For St Patrick’s Day, Splash Universe in Dundee, MI was offering free admission to those who wore green and brought a non-perishable food donation. We have been talking about visiting, so we decided to take this opportunity to try it out for free.
Splash Universe is a short drive down 23 South from Ann Arbor. It is located next to Cabela’s, near exit 17. We did have some trouble finding the entrance to the water park area. There are two separate buildings that are connected by an upper level hallway. Splash Universe is located in the rear building which can be entered under the walkway connecting the two buildings. There is parking near there.
I was pleasantly surprised that it was not overly crowded even with the promotion. We were there from 10:20a-2:30p and it was never overly crowded.
We wore our suits under our clothes, so we found a table & just pulled our clothes off and left our bags there. After our lunch, we used the bathrooms and discovered that there were showers and changing rooms available. There are small lockers available, however they are pricey ($10, $5 refunded after returning the key). I brought minimal valuables in with me and used a waterproof container for my money, ID, & credit cards leaving only the keys in our bag.
My 4 year old, loved the Little Squirt Pool with its small slides. The Little Squirt Pool has a maximum height of 8″ which is nice. She also liked the River Raisin, which is a lazy river (although it was not very lazy). In her swim class, she has been practicing kicking, so we practiced that around the lazy river since she did not want to use an inner tube. You can also cross the river to enter the family spa. The river and family spa has a height of 2’10”, so she was just able to stand.
She was intimidated by the Water Adventure Tree House. Part of the intimidation was due to the 500 gal Tipping Bucket and part was her typical fear of indoor playgrounds (although this was fairly open). I was able to test out a few of those slides and still see her waiting for me at the bottom. I did convince her to try two of them with me, but she preferred the Little Squirt Pool.
The Goldmine Adventure slides looked like fun, but thought it was a little too far to leave her alone while I went up – she did not want to try. Right before we left, a few people we knew showed up, so I was able to leave her to test out one of the large slides (there are two). You can get a double tube to take your child down these slides (which you will have to do if they are under 42″). If you do try it with your child, beware that at one point the slides go outside and are completely dark (which puts you in complete darkness). I really enjoyed the slide.
The park is fairly large and it could be difficult for a parent to adequately supervise more than one child especially if they had different interests.
We had lunch at the Snack Shack which is inside the water park. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed their pizza – eating an entire personal pan, minus the crust. I had the chicken tenders which were satisfactory. They also had waffle fries available, but I opted for the healthier fruit cup. Our lunch bill was $15 for the pizza, chicken tenders, a fruit cup, a juice, and a soda. For a captive audience, I did not think the prices were that high. I do wish that they offered a kids meal option -for example, a smaller size chicken tenders, a kid sized hamburger, etc.
Their website does not provide a lot of details on information about day trips. There is more information provided on their Facebook Page and they will respond to your posts on there.
My only other complaint was that the entire floor is concrete as are the edges of the river & pools. It would be nice to see some padding. My daughter did slip near the Treehouse (in a standing water puddle) and smacked her head on the concrete. After a short break, she seemed fine, so we stayed, but she is still complaining about the sore spot on her head 30 hours later.
Next time, I will bring an extra towel for each of us to use when we are done for the day. After 3 breaks, our towels were soaked by the end of the day. She wants to go back bringing Daddy and have he and I race down the big slides while she waits at the bottom. We will be keeping our eye out for more daily admission specials to make a return trip. I am also going to be looking for hotels like this on some of our travels to visit family this summer.
