Funworld October 2010

It’s magic,” is how lifeguards at the ticket re-entry station explain the black light stamps to visitors. But to guests at Calypso Theme Waterpark in Limoges, Canada, magic is a great word to define what the park— which opened in early June—brought to their unseasonably sweltering summer.

Temperatures hit as high as 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) during the first week of July—the perfect waterpark weather. On one of the hottest days, at 9:55 a.m. feet pattered in anticipation, and people queued at the gates in front of “Pirate’s Aquaplay,” practically bounding across the asphalt five minutes later when the park opened to start soothing themselves in water.

This is exactly the response Guy Drouin, CEO of Calypso and its sister park, Valcartier Vacation Villages, was hoping for.

“There was a lack of such an attraction in this area,” Drouin says of what is now the country’s largest waterpark. “The goal was to reach a new clientele that is not catered to by our other park,” located in the Quebéc City region, a four and- a-half-hour drive from Calypso. “Calypso is a really big attraction, and we hope it will act as an economic motor in the area and really bring people in,” says Drouin.

And while the park has already set itself apart numerically— one early weekend in June drew more than 12,000 visitors—the difference is in the details. With the look of a large park, and the feel of a homegrown attraction, Calypso offers personal touches like picnic space for families bringing their own food, and 82-degree water that’s warm to the touch for maximum comfort—a decision that makes a difference in the “Jungle Run” river on some of Canada’s cooler fall days.

Careful Layout and Design Decisions
Encompassing 100 acres, with 350 additional acres still undeveloped, Calypso is laid out to accommodate a guest’s progressive move through the park during the day.

“It’s quite unusual to build a park like ours from scratch,” says Sylvain Lauzon, Calypso’s executive vice president, referring to the level of industry knowledge that has backed the project from the initial planning stages. “Mr. Drouin designed it in a great level of detail on purpose. The layout of the park goes right from admission at the entrance, to the main street with commercial services and lockers, then the restaurants, and after that, all the water attractions.”

“The big difference here when compared to other parks is that there is room to breathe,” Drouin says. “There are large grassy areas and 500 picnic tables we’ve planted to give guests space to spread out.”

Drouin went with bright hues for the overall color scheme, but avoided trendy combinations that appeared irregular, so the rides would not become dated after a few years. He also made sure “Calypso Palace”—the largest wave pool in the country, which can accommodate 2,300 bathers in 4,800 square meters (51,667 square feet)—was built for maximum sun exposure. The lounge area and grass by the pool is positioned facing southwest so sunbathers, rather than swimmers, catch the best rays.

With more than 47 years in the waterpark industry, Drouin also serves as president and CEO of Village Vacances Valcartier Group, which owns Valcartier Vacation Village in Quebec City, an almost 30-yearold waterpark. Vacation Village led by example, providing a valuable blueprint for many of the decisions made at Calypso.

Calypso Benefits from a Blank Slate
Lauzon says Calypso is fortunate to have a sister park that’s been operating for nearly 30 years. “We rule out everything which we know from experience doesn’t work, and we just used what works,” he says. “We said to ourselves, ‘Let’s build the perfect waterpark, and make it as strong as possible from day one.’” Lauzon emphasizes Calypso’s luxury is its blank slate: “Any waterpark operator will tell you that with how much they love their park, there are a few things they would change if they could dig it all up and start again.”

And dig it up, they did. While they were able to avoid mistakes of the past, some obstacles are inevitable. For instance, soils on park grounds were at times problematic during the installation period. “At every step of construction, we ran into obstacles, but we worked with engineers, architects, and contractors to resolve all issues and open the park to the public,” he says. While the large attractions—like White Water’s “Boomerango” and “Adrenaline”—have nearby teenagers biking to the park daily with season passes, Drouin believes it’s the small details which make guests comment on Calypso’s quality—from the tile-lined floors and walls of the bathrooms, to an overall design where lockers, boutiques, restaurants, and rides are laid out in sequential order for a day at the park. “We’ve created a sense of arrival for guests,” Drouin says.

Aquatic Development Group (ADG) manufactured the water features inside “Jungle Run” river and “Calypso Bay” wave pool, including the vacuum sand filters on the various pools and the wave equipment. Jim Dunn, ADG’s vice president of design and construction, says working with the Calypso team was a fairly seamless process, since they know what they’re looking for. Dunn has worked with Drouin since 1987 on projects at Vacation Village, and says building a team like Calypso’s—steeped in experience—pays off in the ease of operations.

“As an operator, they’re able to actually communicate what they want and say, ‘We did this in the past—it works, but here’s what we’d like to talk about to improve it,’” says Dunn. “By coupling our experience with theirs, we came up with a lot of things that worked. It made it really fun because they’re not afraid to push the edge a little bit.”

Characters Help Build the Calypso Brand
One development of which Lauzon is most proud is the themed characters created for the park. While it’s rare for a waterpark to have mascots, Calypso’s marketing department wanted to create a community feel around the park experience. Led by namesake Calypso, the famous alluring nymph from Homer’s “Odyssey,” five characters were developed to personalize each park area.

“They’re the best ambassadors the park could have,” says Lauzon. Calypso characters have infiltrated all aspects of the park: Dr. Dunk’s devious face smirks at guests from a beach towel sold at the gift shop; Sara Max gives kids high fives at the base of the “Fast Track” racing slides; Captain Laplank has a pizza named after him at Ulysses Bar and Grill; and all characters are featured in television, radio, and print advertisements.

Proving the advertisements have made an impression, Marie-Pier Asselin, a head guard at Calypso, says the characters are recognized instantaneously and even adults sneak into photos with them. “The characters really interact with the public and the kids go crazy for them,” says Asselin. “I haven’t seen characters at any other waterparks, so that definitely adds to the park.”

Target Audiences Invited to Preview the New Park
The rollout process for park publicity started a full year before launch, allowing interested residents in the Ottawa area to plan their next summer vacation. While various initiatives were carried out, the most persuasive sales tactic was a “sneak week” preview weekend in October, attended by more than 12,000 guests who were able to test out the park and purchase discounted season passes.

“Our marketing strategy for the first year was to increase Calypso’s notoriety with our target audience of eastern Ontario—primarily the greater National Capital area and western Quebec, which involves the Greater Montreal area,” says Lauzon. In addition to the families that live in this area, the marketing department worked with tourist groups, tour operators, travel agencies, corporate groups, and youth groups.

In May—a month before opening day—the central communications campaign began full-speed: the park designated a day to the media, opened Twitter and Facebook accounts, and started multiple blogs to attract clients to both the website and waterpark. At press time, the park accrued nearly 6,100 fans on its Facebook page and established a personality of its own on Twitter (www.twitter.com/CalypsoOttawa).

Lauzon says it’s important to capture the social media audience with a distinct tone and sense of humor, as it truly engages guests. Sample tweets read: “1 month till D-Day!!! http://www.calypsopark.com OMG OMG OMG!” and “The only prescription for this humidity is MORE CALYPSO!”

Calypso Makes Room for Big Groups
Appealing to large groups was a critical point in Calypso’s business model since its inception. One can tell from the small details: even the tiny sand granules in the volleyball courts at the Hawaiian Beach Bar, and regulation drainage system beneath it, have been specifically chosen to meet world-class volleyball match standards so the park can host tournaments.

Drouin, Sylvain, and the rest of the management team knew other special event groups would be drawn to the park as well, and in anticipation creatively designed discreet fences around attractions that could be opened and closed on a staggered schedule. For instance, if a visiting corporate group requests the wave pool until 10 p.m., Calypso officials can effectively lock down other areas of the park with fences, but leave open “Calypso Bay” for the group’s enjoyment.

“It allows us the ability to do many things for our customers,” says Drouin, noting that visitors who appreciate the most special attention are younger groups of children from day and summer camps. For those groups, a back gate entrance is opened to arriving buses to ease the flow of traffic, and the group is treated to complimentary cabana tents for storing belongings.

Future Expansion Plans
Calypso currently covers only 100 acres of the 450 acres upon which it sits, leaving ample space for developments that will come in the next few years. “We’re planning to develop a campground in the area behind ‘Canyon Run’ by 2010,” says Drouin. He adds that campgrounds are the perfect tool to capitalize on multiday visits from guests, something that is harder to find in the waterpark industry. “Our slogan in Quebec City is ‘One day is not enough,’” says Lauzon, who hopes to pull from not only the Ottawa area (20minutes away) and Montreal (about two hours away), but also Toronto—a four hour drive from the park. “We hope they will stay a few days and enjoy our park,” he says.

Other plans for the future include building a “wave action river” sometime in the next year. A similar and popular attraction at Vacation Village features a faster-moving current and waves emerging from certain sections of the river.

“The effort put forth by Guy and his group is above the normal,” says Dunn of ADG. “Calypso provides a more immersive experience. Often times you have a park with a lot of theming but not many rides or features. In Guy’s case, he’s pushing both of those aspects forward, and providing the next step above.”

HISTORY LESSON: Calypso follows Valcartier Vacation Village, which opened in 1980 with a few slides and has expanded almost every year since. A wave pool was added in 1989, “Amazon” river in 1993, and, most recently, “Dungeon City” river—75 percent of which is housed underground.