A couple of weeks ago we made a little trip to Columbus, Ohio for a “mini vacation”. We love going to Columbus and exploring and just leaving the laundry, dishes, yard work, etc behind. This time we spent two night at Fort Rapids and checked out the popular North Market, the completely vegan and fabulous bakery – Pattycake Bakery, and so much more! We had a BLAST!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
As you walk into the lobby of Fort Rapids to check-in (which begins at 4pm), you are greeted by an old west theme and country music (today’s music, not old-timer stuff). There’s nothing too overpowering, the music is loud, but I’m sure it helps drown out any of the waterpark noise. We got there at about 5pm, and I was very surprised to only have to wait a couple of minutes to get our room cards and be on our way. I fully expected a long wait!
There are two options for rooms – a family suite or a tower guest room. We were staying in a family suite room, an Oak Creek Canyon so our walk from the front desk to our room was a good trek. When we left to go out for dinner, we did notice an exit door (with entry permitted with room card!) just down the hall, and were always able to park right by that door. That was perfect for us since we had baby G!
Don’t mind the bags everywhere, but you get the idea of just how BIG our room was. Even with the pack ‘n’ play set up, we had so much room! This is the biggest hotel room we’ve stayed in, and I really wish they all could be so accommodating!
On of the best parts of our suite was the swimsuit dryer! We could come back from the waterpark and just toss them in to be dry for the next time! I HATE HATE HATE trying to put on a still-wet and FREEZING COLD swimsuit, don’t you? We also did our towels and it worked great. I really enjoyed the mini-fridge because we brought back leftovers from dinner and were able to have cold drinks we purchased while we were out. We also kept our cupcake and slice of cake from Pattycake Bakery cold since it was 90 degrees outside.
The bathroom was a decent size. I like the cowhide wallpaper for added Western feel. :) Our room had a sink in the bathroom, and then one next to the bar/fridge/dryer area, so essentially a double-sink situation if one of us needed to use it at the same time.
WATERPARK FUN
I was anxious to explore the waterpark, and anxious to get wet and have fun! We brought our belongings into our room, left to go get dinner, and then came back for some fun. I was prepared for a chaotic mess of screaming and laughing children and was knocked off my feet by the QUIET and almost secluded feel of the waterpark because we must have picked the PERFECT time to be there – very few people! The Kiddie Korral is where we spent our time. It had a zero depth entry, 2 FUN slides, and basketball hoops. B really enjoyed playing water basketball, and once he tried it out a few times, LOVED the slides. Parents are required to keep watch over their children (there are lifeguards there too, who did an excellent job of enforcing the rules while we were there), so when you have a kid who’s a little afraid of the slides what do you do? You go down the slide yourself! The only bad part about the kid’s slides (for the adults) was hitting your butt at the end at the bottom of the pool! There was this slide –
and a ‘racing’ slide (two sides side-by-side). Baby G was too little for the slides, and even the baby swings they had, so he just got held in the water and carried around. That, of course, happened when we was awake. Since the waterpark area is heated, and the water is warm, it was only minutes before Baby G was passed out!
DINING AND MORE
Fort Rapids has several options for dining. Since B has a dairy intolerance we weren’t able to check out the options (we didn’t ask about dairy-free choices), and I had already planned out some Columbus dairy-free spots for us to visit anyway. Having these on-site dining choices is great if your kids are just having too much to even leave the building!
After we had checked-out, we hung around for awhile checking out the other activities, like the arcade. SKEE-BALL! I think I played 20 games of Skee-Ball to rack up the tickets and had a blast! I wish they had some more games geared for small children, but they had a couple that everyone was able to enjoy. It was a great way to end our stay, and B got to pick out a few little trinkets with our 300 tickets!
FINAL THOUGHTS
We had a great room, great service and interactions with staff, and a wonderful time playing in the water. Would we go back? YES! If you’re looking for something in Columbus as you travel through or take a mini-vacation like we did, I recommend Fort Rapids. Clean lobby and rooms, in-room drying machine for swimsuits, on-site dining, and an awesome waterpark? There isn’t too much more to ask for!
Thank you, Fort Rapids, for sponsoring our two night stay! We had a BLAST and can’t wait to go back!
Our hotel stay was covered by Fort Rapids in exchange for this review, however all opinions are truthful and mine!