Roseland Water Park is a wonderful summer destination in Upstate New York. Roseland Water Park is in Canandaigua, near Rochester, and encompasses over 50 acres of water-related amusement.

I visited Roseland Water Park in the Summer of 2008 for the first time, with a group of three of my girlfriends. It was a hot day, perfect for spending at the water park.

First we hit the Roseland locker rooms. Pleasantly clean and with lots of curtained private rooms, they were just what you'd hope for in a water park situation. Lockers were also available for a $10 fee, $5 of which you get back at the end of the day when you return your key, which was provided on a rope that you could secure on your wrist - very convenient!

We started off with a raft water slide. After climbing what seemed like miles of stairs, we got to the top. The friendly lifeguard pulled the raft out for us, and we sat inside. She gave us a shove, and off we went, swirling and splashing down the slide, which was not very scary, but was very fun.

We moved on to an inflatable tube slide. Single and double inflatable tubes were available, but we all decided to go single. Again, a million stairs later (hey, it's exercise!) we got to the front of the line, and swirled down the slide. It's a bit scarier on your own, and still very, very fun.

Warmed up at this point, we decided to go for what we deemed the "big girl" slides. One was a long tube, where the rider slid in complete darkness until coming out at the bottom. The other was essentially a straight drop. We all promised that we'd do the straight drop, but when we got to the top of the giant tower, we all chickened out and rode the tube instead. It was actually incredibly fast and scary... every turn was a surprise, and once you arrived at the end, you didn't quite know what hit you! It was so fun, though, that we made a second trip back up and went again.

After the thrill of the tube slide, we decided we needed a little bit of the lazy river. After re-applying our sunblock, we paired up on double rafts and floated happily through tiny waterfalls and easy babbling brook areas, around in a circle. You are allowed to stay on the lazy river as long as you want, but we decided that we were hungry and visited the snack bar instead.

The snack bar was the first down point of the park experience, though it wasn't unexpected. I can never figure out why water parks don't offer a variety of healthier or higher-quality food, but Roseland was fairly typical. Overly-greasy burgers, hot dogs, and nachos were the name of the game, and it left us all wishing for something a bit tastier or higher-quality.

After letting our stomachs settle from the greasy food, we decided to hit the wave pool before hitting the road. We lounged in the provided lounge chairs for a few minutes, and then waded into the deep end before the waves started up. Multiple lifeguards were on hand to keep an eye out, which was a good thing because the waves were BIG! I'm a great swimmer, so I had no problem, but I admit that even I had a good workout in keeping above the giant waves! I thought it was very fun, though, and actually probably my favorite part of the park.

About four hours after arriving, we felt that we'd gotten a fairly complete Roseland experience, and headed off toward the outlet mall for the afternoon. The verdict? It's a great place to spend a half-day, if you're with adults, and probably a full day, if you've got the rugrats with you. Just bring your own snacks if you're inclined towards healthier foods.