Small but nice water parks?

Have you ever been to a water park that isn't that big but has a good variety of slides?

I went to Thunder Island in Fulton NY last sumnmer and thought it was awesome. It's only 40 minutes from my house so next summer, when I have a car, I'd like to work there.

Here's some pics:

http://thunder-island.com/thunder_island_photo_album.htm

It's a pretty cool place. They have miniature golf, go kart track, ferris wheel, a small lazy river, and 4 water slides, including Thunder Rush, a proslide toilet bowl.

Are there any other places like this?

well the only water park i ever been too was Sand Castle. Right down the street from Kennywood. It's really small, but it does the trick. Here's the website

http://sandcastlewaterpark.com/ *** Edited 6/11/2005 3:12:49 PM UTC by PGH_Steeler***

I remember going to the water park in Rapid City. I loved it. They had alot of different water slides. I don't have a website so. I might do some looking around to find one.

http://themeparks.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.rushmorewaterslide.com/

Then also, Evans Plunge. It is really cool. Its a hot springs. http://themeparks.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.evansplunge.com

Its cool because the water is naturally heated. *** Edited 6/11/2005 3:25:50 PM UTC by Corkscrewy***

http://www.splashdowndunes.com best water park for what you get. :)

http://www.magicwaterswaterpark.com/default.asp

One of the nicest waterparks I have been to. It is also pretty small, but overs a great selection of attractions including a wave pool, lazy river, family water treehouse with tipping bucket, kiddie area, 2 dark tube slides, 2 open air tube slide, 3 body slide, and the Spashblaster water coaster.

It is well worth the admission price!

I actually had an amazing time at both MiAdv and Oceans of Fun. MiA's is small, but has a great variety.

OoF was much larger and I like how they put the standard water rides between the regular park (WoF) and the water park. And not to sound too old, I also love the adult only pool and chill area. I had one of the most fun and relaxing days at OoF.

Cheap airfare and CP season passes just called us to travel to KC last year. This year it's a weekend trip to KW for $29 o/w. But I'd be truly happy to go back to WoF/OoF again (but they need more coasters 1st). But the water park is truly nice and not overly crowded. And the people in KC are really nice too (which help make the park even better).

There is a nice one that they built in Mississippi at the Pearl River Resort a few years back, Geyser Falls. The place gets so crowded on Saturdays that they have to shut the gates! Very nicely themed park with a nice vaiey of slides.

www.geyserfalls.com

~josh

West Palm Beach - The Rapids.... I think its still there.

Big Surf in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. It was a very fun park, I loved it.

www.bigsurfwaterpark.com *** Edited 6/12/2005 1:46:54 AM UTC by Physix***

The new Gulf Islands Waterpark in Gulfport Mississippi looks small but nice. But they charge the price of a BIG (Very big) waterpark. Unfortunately they have not opened yet (I think) because of complications with the city water lines. Hopefully that can be fixed and they can open soon because we're supposed to be in store for some fairly hot weather in the Gulf South region.

The Family Kingdom at MB has a very nice water park across from the amusment park section. The only seaside waterpark in Myrtle. It has a nice selection, been going since before it was part of the Family Kingdom. Since it's first year, actually. And it has grown quite a bit. Not a bad price. It is located on top of a Building, none the less.

DelGrosso's has a small but very nice waterpark. It has a water play area compleate with a tipping bucket, and Two slide towers. One slide tower includes Two racing belly-mat slides. The other tower has Three innertube slides-One with a small uphill (non-Master Blaster) section at the end, One that is wide and straight, and One that is enclosed in darkness.

A few years ago when the waterpark side was announced, the park said that it was only One of Three fazes, and that one of the next Two was to include a Master Blaster.

The waterpark is very clean, modern, well priced, and has friendly employees. It does really well, and is always busy but not so busy that it's not fun.

http://www.pioneerwaterland.com/

It has free mini-golf with admission. YES!

Camel Beach in Tannersville, Pa. It is not huge, but its pretty big, and has just about every water attraction. I like it a lot. They usually do not have huge lines, either.

^That's what the video on the website says. They poll some people and they claim the average wait is 10 minutes or less. It's a shame that the park is so darn far away. As much as I'd like to ride their toilet-bowl slides (since I believe they are the closest to Maryland), I can't justify making a Kennywood-length trip to visit a waterpark.

As far as small waterparks go, I'm interested to see what this Adventure Park USA FEC near Frederick adds in the their second phase, as the first phase contains no waterslides. So far according to their website, they ain't open yet, but I'm going to check on that right now. If it's anything eleborate, it'll be a good place for people to stop by on their way to/from Kennywood since it's right near I-70,

I like the Raging Waters waterparks at the ends of Morey's Pier and Mariner's Landing in Wildwood. Very small (they're at the beach ends of the piers) but they have quite a few slides and amazing "beach" atmosphere. Plus the slides are intertwined with a lot of other things.

Golfland-Sunsplash in Roseville CA (just outside of Sacramento), was a true find in the smaller waterpark arena. It has 4 very fun slides, 2 open and 2 enclosed. In addition it has one of those half-pipes, throw in 3, count 'em 3, progressive proslide bowl slides, the requisite kid area, lazy river, and wave pool (with multiple programs). and top it off with a true-blue Master Blaster water coaster!

Doesn't sound small, but it is. Everything but the river, kid's area, and wave pool is accessed by one main tower, with slides criss-crossing over each other in a spaghetti-bowl style. from the road, it doesn't look like it has as much to offer as it does. It is the most compact slide complex I've yet to see.

In the summer, they offer night sessions from 730-1100pm for way cheap. That's when I went. It's busy during the day, but "Nightslides", as they call it, is not very busy at all. Here's the link:
http://roseville.golfland.com/attractions.aspx

Splahdown Dunes, isn't exactly a good park...its not that clean of a park, when I was there it was really dirty, and I keep hearing the same complaints from everyone I know that goes there.

My Favorite little waterpark is Deep River Waterpark, they just completed a $13 million dollar expansion, which included a multi use entrance plazza, that in the winter will be able to be frozen for ice skating. They also built, a new action river, with many water features, and the worlds first dueling double bowl ride. Also a really neat playstructure from Koala Playgroup. The new action river, has adjustable flow pumps, that will allow us to increase the speed of the river, making whitewater, so that in the fall kayacking will be avaible.

www.deepriverwaterpark.com

Lake Lanier Islands is about ten minutes from my house in Buford, GA. It's pretty good but not as good as Whitewater. It has about 8 slides, a wave pool, kids area, and a beach since its right along Lake Lanier.

The Beach Waterpark in Cincy right across from PKI. Haven't been there in a few years, but I enjoyed it then... I think its getting kinda pricey though...

http://www.thebeachwaterpark.com