While mixing business with pleasure doesn’t always work, it’s definitely how waterpark resorts are making waves in the meeting planning industry. The truth is that waterpark resorts have liberated themselves from the old waterslide with rooms and suites built around it. Many water-themed resorts now cater to both groups and leisure travelers.Resorts house the water activities in a separate space and include multiple entrances. So it’s not like people will be waiting for an educational session to begin while hearing someone yell, “Cannonball!” before plunging into a wave machine. Waterparks are incorporating more upscale elements such as spas and retail components, as well as including a host of fun activities for groups to do after meeting hours. More water-themed resorts offer rooms, suites and convention space along with the fun, making for a one-stop-shopping option for planners. With larger turnouts for meetings and happy attendees, it’s no wonder that waterparks are getting slicker than ever.
Separate Spaces
One of the biggest trends in waterparks is keeping the business and recreational features from getting in the way of each other.
“You’re not going to get out of your meeting and trip over kids running around in their swimsuits,” says Melanie Platt Gibson, marketing director with the Wisconsin Dells [Wis.] CVB. “Waterpark operators are sophisticated, and their resorts’ designs reflect people’s desire to create spaces for leisure, spaces for business to get done and spaces for groups to meet. They are paying as much attention to equipping these spaces as they are to features of their water attractions.”
KeyLime Cove Resort, one of the newest waterpark resorts, in Gurnee, Ill., has incorporated the concept of separate spaces into its design. The park has only been in business for a year, according to Jennifer Evans, KeyLime Cove’s marketing manager, but has already hosted large functions. The resort offers banquet seating for up to 330 people or theater space for more than 500, in addition to offering some classroom space.
With a South Florida theme that contrasts with its Midwest surroundings, Key Lime Cove is situated halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, about an hour’s drive from either downtown. Evans says the resort recently hosted a function for 300 people.
Kalahari Resorts, one of the biggest waterpark resort chain operators, offers separate valet services for leisure travelers and meeting attendees at its African-themed resorts in Wisconsin Dells and Sandusky, Ohio.
The resort in Sandusky is reportedly the home of the nation’s largest indoor waterpark, measuring 173,000 square feet. The waterpark owes that distinction because of an expansion last year that included an intelligent roof system that lets in natural light and allows for sunbathing even in the middle of December. Three football fields can fit inside the waterpark.
Kalahari’s Wisconsin Dells location reportedly has the country’s largest outdoor water park, Noah’s Ark. And the company is working on a new resort that will debut in Fredericksburg, Va., in 2010.
“We have designed our resorts so that groups and leisure travelers are accommodated. We have pure leisure on one side and the other side is convention and exhibit space. We also have multiple entrances in both areas,” says Kevin Shanley, Kalahari’s corporate director of sales.
Ropes courses and other team-building exercises take on a whole new mood in a waterpark setting. Receptions go from “whatever” to “wow.”
“A simple reception is turned into something special at night inside a waterpark with colored lights,” Shanley says. “It’s a different atmosphere, especially after all the regular guests have left.”
Groups may even arrange to have the waterpark open after regular hours until 2:30 in the morning, says Shanley. Kalahari provides lifeguards and other attendants.
Beyond Water
While the water is everywhere in the form of wave machines, uphill water coasters and hot tubs—waterpark resorts offer plenty of other activities on dry land as well.
“A waterpark is like a cruise ship that doesn’t move,” Shanley says of the new breed of water-themed resorts.
“Waterparks offer great value for groups. Spa services, restaurants and recreation other than water are part of the whole package,” Platt-Gibson says.
Kalahari has left H2O out of the equation with its 100,000-foot Indoor Theme Park that will open in mid-December at its resort in Wisconsin Dells and another one that will be a part of the new Fredericksburg resort.
A dizzying array of attractions at each theme park will include a six-story-high Ferris wheel encased in glass, a bowling alley, arcade games, simulator games, a 20-foot high ropes course, 18 holes of mini golf-complete with water barriers and a 25-foot waterfall, a laser tag battle arena, a sports bar, five private party rooms, terrace seating, a go-cart track for kids and adults, two golf simulators that let participants play on one of 12 championship courses, and an entertainment center that shows movies catering to teens.
Family Time
“The ability to bring the family along and extend a trip into a mini-vacation is an attractive option that many other types of hotels or event spaces are not able to offer—especially under one roof,” says Ronn McLane, corporate director of sales for Great Wolf Resorts.
Trips to waterparks are ideal opportunities for spouses and/or children to tag along. The kids can hit the waterslides, while a spouse enjoys a martini and blisses out at the spa.
“Waterparks can be a great place to recharge,” McLane says. “We strive to provide an environment that nurtures focused productivity while celebrating, rewarding and refreshing.”
Great Wolf Resorts opened its 10th waterpark last April in Grand Mound, Wash. It’s reportedly the first indoor waterpark in the Pacific Northwest.
Great Wolf Resorts is North America’s largest family of indoor waterpark resorts, and owns and operates facilities under the Great Wolf Lodge and Blue Harbor Resort brands. Along with its new property, Great Wolf’s lodges are located in Wisconsin Dells; Sandusky; Traverse City, Mich.; Kansas City, Kan.; Williamsburg, Va.; the Pocono Mountains, Pa.; Niagara Falls, Ontario; Mason, Ohio; Grapevine, Texas; and Sheboygan, Wis. A Great Wolf Lodge currently is under construction in Concord, N.C., and a 203-suite expansion is under construction at the company’s Grapevine resort.
In January 2008, Great Wolf opened a 9,000-square-foot conference center at its resort in Traverse City, Mich. It includes 15,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
Even with all that waterparks have to offer, there are options for off-site exploration. Great Wolf Resorts arranges trips to local wineries and golf outings, McLane says. Personnel at KeyLime Cove can arrange trips to Six Flags Great America and other sites.
“The trend is really one-stop shopping,” Platt-Gibson of the Wisconsin Dells CVB says. “You could leave the park, but a lot of people are saying, ‘Why?’”
