A Three-Generations Journey to Okana!

Family and water are two of my favourite issues in life, so what higher trip than to mix the 2? We not too long ago took a visit from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to go to Okana with our grownup kids, grandchildren, and one in all their different grandparents. Okana is a good selection for a three-generation journey!

Oklahoma City is a fast drive from Tulsa, however if you stroll into Okana, you are feeling such as you’re at a resort! It is an enormous place with a 404-room lodge and a 200,000-square-foot out of doors water park open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The 100,000-square-foot indoor water park is open year-round. There are areas for younger kids, areas for everybody, and some areas reserved for adults solely. Slides of each top are positioned all through each parks, together with a zipper line, impediment course, wave pool, lazy river, and move zone. The out of doors park has an enormous space known as The Lagoon, which has sandy seashores and shallow waters.  There is a separate shallow space with seaside chairs for adults solely, in addition to a swim-up bar.

The resort has eating places, a present store, a sweet and ice cream retailer, and a big arcade. Inside the arcade, there’s additionally an escape room and laser tag. If you one way or the other have any vitality left after all of the water actions, there’s additionally a health room for adults.

This was our third three-generation journey of the summer time, and it was an ideal match for our household. With 5 adults and two youngsters, we might take turns with the grandkids. My husband liked doing the impediment course with them, and I used to be completely happy to drift the lazy river time and again. On the second day, my daughter rented an indoor cabana, and that was an incredible thought. It was good to have a house base the place we might all meet up and have an opportunity to flee a number of the exercise. The cabanas have a small fridge, a tv, and a number of other snug chairs. You can order meals and drinks to be dropped at the cabana, which is a welcome luxurious if you’re exhausted and hungry.

There are top necessities for most of the water options. Also, any baby underneath 48 inches should put on a life jacket, which Okana furnishes. My five-year-old granddaughter is an effective swimmer however not fairly tall sufficient to go with no life jacket. I don’t assume any of us minded that rule. Besides being a great swimmer, Sylvia is courageous and did all the largest slides that the peak necessities allowed, and it was an added safety to know she had her life jacket on. Safety is precedence primary. Drowning can occur so shortly and silently; we’d quite be protected than sorry.

If Okana has a draw back for me, it might be the fixed noise and crowds. I’m 68 and have by no means thought-about myself to have sensory points. However, on the primary day, I started to really feel overwhelmed by the noise and the sheer variety of folks on the indoor park. We went outdoors, and it was significantly better, however you probably have youngsters with sensory points, maintain this in thoughts. Having the cabana on the second day was a great place to flee a number of the noise and chaos that may be a pure a part of an enormous waterpark.

We rented a two-bedroom, two-bathroom household room plus a single room for the third grandparent. We had been fortunate to get a first-floor room with a small patio the place we had breakfast each morning and watched the kayakers paddle by on the river. There are many configurations of rooms and suites obtainable, some with balconies or patios, some with out.

I’ve liked our three-generation journeys! My daughter is the standard eldest daughter, and he or she plans all the pieces. She makes all of the reservations and all of the plans. Her husband drives the minivan, and we sit within the second and third rows with the grandkids. We really feel a bit of bit like kids, and we prefer it! After so a few years of being in cost, it’s good to only be alongside for the trip. We hope we make it worthwhile for them by sometimes entertaining our grandkids. We noticed many different grandparents with grandchildren at Okana, which validated our perception that it’s the right three-generation journey!

Things to know earlier than you go:

• Make your reservations far prematurely!
• If it’s in your price range, hire a cabana.
• Okana is a Pepsi products-only resort. Plan accordingly.
• Take pool sneakers! The outdoors pavement is sizzling, and the underside of a number of the swimming pools is tough.
• Take a number of sunscreen! Hats and sun shades are important within the Oklahoma summers!
• Teach your baby to swim! No one is ever drown-proof, however classes assist!