“The World Waterpark Association’s 26th Annual Symposium & Trade Show was one of our most successful events ever,” crowed WWA president Rick Root. “It was the first time in 20 years that our association has held its annual conference at Disney and it was certainly one of the drivers behind the significant increase in this year’s attendance.”

The draw of Disney was apparent in the record turnout of international attendees. After increased efforts to reach out to its international members over the past few years, the WWA has seen a 44 per cent increase of international attendees to the show.

Representatives from more than 36 countries walked the trade show floor. They came from Aruba, Bahrain, Cyprus, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, the Virgin Islands, Malaysia, Lithunia, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and of course the USA.

In recent years, the WWA has observed more developers interested in the waterpark industry. “The indoor waterpark resort segment of our industry continues to grow at an amazing pace,” notes Root, “and it’s fuelling a renewed interest in waterpark development throughout the world. Attendees from indoor waterpark resorts continue to make up an ever-increasing portion of our overall show attendance.” This year, he added, there was a 34 per cent increase in indoor resort waterpark facilities.

Those who made the trip to Lake Buena Vista enjoyed the exhibits, seminars and special events at the biggest WWA show in the past decade. With the 100,000 sq ft Veracruz Exhibit Hall sold out by early July, the WWA hosted 347 booths, an increase of 73 from the 25th Anniversary event held last year in Las Vegas. That meant there were many new faces.

“This is a great show,” offered Tim Berry of Dollywood’s Splash Country, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. “This is my first visit. We came to try to find innovative product for our park. We’ve found several ideas for both design and operations.”

“This has been a spectacular show with a great diversity of offerings for the waterpark owners,” believed Jack Waterman, consultant to the Great Wolf Resorts group of Madison, Wisconsin. “The seminars have been very valuable too. We all know the industry is growing, but we sometimes forget that water filtration techniques, air handling for indoor facilities, lifeguard training and so forth are all developing new ways to do things compared to five years ago.”

“This is the best show yet,” contended Joe Schmitz of the Wilderness Resort, Wisconsin Dells, “because of the venue, the vendors and the number of attendees. I’m here looking for new technologies. I was impressed by Siemens’ people-tracking software, which enables park operators to optimize their retail and food outlets.”

“I’ve learned a lot; it’s a good show,” admited Nick Laskaris or Mt Olympus Water & Theme Park, also in Wisconsin Dells. “Where I learned the most was today when I visited Blizzard Beach. Disney knows how to do it right, from theming to parking to cleanliness. The water rides were spectacular, the wave pool beautiful. It gives us something to strive for. As a theme park owner, you can never know enough about what our guests expect and deserve.”

The Symposium offered 61 education sessions, 39 of which were new. In total, 115 speakers appeared in WWA’s workshops and symposium sessions. Among the highly relevant courses were several on safety, a topic that takes centre stage each year in the industry.

Off-season promotions were discussed, including the success of programmes for Halloween, birthday parties, sleepovers, banquets and in-season night operations. The value of employee surveys was discussed, as was lifeguard footwear and preferred manufacturers for employee bathing suits.

A new mini-workshop allowed interested attendees the opportunity to hear about new and emerging developments in the waterpark industry, including whitewater park projects, surf parks and more.

One of the keynote events each year is always the WWA Board Awards. This year as always, the awards acknowledged the special talents and achievements of the individuals and companies that make the water leisure industry so successful.

Vendors seemed uniformly pleased with this year’s show. “This is our 26th year of coming to WWA, which itself is 26 years old,” boasted Geoff Chutter of Whitewater West Industries, “and we’re seeing the strongest attendance ever. We use WWA as a time where we can bring clients in, and also to meet new people. Both efforts have been very successful.”

“A wonderful show,” smiled Tia Decker of Hawaiian Tropic. “We’ve met a lot of new contacts and you’ll see our suntan lotion products in many more amusement parks and waterparks for the 2007 season.”

“The attendance volume is up, and there’s a good energy,” observed Rick Hunter, ProSlide Technologies. “People are talking optimistically for the future. We’re doing a lot of expansion planning for existing parks and resorts. There are a large number of people representing start-up resorts who have expressed a lot of interest in our products. Overall, this has been a very good show.”

In 2007, the WWA will hold its 27th Annual Symposium & Trade Show from October 23 to 27 in Palm Springs, California. WWA members outside North America will have access to industry experts and professionals at the 2nd Annual European Symposium in March (see panel, right). Mark your calendars. With water-resistant ink, of course.

WHAT TO WEAR

One of the liveliest sessions at this year’s WWA Symposium was the Large Park Debate, where one of the topics discussed was how to get guests to conform to the requirement that they must wear a bathing suit in the waterpark.

Six Flags, for example, lists a code of conduct on its website. It was agreed that it is important to communicate the rules before arriving at waterparks. Disney, on rare occasions, may give a guest a swimsuit. Another park occasionally offers swimwear at employee prices.

Overly revealing swimwear, especially prevalent among international guests, is another problem. Flowing garments may not be allowed on certain attractions. Sea World San Antonio has a black line in its wave pool that fully clothed visitors may not cross. Posted signs stating that proper swimwear is required was another solution. Other signage asks that no buttons, rivets or zippers be worn.

Parks must decide if it is a safety issue or an offensive appearance issue. Cotton clothing was noted as a problem since it clogs the lint filters, adds weight when wet and is not slippery on slides.

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