New amenities expand The Homestead resort

HOT SPRINGS — I floated down a lazy river upon a plastic tube as the warm August sun played peek-a-boo behind the clouds and sank toward the Allegheny Mountains.

Servers strode past while bearing tropical mixed drinks.

This wasn’t a dream. It was The Homestead.

No, I wasn’t on an actual river. That’s just what they call it — the “lazy river,” a feature of a new water park that is part of a massive $25 million upgrade. Water slides, a miniature golf course and the 60,000-square-foot Canyon Ranch SpaClub are among the new amenities at the Bath County resort.

One of the main reasons for the transformation is to attract families with young children to the grand old hotel, which traces its roots back to 1766, when visitors made long trips to Bath County to “take the waters” of the region’s many mineral springs.

The new water park, called Allegheny Springs, opened late last summer, making this year its first full summer of operation. The area features 100-foot slides, the 400-foot lazy river, a swimming pool and a shallow-water kids pool with a sandy beach. The water adventures are proving popular with families.

“The addition of the lazy river and slides is fantastic,” said Susan Benson, a visitor from Northern Virginia who, along with her husband and daughter, traveled to the resort with another family.

Benson had visited the resort before she had a child, but she said that now the resort “is even better than before we were parents.”

The effort to attract the next generation of Homestead devotees seems to be working out handsomely. In 2012, Travel + Leisure magazine ranked The Homestead number 12 on its list of America’s Best Family Hotels, putting the resort in a class of such posh hotels as those in exclusive resort towns such as Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Vail, Colo.; and Park City, Utah; and the resorts at Disney World.

“Definitely, our focus is on being a family-friendly resort,” said Lynn Swann, The Homestead’s director of marketing and communications. “A lot of people grew up coming to The Homestead. We want to make it easier for sharing experiences with the next generation and providing opportunities for families to vacation together.”

Omni Hotels & Resorts, which bought The Homestead earlier this year, will continue the family focus, Swann said.

That means giving families a lot of options. While Dad golfs and Mom goes to the spa (or vice versa!), young children can spend time at KidsClub, which is like a day care that lets kids paint, read, make crafts and play outdoors.

The resort also offers an Adventure Camp that includes outdoor activities such as hiking, swimming and team sports. Families can also do many activities together.

During Labor Day weekend, The Homestead will offer tie-dyed T-shirt classes, family bingo games, bounce houses, a hayride and a cookout for guests.

Winter activities include skiing, snow tubing, snowmobiling and ice skating. The Homestead started its ski program in 1959 under skiing legend Sepp Kober, who is credited with helping launch the skiing industry in the Southern mountains.

Earlier this month, the hotel was sold out for the weekend and was packed with families and crawling with kids. Matt and Kris Hite of Cleveland spent part of their stay swimming and doing archery with their sons Ryan, 14, and Jacob, 9.

“Everything here is so well done,” said Matt. “Allegheny Springs is nice, because there’s not too much stuff there. It’s not overbuilt, it’s just right.”

The boys loved the pool and shooting arrows.

“Archery was hard at first,” said Jacob. Soon, however, “it was my favorite.”

The water park, which is open only to guests of The Homestead, does not cost extra, which distinguishes it from many of the resort’s activities. Horseback riding, kayaking, miniature golf, paintball and most other adventures cost anywhere from $8 (kids mini-golf) to $110 (private horse trail rides). Nothing is cheap, which is not a surprise at such an exclusive resort.

The truth is that The Homestead and its activities are well beyond my family’s usual Motel 6 budget. This one-day assignment afforded us perhaps the only opportunity we will have to avail ourselves of The Homestead’s staggering array of offerings.

So, when I posed the question to guests about how to have affordable fun at The Homestead or reduce expenses, folks looked at me like I was talking backward. Their blank expressions said, “You do understand that you are staying at a resort, right?”

“You get what you pay for,” one guest told me.

There are ways, though, to enjoy The Homestead without spending your children’s inheritance.

Some rooms are equipped with refrigerators, so you can pack food, which will save you from eating too many $40 entrees at the resort’s restaurants (although the meals are pretty much worth it). Allegheny Springs, as I mentioned previously, does not cost extra. The resort property is laced with hiking trails.

The Homestead also offers special room packages and discounts on some activities. For $100, guests can purchase an “Adventure Card,” which is good for up to five activities. To see the latest packages, check the website at www.thehomestead.com.

The Homestead runs free shuttles to the Jefferson Pools in Warm Springs, where people take hour-long soaks in the bubbling spring waters that give the town its name. The men’s pool is housed in an octagonal wooden building constructed in 1761. The women’s pool house was built in 1836. Families can use the pools daily between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Afterward, no one under 18 is allowed in either pool.

The resort will soon open a family game room called “Downtime,” which will include pool tables, mini-bowling, Wii and Xbox games, pizzas, burgers and more. A couple of guests said that improving the number of such indoor activities will help pass time on rainy days, which we have certainly had our share of this summer.

Of course, you can always just relax or read in the Washington Library or in one of the many rocking chairs on the front porch. Such solitude also comes at no extra charge.

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