Aqua Mountain Resort

Aqua Mountain Resort was one of those ambitious indoor water park projects that never quite made it off the drawing board. Originally planned as a 78,000 square foot indoor water paradise in Maryland, this facility was supposed to open in 2013 but ultimately never materialized. The concept looked promising on paper - a year-round indoor water destination that would have given Maryland families a home-grown alternative to the Kalahari and Great Wolf Lodge resorts they typically drive to in other states.

The plans called for the usual indoor water park lineup: a multi-story play structure with tipping buckets and slides, a lazy river for floating, body slides and tube slides of varying intensities, plus a wave pool for that beach-like experience regardless of the weather outside. Indoor water parks like this are perfect for families with kids who want guaranteed fun no matter if it's snowing or 100 degrees outside. The target seemed to be families with children ages 3-14, though most indoor parks throw in a few bigger slides for the teenagers and adults.

What would have made Aqua Mountain interesting is Maryland's lack of major indoor water attractions - this could have been a real destination for the Baltimore and Washington DC metro areas. Indoor parks work best when you arrive right when they open to avoid crowds, especially during winter months and school breaks when everyone has the same idea. Most successful indoor water parks are attached to hotels so families can make it a weekend getaway, and that seems to have been part of the original vision here.

Unfortunately, like many ambitious water park projects, the financing and development challenges proved too difficult. The website went dark years ago, and the project appears to have been permanently shelved. It's a shame because Maryland could really use a quality indoor water park option.