Thank you to Castaway Bay & Ohio. Find It Here. for sponsoring today’s post! As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Earlier this summer, Nic, the girls, and I ventured north to Sandusky for a 2-day getaway to Castaway Bay! Located 5 minutes from Cedar Point, Castaway Bay is an indoor waterpark resort, with on-site restaurants, kids’ activities, and an arcade! It’s been around for years but they have recently remodeled every bit of it and it is impressively happy, cheery, and colorful!
We completely surprised the girls with this trip, miraculously keeping it a secret until the very last minute before we got in the car! To say they were thrilled is an understatement… and we were too! Knowing our trip was planned and that we didn’t have to venture outside of Castaway Bay was so relieving.
During our car ride, I read the story of Gordy and his friends to the girls so they could understand the tale of Castaway Bay. When we arrived after our 2.5-hour drive, we were greeted with cheery island music, Gordy and his friends’ ship, “HOPE,” and multiple vividly-colored storefronts, which created an ambience like we had been swept away to a faraway island getaway.
We checked in and learned that every floor has a different theme – land, water, or air. Our suite had a land theme with the character Rocket the Sloth hanging out with us. 🙂 We all loved the fact that the girls had their own little room off of ours, complete with two double beds and their own TV… which we actually didn’t turn on because we were so busy. 🙂
After getting settled into our room, the girls immediately wanted to check out Castaway Bay’s indoor water park. It is huge! They have a wave pool, kiddie section with little slides (which were Ellie’s favorite), big slides, a raft ride, pool basketball, a large bucket of water that dumps every so often, a hot tub, and more!
Nic got Ava on nearly every big slide and I stayed back with Ellie in the kiddie section and had a ball watching her make little friends and go down the little slides 498 times! 😉
All of that swimming worked up our appetite, so we walked down the boardwalk to Quaker Steak & Lube for dinner. Their wings are so good and the girls loved their meals, too. We spent the evening playing games in the arcade and determining how many tickets we needed for a cute plushie. 🙂
The next morning, we woke up, took the elevator down to the first floor, and had a buffet style breakfast at Castaway Bay’s High Tide restaurant. If High Tide isn’t the happiest little restaurant, I’m not sure what is! I loved the color scheme, natural light, and energy we experienced here during our stay. The girls were big fans of the waffles and oranges during breakfast! It was an absolute feast and they needed that food because they kept going all day long!
Following our breakfast, we made our way to Gordy’s ship, “HOPE”, at the front of the resort. Ava and Ellie participated in a multitude of activities this day, with most of them being in this centralized location. First up, they partook in morning yoga.
They also played so many games! Later that morning, they ventured upstairs to the craft room and participated in “Flo-go” aka Castaway Bay’s rendition of Bingo. They both won, and the staff was so sweet and helpful during all of these activities! My Ava is an activity girl and they had her occupied for hours!
After a morning of activities, we grabbed some coffee and a quick bite at Rocket’s Market as well as ice cream from the Sprinkle Shack. I couldn’t get over how cute their restaurants were.
We went back to the waterpark and Ava was brave to get on the big raft ride with Nic! We all discovered their hot tub which is quite huge – and half of it is inside and half is outside… super cool! Afterwards, we hit up the arcade again and then got ready for dinner.
On our way to dinner, Ava and Ellie did a few more activities with the Castaway Bay staff, including another round of “Flo-go” and then…we had a character sighting – AH!!! It was Rocket the Sloth, Gordy’s friend! This was such a hit with the girls and while it’s hard to describe their excitement and amazement, I hope you can see a glimpse of it in their smiles. 🙂
After a quick walk down the boardwalk to have dinner at Quaker Steak & Lube, we ventured back to Castaway Bay and were able to see the sun setting over the water. Other than the Rocket sighting, the highlight of tonight was the late-night dance party! They really thought of everything and the cutest kids’ activities!
Our last morning, we had breakfast at High Tide Cafe and then spotted another character – Hank the monkey! 🙂 This was a BIG DEAL and the girls ran over, gave him a million hugs, and wanted their picture taken with him. I loved their excitement over the character sightings – it was definitely a highlight of our trip!
After breakfast, we checked out to head back home. The girls didn’t want to leave and I don’t blame them! Castaway Bay truly thought of everything with their new remodel! We expected a big waterpark, but we didn’t expect how much of an experience Castaway Bay is.
It was such an adventure and one we plan to have again with the girls soon! This resort is ideal for a weekend getaway, winter escape, or even continuing the fun from a Cedar Point trip.
Well done, Castway Bay! We will be back!!!
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