13 Best Indoor Water Parks in the U.S.

Slide, slip, and splash your way into fun at the nation's best indoor water parks.

Fact checked by Jillian Dara

Spending a day at the pool doesn't have to depend on good weather. Conveniently sheltering their attractions from the elements, the best indoor water parks in the U.S. can become toasty escapes on the wintriest or rainiest days.

Feel free to pack a swimsuit on your next trip to Vermont, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, or Pennsylvania regardless of the season. From hotels with glass-domed slides and pools to ski resorts where you can finish a day on the slopes with a surf session, these parks offer fun for all ages and travel styles, even the adults-only kind.

Related: 20 Best Amusement Parks in the World

Kalahari Resort, Wisconsin

This 125,000-square-foot Wisconsin Dells indoor water park is the largest in the state (and that's saying something for an area that is overflowing with water parks). Float down the 920-foot lazy river or take the whole family on the Victoria Falls waterslide, a 504-foot group raft ride. Later, adults can grab a drink at the park's swim-up bar while kids play a game of water basketball in Crocodile Cove.

Tropic Falls at OWA, Alabama

Tropic Falls at OWA (pronounced "oh-wah" and derived from the Muscogee Creek term for "big water") opened in 2022 with 75-foot-tall slides, a wave pool, a surf simulator, and a glass roof that retracts when the sun shines on Foley, Alabama. The water park is part of the larger Tropic Falls Theme Park, and the two have 23 rides and attractions combined. Tropic Falls Water Park is open only seasonally from May through August.

Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park Resort, Pennsylvania

This Pennsylvania water park is kept at a balmy 84 degrees, so it feels like summer all the time. Get your thrills on the Cyclone slide, where you're spun around four times before being propelled into a pool, or on the Black Hole, an adrenaline-pumping adventure in total darkness. Later, have a go on the wave simulator, then dry out in the Treasure Island Arcade.

Great Wolf Lodge, Wisconsin

Race your friends on the toboggan-style slide at this Wisconsin Dells water park with 13 different slides and nine pools. Afterward, experience the twists and turns of Lookout Mountain, which shoots you through big boulders. If the balmy temperature inside the park isn't warm enough for you, soothe your muscles in the South Hot Springs warming pool.

Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark, Pennsylvania

This Pennsylvania water park gives you the best of both winter and summer: You can ski outside at Camelback Resort, then slip into a swimsuit to experience Aquatopia's 60-foot Skydive Plummet. Smaller kids will enjoy splashing around at the Penguin Play Bay, a (warm) shallow adventure lagoon, while adults seeking some relaxation float down The Lost River, made to look like the site of ruins, or kick back in the Mystic Springs hot pool.

Dreamworks Water Park, New Jersey

Dreamworks Water Park in New Jersey claims to have the largest selection of water rides in the world, including a few record-breaking attractions like the world's largest indoor wave pool and a 14-story-high trapdoor slide that will leave you screaming all the way down. Under a glass dome that drapes the pool area in natural light, you might even forget you're inside.

Avalanche Bay Indoor Waterpark, Michigan

This huge indoor water park has eight slides and four pools that cover 88,000 square feet in Boyne Falls, a small Michigan village. Young swimmers will love the zero-depth Kitz Pool, complete with sprinklers, basketball hoops, and a mini-slide, while bigger kids will gravitate to The Big Couloir, where riders are launched from a capsule through a trap door and into a narrow tunnel where they reach speeds of about 26 mph.

Wilderness at the Smokies, Tennessee

Wilderness at the Smokies is home to Wild WaterDome, a 66,000-square-foot indoor water park with a Foil Tech glass roof that allows the sunshine in year-round. Gather the whole family for the Runaway Canyon, a five-story-high raft ride that sends you shooting through 450 feet of tunnels and loops before dropping you almost 60 feet. Looking for an even greater thrill? Try the Storm Chaser, which sends you into a zero-gravity fall before dropping you into a funnel, then into a pool below.

WaTiki Indoor Waterpark Resort, South Dakota

More than 30,000 square feet of fun await visitors inside this glass-enclosed water park, where you can go to escape South Dakota's brutal winters. Speed down several giant waterslides, all connected to the park's lazy river. Younger kids will love Koko's Kingdom, where they can shoot water and stand under a big bucket that dumps water on their heads.

Schlitterbahn Waterpark, Texas

Galveston's Schlitterbahn Waterpark is the park for everyone — "mild to wild," the website says. That includes its more "wild" Screaming Serpents body slide ride to the "mild" swim-up bar for adults. There are also plenty of picnic pavilions so families can grab fresh barbecue from the grill or a funnel cake made to order between attractions.

Massanutten Resort, Virginia

Climb to the top of the Massanutten Meltdown for a good overview of all the water cannons, waterfalls, and the giant tipping bucket before making your way over to the Blue Ridge Rapids to float past even more artificial falls. Adventure seekers will want to check out the park's 39-foot body slides or try surfing the Pipeline, which pumps 48,645 gallons of water per minute.

Jay Peak Pump House, Vermont

Take a break from skiing the slopes at Jay Peak and relax in the park's indoor and outdoor hot tubs — you can even watch the snow fall while you sit in 100-degree-plus water. Later, test your courage on the resort's La Chute slide, which stands 65 feet high and shoots you down at 45 mph, or float down the Big River, the Pump House's version of a non-lazy river marked by rapids and strong currents.

Soundwaves at Gaylord Opryland, Tennessee

Next door to Nashville's iconic Grand Ole Opry, the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center is known for housing acres of gardens, including waterfalls and an indoor "river" on which you can ride a boat, under the glass ceiling of its atrium. People flock here — to Soundwaves, specifically — for a refreshing (and sobering) dip when they tire of the scenes on Broadway Street. Soundwaves spans three stories and four acres. Inside is an oasis of real plants (no plastic here!), two lazy rivers, body slides, coves designed for small children, and, in true Nashville fashion, an area just for adults.

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