Fort Rapids WaterPark

I would first like to start by saying I read over the ratings before booking our weekend. Trip advisor more than scared me. We had to stay in Columbus for the weekend so we went ahead and drove to the hotel and checked it out before booking. Upon arrival, I asked for a manager. I was greeted very nicely and explained to him that I was concerned of health issues and the rooms being clean. I let him know I read some pretty terrible reveiws on Trip Advisor and he was so understanding I was amazed. He took me on a tour of the hotel showing me the the pool area, food chains, and several room styles. After seeing myself first hand that people had been very critical we went ahead and booked. Upon booking the manager completely BLESSED us and upgraded our room to a luxury villa for the price I was going to pay for a standard room. Now if that's not good customer service then I don't know what is. My children LOVED the waterpark. Concering the comments I read that scared me away. To the family that thinks this is in the heart of the Ghetto obviously you have never been to the Ghetto. The area isn't Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills if that's what your expecting but it's very safe and nice. It does have a mixed crowd of ethneticity but God made us all equal and we found the crowd to be wonderful. The Hotel has kids running everywhere because it's a resort for kids. The staff treated us wonderful our entire stay. Our room was very very very clean. The sheets were fresh and the maid was at our door at ten a.m. to clean the room the next day. I didn't see any bugs and the halls smelled just fine. I WOULD TAKE MY CHILDREN HERE AGAIN. OBVIOUSLY, YOU KNOW I HAVE TO BE A GERMAPHOBIC OR I WOULD HAVE NEVER DROVE TO SEE THE PLACE BEFORE I BOOKED. ANYONE WHO HAS ANY CONCERNS....DON'T! REST ASSURE AND KNOW YOUR CHILDREN WILL HAVE AN AMAZING TIME AND BOOK IT! If you do run into any problems just ask for the manager on duty! We had a wonderful experience with Keith! We plan on returning soon! Thanks so much for making our weekend fabulous!! more

The first thing that had us saying "wow" at Ft. Rapids was the amazing number of special packages available! We chose the overnight staycation package, which for our family of four was perfect - a night stay in the kids bunkhouse room (you'd have to see it - the kids had bunkbeds in their own little "log cabin" section - complete with their own TV!!!), two days worth of swim passes, $20 in arcade cash and a bag of mining dirt! We were thrilled that our room, which we were told we couldn't check in to until 4:00pm was ready at noon when we arrived! After dropping our stuff in the room, we went straight down to the water park, which is conveniently placed right off the side of the first floor. The water park was amazing! It had a younger kids' pool (Kiddie Korral)which my four year old loved! Then there was the lazy river, the activity pool and some of the coolest slides ever! I still remember when I was going head first down the racer - which plummets down a large slide right at the end! Exhilarating!! Of course, not to be missed is the centerpiece of the whole park - the Rascal Roundup. This is a huge playhouse that allows kids to shoot or dump water, ride slides and climb to their hearts delight! The bucket at the top drops over 1000 gallons of water at a time - and it's hilarious to see the kids running to get under it! The arcade was alot of fun as well - it had a very nice assortment of games. The mining area where the kids can sluice for gems and fossils is located right next to it. Everything is so conveniently placed! In case the water park isn't enough, there's also activities held throughout the day. There's bingo, board games, and old time photography - just to name a few. The restaurant - the Branding Iron Grille- was also a delight. I got the half chicken and my husband had steak - both were wonderfully prepared, and were very reasonably priced. The staff was always very courteous and helpful. We had one hiccup when we ordered a pizza late at night, but it was resolved to our satisfaction - and it was delicious to boot! We all had an absolute blast on our trip. We were able to get in on short notice, and we have alot of great memories. As well as fossils and gemstones... lol!!! more

We came to the park on a Saturday afternoon, stayed in the hotel (Cisco Kid Room - king + bunk bed) and left late Sunday afternoon. Check-in was easy and the people fantastic. The manager, Beverly Joseph-Kinney, was great! She gave me a tour of the new villas (where I will stay in the future) and gave us coupons to discounted portraits and pizzas. She was kind, knowledgeable, and helpful. Every staff member I encountered (from lifeguards, to wait staff, to housekeeping) seemed happy to work there! They were genuinely, and successfully, trying to make our stay a great one. The waterpark is wonderful! Half of it is geared toward smaller kids. The wading pool goes from zero to 2' deep with slides and fun water games. There are bigger slides for kids under 48" tall and even more slides for kids of all ages! It was fantastic. The prices were great with the package I got - 2 adults, 2 kids get one night stay in the hotel and two days of water park action, all for around $230. There is a great arcade there too. The pizza from the restaurant was the best pizza I've had in a long time, the breakfast buffet was good, and service was even better. All-in-all, we will happily recommend this park to our friends and family. Although the hotel room was in disrepair, it WAS clean, and the staff, the prices, and the fun will keep us coming back. more

Great, Thanks! more

Thank you again for bringing your conference to Fort Rapids. I hope your meetings were successful and everyone enjoyed their time here. I have attached your folio, which lists each persons name that had a room and shows the charges in bulk, and I have also attached an invoice which itemizes the banquet charges. Please let me know if you have any questions. I have also attached a banquet survey, please fill it out and return at your leisure. We value your feedback! I look forward to working with you in the future, please let me know if there is ever anything we can do for you(including if you want to bring your family for a day or a stay!) more

Thank you Annette. It truly was an enjoyable stay. Thank you so much for the time and attention that you put in to making our event enjoyable. The rooms were clean and comfortable and the food was as good as I expected. Since we have outgrown our facility here, I’m sure we will use Fort Rapids again for some of our meetings. more

It's a great hotel but if any of you are looking to save some $$ then book it at goo.gl/FPxYD They have some of the best hotel deals on the web! more

The staff at Ft. Rapids did an outstanding job for our annual conference. It was nice having the management staff and chef take such an active part to insure the conference was a success.The guest room rates were affordable, free parking - not the case for most conference centers around downtwon Columbus, free internet, and the food received favorable reviews from conference participants. more

I was a guest at Fort Rapids for the Buckeye Game Fest this last weekend and I wanted to comment on the excellent customer service I received over the weekend. Each and every associate I interacted with not only did a bang-on job, they always took the extra step of treating me like a valued customer. Please pass along my praise to your staff, well done! more

I wanted to write a quick note to tell you what a great time the kids had yesterday!!! They had a blast!!! Many of them had been looking forward to this trip all year long. This was Fairplan’s first time coming there and I am sure that was the first of many. Thank you again for all your assistance!!! You were great to work with!!! more

"Just got back from our third visit to the park, and it is even better than before.The menu changed some, it's a better fit for our family's tastes. The kids are having more fun in the park than ever.They added a little cantina in the water park where you can get away from the noise but still keep your eye on the kids. And the drinks are cheaper!The rooms (we stayed in the suites) are still some of the nicest rooms I have ever been in. Clean and sumptuous.We did the old time photo thing this time. What a hoot!" more

"Stayed at the Fort Rapids from March 23 to March 26. Check-in took less than 5 minutes and we never waited longer than two minutes for an elevator. The hallways and rooms were clean. Everything in room 301 functioned properly, including the free wi-fi. Had originally booked for two nights but the family was having such an enjoyable stay I decided to extend the third night. The desk manager arrange for this cheaper than we had orignally booked online and included 4 water-park passes for free. Only ate one meal at the bar, and the reuben sandwich was ample with nice fries. The entrance to the service road is a little strange but there is another way to get there: take Hamilton road to Groves road, then left on cloverleaf. We found this easier than navigating the entrance off of the ramp. This is the best way to go to the strip malls for take-out food. All of the staff went all out to make us feel welcomed, with everyone smiling. I was a little nervous to stay here after reading the reviews, but having nothing bad to say about our stay. Our stay was during the week, and it was not so busy with no waits for the slides. The water temp. was fine, and the air was very warm in the water park, which had plenty of towels and no trash about the place. We would stay here again and suggest you give it a try. Our family travels quite a bit and can say this is a nice place." more

We visited this place a couple of years ago and found it enjoyable. I was very disappointed as to how it has deteriorated in such a short time. We arrived around 8 pm, no heat in the room (heater broken), maintenance promptly fixed it, he was proficient and friendly but his appearance was unclean and harried. We ordered room service; my son had a fountain drink which tasted moldy. Hot water for the showers, just don't turn on the cold at all and you will be ok. There was a loud drunken debaucherous party in the lobby area till well past 2 am. We went to the restaurant in the morning, it was filthy. The Water Park was a ZOO. When the pool opened at 10, there was a pack of roughly 50 unaccompanied minors (12 and under) waiting to get in. The attendant made an announcement to the crowd of kids pressing at the door to go back to their rooms and get their parents. None did, and 2 minutes later they let them all in unaccompanied anyway. First thing in the morning the park was enjoyable, as the day progressed things rapidly deteriorated, line jumping was rampant, out of control kids and adults in the lazy river which I would call the crazy river, the older kids play pool was not safe either, the water temp was not conducive to all day play, locker room was not maintained during the day at all. The infant pool was safe, basically because it was well policed by parents. From my observation, they are cutting corners by dropping the water temperature a degree or two, the place is (under) staffed and run by very young overwhelmed employees who are doing their best but have no back bone or idea of how to properly manage a family friendly resort. The place is out of control and the locals know it. Fort Rapids is party central I would not say this is family friendly place to take elementary school aged children. more

My husband and I took our 9 year old twin grandsons for a weekend stay. The park is very easy to find, right off the freeway, it was clean and very child friendly. We found the staff pleasant and eager to please. The restaurants serving good food at reasonable prices. I know the boys enjoyed the waterpark and arcade. more

This was a great place for the kids. They have apparently had some issues, but have worked hard to bring the resort back up. We stayed there 3 weeks ago and the staff was friendly, and food was good. Stay in one of the Villas, they are huge! more

Fort Rapids was a blast yesterday not only for our students but for our staff as well. We will be looking into possibly going back in June. more

I just wanted to drop you a note and thank you for your wonderful hospitality this weekend. The kids and parents all had a blast. We were great to work with you, your staff in the hotel bar, Kristin was wonderful. The waterpark was great. It was just a very nice weekend. Your staff was great, the rooms were nice, water park fantastic. So thanks for everything and I am sure we will stay with you again. more

We were more than amazed at the high level of service, cleanliness of the room, the friendly staff, and the sheer amount of fun we had at this amazing waterpark. Our kids would not stop going through the water rides, especially black out pass, while my wife and I relaxed by floating down cowboy creek.. We also had a great dinner in the Copper Town Saloon (I highly recommend the Cobb salad), and the breakfast bar in the Brandin Iron Grille is a great value for the money, especially if you have kids. I would recommend this waterpark to anyone, especially in the cold winter months. more

While I am sad to report this review, I feel it is necessary for others to know about our experience. Let me say first that the customer service from Ken the manager & Jimmy the server were impeckable. That being said, it had to be! We had an extremely large group with us on our trip 1/21/11-1/23/11 and before arriving, we checked reviews. We were very concerned when we saw a number about bed bugs. When calling and speaking to management about our concerns we were assured on the first phone call that in the five years she was there, they had never had an issue. On the second phone call, we were advised that they have not had an incident in 3 years. I called while posting this review & spoke with Beverly to find out how honest they would be knowing there was a recent incident, and she stated "I will not lie to you, there have been claims recently. We are in Columbus & they are everywhere. The health department came & said that they do not have them." On that note, one of our guests was moved at 4:30am after noticing bed bugs in their bed. They put them in a cup for management to see & the room was of course comped. The next day while swimming with our children in the kids pool, myself & my friend noticed something in the water that looked like a dead cockroach. When we showed the lifegaurd, she simply splashed it away & said that they sometimes come in because of the cold. When we moved to the other slide away from that area, there were a number more cockroaches at the bottom of the slide coming from underneath!!!!!!! Management again was of notified, but we are unsure of the outcome. more

I brought my daughter and her cousin to Fort Rapids indoor waterpark for their spring break and it was a complete blast!!! They have tons of slides and fun attractions I had to pry them away at the end of the evening. We spent 7 hours at the park and it seemed like only a few we were having so much fun. If your looking for a great way to spend quality time with your family and actually interact personally with your kids Fort Rapids is the place to go. more