Over 355,000 Monthly Readers
IN FOCUS FOR PEOPLE Over 50
  • Home
  • Health
  • Money
  • Travel
  • Arts
  • Cover Stories
  • Housing
  • From the Publisher
  • Contact us
  • Silver Pages Dir.
  1. Home
  2. Travel

Travel

SEARCH Travel

Join the kids in this waterpark adventure

  • Share
PRINT
By Fyllis Hochman
Posted on April 01, 2016

“You want me to get on that and go down to where?” I cried from high atop the Alberta Falls waterslide, looking down to an alleged pool that was well out of visual range. My 11-year-old granddaughter nodded with a look of both consternation and resignation that I tried very hard to take in stride.

Such was my introduction to a vast array of unusual children’s activities that mesmerized the 70-year-old kid in me as much as they did Dalya, 14, and Mollie, 11, as we frolicked through the indoor waterpark at Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, Va.

There is so much going on at the waterpark that I didn’t know where to look first. The pool basketball game, the lazy river, the wave pool, the kiddie pool, the four-story interactive treehouse with a section of ascending inter-connected rope tunnels leading to two winding slides, and, of course, the three waterslides that dominate the park and stretch both inside and outside the building. (The outside waterpark area opens in late Spring.)

And everywhere the smiles were as wide as the lazy river was long. No matter what the activity, you’re never too far from a potential dousing from overhead buckets both large and small, eliciting cries of surprise from bathers of every age.

Once our skins unpruned, we were ready for more land-based adventures — and there were as many of those as there were waterpark options.

The piece de resistance is the MagiQuest — a hard-to-describe adventure that takes kids throughout all four floors of the hotel as they seek magical powers, potions and portents (all enabled by their magic wand) to satisfy the demands of the Questmaster, a Merlin-like presence ensconced in a computer inside a tree. You don’t dare not follow his instructions!

There are multiple quests, with multiple clues to each quest, that require you to visit the Enchanted Forest, Tangled Woods, Piney Path and Whispery Woods, all located throughout the hotel.

“The Ancient Book of Wisdom,” which you get when you sign up for MagiQuest, directs you to the clues. It’s a good thing I was with Dalya and Mollie: I never could have figured out what to do!

And the list of the things we didn’t do was almost as long as those we did. We did not go to the Scoops Kid’s Spa, where the nail polish for mini-manicures all come with ice cream flavor names, the pedicures are done while seated in giant banana-split thrones, the facials, bath balms and scrubs are either vanilla, chocolate or strawberry, and the glitter make-up application comes with a tiara.

We didn’t try the life-size time challenge game, where you race both against the clock and your opponents to push out balloon-size blinking light buttons. We didn’t bowl at Ten Paw Alley with five pound balls and bumpers along the pint-size lanes. We didn’t attend any of the several 4D-movies offered at the Howly Wood Theater.

We could have spent a week there and never gotten bored, but hey, Williamsburg and Busch Gardens beckoned, and I reluctantly followed.

Room rates vary widely, depending on the date chosen and room style. There are also numerous special discounts that vary by date.

In mid-April, the least expensive room is $259 a night on weekdays and $429 on weekends without discounts. All rooms include passes to the waterpark. For more information about Great Wolf Lodge, visit www.greatwolf.com/Williamsburg or call 1-800-551-9653.

Travel 2025

  • February
  • March
  • May
  • June

#Travel Tips

2024
Travel Archive

2025 Seniors' Resource Guide

CLICK HERE

to view the 2025 Montgomery County Seniors' Resource Guide.

Silver PagesDirectory

FIND WHAT YOU NEED, FAST.

This comprehensive, searchable directory covers
housing, homecare, elder law and financial planning

CommunityEvents

A CALENDAR JUST FOR YOU

Find fun, interesting, informative things to do.
Or post your upcoming event!

2025 Beacon 50+Expo

SAVE THE DATES!

Sept. 28th - Silver Spring Civic Building
& Oct. 5th - Springfield Town Center.

Silver PagesDirectory

FIND WHAT YOU NEED, FAST.

This comprehensive, searchable directory covers housing, homecare, elder law and financial planning

Submit PrintClassifieds

ALL PRINT CLASSIFIEDS ARE SUBMITTED ONLINE

Click here to submit your classifieds for one of our upcoming print editions.

CommunityEvents

A CALENDAR JUST FOR YOU

Find fun, interesting, informative things to do. Or post your upcoming event!

About the Beacon

Over 50 or love someone who is? Then consider the Beacon your resource for trustworthy information on health, money, technology and travel topics, as well as entertaining features, arts and events.

The Beacon’s award-winning content covers health, financial, technology, housing, travel and arts topics, as well as local events and feature stories. Readers of our three print editions pick up more than 179,000 copies each month at more than 2,000 distribution sites. We also mail copies to subscribers throughout the United States.

Contact Us

THE BEACON NEWSPAPERS

PO Box 2227  •  Silver Spring, MD 20915

WASHINGTON, DC

TEL: 301-949-9766  •  FAX: 301-949-8966

HOWARD COUNTY & BALTIMORE, MD

TEL: 410-248-9101  •  FAX: 301-949-8966

More on our Website

  • About
  • Advertise with us
  • Staff
  • Resource Guide
  • Awards
  • The 50+Expos
  • Recipes
  • Puzzles
  • Community Events
  • Privacy Policy
Contact us Classified Form Subscription Form