Your guide to Castaway Bay, an Ohio travel destination for families

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This post is sponsored by Ohio, The Heart of it All and Castaway Bay. All words and opinions are completely my own.

Here’s a little riddle for you: Where can you go in Ohio, rain, shine or any time of the year, where it’s always a cozy 82 degrees? Answer: Castaway Bay! Cedar Point’s Castaway Bay is an indoor waterpark resort located in Sandusky, Ohio, and it is THE Ohio travel destination for families of all ages and for those who want a travel experience where everything to do is just a few steps away. The indoor waterpark is more than enough of a reason to put this on your family’s travel list this year, but you’ll want to check out my guide to Castaway Bay to make sure you don’t miss a single thing while you’re there.

Castaway Bay’s Indoor Waterpark

Let’s start with the waterpark, since this is Castaway Bay’s biggest attraction. It’s 38,000 square feet of activities, which includes a wave pool, 10 water slides, a hot tub with both indoor and outdoor options, kid’s activity area, two activity pools and an area for little kids. 

As a mom of three kids of varying ages, Castaway Bay is the perfect size. It’s big enough to have enough activities for everyone to do, but small enough that it doesn’t feel overwhelming. I also want to point out that Castaway Bay does not currently sell day passes, so you’re only sharing the waterpark with other guests at the resort. We were in and out of the waterpark several times a day and it never felt crowded.

Both Caleb and Hannah loved spending time in Fernando’s Tadpole pool – the little waterslides are the perfect size for little ones.

The boys were big enough to ride Rocket’s Canopy Coaster together, which they did several times.

They also loved the School Crossing activity pool.

A family favorite was definitely the wave pool.

Hank’s Hangout is also a must do – there are so many different things to do in this section for varying ages.

Another great thing about Castaway Bay is that you get access to the waterpark all day on the day you check out. We’ve found that it’s most convenient to rent a locker that day to stash our clothes and car keys after we’ve brought everything else to the car. Then, we can play at the waterpark until we’re ready to head home. My kids don’t like to leave right away in the morning because they’re having so much fun, so this is a great way to spend a little more time at Castaway Bay.

Travel tip: Coast Guard-approved life jackets are required at Castaway Bay for guests under certain heights for certain attractions, including the wave pool and activity pools. While some people brought their own, Castaway provides them for free! We always save the packing space by using the ones provided – there’s always plenty available located in two different areas of the waterpark.

Endless lobby activities

Now that we’ve covered the waterpark, I’m so excited to tell you all about the other things you can do at Castaway Bay. Also, I keep wanting to say that such and such activity was our favorite, but the reality is that we loved so many of the activities that I would just recommend doing as many as you can fit in. You won’t be sorry.

There is SO much fun to be had in the lobby of the resort. You’ll see the giant pirate ship right as you walk in the front doors to check in. The pirate ship, which has a cute background story with Gordy the sea turtle and his friends, has some really cool features. It can make music and sounds,

you can learn how to tie knots,

discover your pirate name, race to turn lights on in the ship,

and even navigate the sea through the interactive portholes.

When you check in to Castaway Bay, you’ll receive their Pathfinder Pouch activity book. This includes some fun activities, a map of where to find Gordy and his friends stay in the hotel (more on that later), and a fun scavenger hunt.

In addition to all of this, there are also many opportunities to catch a Castaway Bay character in the lobby for a hug and a photo as well as participate in games and other activities.

One of my personal favorites is the “Get Going” activity – it was so cute to see the kids get in a little morning stretch in.

We also played charades and bingo.

In the evening, we also caught one of their steel drum performances. It was great!

Having fun at Castaway Play

The fun doesn’t stop at the lobby either. This isn’t our first trip to Castaway Bay, but it’s our first time visiting since they’ve renovated. Castaway Play has added some really great activities in addition to the arcade, which we’ve always enjoyed.

Bowling was a family favorite.

The black light mini golf was also a really fun experience.

If you have bigger kids, the escape room is also a must. We enjoyed doing this as a family, but I do want to note that younger children might have a hard time knowing what to look for and how to solve the clues. My 10-year-old, though, was all in and even wanted to do it a second time. Do you think we escaped in time?

We didn’t, but it was still a lot of fun trying! 

Gamer’s Grotto, the arcade, is always a hit with the kids. As I mentioned above, the arcade was here the last time we visited Castaway Bay, but they also added new games and we loved checking out what was new.

Get crafty

If your kids like art time like mine do, you’ll also want to budget in time to visit Fernando’s Craft Room while you’re at Castaway Bay. It’s important to note that this room is only open certain times a day, so make sure you plan ahead. There are so many different crafts projects to choose from and there’s no cost. So if you want to paint a seashell and make a paper bag puppet and make a cardboard volcano, you can do all of these things and more.

Dance the night away at Club Castaway

Club Castaway is another area that has activities throughout the day, including karaoke and more steel drum performances. Our favorite, however, were definitely the evening dance parties. If I told you that Castaway Bay’s entertainment team was fantastic, it feels a bit like an understatement. Throughout the day, they were always so positive and full of fun and energy, and the dance parties were no exception. The kids loved dancing and giggling, doing the limbo and giving one more hug to a character friend before heading off to bed.

More activities to do at Castaway Bay

The virtual aquarium at Castaway Bay was another favorite of ours. The idea is pretty cool – choose a coloring sheet with a sea animal, color it, give it a name, and then put it under a scanner to see what happens next. The camera will grab the image of your sea animal and *pop* it swims into the aquarium on the wall, name included so it’s easy to find yours.

We did this so many times throughout the weekend. 

Another activity you can do several times during your stay is find all the character rooms around the hotel. Gordy and each of his friends have their own rooms. Find one, ring the doorbell and listen to what the character has to say. I promise, there’s lots of silly jokes and puns that everyone will love. Hint: There’s a map in the Pathfinder Pouch activity book to help you find them all. 

Spending the night at Castaway Bay

As I mentioned earlier, Castaway Bay’s waterpark is only accessible to resort guests. And really, in order to get the full experience and do all the activities Castaway Bay has to offer, you’d want to stay the night anyway. My recommendation is to spend two nights if you can – this way you can make time for all of the fun and games throughout the resort while still getting in plenty of time at the waterpark. 

All the rooms at Castaway Bay were part of their renovation last year and they did a really nice job. Each floor has a theme and our room was decorated perfectly to go along with it.

Since we have a larger family, our suite had a second room for the kids with bunk beds. They loved having their own space.

Our view was great too! 

Guide to Castaway Bay: where to eat

The fact that you can stay at Castaway Bay for your whole visit, have some great family time and fun, and never have to leave for meals is really what makes Castaway Bay a great destination for families. When it comes to food, you have many options available to you. I also want to mention that, as a family with food allergies, the staff at Castaway Bay was extremely kind and helpful. They have an allergen binder available that lists ingredients for every item served that you can look through, plus the staff was always willing to call the kitchen to double check. 

For breakfast, you’ll want to get the breakfast buffet at High Tide Cafe. There were so many choices and everything was delicious. We also had characters stop by every now and then, which is a bonus.

If you’re wanting a lighter breakfast, a snack or a quick lunch, I recommend stopping at Rocket’s Market. They also have freshly-brewed Starbucks coffee.

There’s also Surfside Beach Bar in the waterpark, which makes it easy if you’re having too much fun in the pool. They have lots of hot food options, along with cocktails and craft beer for the adults.

Quaker Steak & Lube is a restaurant on the waterfront and is connected to Castaway Bay through a hallway. Its a great family-friendly restaurant with lots of choices on the menu.

And, of course, if you’re looking for a sweet treat during the day, then you have to stop by the Sprinkle Shack. They have flurries, milkshakes and sundaes with lots of topping choices. If you need a dairy-free option, they have those too!

Our family had so much fun during our weekend at Castaway Bay and we can’t wait to go back. Since everything is indoors, it’s the perfect place to get away all year long. Use this guide to Castaway Bay to help plan your next trip to Castaway Bay!