New UP Water Park Opens This Weekend

The Upper Peninsula is home to one of the three new water parks to open up this Memorial Day weekend at a state park.

The Water Warrior Island is located at Van Riper State Park on Lake Michigamme in Champion.

The floating inflatable playground features 20 foot water slides, rock climbing walls, trampolines, floating walk ways and a ninja warrior-like obstacle course.

Water Warrior Island offers hourly passes starting at $15 an hour for under 18 of age and $18 for adults. Also, the island will offer 2-hour passes, 5-hour passes and day passes. Along with earlier bird specials Monday thru Wednesday starting at $10 at 10am, $11 at 11am, and $12 at 12pm.

The equipment is state-of-the-art and it’s great for all ages! The Island will be open 7 days a week, Monday thru Thursday 10-7 and Friday thru Sunday 10-8. Get ready to release your inner Warrior at Water Warrior Island at Van Riper State Park. Take the warrior challenge this summer May 25th thru September 4th.

Three Michigan state parks to offer water parks this summer

The countdown is on to the Memorial Day weekend opening of three fun-filled aqua parks at Van Riper State Park in the Upper Peninsula and the Brighton and Holly Recreation Areas in southeastern Michigan. These three floating playgrounds are fun for the whole family. Many of the courses include a series of connected inflatable slides, runways, jumping pillows and bouncers that are suitable for both kids and adults (age and height restrictions apply). There is an additional fee and reservations are recommended.

All three water parks will open May 25 and include:

• Water Warrior Island is located on Lake Michigamme in Van Riper State Park in Marquette County. This floating playground includes 20-foot water slides, rock climbing walls, trampolines, floating walkways and a ninja-warrior-like obstacle course.
• Jump Island situated on Bishop Lake within the Brighton Recreation Area in Livingston County, offers the “ultimate inflatable water park experience.” The water course includes an inflatable iceberg, inflatable slides, runways and other obstacles that give visitors the ability to balance, walk, run or slide on water.
• The WhoaZone on Heron Beach is located at the Holly Recreation Area in Oakland County. The course offers four different routes with four different challenge levels – from easy up to challenging. Visitors can climb, jump, crawl and slide on the gigantic springboard, semi-circle step, the wiggle bridge, half-pipe and more.

Check out a cool video on the water parks. Ticket and reservation information, rules, height requirements and hours of operation vary between each individual attraction. Links to the three water park websites, a short video and a map can be found at michigan.gov/DNRwaterparks. A Recreation Passport is required for entry into most state parks, state forest campgrounds, boating access sites and state trailheads.