Northwoods Experience: Baxter’s Rapid River Lodge & Water Park Making Lifelong Memories

There is a hotel doubling as a water park in Baxter. The Rapid River Lodge & Water Park not only aims to give families a relaxing getaway, but also an opportunity to create memories with loved ones.

Watland Hospitality CEO Katie Goenner drew inspiration to join the hotel business from her dad, who built his first hotel when she was five years old. Fast forward decades later, and the Watland family now owns the local Baymont Inn and Days Inn, as well as the Rapid River Lodge.

“We are the smallest water park, we’re the first water park in Baxter,” said Goenner. “We love interacting with the guests, with the employees, just having a fun hotel stay, right? We all remember going to the hotels, jumping in the pool, spending those nights with your family.”

The Watland family bought the Rapid River Lodge & Water Park back in 2017 and remodeled it in 2023, looking to cater it more towards the younger crowd.

“We have that really good play space,” Goenner said. “We do have the big water slide so the big kids can have fun, and the lazy river is really fun. That’s what my kids always want to do. They’re in the lazy river most of the time that we’re here. We also have the indoor-outdoor hot tub, that’s a big hit. When it’s freezing outside, everyone wants to be outside with that cold air and the warm water.”

While the variety of options at the water park can appear daunting to kids at first, it’s not only designed to excite, but also to teach.

“Everybody loves water,” Goenner stated. “It’s a fun way here for toddlers to get introduced with the zero-entry pool, so it’s not as scary as just jumping into a big pool. And then being able to learn how to swim in the current, in the lazy river, that’s a fun aspect of it.”

Above all else, the Rapid River Lodge & Water Park is intended to provide an experience that Goenner hopes families can take with them for the rest of their lives.

“For our staff, too, just to be able to see the kids having fun and the parents having fun, too—it’s why we do what we do,” she added. “It’s to see those people making those memories with their families, and having fun and smiling and splashing and doing all the things.”

The Rapid River Lodge says it’s hoping to add a NinjaCross course to the water park in the future.

Correction 4/24/25: The family that owns Rapid River Lodge was originally misidentified as the Goenner family instead of the Watlands.