SANDUSKY Until a few short years ago, you could count the number of waterparks in Ohio s Lake Erie tourist zone on one finger.
Soak City, the 18-acre waterpark at Cedar Point, was the region s only choice for vacationers who wanted to enjoy waterslides, a wave pool, and children s aquatic play areas in one spot. And all that splashy fun was only available during the traditional warm-weather tourist season, from late May to early September.
But these days, Soak City has plenty of company and competition.
Since 2001, three indoor waterparks have opened in Erie County, including one operated by Cedar Point. A second outdoor waterpark, Monsoon Lagoon, opened three years ago in Ottawa County s Danbury Township, and its owner has plans to expand.
Closer to Toledo, a $17 million, 30,000-square-foot indoor waterpark is scheduled to open by the end of the year at a Holiday Inn Express in Dundee, Mich.
The operators of these parks say there s plenty of business to go around, thanks mostly to Cedar Point. The amusement park, which dates to the late 1800s, is the biggest tourist draw in northwest Ohio and attracts an estimated 3.5 million visitors a year.
Cedar Point s presence is why Great Wolf Resorts Inc. opened its 271-room resort with a 33,000-square-foot waterpark on U.S. 250 in Perkins Township in March, 2001.
Obviously, if it wasn t for Cedar Point and what they do in the summertime, Great Wolf Lodge probably wouldn t be here, said Derrek Kinzel, the resort s general manager. They ve created Sandusky to be such a summertime destination. We rely on them in the summertime for their traffic, but we ve created Sandusky to be a wintertime destination.
The company s Sandusky-area waterpark was patterned after a resort by the same name that opened in the Wisconsin Dells in the late 1990s. That popular tourist area now has more than a dozen indoor waterparks.
Great Wolf enjoyed the distinction of being Ohio s only indoor waterpark until November, 2004, when Cedar Point opened a 38,000-square-foot facility, Castaway Bay, at the former Radisson Harbour Inn near the Cedar Point Causeway.
The area s biggest indoor waterpark yet opened recently. LMN Development s Kalahari Waterpark Resort Convention Center on U.S. 250 between the Ohio Turnpike and State Rt. 2, built for $130 million, boasts an 80,000-square-foot waterpark and 308 guest rooms.
Doug Boyer, a Kalahari spokesman, said the developers of the new resort aren t stopping there. By summer s end, the property will have 590 rooms, and Kalahari officials plan to add 100,000 square feet to the waterpark by summer 2006.
Local tourism officials say all that development means the Sandusky area is well on the way to becoming a year-round tourist draw.
In our promotional planning for the year, we re extending the message that we re not just a warm-weather destination, said Joan Van Offeren, executive director of the Erie County Visitors Bureau. We added a section in our visitors guide on waterparks.
Resort operators say the appeal of indoor waterparks in northern climates like Ohio s is simple. The complexes offer a fun, family-friendly getaway any time of year, rain, shine, or snow.
Such resorts package an overnight stay with use of a waterpark for one price, as opposed to the daily admission charged by outdoor facilities.
There s just a natural affinity for kids and water, said John Hildebrandt, Cedar Point s vice president and general manager, explaining why the park s parent firm spent $22 million to convert the Radisson Harbour into a waterpark. When I was a young parent, you d look for something to do in the wintertime and you d take your kids to a hotel with a swimming pool.
The Sandusky area s indoor waterparks offer quite a bit more than a pool.
Kalahari s facility, which is six stories tall, includes eight waterslides, a wave-action pool, and a flow rider that will allow visitors to surf indoors.
One of the slides, a bright orange ride called the Zip Coaster, will rocket riders uphill on sheets of water.
For visitors who want to dry off and try something else, Kalahari will have such attractions as a candy-making shop, a nine-hole miniature golf course, children s jungle gym, and several bars and restaurants.
The resort has an African safari theme, with its hallways and common areas painted in such earthy tones as olive, gold, and burnt orange. In the lobby, a massive stone fireplace and statues of rams, elephants, and other African animals draw visitors attention.
It s not just a waterpark, Mr. Boyer said. Once you get out of the water, there s a lot of other things you can do.
Castaway Bay features a Caribbean theme, which includes a large pirate ship whose masts extend into the resort s vaulted lobby.
Its waterpark includes a water coaster, a 100,000-gallon wave pool, a slightly smaller activity pool, and a water coaster.
A multi-story funhouse includes a 1,000-gallon bucket that fills with water and tips over every few minutes, dousing screaming children below.
For adults who want some peace and quiet, the resort includes a spa where guests can relax in a hot tub or treat themselves to a massage, facial, or pedicure.
Tom Korzunowski of Willowick, Ohio, was at Castaway Bay one recent weekday with his wife, 10-year-old son, and 6-year-old daughter.
We love it, he said. It s great. The kids love it. We ve been to the Great Wolf Lodge and wanted to try this one.
Mr. Korzunowski said the family plans to make regular trips to the Sandusky area s waterparks. When it s wintertime, you get to come indoors, he said. And all your entertainment s in one spot.
Great Wolf, the first of the local indoor waterparks, has a cabin-in-the-woods theme, starting with its U-shaped, log-home exterior. Its waterpark includes several twisting slides, a tree fort that rises to four stories, and a lazy river raft ride for tykes and their parents.
While the $25 million resort has been passed size-wise by Castaway Bay and Kalahari, Mr. Kinzel said Great Wolf officials aren t worried about competing with their new rivals. They are, however, studying a possible expansion.
Right now we re just going to keep doing what we ve been doing, which is providing the top level of customer service, Mr. Kinzel said. I m sure the other parks, they ll get a trial, but we re confident that the guests that have stayed with us in the past know what we have to offer.
The operators of the area s two outdoor waterparks say they re not worried about the extra competition either.
Robin Innes, a Cedar Point spokesman, said the company expects some guests at the amusement park to stay at Castaway Bay but doesn t think the resort s indoor waterpark will compete directly with Soak City. They re two different experiences, he said. I think they ll probably complement each other.
John Heilman, who owns the Monsoon Lagoon waterpark on State Rt. 269 near State Rt. 2, says he prefers an outdoor facility because slides and other attractions can be made much taller and longer than in an indoor park.
Monsoon, which covers more than 300,000 square feet, has six waterslides, and Mr. Heilman says he plans to make the park seven or eight times its current size over the next few years.
His ideas include adding an 85-foot-tall tower with six more slides, a wave pool, two surf rides, and a water coaster that he said will surpass anything at the indoor parks.
It will be 2,000 feet, as opposed to 300 feet at Kalahari, Mr. Heilman said. That s why we like the outdoor park, because you can do a lot more, and people want to go outside in the summertime anyway, don t they?
Contact Steve Murphy at:smurphy@theblade.comor 419-724-6078.
First Published May 18, 2005, 12:56 p.m.