3 Tell-Tale Signs It’s Time to Upgrade Your Waterpark Features

Working with municipalities and waterpark owners across the country and around the world, we’ve found there is usually one of three situations at play when city leaders and park owners are deciding whether it’s time to upgrade their aquatic parks. Here are the three tell-tale signs that may indicate it is the right time to upgrade your waterpark’s features.

1. Your Waterpark isn’t Appealing to the “Mainstream”

The concept of inclusivity has gone mainstream. Appealing to your area’s standard demographics, ranging from age, race, income, even obesity charts is a necessity. However, today’s top-selling waterparks consider the experience as whole from everyone’s viewpoint. City leaders and park owners now gain information via online reviews and firsthand conversations with guests about how well the aquatic park meets expectations and is fun for everyone. Get objective answers to the following questions:

• Will guests, from toddlers to seniors, enjoy themselves?
• Will those with a disability find your waterpark a comfortable and safe place to be?
• Does your waterpark provide guests special areas or features designed just for them?

If you answer “no” to any of those questions, upgrading features or equipment can draw more guests to your waterpark attractions. Here are a few upgrades we suggest for every age range:

• Younger guests: spray parks, play units and kid-friendly rides.
• All ages: tubing and wave pools.
• Tweens, teens and thrill seekers: adrenaline rides and sheet wave riders.
• Any age with a disability: splashpad feature that’s entirely wheelchair accessible. Splashtacular’s rails, decks and runs on stairs are designed for an inclusive environment and meet or exceed ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) regulations.
• Sensory needs: unique low-key rides or water features.

2. Your Waterpark Seems to Have Lost the Buzz Factor

New upgrades create buzz, and buzz generates ticket sales and bookings. Adding an aquatic play unit or upgrading your existing one, refreshing or changing your waterpark’s theme and enhancing waterslides are investments that build excitement for guests and revenue for you. Play Features Splashtacular has a wide range of pre-designed aquatic play units that can be customized to suit any facility. The options range from small units with kiddie slides and play features to expansive mega units with iconic tipping buckets and hundreds of spray features. For even better value, our play units have double the spray features of other play units on the market. Plus, deck bubblers, water bongos, mini tipping buckets, swiveling shower heads, up jets, arch jets, down jets and water curtains can be added to existing play units to create more interactive play opportunities for guests. Waterslide Enhancements Enhancing your waterslides with unique features pumps up guests’ adrenaline and creates an experience that they cannot find elsewhere. The following upgrades can be added to any new or existing waterslide:

• Multi-sensory light and sound: add custom light and sound packages, as well as translucent bands to any new or existing waterslide design.
• Timing systems: let racers compete against one another as they race down the slides again and again.

Updated Theme A refreshed or new theme is an upgrade that gives guests the ultimate immersion experience. Iconic themes are popular with families, since they appeal to all ages. Splashtacular can bring any vision to life, like we did for the Center of Recreational Excellence (CORE) waterpark in Hobbs, New Mexico, which received the World Waterpark Association 2018 Leading Edge Award. The CORE features a lazy river, body slides, beach-entry pool, rain-simulating water feature, raft slide, waterfalls, play features and show sequences synchronize to immerse guests in the Hobbs area’s “story.” With 188 colors to choose from and any theme imaginable, such as fairytale castles, dinosaur caves and pirate ships, our team can bring the “wow” back to your waterpark.

3. Your Waterpark is Showing Signs of Age, Wear and Tear

The resort and entertainment industry is highly competitive with developers upping their features and value every season. Investing in regular maintenance and occasional upgrades is one of the best strategies to stay competitive in the highly competitive hotel and resort industry. In fact, it’s so effective that it often results in increases in admission cost and bookings. The condition and variety of your water features are what set your waterpark apart from the competition. Our Keep It New™ Maintenance involves interior and exterior recoating services that bring worn, damaged and faded surfaces back to their original luster. Our team gets to know your needs and goals then customizes services to match your water features’ age, use, location and more on a one-time basis or as part of a regular maintenance program. Keep It New is perfect for protecting your investment in slide towers, stairs, decking material… you name it. Splashtacular didn’t manufacture or upgrade your structures, slides and units? No problem. Our skilled maintenance and repair team cleans or replaces any damaged steel components, decking, treads, rusted stairways, landings, platforms and hardware, plus repairs damaged slide components, chips and cracks. Regardless of the reason for upgrading, the result is the same: increased attendance and revenue. If it’s time for an upgrade, our team is ready with ideas.