This place was way over crowded. Not enough room for even 1/3 of the guest to sit at anything. Every hottub full, pool and slide full. They tried to say their maximum capacity was 1000 which they do not have posted anywhere and if you look at capacity standards is more than. Double a reasonable state ordinance. The swimmer to lifeguard ratio also far exceeds safety limits. When brought to the managers attention she said it is always like this during the holidays and in 17 years they never had a problem. That doesn’t make it safe.

I spent a lot of time studying the lifeguards here and they are on point! I watched them for hours and they are not just sitting and waiting for somebody to yell for help. They are constantly moving around on an assigned path, their eyes are constantly in motion watching for drowning people. It was something to watch them flawlessly monitor that whole pool from every angle AT ALL TIMES. Their paths were very deliberate and so were there actions while moving around... as in they would look at the same points every pass, they would round the pole every pass but what was cool is they weren't doing it mindlessly, they were in it! They were there and ready. Really impressed with that team of life guards. I felt like my child was safe weather we were paying attention or not. We'll be back.

The water park is lacking maintenance. We went on a weekend day and paid full price to have 1 of the 4 large water slides broken. Many water spouts/guns weren’t working on the big splash pad and parents were pointing out missing screws and there was an opening on a grate on the floor of the toddler splash pad when we arrived at noon. It claims to be the largest water park in Michigan, but I’ve been to Traverse and that appears larger and is better maintained as well as more attentive lifeguards than Avalanche Bay. For the price, stay a night in Traverse and get a better water park for 2 days compared to the same price as a day pass here.

My mother and I took my 2 boys (13 and 7) to the waterpark on August 8, 2024. Wow! Clean. Fun. Safe. The lifeguards were plenty and very helpful with my boys. I didn’t feel nervous having them go play without me. Thank you so very much. We will be returning next year.

We took my nephew for his birthday half the park was shut down. No mention that was even a possibility. The resort was packed with some event so it’s not like they weren’t making money and had to cut back on staff. All the pools and slides were yellow. My nephew was waiting in line for the wave pool for 30 minutes and the closed it down before he got to go. If I could give them zero stars I would.