Ride ‘n’ Slide by Polin, Masal Park, Turkey
Onwards & Upwards
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early 60 expansions and new facilities will open in 2018. We project 14 municipal and eight private outdoor waterparks will open, outpacing 2017’s nine municipal and four private outdoor additions. There will be
increased growth in the indoor segment with an additional 464,000 square feet of waterpark space planned for development. Two of this year’s most anticipated new waterparks are the SoundWaves
Waterpark at Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee, which is slated to open in the fall; and Big Rivers Waterpark at Grand Texas in New Caney, Texas, which is slated to open in the summer.
2018 waterpark standings We define an Outdoor Waterpark as an aquatic facility without attached hotel having 3 or more slides. An Indoor Waterpark Resort is defined as a hotel with more than 10,000 square feet of indoor waterpark space. A Standalone Indoor Waterpark is defined as being larger than 10,000 square feet with at least three water features. A Resort with Outdoor Waterpark is defined as a resort hotel having an outdoor waterpark with at least 3 features (slide, lazy river, wave pool, etc.), excluding resorts that also have indoor waterparks. As of February 2018, the United States has 1,058 waterparks, an increase of
29 waterparks over last year’s reported 1,029. Most of this gain was in the standalone outdoor segment, with four new private facilities and 11 new municipal facilities. Seven openings contributed to the indoor supply, and three resorts opened new outdoor waterparks. The remainder of the increase comes from previously unreported properties that were identified through our continued monitoring of the ever-evolving national waterpark market. Outdoor waterparks are the most popular waterpark segment in the US Broken
down by region, the Midwest and South are home to the most waterparks, with 407 and 362, respectively. The South passed the Midwest this year for the most outdoor waterparks (285 versus 283), while the Northeast has the fewest at 74. Outdoor waterparks in the South typically have slightly longer operating seasons than those in the Northeast and Midwest because they open earlier in May and close later in September. The Midwest leads the nation in indoor waterpark resorts by a large margin with 95 of the total 136. The West leads the country in standalone indoor waterparks with 39 primarily due to the large number of municipal indoor aquatic facilities with waterparks in Colorado and Utah. The South leads in resorts with outdoor waterparks with 47.
24 MAY 2018
The waterpark industry continues to expand in North America, with more than $1 billion in new investment in indoor and outdoor waterparks and their related resorts slated for 2018. David J. Sangree, MAI, CPA, ISHC, president of Hotel & Leisure Advisors (H&LA), gives Park World readers an overview of US waterpark and resort trends in 2018
2017 year in review Waterpark Additions: In 2017, seven indoor waterpark resorts added 216,200 square feet of indoor waterpark space and 1,331 guestrooms. This represents the lowest increase in square footage since 2013 but the largest increase in guestrooms since 2009. Kalahari Resort Phase II in Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania, was the largest addition and accounts for more than half of this growth in waterpark square footage. The other major contributor is the Great Wolf Lodge Minnesota, which reopened the former Radisson Hotel/Waterpark of America property. Fifteen new outdoor waterparks opened in 2017. Most were municipal facilities and nearly half were in the Midwest. Universal Orlando Volcano Bay in Orlando, Florida, and H2OBX in Currituck, North Carolina, were the largest new outdoor waterparks to open. Four hotels and resorts debuted outdoor waterpark expansions in 2017. The Summit Tower at Country Cascades in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee added 98 hotel rooms and an outdoor waterpark with slides and a children’s play structure. Circus Circus in Las Vegas, Nevada, added slides and a splash pad; and Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee, Florida, added three slides and a surf machine.
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