Volume 3, No. 15. August 8,2003
New Arrivals
It’s
a waterpark!
Wild
Adventures Super Park in Valdosta, Georgia, announces the arrival of Splash
Island, July 31, 2003. Measurements: one 20,000-gallon (76,000-liter) wave pool,
a 1,000 foot-long (305-meter) river, 40-foot-tall (12-meter) slide tower with
two tube slides, one 42-foot-tall (13-meter) interactive play area with seven
slides and 8-foot-tall (2.5-meter) tipping bucket. Delivered by Murphys Waves,
North Beach Engineering and Whitewater West Industries.
So
Wild Adventures was late opening its new waterpark (scheduled to debut Memorial
Day weekend at the end of May, but 11 inches of rain in February and March delayed
construction). This year, it didn’t really matter.
“It
would have been better for us if it had opened earlier,” said the park’s
Public Relations Director Sara Sumner, “but with the weather playing such
a factor as it has with our season this summer, that’s hard to say. If
you’re going to have a late opening on a waterpark, it might as well be
at a time when people don’t want to get in the water anyway.”
Wild
Adventures did get its Paradise River and Rain Fortress interactive
play structure open June 14, and followed with the Double Dip Zip slide
tower. The last bit of the Splash Island first phase, the Catchawave Bay
and beach area, finally opened to the public July 31, meriting the big grand
opening celebration.
For
the occasion, the park invited local dignitaries, media and the waterpark’s
construction crews out for a Luau Celebration. Of course, it stormed, but once
the rain let up after an hour, the 122 special guests showed up for the evening
gala. The local chamber of commerce, as Valdosta custom dictates, sent its ambassadors
to help with the ribbon cutting. They wore their traditional green jackets,
but supplemented with bathing suits, Hawaiian shirts, innertubes and waterwings.
Valdosta Mayor Jimmy Rainwater, wearing an inflatable elephant around his waist,
held the ribbon for giant-scissors bearing park owner Kent Buescher and Kent’s
wife Dawn.
Though the waterpark's opening was late, its gala debut provided a publicity boost at the summer season’s midpoint. “We had an awesome weekend that Saturday and Sunday,” Sumner said. “For a weekend not having a concert at the park, we managed to create traffic flow problems. We like to do that.”
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
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