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Water park facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

A water park is a special kind of theme park that's all about water fun! Imagine a place filled with exciting water slides, cool splash pads, and areas where water sprays everywhere. You can also find lazy rivers where you float along, and big pools for swimming or just relaxing. Some modern water parks even have places where you can try surfing or bodyboarding on artificial waves, like a wave pool or a FlowRider. It's a perfect spot to cool off and have an adventure!

Sunway Lagoon2013 1
Aerial view of Sunway Lagoon, a popular waterpark in Malaysia.
Aqua panorama
A water park in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland.
Fasouri Watermania Water Park Limassol
Fasouri Watermania Water Park, Limassol, Cyprus.
Super Tubes Hydrocoaster and The Green Room at WhiteWater World
WhiteWater World in Queensland, Australia has thrilling rides like the Super Tubes Hydrocoaster.

How Water Parks Grew

Water parks have become super popular since they first started appearing in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The United States has the most water parks, with over a thousand! New ones open every year. Big groups like the IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) and the WWA (World Waterpark Association) help guide the industry.

Some water parks are now open all year round, not just in summer. They might even look like mountain resorts! For example, Splash Universe Water Park Resort is designed to fit in with its local community. This helps make the area a fun place to visit. Sometimes, you'll even see winter sports themes in summer water rides.

To make sure people don't wait too long for rides, some water parks use clever ideas. They might have conveyor belts to lift people up or use strong water jets to move riders along.

Indoor Water Parks Around the World

The very first indoor water park was built in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1985. It's called World Waterpark and is part of the huge West Edmonton Mall. This park is massive, covering over 217,800 square feet! It has one of the world's largest indoor wave pools, many different waterslides, tube rides, and even hot tubs.

Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, is known as the "Water Park Capital of the World." It has five indoor water parks and many large outdoor ones, like Noah's Ark Water Park. Indoor water parks in Wisconsin Dells started in 1994. The idea was to let tourists enjoy water fun even when it's cold outside. This made water park resorts popular vacation spots. Companies like Great Wolf Resorts and Kalahari Resorts have opened many indoor water parks across the country. Mt. Olympus Theme and Water Park is another huge park in the Dells.

In the United Kingdom, a top indoor water park is the Sandcastle Waterworld in Blackpool, England. It has the Master Blaster, which is the world's longest indoor ride that feels like a roller coaster.

Southern Europe also has many water parks because of its warm weather. For instance, in the Algarve region of Portugal, you can find three main parks: Aqualand, Aquashow, and Slide and Splash.

Cool Water Play Areas

Besides big water parks, there are smaller water play areas everywhere. You can find them at hotels, public pools, and even as "urban beaches" or splash pads. For example, the Delta Chelsea hotel in Toronto has a four-story waterslide called the "corkscrew."

Some water parks have really unique features. Deep River Waterpark in Indiana even offers ice skating! They added special cooling pipes under their main plaza to make this possible.

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Parque acuático para niños

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