Castaway Bay question

I know it does not relate to cp in a way, but it is connected. Has anyone noticed that cb is closed clear up to mid December and only open weekends up until late January.

Thats half correct. Castaway will reopen December 17 and is then open every day (not just weekends) through December.
http://www.castawaybay.com/public/explore/calendar/index.cfm

I can promise you this answer is accurate as I will be lifeguarding there when it re-opens!
...and it does relate to CP :)

Thanks for the info. I must have gotten the reservations page messed up. I was hoping to go in December for my brothers birthday but that's not going to work. Canto go that close to Xmas.

They close down?

Just another reason why kalahari is a much better water park.

Kalahari is better than Castaway Bay because Kalahari doesn't close? McDonald's must be better than the Bay Harbor Inn because McDonald's never closes.

Kalahari is bigger, of that there is no doubt. And, as such, they have a better selection of attractions. But, I'm not sure better is defined by size. I like the intimacy of Castaway Bay...particularly with younger children.

Chief Wahoo said:
Kalahari is better than Castaway Bay because Kalahari doesn't close? McDonald's must be better than the Bay Harbor Inn because McDonald's never closes.

Kalahari is bigger, of that there is no doubt. And, as such, they have a better selection of attractions. But, I'm not sure better is defined by size. I like the intimacy of Castaway Bay...particularly with younger children.

I am just freaked out that you would use the words "intimacy" and "children" in the same sentance.;)

Not just because they are closed, but everything about kalahari is better. After an hour in a empty castaway bay we got board. There are only a few things to do, the wave pool sucks, half the resort is always closed, the food is typical crappy overpriced cedar point food, . I could go on and on, but I will say that I gave them a few chances to impress me and they failed all 3 times.There is a reason that they close down, and it's not because they are doing so well.

I think Kalahari is open all the time because it's better, not the other way around.

There are reasons that Castaway is currently closed that I would prefer not to discuss and I'm not allowed to give out due to my contract-and it's not anything to do with "which is a better resort"...

The line they gave me on the phone was that they were shut down for building maintanance and repairs.

He said that they will not reopen untill dec 17'th.

I have never been to Kalahari, and it says on the newspaper they are expanding more to the Water Park 2011. I won't go there till or if a CASINO will ever go in. I have a feeling there will be one in the near future. I bet CP will get one or close by the Resort area. Now the State of Ohio is bringing Casinos in Cleveland, Toledo, and Cinn. I hope they will be in Sandusky soon.

Even without an expansion, the place is huge. There is more than enough to keep you buisy for the day.

Kalahari is awesome. The size of the entire complex/building amazes me. And nothing beats relaxing outside in the hot tub with a beer in my hand while it's snowing. In terms of which park is better, I would say Kalahari wins, hands down. Like crazy horse said, walking around an empty Castaway Bay where half the slides are closed is not incentive to return. Even with my Platinum Pass that can get my in for $10 I have not been back since my only visit in 2006 or 2007.

Maintenance issues aside, I believe Castaway has been doing the weekends only except around the holidays thing for a couple of years now. I suspect Kalahari killing their business has something to do with that, as I've driven past both places in the middle of winter (not around the holidays), and just comparing the parking lots is very telling.

I've stayed at both places, and Castaway is nice, but Kalahari definitely offers the more complete package. The indoor/outdoor adults only hot tub complete with swim-up bar at Kalahari definitely ices the cake. :)

I'm surprised they aren't at least open on weekends. They were open on weekends all of last December and all week around the holidays. We stayed there the first weekend of December last year. We were thinking of driving up for a few hours some Saturday soon to use are pass discount. Good thing I saw this, as I just assumed they are open weekends and would have gone there.

I've been to both Kalahari and Castaway Bay. No question Kalahari has more to do. The place is huge and often mobbed, especially with kids. The lobby can be less inviting with the kids hanging around. The lines in the waterpark get be quite long.

One of the things I like better about CB is that the waterpark has enough to keep you busy and while the hotel isn't so big you don't have to walk through 2 times zones to get to the waterpark or lobby. And the kids aren't hanging all over the place. Nothing against kids. It's just when there are groups of them they get goofy. The waterpark lines aren't so bad either. So things are a bit more laid back and easy.

No kidding about walking through 2 time zones to get to the waterpark. That part surprised me the most, how long it took us to get from our room to the park.

That walk is nothing compared to the one in the Dells. From end to end its a 15 minute walk. From the farthest room they suggest you take a shuttle.

Let's keep in mind the intent of the two facilities as well.

Kalahari was intended to be a year 'round destination that could sustain itself. The water park and the convention space do that quite nicely.

The water park at Castaway Bay was intended to give people a reason to come to a hotel that was open year 'round but that did minimal, at best, business during the winter.

If I fault Cedar Fair for anything it isn't that they built Castaway Bay. It is that Kinzel didn't have the foresight to see the possibilities of something like Kalahari and latch on to it for Cedar Fair's gain. He saw the success of Great Wolf Lodge. (Heck, one of his kids ran the place.) But, he didn't make sure Cedar Fair didn't lose out on that market share.

He did the same when it came to Breakers. When we built that he decided to throw on this very tiny convention space that can't hardly handle a wedding reception let alone any significant convention space. He just couldn't pull the trigger on something he couldn't wrap his head around.

Quick question. I didn't want to create a new topic since there's already a topic with the name I was going to name the topic. Anyway, I've been asked this many times from my friends and co-workers. Do I get a discount during the year on staying the night at Castaway Bay? I'm assuming the waterpark is no charge for platinum pass members, but wasn't sure about nightly stays.

Water park is not free for pass holders. I believe it’s 1/2 price. I’m not sure about room discounts, either. I’m sure they exist, but I don’t know how much it is or anything. They may appear on the site if you use the promo code “PASS”

Save your money and go to Kalahari.
The pass discount isn’t worth that much.