Indoor Water Parks

Water Park Project

History of Indoor Water Parks

Everyone goes to the water park fairly often, but have you

ever stopped and thought about what all really went into

making it and what it takes to keep it running but most

importantly safe and clean. Well we did! And we were

very surprised about what we found out along the way

and hopefully you will be too

.

The first indoor water

park was built in 1985

Edmonton, in Alberta,

Canada at the West

Edmonton Mall. It was

called The World Water

Park and was over

200,000sq ft which is

fairly big for and Indoor

Water Park. It was a

huge success for the mall

and is still operating,

(although with some add-

on’s) to this day. The

success of the World

Water Park in Canada

prompted the first indoor

water park in America to

be built in 1989 by the

Polynesian Resort in the

Wisconsin Dells, to make

it a year round tourist

destination. Before its

construction the

Wisconsin Dells season

only ran from Memorial

Day to Labor Day. This

new type of Water Park

allowed them to continue

operation all year and

allowing them to

maintain a constant flow

of income throughout the

year. Unfortunately the

Polynesian Resort did not

experience the same

success as the World

Water Park and was soon

eclipsed by the giants that

followed such as the

Kalahari and The

Wilderness. It still operates

within the Dells but is now

a cheap sideshow next to

the huge resorts that have

conquered the Dells.

However since the first

Water Park in Canada the

water park business has

skyrocketed with over

1,000 water park resorts in

North America and with

Europe and Asia following

all in all the future looks

pretty good for the Indoor

Water Park business.

Subjects

covered

History of Water

Parks

Filtration Systems

How water parks

are designed and

made.

Future innovations

Interviews with

staff members of

Country Springs

and WTI

And more…

Contents

History 2

Creating a Water Park 3

Creating a proposal 4

Understanding the client’s

needs 5

Project Managers 6

Building the park 7

Keeping it safe and

Healthy 8

Filtration systems 9

H.A.V.C 10

What the future holds

11

Fun Facts 12

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Indoor Water Parks

Creating a Water Park

Creating a Proposal

Understanding The Clients needs

There are two main types

of Water Parks that WTI

designs private and

municipal. Municipal is

for the government and

is generally smaller.

Private is a company

choosing to hire you and

are generally bigger. The

main difference between

the two is that by law a

municipal project has to

be open to all companies

and allow them to submit

a bid. Then the

government chooses who

to hire. In a private one

the company can only

look at one persons offer.

However most of the

time private ones will

look at more than one

person’s proposal to find

the best one.

So what is a proposal?

A proposal is a document

that a firm such as WTI

will send to a water park

company. The proposal

includes schematics,

drawings, estimations

on cost, numbers of

bolts, and various

other materials and

things that will be

necessary to build the

park. If it is accepted

those are the plans the

water park will be

based off of.

When it comes to

designing a water park

one of the most

important things to

understand is the client’s

needs as well as the

regions cultures. For

instance in the Middle

East if you just but rows

of chairs in front of a

wave pool people would not

like it. Instead you must

design earthworks to make

private areas with 4-5 chairs

each. Also if you build a

slide in the Middle East with

5-6 seats it would not make

sense. Unlike us people over

there will not let another

person or family ride with

them on a slide so it would

make more sense to build a

2-3 person ride.

Now everyone just assumes that if somebody wants to build a Water

Park they just do some sketches gets the money and calls the builder

right? No, wrong! It turns out that there’s more to it than that so my

partner Gabe and I went to WTI, (a water park design firm based in

Beaver Dam Wisconsin) to find out how it’s really done.

Interviews with the staff

While we were at WTI

we talked to several

employees and asked

them a few questions.

1.What is the Biggest

project you have ever

worked on? 2. What’s

the smallest?

Amin 1. A 150,000 m2

water park in Dubai

2. A $100,000 pool

Adam 1. A $150,000

splash pad.

2. A 13 million dollar

project in Canada.

3

Indoor Water Parks

Project Managers/ Management

Building the park

Before the park can

even be made complex

and the water set

flowing the water park

needs to be planned

down to the piping.

Everything even the

number of bolts

necessary must be

calculated. This is done

by the Auto-Cad,

department they use

programs such as Cad

and Revit to as well as

Photoshop to make

schematics and 3-D

models of the park.

But the people who

really lead the project

are the project

managers. They are

the ones who deal with

the clients as travel to

the site during

construction. They also

put together the plans,

schematics, drawings,

and other materials

necessary for the

proposal. They talk to

the owners to

determine things such

as theme and size.

They help the owners

choose the site to put

their parks on based

on soil and landforms

(such as hills valleys,

ect…). They also take

things such as bus

routes, neighborhoods,

and accessibility into

consideration when

planning it. And in

some cases a Project

manager will work on

up to 15 projects at

once.

Okay, now the plans

have been made the

slides planned but it is

still a long way to go

until the park can open

to the public. Now the

Owner has to choose

who will build it. Firms

such as the Nueman

group submit bids to

the water park owner.

Each tries to either be

faster, cheaper, or

better in one way or

another. They also sell

and install the

Filtration systems that

clean the water and

heating and cooling

systems. Once one is

chosen let’s just say

it’s, Neuman Group.

They send construction

workers to the site. It

is very important that

they follow the

designer’s plans down

to the nearest inch.

For instance when we

were at Country

Springs we asked

about their lazy river.

They said that they

originally wanted to

run the river faster but

some the turns were

sharper than they were

supposed to be and

they caused problems

when it was ran at the

original speed. As a

result they had to redo

the pumps and piping

for the Lazy river.

Interviews (continued)

What changes have

you noticed to water

parks over time?

Amin- Things such as wave pools and lazy river haven't changed over time however things such as the flow rider, water coasters, and family slides are fairly new additions, also people’s expectations of water parks have grown in past years and simply repairing old facilities no longer works.

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Keeping it safe and healthy

Different types of Chlorine/ pH control

Filters

There are three different types of chlorinating substances used to chlorinate pools. Chlorine gas, dangerous not used on many jobs, is highly explosive, poisonous and very hard to use, however it is very cheap.

Liquid chlorine, Pumped into pools during filtering easy to use, more

expensive than gas but less dangerous. Solid chlorine/ tablets often used in home pools but are almost never in water parks.

When Gas is used it makes the water to basic so sodium bicarbonate is added to even it out When liquid chlorine is

added to the water it makes it to acidic so Co2 is added to balance it. Liquid acid is also added fairly often to balance out the pH too.

Different water parks use

different kinds of filters. This

is because of size,

efficiency, or cost. When we

went to Country springs we

were able to tour their

underground filter/ pump

room, here’s what they had

1. 4 Iron Filters (to

remove the Iron

from the city water

before it went into

the water park)

2. A lot of sand

filters at least one

for each pool/slide

( sand filters

remove impurities

from water by

forcing water

through a layer of

sand several feet

thick. The sand

traps all of the

contaminates in it

and the sand it

removed from the

water by several

cartridge filters in

the pipe.)

3. Cartridge filters (commonly

used in home pools but not

in water parks.)

4. Country Springs has a UV

filter which kills bacteria

and removes chloramines

from the water.

There is another type of filter that

Country Springs doesn’t have called a

regenerative media filter. It’s

basically a bunch of rods coated with

a chemical called Perlite which makes

dirt and debris stick to them. Not

only is it more effective than a sand

filtering it also takes less water to

clean it.

Once the water park is up

and running there is still the

issue of keeping it healthy

and safe. This includes

simple things such as hiring

lifeguards and putting down

non-slip flooring in pools

and in areas such as

entrances. But this also

includes things such as

chlorinating the water and

adding various chemicals to

the water to balance the pH

and neutralize each other. It

also means having or

upgrading ventilation

systems to remove

chloramines. You know

when you enter a pool and

think wow they put way too

much chlorine in here!

That’s actually wrong the

chlorine smell comes from

the chlorine breaking down

the oils and stuff in the pool.

The byproducts are

chloramines the gasses you

smell. In several studies it

has been shown that

lifeguards and guests

staying in a water park with

higher amounts of

chloramines are more likely

to experience stuffy nose,

eye irritation and colds than

those who are in a well

ventilated park.

Liquid Chlorine and sulfuric

acid is mixed into the water

by a series of mini pumps

at the Country Springs

Water Park. Employees

check the water twice a

day to make sure the right

amounts are being added.

5

H.A.V.C Systems/ Heating the water

Future rides and attractions

Fun Facts

Country Springs keeps their

water park a little warmer than

most standard water parks. But

to even keep the pools from

freezing in the winter they

must have a H.A.V.C system.

Theirs is actually underneath a

stairwell and outside. It is a

very big one measuring easily

over 20-30 ft. and is 12-15 ft.

tall. It contains the parks air

filters, heating elements, and

some of the fans that are used

to move air around the park.

However unlike some systems

it has no air conditioning.

Now even if you don’t think

about it the water has to be

heated too so it doesn’t

freeze in the pipes or make

the pools ice cold. To do this

the park has several boilers,

here’s how it works. Like a

furnace used in a house

there is an area in which the

flames are lit. However the

water is ran through pipes

over the flames. Then they

are taken down to the filter

room. Once it is down in

filter room it is ran through

thing called a heat exchange

it is basically a large

insulated pipe in which the

heated water and the

chlorinated, filtered water

runs side by side. The heat

from the heated water

transfers to the filtered

water and then it is sent to

the park. The reason that

the chlorinated water

doesn’t get run through the

Boiler is because they don’t

want chlorine buildups in the

pipes which possibly if

overheated combust.

There are over 1,000 water parks in

North America.

Over 78 million people attend water

parks throughout North America every

year.

To be considered “big” in the Indoor

Water Park world you must be over

50,000 ft2

As time goes on new rides

and attractions are

developed and eventually

replace earlier attractions.

Examples of this are things

like the Flow rider and

things like the Tornado

slides and Water Coaters.

Not only will there no doubt

be new slides and other

things but one of the big

things being looked into. Is

a new idea called the

Hydrodome. The Hydrodome

is not so much of a ride but

more of a separate area of

the park. In it participants

would be able to get into a

B.O.B (breathable

observation bubble) and

dive into a pool. In it there

would be several separate

areas (one for each depth)

as well as artificial choral

and automated fish,

dolphins and manta rays to

make the experience lifelike.

There is currently a

hyrdodome in Fort

Lauderdale Florida.

Above: the inside of the

H.A.V.C system at the

Country Springs Water

Park.

Below: Boilers in the back

room of Country springs

heat the parks water.

Above: the Hydrodome is an interactive underwater environment in which users can B.O.B’s (Breathing observation bubble) to explore the undersea world.

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Water Parks

So from making the bid, to

deciding on a theme, there

are many aspects that go

into building a water park,

much less maintaining one.

This project has really

shown me and Gabe how

hard it is to make a water

park as well as little things

such as how to make a Prezi

and even how to make this

report. All in all I feel this

project has been very

interesting and really made

me think about water parks

a little bit differently. I and I

hope now that you have

read my report you can say

the same.

Left: This graph shows some of the, but not all of the biggest water parks. In fact some of them aren’t even that big but they are

on there for comparison.