Splash Universe Indoor Water Park Resort

Well that was a hot mess. Got a groupon over the summer, and decided to cash in before it expired. I understand it’s wintertime, and I went on the Saturday of a long holiday weekend, but wow, just wow. Please note, this is a review for just the water park.
So here are a few of the things that helped me form my opinion of this place:
Location– right off of 23 in Dundee, this place is closer than most other water park places for us. Also located next to a cabelas– not a big deal for us, but maybe a draw for others.
Entrance– the entrance for this place (if you’re not staying at the hotel) is in between the hotel and water park. The entrance is not well labeled, so we had to drive around a little bit, and worse, walk around in the cold for a little bit, trying to figure out where the entrance to the water park is. And the parking around that area is very limited. If you were staying in the hotel, not a big deal I suppose, but for us, this was an inconvenience for sure.
Prices– we had a groupon, so it was about $ 11 a person. Otherwise it’s 24.99 for an all day pass, and 12.99 for twilight passes (5 – 9 or something like that)
Front desk– going along with their lack of labeling, when you get there, it’s not very clear where you’re supposed to purchase tickets to go to the water park. There was a line to check in for bday parties (which looked to be the place you would also buy tickets), but in fact, you are supposed to go into the gift shop. No defined line, so you kinda just roll up on people.
Water Park– again, this was a particularly busy day, which I get, but that aside here are a few of the areas and what I thought:
Lazy River– where do you get a tube? Really, REALLY crowded.
Play area– pretty cool. There are a number of buckets of water scattered throughout the playscape that eventually fill up and dump on unsuspecting victims. There’s even a large bucket that pretty much drenches the entire group. Slides seem to be at your risk as they don’t have anyone monitoring when you should go and not go.
Changing area– for a place this size, the locker room (or rather restroom) was frankly too small. 5 stalls for people to change, and the floors are covered with water. Yeah, not great.
Slides– didn’t actually get to go on the two big ones, but they looked pretty elaborate and fun
Little kids wading area– the water in this area is approximately 15 – 20 degrees warmer than the playscape and the lazy river water. Kinda makes you wonder if this was done on purpose, or the water is warm for some other reason (eww, you know what I’m saying?)
Arcade– right next to the swimming area, they have an arcade with games that dispense tickets. Decent selection, but coming from the swimming area, it felt like you were stepping outside.
Pool– why is there no pool in this place?
OVERALL– not a fan. the huge crowd probably didn’t help, but combined with the inadequate changing area, lack of signs, and overall chaos happening, we will not be coming back. Might have a different opinion if we stayed at the resort, but that ain’t happening anytime soon.
CELEBRITY RATING– Ted Nugent (cuz he’s going to Cabelas before and after)

Took our family for a day at this indoor water park and had a blast! We were able to get a great deal on a 1 night hotel stay and 4 passes to the water park! It was a little hard to find a table to sit at and put our stuff down on, but we waited patiently and found one after a family left. The water temperature was comfortable, especially in the kiddie pool area. Everything was clean and well maintained. The red slide and the tube slide was an absolute blast for my 5 ½ year old daughter. The park is a good size for kids– big enough to have fun yet still be able to do everything easily. The staff was friendly and not overbearing. The changing room was not as clean as I would have liked, but it was nothing to ruin your experience. A lot of fun for both children and adults! The hotel room was clean and comfortable. We really enjoyed having the bunk bed option in the room. The only issue that I had with the hotel room was that we could hear a lot of noise from adjoining rooms, especially from the room upstairs. Obviously there are a lot of kids staying at this hotel, and it seemed the kids in the room above us were a bit rowdy at 11 pm. If a similar deal is offered for room and passes, we will definitely return to Splash Universe!

The staff was friendly and helpful. The water park it’s self was clean and well mantaine. The little dark cave they call their hot tub was a bit disturbing. It was not as well mantained as the rest of the water park. Plus there were no lights in it at all.
There are life guards stationed all over. They were constantly vigilante and smiled a lot.
We loved that their were diffrent levels of fun. We could switch as we tuckered out. The steps to the big slides can do that to you. So the lazy river is a great solution.
Lots of seating is available. With an upper deck and seasonally open patio area. Benches also line the center walk so adults can sit and watch lil ones.
While they do have lockers they are very expensive. You pay 20 $ and get 15 $ back when you return the key. It is not clearly marked, but you get the keys at the gift shop. The lockers are not very large.
The bathrooms were also clean and very open with showers, changing rooms and dryers high up enough to cover ones head.(Very cool idea)
There is a grossly over priced «snack» bar adjacent to the water activities. No food is allowed from outside. I suggest you eat at a near by restaurant as the food is very very bland. The manager at the snack bar is very nice though. We ran into an issue and he fixed it up quickly and with a smile.

I took my daughters for an overnight here… I was a bit shocked at the cost and very disappointed by our experience.
We paid close to $ 200 for our room plus we had to pay for admission to the splash park which was pretty pricey on top of the hotel room stay. I am not sure why it isn’t a bundled price like most other hotel/​splash park combinations are. The room was decent but I don’t think it was worth $ 200 as its a basic holiday inn room in the middle of nowhere.
Once we unpacked and headed into the splash park, I immediately regretted paying for the park. The temperature in the pool room was so cold it was uncomfortable even being in the room in a bathing suit let alone getting wet. I got into the water with my daughters and found that the water was no better. It was so unbelievably cold. My youngest is 1 and her lips were blue and she was shivering! After dropping all the money on our admission, you would think they could heat their pools a bit. The hot tub was out of commission while we were there so that was no help.
I talked with a staff member who said they were working on it but it didn’t improve. We spent about $ 100 to spend about an hour in there. All in all, I would not return to this place as there are way better alternatives within a similar budget.

Took the kids there we all had a great time staff was very nice got a discount on day pass and meals. we will return soon!!! Splash Universe

My best friend and I took our kids here for a over night getaway. We went with a 1,2,3,4,5 & 12 yr old. They all had a great time. There was something for everyone. Not to big of a place but definitely kid friendly. The staff here was very friendly and helpful, everybody didn’t know what was going on at the same time but they were still nice and Still tried to help. The arcade was fairly priced and they also have kids eat free with every meal. The only bad things were that the floors were very slippery, you definitely need to bring water shoes. I watched a lot of people fall. There also isn’t a lot of sitting but what they do have is in good locations. There’s a lot to do in the area also, in the same parking lot is a giant Cabela’s. We are already planning our next trip.

This is not a place that is for adults without children. Also, they charge way too much to get in here for what you get. It was like thirty dollars a person, and you don’t even get a towel at the door.
While there is beer, and there is a hot tub for people 18 and older that’s very roomy, this place is swarming with kids. It didn’t feel big enough. The lazy river had so many people in there at once it wasn’t relaxing.
There is no water that is deep to swim and play in, it is all shallow water. I was hoping for a diving board or something, it wasn’t cheap to get into this place so I expected a lot more.
My husband and I came here on a date because we like to swim and we are kids at heart, but this place was a rip off.

Great experience for the Groupon price. Compared to few other water parks, they have few rides and activities. The staff were very nice and helpful.

We stayed as a group for a scouting event. We were told upon booking that there would be free continental breakfast for all included in the price. Upon checking into the hotel we found out we were NOT getting free breakfast that it was an additional $ 12.99 a person for breakfast.
Also, when taking showers the water was NOT hot at all, it is more like lukewarm and you have to take a pretty quick shower. The waterpark in general was nice, had nice features, plenty to keep the kids busy. The chlorine in the waterpark area was a bit overwhelming and everywhere we looked we saw kids coughing and vomiting from coughing so much.
The restaurant (Treehouse Pub and Grub) was very disappointing. Poor, slow service all around. They weren’t very busy (to us they didn’t anyways) and it took them a good 1hr45min to get through the whole process. The kids were getting antsy because they were wanting to go to the waterpark. I will say though, that the restaurant was overlooking the waterpark.

Nice place, good selection of slides, lazy river, and kiddie pool for kids. It got really crowded in the afternoon so I recommend going in the morning. Lots of lifeguards so kids were safe too. Has a food area that seemed decently priced.

This is for the water park only, find my review on the hotel separate.
We overheard some one say «splash universe? More like splash city, or splash town» they weren’t wrong. Look this place is small and it’s not going to keep many «big» kids entertained very long. It has two large tube slides that are nice, a smaller lazy river, large play structure with three medium-​small slides and a small slide. A kiddie pool with slide, a small pool/​spa for the family and a water crossing fun area (?). There is an adult only spa in a cave like structure, I guess it’s set up like that so if mom and dad need a quickly ;) lol.
The water temp was cold except the kiddie pool, the play structure has no way of getting to the slides without getting sprayed with cold water. There is no fountains or water sprays in the lazy river, well they had some but removed them or turned them off.
My son had a fun time we might go back.
The arcade and the gift shop were sparse.
The men’s locker room was bad, only two of six showers worked. The changing stalls are very small, two small for an adult and a child, hooks are missing off the walls, and the water from the showers drain into the floor of the changing stalls.
Not exactly a surprise to find the other splash universe closed last year, this one might be close behind.

We have been spoiled by Kalahari. The water park just doesn’t compare and costs about the same. Life guard staff was well trained and very helpful. Hotel room was as expected.

I have been to this water park on a few occasions and find that on the whole it’s a great place for a fun, and fairly inexpensive family get away. Although, this resort seems more geared towards kids, it is still possible for adults to have a good time. Unfortunately, there’s not much to this place and after a day or so it loses some of it’s appeal. Despite this, it is worth visiting at least once.
One piece of advice I can give you is to stay away from The Treehouse Pub and Grub Restaurant on the second floor. Although it is conveniently located, it is such a lousy restaurant that if I were reviewing it as a stand alone restaurant, I wouldn’t give it a single star. This place serves up a lot of poorly cooked garbage that you can get at any grocery store and tries to pass it off as restaurant food. One bite and you’ll be hugging the toilet later.

I think we are a bit spoiled with trips up to Great Wolf Lodge in the past, but splash is 30 mins away vs 3 hrs away so we decided to give it a shot. The hotel room itself was very nice, we opted for dual bunkbeds and a private bedroom with door for the adults I think it was a king bed and couldn’t have been happier.
The waterpark area was a bit smaller than we realized (hard to tell from pictures), and with only 2 slides the 2 oldest kids (ages 3−12−13) got a bit bored mid day, we took a break in the lazy river and they went back to the slides but were ready to go soon after.
The 3 year old loved the gym/​water area, the teens spend their time down the slides mainly, after dinner they were kind of tired of the waterpark side of things so we just enjoyed the room vs going back to the pool.
The next day we had a chance to go again but the kids passed, we hit the big sporting store (cabella’s) instead then headed home.
We really enjoyed the hotel but the waterpark wasn’t quite what we expected in person, for us worth the drive to great wolf as the kids never got tired of playing there, and the one night stay with waterpasses was a bit pricey costing us over $ 300 so glad we did get the nicer room though as that made it lots of fun.
I would say for younger kids (say under 7) this place is just pure fun, but the older kids were wanting to do more than just the two slides or lazy river.
The guards seemed very attentive to the water at all times, the hot tub cave area is adult only and I saw them kicking kids out every 15 mins or so, nice place for the adults to just relax a bit.
Food wasn’t the greatest, we ended up just going out to dinner after a so so lunch at the food bar, they have an arcade but we didn’t even go in, never saw anyone in the arcade either.

Very pleasant staff. Came on weekend all the children are out for winter break. One draw back walls are paper thin in rooms. Children enjoyed their bunk beds even had little tv by the bunk beds with their own reading light (as if reading is on their mind at a water park lol). My children loved the water park. Reminds me of a smaller version of Great Wolf Lodge. This water park is more for children instead of adults. I am happy the children are happy. Will I come back again, yes!

Worst holiday inn ever. Holiday inn use to be a nice place to stay. This place doesn’t even give u a continental breakfast. Broken light fixtures. Broken microwave in lobby. Keep getting locked out of rooms due to key failure. Front desk help. Under trained. Over heard several complaints from other guests. When checked in couldn’t get into room till 3 hours after check in. Splash park over crowded with little help. Only giving 1 star because it won’t allow none. Don’t waste your money. Spend the money at great wolf or some where else.

Our family decided to take a little road trip to Splash Universe and check it out. They had just converted to a Holiday Inn, so the information I got on the phone didn’t quite mesh up to when we got there.
My 3 kids had a blast in the waterpark. The locker rooms were «eh», but since we had a room, our visits to them were few and far between thankfully. The waterpark had a couple of big slides, a treehouse area (with the big bucket of course), a bunch of smaller slides coming from the tree house, a lazy river, an adult hot tub, a family hot tub, and a great baby/​toddler area. It would have been very nice to have the family hot tub facing the play area so you could sit while your older kids were playing and still keep an eye on them, but it was kind of tucked in the corner and we ended up rotating turns in the hot tub.
As part of the Holiday Inn, they participate in the «kids eat free» promotion and we did opt to have breakfast one morning at the hotel. Even with the «kids free», our adult meals were WAY over priced, cold, and very institutional. I would not recommend spending any money on food in the hotel, and now I know why I saw people with crockpots checking in!
We had a room with 2 sets of bunkbeds and it was an interesting set up. The 2 bunks were so close to each other I was shocked that a table with a TV could barely squeeze in there. The TV was jammed in there and there was no way the kids could lay in the beds and still see the TV. Plus, there are some lights built into the walls by the bunks, actually in each bunk area, and my kids would not stop turning the lights off and on.
It was great to have a fridge in our room, and we did have Wi-​Fi, even if the signal was very faint and very slow. It We didn’t spend a lot of time in our room so that was more than ok. It certainly served the purpose of sleeping!
Overall a great value for the money and we will certainly be back

This is the perfect place to go with little kids. The waterpark is pretty timid. It has a very small lazy river with inner tubes, two water slides, a zero-​entry pool, and a water playground. There is also a hot tub for adults only.
We went on a weekday and it was perfect for a quick getaway. The price of the hotel stay includes waterpark passes, which you can use the entire day of checkout. The waterpark was clean, open, and well staffed with lifeguards.
The hotel room was very clean and although we just stayed in the basic room, we did take a look at some of the family suites and they were very nice. The rooms have a cabin or «up north» theme to them.
Since this hotel/​park is right across the street from Cabela’s, the central theme is animals. Dead animals. There are a lot of taxidermy displays in the front lobby at check in. If you are in to that kind of thing, you will love it. If it creeps you out, (like it did me) then you might want to stay out of the lobby.
Continental breakfast was basic, but well set up for families.
There isn’t much in the area except Cabela’s, the hotel, and a few restaurants. If you want a low-​key get away with the younger kids, this is a good place to do it.