I Took My Son to This Oklahoma City Resort With an Indoor Water Park, and We Both Had the Time of Our Lives

I didn’t got down to cowl water parks; the water parks discovered me—by the use of my son. Dad and mom know the drill: you would possibly plan the journey, however youngsters typically choose the lane. That is how I, an individual who as soon as wouldn’t have deigned to dip a toe right into a lazy river, someway turned a full-blown water park aficionado. So consider me once I say Oklahoma Metropolis’s Okana Resort & Indoor Waterpark is the savvy traveler’s reply to an elevated water park resort expertise.

The 40-acre campus alongside the Oklahoma River within the metropolis’s Horizon District is a flagship undertaking from the Chickasaw Nation, a $400 million tourism vacation spot. The resort’s title blends the nation’s phrases for water (“oka’”) and good friend (“inka̱na”). An 11-story, 404-room resort anchors the event, which I first clocked from the freeway a number of miles earlier than we arrived for a current keep.

The story-tall, primary-colored letters spelling “Okana” run vertically down the facet of the constructing, grabbing my consideration throughout the prairie panorama. At first, the daring shades—splashed all around the property—had me bracing for full elementary-school birthday-party power. As an alternative, the execution is surprisingly dialed in. Okana could borrow notes from the Nice Wolf Lodge playbook (say, with its on-site arcade), however the general vibe lands nearer to Seashores Resort than to a theme park.

There’s artwork and many it. Works solely created by 28 First American artists seem all through the property, with hanging items lining the visitor rooms and hallways. Different considerate nods to Indigenous makers proceed throughout the resort: Dockside, Okana’s reward store, shares merchandise from Native American manufacturers like Bedré Nice Chocolate, whereas in-room facilities come from Mom Earth, a Canadian Indigenous-owned luxurious tub and physique firm.

After all, artwork can solely maintain a 10-year-old’s consideration for therefore lengthy, and shortly sufficient, we had been speed-walking towards the water park. It’s right here that Okana’s actual model of parental luxurious reveals itself: when your youngsters are blissed out, dwelling their very best cannonball life.

Brian Szydloski, the water park common supervisor, informed me that Okana operates on a kid-first crucial with out forgetting the adults are those footing the invoice and quietly craving ease. At check-in, everybody will get a wristband that doubles as a room key and a water park cross: scan and go, no digging by seaside baggage whereas somebody is dripping water on the carpet. You possibly can even give your little one buying energy by way of the wristband—a privilege my son discovered extremely thrilling, if barely harmful to our snack price range. The resort connects to the water park by way of a shiny, window-lined walkway, creating a relentless, completely satisfied migration of swimsuit-clad households.

Every part is engineered to make touring with youngsters really feel frictionless. So when my son lastly tapped out after repeat laps on the Whipslash and Tide Twist slides—and I used to be 5 chapters deep into a brand new e book—dinner was actually steps away, with a number of eating places prepared to soak up us, moist hair and all.

Under, my full overview of Okana Resort & Indoor Waterpark.

The Rooms

Our Bunk Suite featured a bed room with a king-size mattress and a balcony overlooking the lagoon. A separate bunk room with its personal TV introduced the overall to 3 giant screens, together with one other in a compact sitting space with a sleeper couch, chair, and desk.

The setup clearly anticipates bigger household teams, although a number of design decisions stunned me. The lavatory, for instance, included solely a bathe and lacked a shelf for cleaning soap or a razor. One other observe: housekeeping runs on a three-day rotation, in response to the entrance desk, until friends request service.

Meals and Drink

Whereas Okana is only a 15-minute drive from downtown Oklahoma Metropolis, the resort presents loads of on-site eating decisions. Szydloski informed me the aim is for friends to expertise the property like an all-inclusive—even when they don’t seem to be technically paying a single, all-in price. To make that particularly interesting for households, eating doubles as leisure.

Three of the 5 signature eating places include built-in leisure. Curveball Kitchen, the baseball-themed spot, serves ballpark classics—suppose pretzels roughly the dimensions of a child’s head—alongside digital batting cages. Bullseye, true to its title, is an axe-throwing speakeasy (restricted to ages 13 and up). Smokehouse Social delivers the property’s tackle Oklahoma barbecue and has digital golf stations. Parts run beneficiant and flavors skew crowd-pleasing, the sort of lineup designed to maintain everybody fed, completely satisfied, and firmly on property.

The Spa

Okana has a stunning spa with seven therapy rooms tucked between two eating places and immediately throughout from its lagoon. I booked an anti-aging facial within the calm, softly lit area, which additionally presents friends complimentary entry to a devoted red-light remedy room earlier than or after remedies.

My aesthetician was pleasant, and the complete expertise felt indulgent sufficient that I significantly thought-about going again the subsequent day for a pedicure.

Accessibility

The resort’s swimming pools are zero-depth entry, and a devoted moist switch chair permits friends with mobility points to switch out and in of the swimming pools.

The property presents ADA-compliant visitor rooms with wheel-in showers, which will be requested on the time of reserving.

Easy methods to E book

Okana Resort & Indoor Waterpark shouldn’t be at present a part of any points-based loyalty program. Earlier than reserving a keep, examine the resort’s web site for its most present presents and packages.

Nightly charges at Okana Resort & Indoor Waterpark begin from $159.

Each T+L resort overview is written by an editor or reporter who has stayed on the property, and every resort chosen aligns with our core values.