Any advice for an overnight trip to a waterpark resort?

Started by xray328, December 04, 2018, 10:50:40 PM

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xray328

Hey guys.  Our cadets have asked if our next big trip could be to Kalahari Waterpark Resort in Wisconsin Dells.  We know the ORM is going to be huge here.  Does anyone have any advice in advance of us starting this process?  We've done overnights before but the waterpark aspect really adds to the safety side.  The plan is to leave early in the morning, arrive around 10, hit the indoor waterpark until 4 then let them go to the indoor amusement part (go-karts, mini golf, arcade games).   We'd sleep over then return the next morning.

Do we need to dig into their safety records, or annual inspections since the state already does that?  They host 5,000 youth groups a year and I don't think it's something I'd do if I was taking my own kids or even my kids friends.  Obviously safety is paramount but how far do we need to go there?

They offer a STEM program to go along with it which is basically the physics of waterslides, g forces etc.  Do we need to include that or can we just let them have a day of fun?  They've already done the Air Force Museum and Oshkosh so this is more of a group bonding/retention type of activity, just to have fun.

Any other advice?

Thanks in advance!

arajca

Note: This is my opinion only.

I would contact the park. See if they have a standard safety plan used by other youth groups - tweak as necessary.

If the STEM program is fairly short, 1-2 hours, and doesn't cost extra, take advantage of it.

BraveRifles19D

You can use the STEM program toward hours for the me STEM badge (CAPP 60-41). Also, usually the overnight water park packages include 2 days in the park, so I would stay the 2nd day until at least early afternoon.

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Eclipse

Don't do it as a CAP trip.

Just have families meet there and have fun together.

Way too many moving parts for something like this, and the connection to CAP is very tangential at best.

"That Others May Zoom"

lordmonar

I would first contact your wing Cadet Programs and wing Safety Officers and see what they want to see in the HAA request.   You may be surprised how easy it is to get approval.

PATRICK M. HARRIS, SMSgt, CAP

xray328

Quote from: Eclipse on December 04, 2018, 11:24:16 PM
Don't do it as a CAP trip.

Just have families meet there and have fun together.

Way too many moving parts for something like this, and the connection to CAP is very tangential at best.

A good number of these cadets can't afford to go do something like this on their own, I'm guessing it'd set back a family of 4 at least $500 easily.  The cadets have done an awesome job fundraising this year and I'd like to be able to treat them to something like this. 

NIN

Its one thing to do a trip to a place in conjunction with a CAP trip. All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy. A buddy and fellow squadron commander back in the day used to do squadron "mega trips" each year that incorporated a little bit of both. 

First year was to the NASM in DC.  I went with them that year: 10 hrs in the van (zzzzz), barracks at Belvoir. Toured the Capitol, the Mall, the monuments & Arlington one day with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. The NASM and other stuff the next, and an ad hoc and "accidental behind the scenes" Pentagon tour the morning of our departure. 

Their second trip was to KSC, with side detours to Cocoa Beach & the House of the Mouse. Third trip was to USAFA. I forget the details of that one, but it was a straight thru drive (shifts of drivers) from Detroit to C-Springs, a day & a half on the ground or so, tour of the Academy, some time up in the mountains, maybe Pike's Peak, etc, and a straight drive back. They did a lot of fundraising to defray the cost of the trip for all, because many of these cadets were never going to get to go to Kennedy Space Center or Disney on their own.

Its not utterly unheard of to do a "fun trip," but I think its pretty important to connect your "fun trip" to CAP in some way.  My unit did a two day (Saturday/Sunday) trip to NYC about 14 years ago, which was a real eye opener for some small town New England cadets. We started it off with basically a whole day on the USS Intrepid, followed by a dusk walk thru of Times Square, dinner in New Jersey where we were staying, and then a walking/subway tour of Manhattan the next day (Empire State Bldg, Ground Zero, the Staten Island Ferry and lunch at the Fulton Street Seaport) before we headed home.  Everybody loved it, but certainly the "centerpiece" or focus of the trip was the AE component in the form of the Intrepid museum.

Darin Ninness, Col, CAP
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Eclipse

Quote from: xray328 on December 05, 2018, 02:21:01 PMThe cadets have done an awesome job fundraising this year and I'd like to be able to treat them to something like this.

Presumably they didn't fundraise with the intention of just going to a water park.

That money should be used for scholarships to NCSAs, uniform items, ES gear,
AE stuff, even unit awards.

One could presume that the Finance Committee would have issues spending
money like this as well.

A compromise might be a more local park that can be done as a day-trip
not requiring the ORM nightmare of a hotel.

"That Others May Zoom"

xray328


xray328

I should add that part of the problem is finding something fun to do in the winter months.  October to May is a killer around here.