

Only with in the last 5 years (maybe even two) have we really seen this update start to happen. The outlet mall went shooting down, the Sandusky Mall was really starting to come crashing down according to some people who work at Bath and Body Works and Claire's in there. Anywhow, not they built, The Great Bear/Wolf Lodge, Best Buy, (and quite a few other things now.) The place REALLY needs something to do in the Winter Time to keep that area running. Because as most know the place use to be a desert in the Winter...for obvious reasons. There are quite a few establishments that could now GREATLY bennefeit off of all the indoor waterparks and people up there now...and going to be up there. I'm assuming with in the next 15 years will see the place start to thrive again...and I might actually be saying let's go up to Sandusky in the Winter for a weekend of fun.

Some things I would think that would help out immensely are some NICE dinner shows (wouldn't happen until they are guaranteed all year around business probably.) Or maybe an indoor ski/sled riding park! Sandusky is way to flat for people to ski or sled riding...and Heck, Japan loves their's ;)

Kalahari... this just occured to me...

...that's a kind of food the Chinese eat, which is basically another name for squid.
(something I got tricked into eating)

...if we have Kalahari as a name of a hotel/waterpark now... I wonder if someone will soon be naming a ride or hotel "escargot" or "caviar" sometimes in the future.

...gives ya something to ponder about! :)

Wrong! It's the name of an African desert. Calamari is squid, and the name is Italian (rooted in Latin).

No one would come to Sandusky to ski indoors. Even the small ski areas around Cleveland, about an hour from Sandusky, are WAY better than a indoor ski hill about the size of a large mogul! Why people in Japan like a place like that is beyond me.