Boyne Falls · Boyne City · Charlevoix · Petoskey
Avalanche Bay is 88,000 square feet, the largest indoor waterpark in Michigan, and it sits at 84 degrees whatever February is doing outside. The trick is planning the other six hours of the day.
Size and the “largest indoor waterpark in Michigan” description from the Petoskey Area Visitors Bureau. Water temperature and rides from Boyne Mountain. Hours, ride availability and access rules change by season.
Six slides, a cannonball drop, a lazy river, an activity pool, hot tubs, a stand up surf simulator and a water obstacle course with logs and icebergs that every ten year old will spend forty minutes failing at. It is indoors and heated, so it works in a January whiteout and it works in a July thunderstorm.
Access to Avalanche Bay is controlled by Boyne Mountain, and it has not always been open to the general public at peak times. We are not going to tell you that a rental house comes with waterpark passes, because that is the resort's decision and it can change between seasons. Call the resort, confirm for your dates, then book the house.
The second thing: most families cannot do six hours of waterpark. Kids hit a wall around hour three and then you have an afternoon to fill, wet towels everywhere, and a hotel room with one bathroom. That is the real case for renting a house here rather than a room.
Two rooms for a family of five costs more than most three bedroom rentals in Boyne City in the shoulder seasons, and the rooms do not come with a dishwasher, a washing machine for wet swimsuits, or a kitchen table where the adults can sit after the kids go down. If your group is two families traveling together, the gap gets wider.
The counterargument is real and worth saying out loud: a house is a drive, and after a full day in the water nobody wants to drive. If your entire weekend is the waterpark and nothing else, stay on the property and skip the rest of this page. If you want two days of swimming and a day of something else, the lake towns are where the something else is.
It is 88,000 square feet, and the Petoskey Area Visitors Bureau describes it as the largest indoor waterpark in Michigan. The water is kept at about 84 degrees all year.
Access is set by the resort and has been limited to lodging guests at busy times. Confirm the current policy with Boyne Mountain for your specific dates before you plan around it. No rental company controls that access, and any listing that implies otherwise is worth a phone call.
Yes, it runs year round, which is why it is the best rainy day plan in the county. Check current hours with the resort, because they shift with the season.
SkyBridge Michigan is on the property and takes about twenty minutes to walk. Downtown Boyne City is eleven minutes away and has lunch and a beach on Lake Charlevoix. Charlevoix is about 24 miles out for a longer afternoon.
A house if you are staying more than two nights, traveling with another family, or have anyone who needs an early bedtime while the rest of the group is still up. A room on the property if the whole point is swimming and nobody wants to drive afterward. That second case is common and we are not going to pretend it is not.
That combination needs a kitchen and more than one bathroom. Northern Michigan Escapes has the houses for it in Boyne City, Boyne Falls and Charlevoix.
Northern Michigan Escapes is an independent company. We do not take bookings, hold inventory or set rates.