In case you didn’t notice this news item last week, Arcola — gateway to Amish Country — is getting its own resort.
Yes, I said resort.
The 125-room “Green Mill Village”, being built by Indianapolis developers with land contributed by the city, will have a “conference center, a spa and wellness center, retail shops, a gas station, convenience store and an upscale chain restaurant, all surrounding a pond,” according to the News-Gazette. It is going to be marketed as a family-friendly destination, complete with a swimming pool.
Well, the “swimming pool” is where I think these guys are missing the boat. If I was to build a “family-friendly” resort in the middle of nowhere these days, it would have to include an indoor water park. It doesn’t really seem like there would be much to do at Green Mill Village during the cold winter months.
This winter, we went up to the Wisconsin Dells, the indoor water park resort mecca. There was two feet of snow on the ground, but we were running around in our swimsuits more than happy on the slides and in the pools — no sunscreen required. The closest indoor water park resort to C-U is the one located near Starved Rock.
Selfishly I think this would be grand, since many of the indoor water park resorts sell day passes as well.
Nothing says “Amish country” more than water slides and wave pools.
8 responses so far ↓
Leeanthro // April 22, 2008 at 1:23 pm
A nearby indoor water park would be awesome. You’re right, I wouldn’t make the trip for a pool, but I might for a water park.
But I think that if they are building in Arcola, they should at least build by Menonite standards (some modern conveniences).
My husband buys all his work boots from a Menonite-owned shoe store in Arcola. They have his record on file and he leaves a message on their machine with his credit card number and they ship them.
Once I was passing through and stopped in and they knew exactly which boot and size he needed. He was quite surprised when I came home with a package for him.
Their prices are great. And you can park on the left if you are in your car or on the right if you drove your horse-drawn buggy.
Katherine // April 22, 2008 at 7:13 pm
My cousins went up there in January and no matter what they did it was too cold outside to heat the water inside. Not the greatest, but still a fun getaway.
Milwaukee Brad // April 22, 2008 at 8:26 pm
LBOTP - Please share your experiences from your WI Dells trip. The wife and I were thinking of packing up the kids and meeting our Illinois extended family there for a few days of family fun. Which park did you visit? Did you stay on site? Overall impressions? Value for your money?
Any insight would be very much appreciated.
Leeanthro // April 23, 2008 at 5:35 am
Brad,
Here’s a review of one of the parks by Mayberry Mom, who also writes for The Full Mommy. Hope it helps. (But I would like to hear LBOTP’s take, too.)
http://www.thefullmommy.com/2008/03/splish-splash-cool-pool.html
Don // April 23, 2008 at 9:14 am
…is there not an indoor water park a couple of hours away in Indiana?
lbotp // April 23, 2008 at 10:41 am
We absolutely loved the indoor water park trip. It was a three generation trip so we had a group of 10. To fit a group that size we decided to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge because of their 3+ bedroom condos. It had a kitchen, which is very convenient with kids. We brought in a lot of food and had breakfast and lunch in our rooms, which meant we didn’t have to deal with the crazy lines at the restaurants. What we liked about it is that water is universal. Everyone — grandparents, parents, kids (6, 4, 2, 1), had a good time. The wave pool was especially popular. In fact after seeing our pics everyone we know was like, “we should do that!”
The Great Wolf Lodge is well located near the outlet mall and near this huge arcade with indoor go-carts. Of course there is also an arcade and an indoor play area. It is a very kid-friendly place overall, they know their audience! I really couldn’t say that it is any better than any other place, since I don’t have anything to compare it to.
I can’t give you any indication about value since I didn’t pay for it :-). But I know we did well since we didn’t have to buy overpriced hotel food most of the time.
khanada // April 25, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Don: there is one in Indy. I’ve never been, but I’ve seen the ads.
http://www.caribbeancovewaterpark.com/
Carrie // April 28, 2008 at 6:50 pm
We are water freaks and have been to Grand Bear and Caribbean Cove both. We liked CC better because it seemed like there was more stuff to do. GB does have a wave pool, which was fun but the kids played much longer at CC.
Yes, please do share your Dells expierce. We are going up there in May and staying at Kahlari but other things to do would be great
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