Outlaw Run charges into Silver Dollar City - Amusement Today

MEDIA18 AMUSEMENT TODAY April 2013NEWSPAPEREMPLOYEE IN GOOD STANDINGBlue Mountain Ski Resort in Pa. wasCREDENTIALgiven approval, after VALIDfour years of waiting, tocreate a $20 million waterpark. The waterparkis the first step toward making the ski resort ayear-round operation with a hotel. Feasibilitystudies indicatedGARYthatSLADEa hotel would not bePUBLISHER, AMUSEMENT TODAYprofitable unless the resort could attract customersduring the summer months. AlthoughBlue Mountain does offer disc golf, mountainbiking and an adventure camp, these activitiesdo not draw enough visitors to keep thehotel occupied in the summer — but the additionof a waterpark will. The initial plan isto create a 20-acre family-friendly park witha wave pool, lazy river, children’s pool andmulti-slide structure. The resort intends togive the waterpark a natural look and utilizethe scenic vistas available atop the mountain.Boulders and rocks discovered during excavationwill be incorporated into the landscape.The waterpark will also allow the resortto keep more of its winter staff by creatingfull-time positions for some of the seasonaldepartments. Park President Barbara Greensfeels that full-time year-round employees willprovide better customer service. “We willtake departments we already have now andsay ‘OK, you are full-time people now and areeligible for benefits,’ ” said Green. Currentplans are to have the waterpark completedfor the 2016 season.•Sunway Lagoon in Malaysia is gettingready to open, Vuvuzela, the world’s largestwater ride. The MYR15 million (S4.8 million)slide is 11 stories tall and includes an elevatorto take guests to the top of the ride wherethey will board four- and six-person rafts.Once aboard the rafts will traverse a 152 meter(500-foot) course before dropping intothe world largest water funnel. The rafts areexpected to make at least four oscillationswithin the 22-meter (72-foot) diameter funnelbefore entering an enclosed flume andfinally ending in a splash pool. Vuvuzela wasdesigned and built by WhiteWater West ofCanada and was scheduled to open mid-March.•In the short span of just three weeks,more than 20,000 people in New Brighton,New Zealand, have signed a petition callingfor a waterpark to be built in their hometown. City councillors of this seaside suburbof Christchurch hope the waterpark will rescueNew Brighton from decline and help putit on the map. The Christchurch city councilhas about $30 million set aside for anaquatic center on the eastern side of the cityand another $37 million is in the city coffersfrom the Prime Minister’s Earthquake AppealTrust. Those monies along with moneysecured from private investors could makea waterpark in Brighton a reality. Preliminaryestimates showed that a waterpark could bebuilt for about $50 million. New Brighton andChrstchurch were both heavily damaged ina December 2011 earthquake. Much of therebuilding effort has been taking place in thecentral city area of Christchurch. “Here is anopportunity for an area that was very badlydamaged to get something really great,” saidNEWSSPLASHB. DEREK SHAWJEFFREY L. SEIFERTCOMPILED:EDITORIAL EDITORIALJeffrey L. Seifert, jseifert@amusementtoday.comMEDIA2010THROUGH 2012City Councillor Peter Beck.•Rapids Waterpark in West Palm Beach,Fla. opened its new Wave Loch FlowRider onMarch 9. Sold by Wave Loch’s North AmericanLicensee and Partner, Aquatic DevelopmentGroup (ADG) the FlowRider adds tothe growing legion of FlowRiders in Floridaand fits perfectly with Wave Loch’s strategyof growing the sport of flowboarding. Rapidswaterpark is scheduled to have a US FLOW(Flowboarding League of the World) Tour ProAm event June 8, 2013, to help promote thesport.•Raging Waves Waterpark in Illinois, isadding a new playful character this season —Lil’ Nicky — the crispy, crunchy, yummy onionmascot for Onion Crunch. Unlike the typicaltheme park character, Lil’ Nicky is not themepark mascot, but a new character that will appearto promote a new item on the condimentshelf. Onion Crunch is a brand new condimentthat is the only kosher pareve, vegan,crispy, crunchy onion topping that delivers adelicious roasted onion flavor to enhance anyamusement park meal whether it’s a hotdog,hamburger, pizza or salad.•Hilton Milwaukee City Center Hotelclosed its indoor waterpark in March in favorof something more “upscale and contemporary.”The indoor waterpark, which opened inNovember 2000, was the first urban indoorwaterpark in the country. It helped draw anumber of weekend leisure travelers untilthe novelty wore off. Now, families who wantto do a hotel waterpark vacation will typicallydrive to the Wisconsin Dells area, wherethere a number of large indoor waterpark hotels.Although the hotel announced no plansfor the space, this downtown Hilton doesnot have a spa and salon or a lap pool with alounge area.•Wisconsin Resorts Consulting wants tobuild a new $85 million indoor/outdoor waterpark,retail, restaurant and hotel resortin the Caban Marketplace development inBel Aire, just outside of the capital city ofWichita, Kansas. The project depends on theapproval of sales tax revenue (STAR) bondsfrom the State of Kansas but the developeris confident the approval will go through.Craig Wilkinson, principal owner of WisconsinResort Consulting was formerly an assistantgeneral manager at Great Wolf LodgeWisconsin Dells. He claims to have hotel-developmentpartners ready to help finance theproject once the bonding is approved. Withoutthe STAR bond financing Wilkinson saidsomething smaller might be possible. The BelAire project would be less than three hoursaway from Schliterbahn Kansas City whichhas had a similar waterpark, retail, restaurantresort under construction for several years.So far, only the waterpark portion of Schlitterbahnhas opened.•Have waterpark, resort or other aquaticfacility, news of interest for NewsSplash?Email it direct to Jeffrey Seifert at: jseifert@amusementtoday.com.ProSlide supplied this HydroMagnetic Mammoth (above)and the world’s first Hydromagnetic Tornado, below. Bothattractions use high-capacity, six-person rafts to provide athrilling, uniqe thrill ride for its guests.COURTESY PROSLIDEWATERWORLDContinued from page 19been seen in any other waterparkin the world,” said MikeOswald. “We have a collectionof attractions that have neverbeen seen before in the region.Our unique combination ofrides, innovative themes andlocation on Yas Island, whichis already one of the globalhotspots for leisure and entertainment,is an unparalleleddraw for visitors.”The park is built around acentral theme — the “Legendof the Lost Pearl,” based on alegend that represents localEmirati culture and heritage.Visitors will be able to enjoyattractions that follow the adventuresof the waterpark’smain character Dana — ayoung Emirati girl in searchof a legendary pearl thatbrought prosperity to her village.Other characters includeDana’s parents and brother aswell as playful animals suchas a camel, falcon and dolphinalong with two greedy banditsand a snake that serve as protagonists.“WhiteWater collaboratedclosely with Yas Waterworldto develop and customtheme unique and innovativesignature attractions”, saidGeoff Chutter, WhiteWater’sCEO. “We are thrilled withthe results and are extremelyproud to showcase our attractionsat this groundbreakingwaterpark, including severalworld’s firsts: the Family Rattlerwaterslide, the largestFlowBarrel Ten Double, andSplashQuest, an interactivevideo game adventure”.WhiteWater attractionsfeatured include an Aqua-Loop AquaPlay AP300, Aqua-Play Giant RainFortress,AquaTune, Extreme River,Family Waves, FlowBarrelTen Double, FlowRider Double,Freefall Slide, Inner-TubeSlides, Kids’ Slides, Rattler,SplashQuest, Speed Slide, SuperBowland Whizzard.“We turned to ProSlidefor our two most spectacularwater rides because we wantto deliver out-of-this-worldexperiences that create lastingmemories for our guests”,says Mike Oswald, generalmanager, Yas Waterworld.“We’re counting on these custom,one-of-a-kind rides tohelp us attract close to 700,000guests a year and be profitable4See WATERWORLD, page 18