Enchanted Forest Water Safari

enchanted forest water safari reviews

Top ways to experience nearby attractions

enchanted forest water safari reviews

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Jet21407120246

ENCHANTED FOREST WATER SAFARI: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

  • (0.20 mi) Adirondack Vacation Home! Experience the best of Old Forge any season with us!
  • (0.61 mi) Pine Knoll Lodge and Cabins
  • (0.29 mi) Water's Edge Inn
  • (0.39 mi) Old Forge Camping Resort
  • (0.42 mi) Upscale Waterfront Villa Near Town - Near trail 5
  • (0.25 mi) Adirondack Dog House
  • (0.40 mi) Slickers
  • (0.24 mi) Brewside Grill & Test Kitchen
  • (0.28 mi) Pied Piper
  • (0.27 mi) Subway
  • (0.00 mi) Calypso's Cove
  • (0.46 mi) Adirondack River Outfitters
  • (0.23 mi) Fulton Chain Craft Brewery
  • (0.24 mi) Old Forge Fitness
  • (0.35 mi) View Arts Center

entertainmentcalendar.com

  • Change Region

Secondary menu

  • Organizations: Login
  • Organizations: How to post to KOAA lists and calendars
  • Organizations: Register a new User ID / account
  • Organizations: Advertising on KidsOutAndAbout
  • Parents: Login to manage parent bulletin board posts
  • Parents: How to post to Parent Bulletin Board
  • Parents: Register a new parent bulletin board User ID

Online local guide to everything for kids, teens, and families!

kidsoutandabout.com

Search form

Review of enchanted forest / water safari theme park, old forge, adirondack mountains, ny.

EF-WS-SafariRiverExpedition.jpg

A well-run, relaxing, reasonably-priced water park that caters to parents as well as kids

by David Ross

My daughter Ella and I spent two fully delightful days at the Enchanted Forest Water Safari theme park as part of a fun and relaxing long weekend in the Adirondack Mountains. The park has abundant and varied rides and, on our visit during the last weekend in June, virtually no waiting lines.

To my 9-year-old, Enchanted Forest Water Safari was the paradise that she'd expected. The park is also gleamingly clean, safe, physically attractive, reasonably-priced, and pleasantly mellow--making it a parent’s paradise, too. The fact that it's in a charming Adirondacks town on a gorgeous lake in the midst of quiet, beautiful woodland, is a wonderful bonus.

Water Park Features

The main features of the park are its Water Safari water attractions. Our favorites among these were the Amazon , the Black River , the Rondaxe Run , and the park’s newest water slide, the Curse of the Silverback . You ride tubes in all of these; through a simulated Brazilian forest, through mysterious dark tunnels, back into sunlight along the sides of a huge bowl under the influence of centripetal force until you slow down enough to be drawn into a huge drain and thus sent on your way to more twisting tunnels. These and the numerous other centerpiece rides are exhilarating without seeming scary to an adventurous 9-year-old.

EF-WS-Sawmill.jpg

For young children, there’s The Sawmill , a wonderful multi-level system of treehouse-like platforms with tame-but-fun waterslides, with a wading pool at its base. The whole thing is drenched by the emptying of a huge water barrel every few minutes. There are other wading pools, plus the Tadpole Hole, a scaled-down version of the Serengeti Surf Hill water slide. Little kids can also ride many of the gentler tube rides with their parents; among these is the Safari River Expedition : a lovely, long, winding “lazy river” circuit around the entire park that is all at ground level. The Tidal Wave Pool was a surprising hit with Ella, we spent easily an hour and a half bobbing up and down in it over our two days.

Enchanted Forest

The Enchanted Forest bit of the park, the part with which the park started in 1956, is still there. This section of the park starts with a huge statue of Paul Bunyan—because of the region’s history as a logging center—and continues all along the southern edge of the park— Storybook Lane —past Sleeping Beauty’s house, Peter’s Pumpkin, the Crooked House of that Crooked Man, Contrary Mary’s growing garden, and handsome depictions of many other fairy tale characters and locales.

Storybook Lane ends at a compact but well-stocked amusement park that occupies the west end of the park. It includes a carousel, bumper cars, tilt-o-whirl, two Ferris wheels, and five or six other rides. Being able to switch from the water rides to the amusement park rides allowed us to change the pace, which we did several times each day. Except for the bumper cars—kids have to be 42” tall to ride those, 48” to ride them alone—even the youngest child can ride any of the rides with a parent, and can ride most of them alone.

You can also get from the park’s entrance to the amusement park section via the Enchanted Forest Railroad , a charming miniature railroad train.

EF-WS-SkyRide.jpg

Additional Attractions: Sky Ride and Circus Show

Ella and I loved the Sky Ride , a ski-resort-style chairlift that gives you a 5-minute ride high in the sky over the park. It’s fun seeing the park from above, the view of the surrounding mountains is lovely, and you should go barefoot so that your feet get tickled by the leaves of the trees whose tops you just barely skim. (Some have had their branches pruned so that the Sky Ride chairs fit through.)

We also enjoyed the Circus Show , an outdoor comedy, juggling, trampoline, & trapeze show. This half-hour show is presented twice a day. It features the Cristiani Comedy Trampoline, Juggling and Hula Hoop Act and the Flying Cortes Trapeze and Aerial Cloudswing Act. The comic bits were genuinely funny in just the pleasantly corny way circus shows should be, and the acrobatics were fun and impressive.

EF-CS-Cloudswing.jpg

How long should you spend at Enchanted Forest/Water Safari?

My daughter would have been ecstatic to have spent two days in the water park alone. Our being able to intersperse trips down the waterslides with amusement park rides, trips over the park on the Sky Ride (we must have done this 5 or 6 times over the two days, at Ella’s request), a train ride and a Circus Show, enriched and enlivened the experience immensely. After two days at the park we felt like we could easily have spent another full day without risking any sense of boredom.

On the other hand, suppose you only have one day to spend at Enchanted Forest/Water Safari: Should you do it? My answer is an unequivocal yes . Even if the park is crowded, you and your kids should still be able to sample everything and feel that it was time well spent.

WaterSafariPullQuote.jpg

Enchanted Forest/Water Safari suffers from none of the problems I worry about in connection with water parks and amusement parks. It’s clean, almost impossibly so. Visitors must throw the occasional Coke can or candy wrapper on the ground, but the staff must be endlessly and stealthily on watch for litter, because there seemed to be none. That staff was also clean and alert and well-groomed, they were smilingly helpful whenever we had questions, and they were sweetly, gently, attentive in helping us and others into tubes and out of them and the like. I also worry about rowdy teenagers or others engaged in inappropriate behavior at such places; there was not the vaguest hint of anything like this during our stay at Enchanted Forest/Water Safari.

At the 2010 rates of $26.95 per adult per day, and $23.95 per child, Enchanted Forest/Water Safari is well worth the price of admission. (2010 season passes cost $79.95, and you can get a $1 discount on daily admission at the website.)

Water's Edge Inn

Nearby Accommodations

Ella and I stayed at the Water’s Edge Inn , which is right across the street—a three-minute walk—from the Enchanted Forest/Water Safari. It’s a clean and handsome hotel, decorated in a rustic manner appropriate to the setting. Not cheap at $125 a night, but not unreasonable either. The continental breakfast was modest, but good. The park is right at the edge of the town of Old Forge, so there are lots of other hotels nearby, too.

EF-WS-Oldforgelake.jpg

Its proximity to Old Forge, in the Adirondacks, right at the southern tip of the Fulton Chain, makes Enchanted Forest/Water Safari doubly wonderful. Ella and I ate our lunches and dinners in charming restaurants and rustic diners. We surveyed Fourth Lake from the Eagle Bay shore, and decided that the lake was shortchanged; it surely deserves at least as romantic a name as the bay. We had ice cream with several other families next to the covered bridge over the lake outlet, where we watched ducklings and their mother waddle precariously along the dam. We sat on a balcony overlooking the lake each evening before bedtime, as the sun set. We explored the very neat Old Forge Hardware Store where we got a dollhouse-sized chair—guess what type—as a gift for Ella’s sister. We hiked up Bald Mountain early Sunday morning and took in the breathtaking view from the fire tower.

Did Water Safari live up to its billing?

In short, Ella and I fit two weekends into one: a great vacation weekend for a parent and a great vacation weekend for a kid. We recommend it with four thumbs up.

Driving to Old Forge

Old Forge is 3½ hours from Rochester, 1 hour from Utica (the nearest airport), 2½ hours from Albany, 4½ hours from Buffalo, 4 hours from Montreal, 5¼ hours from New York City, and 5½ hours from Boston. Stay-and-play packages are available from the Old Forge Camping Resort and Water's Edge Inn . Print discounted tickets directly from Enchanted Forest/Water Safari's web site .

© KidsOutAndAbout.com

  • Share on Facebook
  • Tweet Widget
  • Albany / Capital District, NY
  • Ann Arbor / Detroit, MI
  • Atlanta, GA
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Charlotte, NC
  • Fairfield County, CT
  • Fort Worth, TX
  • Hartford, CT
  • Houston, TX
  • Hudson Valley, NY
  • Indianapolis, IN
  • Inland Empire, CA
  • Jacksonville, FL
  • Kansas City
  • Long Island, NY
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Memphis, TN
  • Mid-Cities, TX
  • Milwaukee, WI
  • Minneapolis / St Paul, MN
  • Nashville, TN
  • Orange County, CA
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Phoenix, AZ
  • Pittsburgh, PA
  • Portland, OR
  • Providence, RI
  • Research Triangle, NC
  • Rochester, NY
  • Saint Louis, MO
  • Salt Lake City, UT
  • San Antonio, TX
  • San Diego, CA
  • San Fernando Valley, CA
  • San Francisco, CA
  • San Jose, CA
  • Seattle, WA
  • Toronto, ON
  • Vancouver, BC
  • Washington, DC Metro Area (DMV)
  • Westchester County, NY

Enchanted Forest Water Safari

enchanted forest water safari reviews

Top ways to experience nearby attractions

enchanted forest water safari reviews

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

travelinggramma2014

Enchanted Forest Water Safari - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

  • Things to Do
  • Restaurants
  • Holiday Homes
  • Travel Stories
  • Add a Place
  • Travel Forum
  • Travellers' Choice
  • Help Centre

It's okay... - Enchanted Forest Water Safari

  • United States    
  • New York (NY)    
  • Old Forge    
  • Old Forge - Things to Do    
  • Enchanted Forest Water Safari

Had a phone call with the company of the many water parks I have contacted, Enchanted Forest Water... read more

enchanted forest water safari reviews

We held a DeMolay Youth Leadership Convention in the Adirondacks and needed an unforgettable... read more

enchanted forest water safari reviews

It's okay...

Not sure what rides they think are heated, but on 10Jul2014 they were all freezing! We went early so it wasn't really crowded even though the little parking lot was full. It's nice that you can bring in your own food; really wished we had done that because we spent over $40 for four people for mediocre food. On a positive note, my 13yo loved Curse of the Silverback...

Hi, thank you for taking the time to review our park. All of our water rides are in fact heated - the water is heated to approx. 77 degrees. Being in the Adirondack Mountains, the nights here see temperature drops which causes water temperatures to fluctuate at times - but we promise, all water is heated. Again, thanks for the review and we hope you and your family will come back to give us another try.

Once a year, our entire family makes a trek up to Old Forge to enjoy Water Safari. Each time I come, I'm always happy when I leave. Where else can you ride tons of water slides, have fun on nostalgic amusement park rides, and wander among fairyland characters for $25 (if you use the discounted tickets from Tops). When you bring in your own picnic lunch, this is a wonderful experience for a family at an excellent value. An added bonus, is that you rarely have to stand in line to ride any of the rides. I actually enjoy Water Safari more than Disney World because you actually get to ride the rides and not wait in line!

We can't thank you enough for your kind words & five-star review! Thank you for coming to visit us year after year & we hope to see you and your family again soon!

I've been coming up to water safari for a few years now, 2-3 times a year. I've always had a great time - whether it was a single lady or a married woman with a baby/toddler. There's activity for everyone. The last time I went was July 29th, the waiting lines according to my husband weren't long. The water was absolutely perfect for my almost 2 year old to be in. There's shade to cool off & the bathrooms are kept clean. Also towards the end, between 6pm-7pm, amateurs placed firecrackers by the kids playhouses/statues or whatever they're called. My family & I were in the shaded area 100 feet away & the workers didn't really seem concerned about our safety or to see if we were okay. My aunt, who also has a 2 year old, and I were talking about going to walk around the area and take pictures of the kiddos. Other than the last times inconvience, the park is great.

Thank you for your review! We're so happy that you and your family enjoyed your time at the park! We would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused by the firecrackers - all managers were aware of the situation and immediately were out searching for the source of the disturbance. We want all of our guests to have a great time & be comfortable when they're here, so we do apologize for this issue. Aside from that, we're glad you & your family had a good day and hope to see you again soon!

We like old-school things, and this park is very old-school. You won't find the fastest land rides or fifty billion rules to follow. They sort of leave it to you to make sure you hang on to some rides and use common sense. Bring a cooler in if you want. Wear shoes or don't. (The only land rides that require shoes are the bumper cars. I believe water shoes are NOT allowed on water rides.) My kids loved it (ages 9, 7 and 4.) There was enough variety for them. Lines were not too long. The food is not very good. If you don't want to bring a cooler, there are some good places in town to get a bite to eat. There's not much shade on the water side of things anyway, so going someplace else mid-day is a good idea. There are 2 lazy rivers. None of the tubes have bottoms on them for the younger kids to sit in, so if you have a younger child you need to sit in the tube and put the child on your lap. They will help you in and out if needed. One of the lazy rivers has no water spraying on you (a huge plus for my fearful 4 yr old!) and the other, clear tube lazy river, you can keep out of the spray if you take the route on the right at the river split. We did not use the locker rooms this time. Last time we came here they were dirty and overcrowded. You can go out to your car and back, so that's another option that worked for us. I would not plan ahead too much. Some of the information on their website is misleading. For example, it seemed like a good idea to put money on a splash cash wristband so as not to have to carry money or credit cards. That was more hassle than it was worth because they were out of wrist bands (on June 27?) and could only give us a card. If I had known that ahead of time I would have skipped the splash cash. Then if you have money remaining, you have to wait in long lines while people get their paul bunyan card pictures taken just to get your money back. We also didn't find the after 3 program to be worth it for us. We arrived at 4:00, expecting to go on the land rides until 7:00. After being told to go to different places to gain admission (we had already purchased our tickets through Wegmans) we were told to go to some upstairs offices where there were other families waiting while they worked through problems. Finally we got through, after 4:30, to be told that the park was closing at 5:00. It seemed like they weren't fully up and running yet. I think that happens with seasonal things like this, but it would have been nice to know. From their website, it seemed like they were ready. I found the life guards to be very attentive in all areas, which is much more important than the check-in employees. They were in and out of the water helping kids into and out of things. The attitudes of all employees were helpful and pleasant.

Hi - thank you for taking the time out to provide us with your review! We're glad that you enjoyed the rides & found something fun for everyone in your family! We're sorry that the you did not find the locker areas to be as clean as they should be - we pride ourselves in maintaining a neat & clean environment and will encourage you to bring issues such as this to the attention of the closest team member so we can fix the situation right away. We apologize that you found Splash Cash to be a hassle - our intention is to have it available for convenience sake! Many, many guests take advantage of Splash Cash wristbands, so stations do go through them very quickly. We replenish each station as needed & apologize that the station you went to was not fully stocked as we have certainly not run out! Thank you for bringing this to our attention so we know to replenish more frequently in the future. For future references, there are more than one location to get your Splash Cash money returned to you to minimize the wait time - Locker Keys, Guest Services & Admissions all offer this service. Our park hours are listed on our website - due to the fact that our days are shorter at the very beginning of the season, we start our Siesta Savings at 2pm to give our guests more fun time. We are so happy that you found our lifeguards and ride operators to be attentive & helpful - we want all of our guests to have the best time possible when they're here! We really appreciate your feedback and are thrilled that you & your family enjoyed your time spent with us! We hope to see you and your family again soon!

We visited on June 27, 2014. This was our first trip to the park, so I can only compare it to what I've already experienced: Darien Lake in Darien, NY and SeaBreeze in Rochester, NY. I'm rating EF higher than I would the other two above, for a few reasons. First, the size of the park is much more manageable as far as walking. Also, they have more shaded seating available for adults (or kids) who don't or can't ride the rides. This feature is hugely important to my family, as my husband is handicapped and can't do many things, but still likes to enjoy a day with the family. Also, after riding several water slides with my 9 and 11-year-old kids, I was ready to take a break. I was very impressed with the seating available. However, I think they should have scooters available for the handicapped to rent, because not everyone can manage the walking this park requires. There are a few steep inclines and a few bridges along the way. The restrooms and changing areas are huge, and very clean. (I can't say the same for Darien Lake or SeaBreeze). Also, I'm not sure if they provide lockers in a neutral location (other than men's or women's rooms), but you can rent a key for a $10 deposit, $5 of which you get back when you return your key. We had one situation where it would have been convenient if the lockers were in a central location, but we figured it out, and this was a minor issue. We were not interested in riding the dry rides, so I can't rate those, but the main feature of the park is its water rides, so it seems appropriate that the dry rides are down-played. We purchased our tickets through our local AAA location, and our adult tickets cost the same as the children's tickets. Once you're in the park, you can pay an additional $3 per person for unlimited half-priced admission for the rest of the season. We did not choose that option because we weren't sure if we could make it back this year. I think because we visited on the first day of our summer vacation, the lines were not very long, the park was not crowded, and parking was plentiful, even though we arrived two hours after they opened. I'm sure this would not be the case later in the season. However, we had such a good time that we plan to make this "first day of summer vacation" trip to Enchanted Forest an annual event.

We really appreciate all of your feedback! We're glad that you took advantage of our discounted tickets, our goal is to provide families with affordable fun. Also, we pride ourselves in maintaining a clean environment & we're very happy that you found the park to be neat & tidy. For future reference, we do offer unisex lockers in the back of the park for your convenience! Again, we would like to thank you for your kind words & are so excited that you plan to visit us again - what a great way to kick-off summer vacation!

I live in northern NY so this place is a given every year. I was raised loving water safari and that's how I'm raising my daughter.......I even turned my husband into a diehard.

Hi - thank you so much for your positive feedback! We truly appreciate your loyalty in coming to our park every year! We look forward to seeing you & your family soon!

Enchanted Forest Water Safari

enchanted forest water safari reviews

Top ways to experience nearby attractions

enchanted forest water safari reviews

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Jet21407120246

ENCHANTED FOREST WATER SAFARI: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

  • (0.31 km) Adirondack Vacation Home! Experience the best of Old Forge any season with us!
  • (0.98 km) Pine Knoll Lodge and Cabins
  • (0.46 km) Water's Edge Inn
  • (0.63 km) Old Forge Camping Resort
  • (0.67 km) Upscale Waterfront Villa Near Town - Near trail 5
  • (0.40 km) Adirondack Dog House
  • (0.64 km) Slickers
  • (0.39 km) Brewside Grill & Test Kitchen
  • (0.45 km) Pied Piper
  • (0.43 km) Subway
  • (0.00 km) Calypso's Cove
  • (0.73 km) Adirondack River Outfitters
  • (0.37 km) Fulton Chain Craft Brewery
  • (0.39 km) Old Forge Fitness
  • (0.56 km) View Arts Center

entertainmentcalendar.com

  • Change Region

Secondary menu

  • Organizations: Login
  • Organizations: How to post to KOAA lists and calendars
  • Organizations: Register a new User ID / account
  • Organizations: Advertising on KidsOutAndAbout
  • Parents: Login to manage parent bulletin board posts
  • Parents: How to post to Parent Bulletin Board
  • Parents: Register a new parent bulletin board User ID

Rochester's online guide to everything for kids, teens, & families!

kidsoutandabout.com

Search form

Review of enchanted forest / water safari theme park, old forge, adirondack mountains, ny.

EF-WS-SafariRiverExpedition.jpg

A well-run, relaxing, reasonably-priced water park that caters to parents as well as kids

by David Ross

My daughter Ella and I spent two fully delightful days at the Enchanted Forest Water Safari theme park as part of a fun and relaxing long weekend in the Adirondack Mountains. The park has abundant and varied rides and, on our visit during the last weekend in June, virtually no waiting lines.

To my 9-year-old, Enchanted Forest Water Safari was the paradise that she'd expected. The park is also gleamingly clean, safe, physically attractive, reasonably-priced, and pleasantly mellow--making it a parent’s paradise, too. The fact that it's in a charming Adirondacks town on a gorgeous lake in the midst of quiet, beautiful woodland, is a wonderful bonus.

Water Park Features

The main features of the park are its Water Safari water attractions. Our favorites among these were the Amazon , the Black River , the Rondaxe Run , and the park’s newest water slide, the Curse of the Silverback . You ride tubes in all of these; through a simulated Brazilian forest, through mysterious dark tunnels, back into sunlight along the sides of a huge bowl under the influence of centripetal force until you slow down enough to be drawn into a huge drain and thus sent on your way to more twisting tunnels. These and the numerous other centerpiece rides are exhilarating without seeming scary to an adventurous 9-year-old.

EF-WS-Sawmill.jpg

For young children, there’s The Sawmill , a wonderful multi-level system of treehouse-like platforms with tame-but-fun waterslides, with a wading pool at its base. The whole thing is drenched by the emptying of a huge water barrel every few minutes. There are other wading pools, plus the Tadpole Hole, a scaled-down version of the Serengeti Surf Hill water slide. Little kids can also ride many of the gentler tube rides with their parents; among these is the Safari River Expedition : a lovely, long, winding “lazy river” circuit around the entire park that is all at ground level. The Tidal Wave Pool was a surprising hit with Ella, we spent easily an hour and a half bobbing up and down in it over our two days.

Enchanted Forest

The Enchanted Forest bit of the park, the part with which the park started in 1956, is still there. This section of the park starts with a huge statue of Paul Bunyan—because of the region’s history as a logging center—and continues all along the southern edge of the park— Storybook Lane —past Sleeping Beauty’s house, Peter’s Pumpkin, the Crooked House of that Crooked Man, Contrary Mary’s growing garden, and handsome depictions of many other fairy tale characters and locales.

Storybook Lane ends at a compact but well-stocked amusement park that occupies the west end of the park. It includes a carousel, bumper cars, tilt-o-whirl, two Ferris wheels, and five or six other rides. Being able to switch from the water rides to the amusement park rides allowed us to change the pace, which we did several times each day. Except for the bumper cars—kids have to be 42” tall to ride those, 48” to ride them alone—even the youngest child can ride any of the rides with a parent, and can ride most of them alone.

You can also get from the park’s entrance to the amusement park section via the Enchanted Forest Railroad , a charming miniature railroad train.

EF-WS-SkyRide.jpg

Additional Attractions: Sky Ride and Circus Show

Ella and I loved the Sky Ride , a ski-resort-style chairlift that gives you a 5-minute ride high in the sky over the park. It’s fun seeing the park from above, the view of the surrounding mountains is lovely, and you should go barefoot so that your feet get tickled by the leaves of the trees whose tops you just barely skim. (Some have had their branches pruned so that the Sky Ride chairs fit through.)

We also enjoyed the Circus Show , an outdoor comedy, juggling, trampoline, & trapeze show. This half-hour show is presented twice a day. It features the Cristiani Comedy Trampoline, Juggling and Hula Hoop Act and the Flying Cortes Trapeze and Aerial Cloudswing Act. The comic bits were genuinely funny in just the pleasantly corny way circus shows should be, and the acrobatics were fun and impressive.

EF-CS-Cloudswing.jpg

How long should you spend at Enchanted Forest/Water Safari?

My daughter would have been ecstatic to have spent two days in the water park alone. Our being able to intersperse trips down the waterslides with amusement park rides, trips over the park on the Sky Ride (we must have done this 5 or 6 times over the two days, at Ella’s request), a train ride and a Circus Show, enriched and enlivened the experience immensely. After two days at the park we felt like we could easily have spent another full day without risking any sense of boredom.

On the other hand, suppose you only have one day to spend at Enchanted Forest/Water Safari: Should you do it? My answer is an unequivocal yes . Even if the park is crowded, you and your kids should still be able to sample everything and feel that it was time well spent.

WaterSafariPullQuote.jpg

Enchanted Forest/Water Safari suffers from none of the problems I worry about in connection with water parks and amusement parks. It’s clean, almost impossibly so. Visitors must throw the occasional Coke can or candy wrapper on the ground, but the staff must be endlessly and stealthily on watch for litter, because there seemed to be none. That staff was also clean and alert and well-groomed, they were smilingly helpful whenever we had questions, and they were sweetly, gently, attentive in helping us and others into tubes and out of them and the like. I also worry about rowdy teenagers or others engaged in inappropriate behavior at such places; there was not the vaguest hint of anything like this during our stay at Enchanted Forest/Water Safari.

At the 2010 rates of $26.95 per adult per day, and $23.95 per child, Enchanted Forest/Water Safari is well worth the price of admission. (2010 season passes cost $79.95, and you can get a $1 discount on daily admission at the website.)

Water's Edge Inn

Nearby Accommodations

Ella and I stayed at the Water’s Edge Inn , which is right across the street—a three-minute walk—from the Enchanted Forest/Water Safari. It’s a clean and handsome hotel, decorated in a rustic manner appropriate to the setting. Not cheap at $125 a night, but not unreasonable either. The continental breakfast was modest, but good. The park is right at the edge of the town of Old Forge, so there are lots of other hotels nearby, too.

EF-WS-Oldforgelake.jpg

Its proximity to Old Forge, in the Adirondacks, right at the southern tip of the Fulton Chain, makes Enchanted Forest/Water Safari doubly wonderful. Ella and I ate our lunches and dinners in charming restaurants and rustic diners. We surveyed Fourth Lake from the Eagle Bay shore, and decided that the lake was shortchanged; it surely deserves at least as romantic a name as the bay. We had ice cream with several other families next to the covered bridge over the lake outlet, where we watched ducklings and their mother waddle precariously along the dam. We sat on a balcony overlooking the lake each evening before bedtime, as the sun set. We explored the very neat Old Forge Hardware Store where we got a dollhouse-sized chair—guess what type—as a gift for Ella’s sister. We hiked up Bald Mountain early Sunday morning and took in the breathtaking view from the fire tower.

Did Water Safari live up to its billing?

In short, Ella and I fit two weekends into one: a great vacation weekend for a parent and a great vacation weekend for a kid. We recommend it with four thumbs up.

Driving to Old Forge

Old Forge is 3½ hours from Rochester, 1 hour from Utica (the nearest airport), 2½ hours from Albany, 4½ hours from Buffalo, 4 hours from Montreal, 5¼ hours from New York City, and 5½ hours from Boston. Stay-and-play packages are available from the Old Forge Camping Resort and Water's Edge Inn . Print discounted tickets directly from Enchanted Forest/Water Safari's web site .

© KidsOutAndAbout.com

  • Share on Facebook
  • Tweet Widget
  • Free Events Today
  • Free Events This Weekend
  • Free Events Next Weekend
  • Free Places to Take Your Kids
  • Today's Events
  • All Events This Weekend
  • All Events Next Weekend
  • Earth Day Events
  • Mother's Day Events
  • Activities for Babies & Toddlers
  • Activities for Preschoolers
  • Activities for kids in early elementary school
  • Activities for 'tweens
  • Activities for Teens
  • Activities for the whole family
  • Bounce houses & jumping fun
  • Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA's)
  • Indoor Play Centers
  • Local venues with memberships & season passes
  • Charter Schools
  • Preschools & Child Care
  • Private Schools
  • Fun on the Farm
  • Zoos & Nature Centers
  • Parks & Outdoor Recreation
  • Amusement Parks
  • Music organizations
  • Performances & Movies
  • Local Theater
  • Dance organizations
  • Dance performances
  • Visual Arts Organizations
  • Get Active: Sports & Fitness
  • Local Gyms & Rec Centers
  • Sports Education
  • Sports Teams
  • Horseback riding
  • Orthodontists / Pediatric Dentists
  • Pediatricians
  • Special Needs
  • Parenting Hacks
  • Local Reviews
  • Vacation Reviews
  • Product Reviews
  • Book, Music, & Games Reviews
  • Event Reviews
  • Week by Week Guide to Summer Camps
  • August Camps
  • General Day Camps
  • Overnight Camps
  • Music Camps
  • Theater Camps
  • Dance Camps
  • Sports/Fitness Camps
  • STEM, Language, and Culture Camps
  • Nature Camps
  • Visual Arts Camps
  • Cooking & Crafts Camps
  • Preschool Camps
  • Special Needs Camps
  • Religious Camps
  • Virtual / online summer camps
  • All Classes by Subject
  • Exercise & Health
  • Horseback Riding
  • Martial Arts
  • Visual Arts
  • Hands-on (Arts & Crafts & Cooking)
  • Sign Language
  • After-school/wraparound
  • Technology/Computers
  • Creative Writing
  • Mathematics
  • Tutoring / Test prep
  • Nature/Outdoors
  • Foreign Language
  • Tutoring Centers
  • Virtual / online learning resources & classes
  • Exhibits - current & upcoming
  • Story times at libraries & bookstores
  • Organizations focused on STEM or Culture
  • Homeschool classes
  • Homeschool groups
  • Master Guide to Summer Fun in the Rochester Area
  • Master guide to FALL in the ROC
  • Apple Picking
  • Pumpkin Picking
  • Halloween Fun
  • Fall Festivals
  • Fall hikes to take with the family
  • Master Guide to Holidays in the ROC
  • 101 Ideas for Holiday Family Fun
  • 150-House Driving Tour of Holiday Lights in the ROC
  • Christmas Tree Farms
  • Where to visit Santa
  • Breakfast with Santa
  • Christmas Activities
  • Lightbulb Day
  • New Year's Eve Activities
  • Holiday concerts and performances
  • Subscriptions Boxes: Gifts That Keep on Giving
  • Master Guide to Winter in the ROC
  • Winter Fun: Sledding hills
  • Winter Fun: Skiing
  • Winter fun: Cross-Country Skiing & Snowshoeing
  • Winter Fun: Skating
  • Winter Fun: Embrace Winter Sports
  • Winter Break Camps
  • Upcoming online events
  • Virtual / Online Summer Camps
  • 24/7 virtual experiences
  • 101 Family Day Trips from Rochester
  • Blog of publisher's weekly column: Notes from Deb
  • Top 20 Places to Take Kids in ROC
  • This week's newsletter
  • Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter
  • Advertise in our weekly e-newsletter

Enchanted Forest Water Safari

enchanted forest water safari reviews

Top ways to experience nearby attractions

enchanted forest water safari reviews

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Jet21407120246

Enchanted Forest Water Safari - All You MUST Know Before You Go (2024)

  • (0.31 km) Adirondack Vacation Home! Experience the best of Old Forge any season with us!
  • (0.98 km) Pine Knoll Lodge and Cabins
  • (0.46 km) Water's Edge Inn
  • (0.63 km) Old Forge Camping Resort
  • (0.67 km) Upscale Waterfront Villa Near Town - Near trail 5
  • (0.40 km) Adirondack Dog House
  • (0.64 km) Slickers
  • (0.39 km) Brewside Grill & Test Kitchen
  • (0.45 km) Pied Piper
  • (0.43 km) Subway
  • (0.00 km) Calypso's Cove
  • (0.73 km) Adirondack River Outfitters
  • (0.37 km) Fulton Chain Craft Brewery
  • (0.39 km) Old Forge Fitness
  • (0.56 km) View Arts Center

Enchanted Forest Water Safari

enchanted forest water safari reviews

Top ways to experience nearby attractions

enchanted forest water safari reviews

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Jet21407120246

ENCHANTED FOREST WATER SAFARI: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

  • (0.31 km) Adirondack Vacation Home! Experience the best of Old Forge any season with us!
  • (0.98 km) Pine Knoll Lodge and Cabins
  • (0.46 km) Water's Edge Inn
  • (0.63 km) Old Forge Camping Resort
  • (0.67 km) Upscale Waterfront Villa Near Town - Near trail 5
  • (0.40 km) Adirondack Dog House
  • (0.64 km) Slickers
  • (0.39 km) Brewside Grill & Test Kitchen
  • (0.45 km) Pied Piper
  • (0.43 km) Subway
  • (0.00 km) Calypso's Cove
  • (0.73 km) Adirondack River Outfitters
  • (0.37 km) Fulton Chain Craft Brewery
  • (0.39 km) Old Forge Fitness
  • (0.56 km) View Arts Center

COMMENTS

  1. Enchanted Forest Water Safari

    Enchanted Forest Water Safari is the perfect mix of classic activities and new, exciting water rides. We had the best time and can't wait to go back! Read more. Written August 5, 2022. This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading ...

  2. Limit the amount of people that are allowed into the park.

    Enchanted Forest Water Safari is the perfect mix of classic activities and new, exciting water rides. We had the best time and can't wait to go back! Date of experience: August 2022. Ask Kate R about Enchanted Forest Water Safari. Thank Kate R . This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC ...

  3. Enchanted Forest Water Safari

    Enchanted Forest Water Safari is the perfect mix of classic activities and new, exciting water rides. We had the best time and can't wait to go back! Read more. Written 5 August 2022. This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading ...

  4. Review of Enchanted Forest / Water Safari theme park, Old Forge

    A well-run, relaxing, reasonably-priced water park that caters to parents as well as kids. by David Ross. My daughter Ella and I spent two fully delightful days at the Enchanted Forest Water Safari theme park as part of a fun and relaxing long weekend in the Adirondack Mountains. The park has abundant and varied rides and, on our visit during the last weekend in June, virtually no waiting lines.

  5. Enchanted Forest Water Safari

    Enchanted Forest Water Safari, where the fun never stops, is New York's Largest Water Theme Park with more than 50 rides and attractions including 32 heated outdoor water rides! Water Safari is located in Old Forge, NY in the Adirondack Mountains. In this combination of amusement park and water park, guests never run out of fun things to do ...

  6. ENCHANTED FOREST WATER SAFARI

    Sep 14, 2023 - New York's Largest Water Theme Park! Enchanted Forest Water Safari, where the fun never stops, is New York's Largest Water Theme Park with more than 50 rides and attractions including 32 heated out...

  7. It's okay...

    Enchanted Forest Water Safari: It's okay... - See 443 traveller reviews, 109 candid photos, and great deals for Old Forge, NY, at Tripadvisor.

  8. ENCHANTED FOREST WATER SAFARI (Old Forge)

    Review. Trips Alerts Sign in. Basket. Old Forge. Old Forge Tourism ...

  9. Enchanted Forest Water Safari Review, New York Water & Theme Park

    Enchanted Forest Water Safari is a water and theme park in Old Forge, New York. This park opened back in 1956 as a walkthrough attraction, but it has since ...

  10. Enchanted Forest Water Safari

    The Enchanted Forest — Water Safari (originally known as The Enchanted Forest of the Adirondacks and often called the Enchanted Forest and Water Safari) is an amusement park/water park.It is the largest water park in New York and is located within Old Forge, in the Adirondack region. It has been rated the number four waterpark in the US.

  11. Enchanted Forest Water Safari

    Water Safari Resort offers Military discounts at all of our properties with your active, retired, or veteran ID! ... Mini-golf, Zipline, Rides, Games, Arcade, Food & FUN! Located right next door to Enchanted Forest Water Safari! EXPLORE . Join our eClub. Sign up today to receive exclusive news, updates, promotions, and coupons delivered ...

  12. Review of Enchanted Forest / Water Safari theme park, Old Forge

    A well-run, relaxing, reasonably-priced water park that caters to parents as well as kids. by David Ross. My daughter Ella and I spent two fully delightful days at the Enchanted Forest Water Safari theme park as part of a fun and relaxing long weekend in the Adirondack Mountains. The park has abundant and varied rides and, on our visit during the last weekend in June, virtually no waiting lines.

  13. Enchanted Forest Water Safari

    Enchanted Forest Water Safari, Old Forge. 85,560 likes · 728 talking about this · 112,793 were here. New York's Largest Water Theme Park with over 50 rides and attractions, including 33 heated water...

  14. Enchanted Forest Water Safari

    Enchanted Forest Water Safari, where the fun never stops, is New York's Largest Water Theme Park with more than 50 rides and attractions including 32 heated outdoor water rides! Water Safari is located in Old Forge, NY in the Adirondack Mountains. In this combination of amusement park and water park, guests never run out of fun things to do ...

  15. Water Ride Operator- Summer Seasonal 2024

    ENCHANTED FOREST WATER SAFARI Scope: Water Ride Operators are responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the ... See this and similar jobs on Glassdoor

  16. Tony Harper's Pizza and Clam Shack

    Enchanted Forest Water Safari. 445 reviews .62 miles away . Fulton Chain Craft Brewery. 60 reviews .39 miles away . Town of Webb Historic Association. 24 reviews .27 miles away . See the best nearby hotels See the best nearby restaurants See the best nearby attractions. Questions & Answers.

  17. Enchanted Forest Water Safari

    Skip to main content. Discover. Trips

  18. Diözesanmuseum

    Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, ... Cap d'Antibes Enchanted Forest Water Safari Crystal Springs Golf Club Miami Beach Boardwalk Riley Moore Falls Twin Creek Crystal Mine Ostina 3 Fast Boat 6 Days and 5 Nights Private Tour in Madrid and ...

  19. HOME Bar Berlin

    Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit ... Lindqvist Beach Neptune's Grotto Al Fanateer Beach Black Chasm Cavern Enchanted Forest Water Safari Union Market The Big Duck Dixon Lake Riverfront Park Mosquito Lake State Park Guided Oslo Fjord Cruise by Silent ...

  20. Jivoe Tv Concert Hall

    Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more. ... & Botanical Gardens Lost Valley Trail St. Augustine Outlets Oka Kartini Shadow Puppet Performance Capitol Bus Services Enchanted Forest Water Safari Dupont Underground Unto These Hills 3-Day Petra and Wadi Rum Tour from Jerusalem Private Old San Juan ...