Great Wolf Lodge too far? There’s a new indoor water park just an hour from Wichita
If your kids are the type who dream about and beg for a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park in Kansas City — but you are the type who dreads the travel, the crowds and the expense — there’s now an alternative.
In late February, the 7 Clans Casino in Newkirk, Oklahoma, opened a new indoor water park that is like a miniature version of Great Wolf Lodge. And it’s just an hour’s drive from Wichita.
Over Easter weekend, I took a carload of kids to check out the new venue and see how it compares to the Great Wolf Lodge, where I’ve put in my time as a parent over the years. The kids had a great time — especially the younger ones — and the newer, closer park has some advantages over the water slide mecca in Kansas City.
But it’s also much smaller, has far fewer amenities, and is in the middle of nowhere, meaning there’s not much civilization once you leave the hotel property. And the park is in a casino, a reality you won’t be able to escape because of the haze of cigarette smoke in the air. (And a casino isn’t everyone’s ideal when it comes to a wholesome family getaway.)
In the end, we decided that the new water park is great for families with kids 11 and younger who want a fun, nearby getaway — especially if the parents have a babysitter they can bring and like to gamble or to attend concerts. The casino frequently books throwback acts like REO Speedwagon, Whitesnake, TLC, Keith Sweat and Alice in Chains.
But you need to know what to expect before you go, and you’ll have to rent a room because only hotel guests are allowed to use the water park.
Family destination
Officials with the Otoe-Missouria tribe, which owns the 7 Clans Casino, announced in February 2018 their plans to build the water park in an addition that would include 60 hotel rooms.
The casino, which opened in 2007, had already undergone three expansions at the time, but officials said they wanted to create a year-round destination for families in the region.
The new water park is set up in 19,300 square feet on the back of the addition, and includes a giant play structure with non-scary slides for the littler ones, a water obstacle course and climbing wall for teens, and four big water slides. There’s also a little lazy river.
Our group arrived on Easter Sunday night and included a 3-year-old, an 8-year-old, a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old. We checked in and rushed to check out our room, a “bunk suite” that included a queen bed, a small sofa and coffee table, and a cozy alcove that had two sets of bunk beds. The room also had two television sets designed to let guests easily sign into their own Netflix accounts as well as free Wi-Fi.
The park is open from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. each day, and the younger kids were eager to get their suits on and get in. The older kids, having giving the water park a precursory viewing, announced they were not impressed and took their time coming down.
On the way down, we inspected the hotel, which includes a bright and airy lobby and a small arcade with air hockey, Pop-A-Shot and several video games. There’s also a snack bar in the lobby called The Bear’s Brewing Den, which serves coffee drinks, pastries and breakfast sandwiches, as well as a restaurant called Buffy’s that serves basic salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes for lunch and dinner.
A snack bar inside the water park serves ice cream and affordable concession-stand stuff like burgers, hot dogs, chips and candy bars. The younger kids were so excited to get in the water, though, they looked right past the snacks.
Spray, splash, soak, slide
The water park area, accessible through a small gift store off the lobby, has several tables set up on the perimeter where parents can park it or just leave their stuff. Once we were goggled up, the two younger kids headed straight for the colorful play structure, which includes lots of stairs, several short slides and one of those big buckets that slowly fills up and every few minutes dumps an impressive avalanche of water over the whole play set. There are also several spray toys built in so kids can drench themselves and others at will. The water in this area is only calf-deep for most kids.
After a while, we ventured over to the lazy river, which is a 329-foot-long circle where rapidly moving water will tug you along as you float, either on your own or on a provided raft. The river is pretty repetitive, but the kids enjoyed splashing around in it. Eventually, the 8-year-old — celebrating having recently met that magical 48-inch height requirement all water slides seem to impose — decided to go check out the big ones.
There are four: Two enclosed tube slides that are fully visible in the park, and two twisty-turny slides whose structures are hidden behind the wall. Of these two slides, only the circular exits and people shooting out of them into the pool are visible from inside. THe 8-year-old liked them all, though the tube slides were a little rough on her back, she reported. The big slides were fun, and I rode the largest one, which requires a one- or two-person raft that riders must drag to the top of the stairs. The slide was one of those pitch-black experiences that thrills kids completely and thrills adults when it’s finally over. The teens, when they finally made it down, liked that one, too.
The older kids, though, had the most fun on the obstacle course, which includes a a big floating alligator, tree branch and starfish that are loosely anchored to the bottom of the pool. Rope netting is hanging above, and you have to hold on if you want to make it across without falling in. The teens spent a good hour giggling their way across — and tearing up the skin on their hands hanging on to the rope.
There were several things I liked about the park. Mainly, I loved that because it’s all still so new, it’s all still so clean. The big water parks, after years of use by big crowds, seem to develop an impossible-to-remove film of body grime over all the toys and pool walls. That hasn’t happened here yet. It’s all sparkling.
I also kind of liked the smallness of the place. After a couple of hours, the kids were done, and they didn’t’ beg to stay and stay and stay. And the water park was more-than-adequately staffed with young lifeguards, who were carefully watching everything going on. I even saw one dive in after a kid who was struggling at the obstacle course.
Then there was the cigarette smoke. There’s an adult-only casino on the second level of the addition that has windows overlooking the water park, and the windows must not be completely sealed because the water park smells pretty strongly of cigarette smoke. It’s the main thing I remember when I think back to the experience.
When it was time for dinner, we asked for advice from the front desk. The only on-site option other than the basic Buffy’s restaurant off the lobby is Flatwater Bar & Grill, which has a bigger menu and is more of a sit-down restaurant. That’s what the desk clerk recommended. Kids are allowed, but accessing the restaurant from the water park requires a walk through the main casino floor. We were advised that kids could walk with us but they could not touch anything. The teens also couldn’t leave the restaurant to use the restroom in the casino unaccompanied. It was a strange experience. The food was okay — we had stuffed shrimp, fish and chips, and salmon — but our service was a nightmare.
It’s hard to leave the casino, too, since it’s kind of an island to itself with nothing much nearby save the restaurants you can find in Arkansas City, just a short drive away. But it was Easter Sunday, and none of that was open. An upside of the casino’s relative isolation: We literally saw cows grazing outside of our hotel window. The kids loved it.
Checkout time the next morning is 11 a.m., but the water park doesn’t open until 11 a.m. Guests are allowed to use the park all day on both their check-in in and check-out days, but they won’t have access to their rooms before 3 on the former and after 11 on the latter. When we woke up, we decided to just hit the road rather than wait for the park to open. If it had been open earlier, we might have spent another hour or two swimming.
Our overall review: Although the teens ended up having more fun than they thought they would, we’d consider going back with just the littles, especially over the long, cold winter months when cabin fever has set in.
Two families could split the cost of one night to shave some cost, and the little kids really, really loved it. I heard one boy, probably about age 8, who was floating in the lazy river proclaim repeatedly and enthusiastically that he was having “the best day of my whole life!”
7 Clans Casino Water Park
Where: Newkirk, Oklahoma, just 67 miles south of Wichita
What: A hotel that includes a 19,300-square-foot indoor water park with four big slides and a lazy river
Price: The water park is for hotel guests only, and rooms range from about $169 for a room with a king bed that sleeps three to $366 for a grand suite that sleeps eight. (Prices seem to fluctuate based on demand and length of stay, and weekends are more expensive.) All guests get wrist bands good for admission to the water park at no extra cost.
Our bunk room for six cost $219, and was a little cheaper because it was Easter Sunday. On a typical weeknight, it’s more like $239-$251, and on weekends, it can be as much as $275-$331. It’s not cheap, but a quick comparison showed cheaper rates than Great Wolf Lodge.
Hours: The park is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Hotel guests can check in at 3 p.m. and must check out by 11 a.m. the next day, but they’re allowed use of the water park all day on both check-in and check-out day.
What it does offer: Indoor water park with slides and a lazy river, on-site restaurants, 20 percent discount for military personnel, on-site casinos
What it doesn’t offer: outdoor pool, day passes for people not staying in the hotel, birthday party packages, child care, hot tub/spa, room service
Reservations: Available at https://sevenclans.com