For years, Spotsylvania has mostly been known as the place you drive through on the way to somewhere else. Now it’s about to become home to one of Virginia’s biggest year-round tourism attractions.
After years of planning and construction, Kalahari Resorts & Conventions will open its new Spotsylvania County location on November 12 bringing Virginia’s largest indoor waterpark, a 907-room hotel and a massive convention center just over an hour north of the city.
The $900 million development sits just off Interstate 95 near Exit 118 in Thornburg and is one of the largest tourism projects ever built in Virginia.
Kalahari is designed to be a place you don’t leave once you are there. It’s part resort, part indoor amusement park and part convention center, all under one roof.
The indoor waterpark is the main attraction, covering more than 175,000 square feet with more than 40 waterslides, a wave pool, lazy river, surfing simulator, raft rides and dedicated areas for younger kids. Because it’s indoors, it’s open year-round, making it just as much of a winter destination as it is a summer one.
Once everyone is done swimming, there’s still plenty to do.
The resort also includes an indoor adventure park with go-karts, ropes courses, climbing walls, bowling, laser tag, escape rooms and hundreds of arcade games. Add in a full-service spa, multiple bars, around a dozen restaurants and nearly 1,000 hotel rooms, and you can see why Kalahari bills itself as a destination rather than just a waterpark.
That also means it’s priced more like a resort than a waterpark.
A trip to Kalahari is more in line with a weekend at Great Wolf Lodge or an Orlando resort, where families pay a premium for an all-in-one vacation. Hotel rates are expected to start around $250 per night, though pricing varies by season and demand, with weekends and holidays likely costing more. Waterpark admission is included with every overnight stay, giving guests access from check-in through check-out, while day passes will also be available for those who don’t want to spend the night.
The convention center is another major piece of the project. At 150,000 square feet, it’s expected to host conferences, trade shows and corporate meetings throughout the year, bringing a steady stream of visitors to the region beyond families looking for a weekend getaway.
Recently, Richmond has been landing on more and more national rankings lists, and Richmond Region Tourism reported a record year in 2024, with visitors spending nearly $3.9 billion across the region. Kalahari adds another major destination along the Interstate 95 corridor, giving travelers one more reason to stop in Central Virginia instead of simply driving through it.
It also opens as another ambitious tourism project continues to take shape closer to Richmond. Chesterfield County’s long-planned mixed-use development, The Lake, is expected to eventually include a surf lagoon, entertainment venues, retail and residential development, though its signature wave park remains years away. Kalahari, by comparison, will open this fall as a fully operational destination resort with hotel rooms, restaurants, indoor attractions and convention space from day one.
It’s also something Virginia hasn’t really had before. Until now, families looking for this kind of all-in-one resort experience usually had to head to places like Orlando. Kalahari is betting that the combined populations of Richmond, Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and Washington, D.C. are now large enough to support a destination resort much closer to home.
Kalahari already operates resorts in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. The Spotsylvania location will be its fifth in the United States and its first in Virginia.
More information can be found HERE
Main image is from the Kalahari Resorts & Conventions water park in Sandusky, Ohio
Support RVA Magazine. Support Independent Media in Richmond.
At a time when media ownership is increasingly concentrated among corporations and the wealthy, RVA Magazine has remained one of Richmond’s few independent voices. Since 2005, the magazine has provided grassroots coverage of the city’s artists, musicians, and communities, documenting the culture that defines Richmond beyond the headlines.
But we can’t do this without you. A small donation, even as little as $2, one-time or recurring, helps us continue to produce honest, local coverage free from outside interference. Every dollar makes a difference. Your support keeps us going and keeps RVA’s creative spirit alive. Thank you for standing with independent media. SUPPORT HERE.
Subscribe to the RVA Mag Weekly Newsletter HERE
We’ve got merch HERE
Subscribe to the Substack HERE
And Reddit HERE
And YouTube HERE
