A Three-Generations Trip to Okana!

Family and water are two of my favorite things in life, so what better vacation than to combine the two? We recently took a trip from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to go to Okana with our adult children, grandchildren, and one of their other grandparents. Okana is a great choice for a three-generation trip!

Oklahoma City is a quick drive from Tulsa, but when you walk into Okana, you feel like you’re at a resort! It is a massive place with a 404-room hotel and a 200,000-square-foot outdoor 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 young children, areas for everyone, and a few areas reserved for adults only. Slides of every height are located throughout both parks, along with a zip line, obstacle course, wave pool, lazy river, and flow zone. The outdoor park has a huge area called The Lagoon, which has sandy beaches and shallow waters.  There is a separate shallow area with beach chairs for adults only, as well as a swim-up bar.

The resort has restaurants, a gift shop, a candy and ice cream store, and a large arcade. Inside the arcade, there is also an escape room and laser tag. If you somehow have any energy left after all the water activities, there is also a fitness room for adults.

This was our third three-generation trip of the summer, and it was a perfect fit for our family. With five adults and two kids, we could take turns with the grandkids. My husband loved doing the obstacle course with them, and I was happy to float the lazy river over and over again. On the second day, my daughter rented an indoor cabana, and that was a great idea. It was good to have a home base where we could all meet up and have a chance to escape some of the activity. The cabanas have a small refrigerator, a television, and several comfortable chairs. You can order food and drinks to be brought to the cabana, which is a welcome luxury when you’re exhausted and hungry.

There are height requirements for many of the water features. Also, any child under 48 inches must wear a life jacket, which Okana furnishes. My five-year-old granddaughter is a good swimmer but not quite tall enough to go without a life jacket. I don’t think any of us minded that rule. Besides being a good swimmer, Sylvia is brave and did all the biggest slides that the height requirements allowed, and it was an added security to know she had her life jacket on. Safety is priority number one. Drowning can happen so quickly and silently; we would rather be safe than sorry.

If Okana has a downside for me, it would be the constant noise and crowds. I’m 68 and have never considered myself to have sensory issues. However, on the first day, I began to feel overwhelmed by the noise and the sheer number of people at the indoor park. We went outside, and it was much better, but if you have kids with sensory issues, keep this in mind. Having the cabana on the second day was a good place to escape some of the noise and chaos that is a natural part of a big waterpark.

We rented a two-bedroom, two-bathroom family room plus a single room for the third grandparent. We were lucky to get a first-floor room with a small patio where we had breakfast every morning and watched the kayakers paddle by on the river. There are many configurations of rooms and suites available, some with balconies or patios, some without.

I have loved our three-generation trips! My daughter is the typical eldest daughter, and she plans everything. She makes all the reservations and all the plans. Her husband drives the minivan, and we sit in the second and third rows with the grandkids. We feel a little bit like children, and we like it! After so many years of being in charge, it’s nice to just be along for the ride. We hope we make it worthwhile for them by occasionally entertaining our grandkids. We saw many other grandparents with grandchildren at Okana, which validated our belief that it’s the perfect three-generation trip!

Things to know before you go:

• Make your reservations far in advance!
• If it’s in your budget, rent a cabana.
• Okana is a Pepsi products-only resort. Plan accordingly.
• Take pool shoes! The outside pavement is hot, and the bottom of some of the pools is rough.
• Take lots of sunscreen! Hats and sunglasses are essential in the Oklahoma summers!
• Teach your child to swim! No one is ever drown-proof, but lessons help!