Correction: Wild River Country, a water park in North Little Rock, has invested $1.4 million in three new water slides that were originally intended for another park. The status of the slides was incorrect in a headline on this story.
Wild River Country has invested roughly $1.4 million in three new water slides that would have cost nearly twice as much if they hadn’t already been made for a water park that went belly up in India.
“They’re expensive still, but we got a good deal on them,” said Chris Shillcutt, general manager and operating owner in Aquapark Holdings LLC, which runs Wild River Country. Partners in the venture are Mort Fishman of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Michael Slattery of Toronto.
The trio took over the North Little Rock theme park three years ago and are using the slides as a springboard for its 30th anniversary in midsummer.
No firm date was available because the slides still are under construction.
One of the slides is an AquaLoop, where visitors are dropped one at a time down a nearly vertical shaft and into an inclined loop. Just that one slide was regularly priced around $1.3 million, Shillcutt said. There are only a handful of them in the country.
Another is a speed slide, which has multiple humps in it.
“When you come over the humps, it makes you feel like you’re losing gravity,” Shillcutt said.
The other slide has been temporarily dubbed the Free Fall Plus.
Wild River Country will have a contest to name the slides, Shillcutt said. Construction was estimated at $850,000 on a building permit obtained by a contractor hired by the water park.
Shillcutt said it’s customary to add a new ride every three years, although Wild River Country hasn’t added an attraction in over a decade.
He said he and his Aquapark partners were in the market for an additional slide when they came across the deal from the company in India. Buyer and seller were connected by a representative from the International Associations of Amusement Parks and Attractions. Under normal circumstances, the slide-maker would visit the park and then design an attraction best suited for the lay of the land.
“You don’t just go out and buy a slide,” Shillcutt said.
The industry representative had been to Wild River Country last summer and knew that the slides would be a good fit for the complex.
There are about 400 amusement parks in the country with more than 360 million visitors annually.
“New attractions and park expansions help to drive attendance and repeat business as guests are always excited to experience what’s new,” said Colleen Mangone, director of media relations for the International Associations of Amusement Parks and Attractions. “And the buzz related to new attractions helps to generate excitement and interest for the park and all of its attractions.”
Aleatha Ezra, director of park member development for the Overland Park, Kan.-based World Waterpark Association, said it’s not unusual for a park to buy a used slide and refurbish it.
“It certainly is a different installation process when you’re working with a slide that wasn’t custom-designed for your facility, but that’s certainly something where our operators are pretty adaptive, rising to that challenge,” Ezra said.
Since Aquapark took over, attendance has hovered around 160,000 per year; the owners would like to see that number rise to more than 200,000. The park draws a heavy contingent from Memphis and across Arkansas, Shillcutt said.
In the summers since the Aquapark partners have had Wild River Country, the state experienced some record-setting monthly totals for rainfall and cool weather. The park generally has a 90-day window to make a year’s worth of revenue, Ezra said.
Attendance has proved “stable” for water-park operators across North America.
“There continues to be growth and there continues to be reinvestment in adding new amenities and attractions to existing parks,” Ezra added.
Weather — or rather the unpredictability of it — is a concern for water-park owners. Not only does it vary by region, but it’s different from state to state, Ezra said. Some have lost as much as one-third of their seasons to cold weather, rain or storms.
“It can be difficult when you’re such a short-season operator,” she said. “Even a few days of rain can make it tough.”
One solution is to extend the operating season past the summer months, such as adding an ice-skating rink or coldweather tubing in the winter.
When Aquapark bought Wild River Country, it made a play for winter games at the park. But rain fell the majority of three weekends and there was so much ice during three additional weekends that visitors couldn’t make it to the park, Shillcutt said. The venture came close to breaking even, he said.
Some ideas that are now being tossed around for the other half of Wild River Country’s 26-acre tract include zip lines, a high-ropes challenge course and an adult-only haunted trail with 60-70 live characters for the Halloween season.
“We want to help people meet their fear factor,” he said, smiling.
If successful, children’s activities would be added next year.
Magic Springs & Crystal Falls Water and Theme Park in Hot Springs — Wild River Country’s closest competitor — has held a Magic Screams Halloween carnival in the past, according to its website. Calls and emails to Magic Springs were not returned Tuesday. The Hot Springs park has advertised new attractions at its park for the season as well.
For some water parks, Ezra said, the most they can do is make the most of the days they’re open.
Creative marketing, group events, and strong partnerships and sponsorships with other businesses help “so that when the sun is out and the park is open, you’re providing the best experience, and you’re bringing people into the gates, and you’re having great days on the days the weather cooperates,” Ezra said.