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K. F. Moffett, editor, Waterpark Report
Long a fixture in Europe, the indoor waterpark was scarce in the United States, until recently. During this year and next, though, there will be some high-profile expansions and additions in areas of the country that would normally necessitate truncated seasons. Avalanche Bay will be the Midwest’s largest indoor waterpark when it opens this Christmas. The Swiss-themed 58,000-square-foot waterpark will be part of the $70 million Mountain Grand Lodge & Spa in Boyne Falls, Mich. Cedar Point will open an indoor waterpark in fall 2004. Castaway Bay, a $22 million waterpark resort, will open in the Radisson Harbour Hotel, near the entrance to the park, and will include an NBGS Master Blaster.
And then there are the Great Lakes Companies’ many indoor projects. Last year the Madison, Wis.-based company opened two Great Wolf Lodges, one in Traverse City, Mich., and another in Kansas City, Kans. These indoor waterparks are built in tandem with lodging facilities. In the case of Great Lakes’s Blue Harbor Resort, the indoor waterpark will accompany a conference center. The Victorian-themed resort will open June 1 in Sheboygan, Wis., on Lake Michigan. The $54 million project will accommodate groups of up to 900 people and will include a 40,000-square-foot waterpark with expanded kiddie areas and a wavepool.
“Blue Harbor Resort and Conference Center is going to put Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on the map as a travel destination,” says Eric Lund, principal and senior vice president of sales and marketing at Great Lakes. “The combination of a year-round, indoor waterpark and convention center located on the Lake Michigan beachfront will be unlike anything else, anywhere. We are confident that meeting planners, travelers, and the local community will respond with enthusiasm to all the amenities the resort and conference center will offer.”
Lund says the challenges with constructing an indoor waterpark include structural concerns (“the roof structure becomes more difficult as the area gets bigger”), heating and cooling (“very expensive”), and air purification—“you don’t want the ‘Holodome’ effect, where guests are hit with a blast of chlorinated air when they walk in.”
Also, all pumps have to be built underground, which costs more than for a traditional waterpark. You’re probably wondering why these things are built at all. Says Lund, “I think that people see that they’re able to take the shoulder season and extend it. For most, that’s enough of an incentive.”
The Great Lakes Companies currently owns and operates 16 hotels and resorts in seven states. In addition to the new facility in Sheboygan, the company plans to begin construction on three more Great Wolf Lodge indoor waterparks in Williamsburg, Va; Poconos, Pa; and Niagara Falls, Ontario, this year.
The Williamsburg facility will include a 70,000-square-foot indoor waterpark, 301 suites, a restaurant, spa, fitness center, outdoor recreation area, and more than 6,500 square feet of meeting space. It’s scheduled to open spring 2005. The Poconos, Pa., park, set to open in October 2005, will be 90,000 square feet, the company’s largest.
