Dallas Staycation: Jade Waters at the Hilton Anatole

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Last weekend our family headed to the Hilton Anatole with Jade Waters for a little staycation.  I have been hearing so many wonderful things about Jade Waters that I couldn’t wait to check it out.  I love a good vacation, but sometimes a nice staycation is even better.  My kids are young (6 and 3) so it is nice to get away, but not have to drive far.    We had an absolute blast.  Here are all the details of our trip.

DALLAS STAYCATION: JADE WATERS AT THE HILTON ANATOLE

First thing, I shared lots of details from our trip on social media and got several questions about how Jade Waters works.

  • It is exclusive to hotel guests.  If you stay in a King Room you get up to 2 wristbands (which is your ticket into the park), if you stay in a Queen room or a King with sofa bed you get up to 4 wristbands to the park.  Up to an additional 2 wristbands per room are available for purchase for $35 each per day.
  • 2018 Summer Season is April 27-Sept 3
  • HOURS: JadeWaters Resort Pool Complex: Open daily from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
    JadeWaters Grill & Bar: Open daily from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
  • ACTIVITIES: There are a few activities for kids that are included with your wristband (gold coin plunge, kids pool party and movies under the stars).  There are even more activities available for an additional price (weekends only).  You can pay for them a la carte or purchase a Fun Pass.
  • FUN PASSES: Fun passes are an additional $29.95, but by far the cheapest way to have the most fun.  They allow the kids to partake in almost all of the activities for a great price.  If you purchased these activities individually it would be $64.  Some of the activities included are duck races in the lazy river, kids crafts, poolside bingo, train ride and Gepetto’s Marionette show.  I highly recommend getting a Fun Pass.  These are available weekends only.
  • Jade Waters has a 4000 sq foot Leisure Pool (adults only on weekends), 7000 sq foot splash and play areas for kids, 630 ft lazy river, 2 180 ft winding water slides, seating for more than 800 people private cabanas and daybeds, a 23 seat swim up bar, a delicious grill, and amazing poolside service.  The hotel also has lots of amazing amenities and activities.

Ok, hopefully that answered most of your questions.  Onto our trip.  We arrived at the Anatole on Saturday, checked in and went straight out to Jade Waters while we waited for our room. I was honestly surprised that the water park was not crazy crowded since it was Saturday.   It was just perfect!  We got a chair in front of the splash park so I could sit and relax (haha. . .as much as you can with 2 young kids at a waterpark) and the kids could play.  They loved this area!

After playing for a bit, the kids wanted to do the kid craft activity.  This was included in our Fun Pass.  There were lots of fun things you could make.  There were canvases you could color and paint, some pretty pictures and wooden masks.  Both of my kids chose the mask.  They love arts and crafts so this was right up their alley.

After the crafts we swam and swam.  We loved the lazy river.  It is so pretty and takes you around the park.  We stood under the large bucket that spills water on your head, played water basketball, rode slides, and enjoyed all the water activities.

Then Geoff and I checked out the adult pool.  This space was awesome.  I loved this huge tanning area and the lounge chairs in the pool were so comfortable!  We also tried some beverages at the swim up bar.  On the weekends this area is adults only.  I need to come back on a girls trip or without the kids to really enjoy this section.  There was a TV over the bar which Geoff loved so he could watch the World Cup.

After swimming we checked out the lawn games. . .

and hit up the Kids Concierge for ice cream!  Both of these are on the beautiful lawn outside of Jade Waters.  My kids loved the Kids Concierge.  It was full of all kinds of candy, snow cones, ice cream, etc.

After a sugar rush we headed up to the room to get cleaned up for dinner.  Our room was great and had a wonderful view of the Dallas skyline.  My kids loved watching the ball at night.  We had dinner at Media Grill in the hotel and the food was very yummy.  I would have loved to check out the steak house SER, but will have to do that on our next adult only trip.  After dinner we headed out to the Root Beer Garden Party which had fun games for the kids and the parents even got involved.  Geoff and I entered the bubble gum blowing contest.  We took a ride on the train and then finished our evening with a movie under the stars.  They were playing Coco and my kids love that movie.  I did a bad job of taking pictures in the evening. . .we were having too much fun.

The next day we woke up, had breakfast at Terrace Cafe in the hotel (the biscuits and gravy were delicious) and headed back out to the pool.  The morning had more fun activities like the Gold Coin Plunge and Duck Race.  We ate poolside from the Jade Waters Bar & Grill and my salad was delicious!  After more sun, we went back to the room to get showered so we could go see Snow White at Geppetto’s Marionette Theatre.  We had soooo much fun at this show.   It was incredible!  Everything is done by the most elaborate wooden puppets.  The show was about an hour and my kids are still talking about it.  After the show they bring you behind the scenes to see how everything is done.

They have 3 shows over the weekend so you have to check out one of them.  They have many different stories throughout the year including a holiday one.  It is also a great place for birthday parties!

We truly had the best time and will definitely be back.  It was the perfect getaway with our family!  If you are local you should definitely check out the Hilton Anatole and Jade Waters for a fun staycation, if you are traveling it would be such a fun getaway and its in a great location.  There are so many things to do in this area.  It is only 5 minutes from Uptown & Downtown and right next to the Design District and American Airlines Center.  Take a few days and enjoy the entire area.  There are so many fun things to do with kids.  The Aquarium and Perot Museum are just up the street.  You seriously cannot go wrong staying at this hotel.

Thank you so much to the Hilton Anatole for having us this weekend.  We truly had the best time.  I only share things I love with my readers and all opinions are my own.