Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH (Photo Courtesy of Cedar Point)
Before you plan your family trip to an amusement or water park, we thought you’d be interested to see which ones made our list of Travel’s Best Amusement and Water Parks 2015. We recruited 5 advisors — including Travel Channel TV host Bert Kreischer, theme-park reviewer Arthur Levine and family travel expert Erin Gifford — to help us choose the best family-friendly theme parks to visit this summer.
This particular Travel’s Best list is always hard to narrow down to 10, so we decided to share a few parks that didn’t make the cut but still deserve honorable mentions.
Add Cowabunga Bay in Henderson, NV, to your places to cool off this summer. It may be less than a year old, but this water park has added 2 new raft rides to its impressive roster of waterslides. Wild Surf is a 4-person raft ride that drops you onto the world’s largest man-made wave, which is 60 feet high. The park’s other new attraction, Beach Blanket Banzai, is a heart-pumping ride that sends you twisting, turning and speeding down a 600-foot waterslide. Ready to take a break from high-speed thrills? “Look to the Surf-A-Rama Wave Pool, one of the largest wave pools in Nevada,” says Lissa Poirot, editor-in-chief of FamilyVacationCritic.com. “As a bonus, it’s even heated. Oh, and there’s VIP cabana service, too.”
Cowabunga Bay’s Lazy River (Photo Courtesy of Cowabunga Bay Water Park)
We also recommend heading to Cedar Point this year. The self-proclaimed “roller-coaster capital” is opening a new scream-inducing coaster called Rougarou. It will be the first floorless coaster at the park in Sandusky, OH. Replacing the Mantis coaster, Rougarou will travel at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, with lots of loops and turns. “The park’s Hotel Breakers is also reopening this summer following a 2-year transformation into a beach-style property,” says Erin Gifford, founder of Kidventurous.com. “The 511-room hotel, which is steps from the amusement park, will have a whole new look and a new water play area for the kids.” Guests even receive early entry into Cedar Point, which means more family fun time!
Looking for more amusement and water park ideas? Get inspired with our complete guide to US amusement parks, hottest amusement park attractions, best water parks for kids and best water park rides, and click through more photos of our top amusement and water parks to visit this summer.