If you grew up in Michigan, you don’t need much introduction to Frankenmuth. The town has long been at ease leaning into its own character, as evidenced by the Bavarian stores, the chicken dinners, and the Christmas store that is open 365 days a year regardless of the outside calendar. But recently, something changed, and it wasn’t subtle. Frankenmuth is now being brought up in discussions unrelated to its chicken dinners, and the Bavarian Inn Lodge spent $90 million on an indoor water park development.
Following the enlargement, the Bavarian Blast, which had previously been a part of the lodge complex, reopened as the biggest indoor water park in Michigan. It’s worth taking a moment to consider the scope of what was added: sixteen new waterslides, including the state’s first dual-mat racer slides. The first swim-up bar in Michigan. Rock climbing, a three-story ropes course, a lazy river, and a wave pool. The enclosed footprint is around the size of three football fields. Building anything this size under a dome is a major operational commitment in a place where the outdoor water park season is actually constrained by climate.
Due to the positive response, Bavarian Blast has risen to the top five in the country. It was ranked fourth in the nation in USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards, which is the kind of recognition that really matters to families who are budget-conscious or have a short vacation window. Although the Midwest indoor water park market has been steadily expanding—Great Wolf Lodge built its business model around precisely this demographic—Bavarian Blast’s positioning is more difficult to achieve than a marketing campaign due to its number-four national ranking.
The Frankenmuth tale is intriguing because of its particular setting. In an area where many tourist-dependent businesses suffer during the off-season, the town had already figured out how to be a year-round destination. Years ago, a solution to that issue was the Christmas store. The extension of the water park is based on the same idea: provide visitors with an excuse to visit when bad weather strikes. The $90 million wager is based on the idea that indoor water park attendance will be steady enough throughout the seasons to warrant the expenditure, and the preliminary data appears to support that claim.
It’s difficult to ignore how the investment alters the discussion of what Frankenmuth is. It used to be a day trip location, where you would drive there for a few hours and then return home. It is transformed into a multi-night stay by a top-notch indoor water park, which alters the economics of every local restaurant, hotel room, and retail establishment. For a small city, that is a big deal. It’s natural to wonder if the surrounding infrastructure has grown quickly enough to accommodate the increased number of tourists, but it’s a better problem than the alternative.
Families who have visited parks with comparable setups elsewhere and now have a version closer to home seem to be paying special attention to the dual-mat racers. There is now a viable local option for Michigan residents who used to drive to Wisconsin or Indiana for similar facilities. The Bavarian Inn Lodge seems to have accurately assessed the underserved market of Midwest families looking for a water park weekend without having to travel across state lines.
