We recently had the opportunity to attend a media day at Mountain Creek Waterpark, and our day of fun in the sun did not disappoint!
Located in Vernon, NJ, Mountain Creek is a destination for all seasons. From skiing to biking to zip-lining, this is the place to be for adventure seekers. Their water park opened for the season on June 9th and continues to serve guests through Labor Day.
One of the challenges of a multi-child family, with varying age gaps, is finding family fun that can be enjoyed by all. Mountain Creek Waterpark certainly checked the box! Upon arrival we were treated to a cabana (score for mom, no worrying about keeping track of all the "STUFF") stocked with water and complete with two attentive and energetic staff members to help us with all of our food and beverage needs. A quick look at the park map and we had devised a plan - big slides for Dad and the older kids, and the lazy river and kid section for Mom and the littles, with a plan to meet up at the Cliff Diving grotto. The park is large - so be prepared to get a leg workout, especially with some of the steep inclines. The park is built into the ski slopes and while some of the uphill climb's to get to the slides were exhausting, the views were worth it! The thrill slides got a huge thumbs-up from the older kids, and Mom spent a relaxing hour splashing in the lazy river. The kiddie section of the park is small, with a short and shallow lazy river, a couple of spray features and two small slides which launch from a pirate ship. It was, however, plenty to keep my 2-year old busy and content. For our next stop, we headed to the Canyon Cliffs section of the park - this is the area of the park that is truly unique, as most of the attractions are cut into a completely natural setting and slides culminate into a spring-fed (Read:COLD) grotto. The kids were all perplexed by our first slide in this section, which required us all to wear helmets. They couldn't figure out why the safety feature was insisted upon for the Colorado River ride, though seconds into this white water rafting adventure it became crystal clear! I wasn't able to stop laughing as we were rushed downstream, across bumpy rocks and then spun up and almost out of the banks of the ride. It went on the list of one of the favorite rides of the day. My husband, who had been to the park growing up - back when it was operated as Action Park, was really looking forward to re-living his youth with some cliff diving. To his disappointment that attraction was closed during our visit, for undisclosed reasons. There are 2 platforms, one high, one low, that tower over a large, deep grotto, and it certainly looked like it would be fun! There are a few other slides in this section - both body slides and ones for those preferring to ride on tubes.
Next stop was lunch, which we chose to do as table service in our cabana. The park offers a bit more of a selection than we've seen at a typical amusement establishment - while all the kid staples such as chicken fingers and hot dogs were on the menu, there were some nice options including a whole BBQ menu for those that want something a bit more interesting. They offered a full bar menu as well, which, if I'm being honest, is kind of a necessity when you are trekking through a water park with 4 kids! We enjoyed lunch and our few minutes of relaxation before heading to the wave pool.
All-in-all, we had a fabulous, and exhausting day at Mountain Creek Waterpark. As we were exiting the park, the Sky Ride lift was still open and we decided we had just enough time and energy left to give it a go. We all agreed, the ride up to the top of the mountain with the views - all natural as far as the eye could see - was one of the highlights of our visit. Heading back down, it was fun to see the bike park below us and some serious mountain biking might be a future family outing for us!
Mountain Creek is easily accessible from New York, New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, and makes for a great day-trip. If you'd be interested in a getaway weekend, this fits the bill as well with plenty of lodging options at Mountain Creek Resort. Season tickets to the water park are only $64.99 per person and include free parking and a discount on food, drinks and retail. Regular, adult tickets are just $45.99. For more information including deals, directions and hours of operation, visit: www.mcwaterpark.com
GIVEAWAY! One lucky Macaroni Kid West Morris subscriber is going to win a family 4 pack of tickets to us at Mountain Creek water park next week! These tickets expire on September 4, 2018 and must be used before then!
To enter:
1. Fill out this FORM
2. Comment on our FACEBOOK POST about this giveaway
3. SHARE the FACEBOOK post about this giveaway
4. Be sure you are a Macaroni Kid West Morris newsletter subscriber!
Must do all 4 steps to be entered to win! Winner will be chosen randomly on Wednesday, August 22, 2018 at 5PM and contacted via the email address provided when entering. Due to this being a flash giveaway, winner must respond to winner email by 8PM on August 22, 2018 and if they do not we will move on and pick another winner. No purchase necessary to win.