Northern Virginia water parks
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Anonymous
| With the heat wave coming, I want to plan an outing to one of the water parks in Northern Virginia this weekend (Pirate’s Cove, Great Waves, Ocean Dunes, etc). But I’ve never been to any of them and I don’t know which to choose! Any recommendations and tips? Kids in our group are 3, 10, 13, and 15. |
Anonymous
| Ocean dunes is meh. I wouldn’t go to the Alexandria one. Too many wild kids in the wave pool. I’ve heard the water mine one is good. |
Anonymous
| Do we need to get there by a certain time to get in/snag a spot? Any logistical things to consider? |
Anonymous
| The 15 year old will be bored out of their minds at any of these parks. Leave at home! |
Anonymous
Lazy River st watermine is pretty good at that age |
Anonymous
| Go to the watermine. If the older kid is bored, they can walk over to Lake Fairfax to rent a paddleboat or kayak. |
Anonymous
| Cameron Run waterpark and batting cages were a highlight of the summer in the early 90s. Now that the population in the area has grown so much and the park hasn’t modernized or expanded I fear it’s not what it used to be. |
Anonymous
| I would recommend indoor recenter water park like cub run. Those outdoor ones are super packed over weekends, also too hot, and it could be too much for your 3 year old. |
Anonymous
|
Watermine for sure. Great Waves is absolutely nuts. Pirates Cove is fantastic for the little one, but it only has two slides and they are very basic. It has a great water play area though.
My kids liked Pirate's Cove up to about age 10 - especially if we went with friends. |
Anonymous
|
Just was at water mine on an unusually cool and cloudy day. So more lifeguards than swimmers. But the park is a good size and the lazy river is quite big and pretty fast. Recommend it.
Grew up in inner suburbs going to Cameron Run (now Great Waves), but haven’t been as an adult. |
Anonymous
| Buy tickets for Water Mine before you go! Tickets are valid all day from opening-closing, and we have even gone later in the day with tickets. Otherwise, you will wait in a long line that never moves unless someone leaves because everyone else bought tickets beforehand. In the past, you could bring a cooler, drinks, food, chairs, etc to Water Mine. They also have food/drinks for sale. |
Anonymous
| I went to Pirates Cove over the weekend. It was very boring. 2 boring slides. It didn't have anything exciting. I would have liked a hot tub or a lazy river, lol. |
Anonymous
| Update from OP: We went to Water Mine and it was awesome!! Thank you!!! |