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UK Water Parks

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Enter Valhalla

TS Member
Having recently visited Djurs and Fårup in Denmark and Energylandia in Poland, one thing that really struck me is how, despite them being in what I’d consider relatively cold countires, all three have outdoor water parks.

It got me thinking could a UK park support an outdoor water park as a second gate?

People’s initial response is likely to be that the UK is simply too cold, or unpredictable weather wise, but in response, I’d say a few things. Firstly, Denmark and Poland seem to manage it and they have (as far as I’m aware) climates pretty similar to the UK.

Also, we do have a very small number of outdoor water parks in the UK. Splashdown at Quaywest in Devon for example is a standalone fully outdoor water park, and that’s been there for years: https://www.splashdownwaterparks.co.uk/quaywest/

Near where I live, there’s the very popular Aldershot Lido, which although not a full scale water park, does have a huge outdoor pool, three large water slides and a diving board. Again it’s been there for years and last year they had their best summer on record in terms of visitor numbers: https://www.placesleisure.org/centres/aldershot-lido/?&utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=button

With this in mind, I don’t think it’s a completely bizarre suggestion that one of the UK’s theme parks could open a summer season water park, which would be great for heatwaves and provide families with a cheaper alternative than the main theme park, as well as taking some of the pressure away from the main theme parks which are typically the most busy in the summer holidays.

What do people think? Is it a concept that would work here, like it does in Scandinavia? I know that indoor pools can be extremely expensive to run, with the cost of heating and lighting. Surely an outdoor water park would be a less costly option for the park operators?

Personally I’d love to see a modern outdoor water park in the UK and I reckon that one of the independent parks like Drayton or Paultons would be really suited to something like this.

What’s everyone’s thoughts?
 
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The other Splashdown in Poole also has a fairly significant outdoor portion as well - not quite as big as the indoor waterpark but still a pretty good size with a decent number of flumes.

I think a lot of the reason those countries can get away with more outdoor water parks is due to the fact their overall climates are colder than the UK anyway, so people are more acclimatised to it and more willing to use their outdoor water parks in colder temperatures. Compared to the UK, where our climate is a lot more volatile between scorching hot to cold and raining or anywhere in between (even during peak summer).

I also compare it to how busy (or not) the beaches around here get in the summer - if the sun is out and it’s hot they’re packed but the second a grey cloud comes in everyone stampedes back to their cars again (and the hardened surfers and locals usually take the opportunity to make use of it again!). Another large outdoor waterpark would I feel suffer from a similar fate with regards to it doing very well when the weather is good, but very poorly when it isn’t.
 
Splashdown in Poole is one which has the best of both worlds, being half indoors and half outdoors so great whatever the weather. And unlike Alton Towers, they actually kept their outdoor section open all the time in the summer months.

It’s an interesting point about locals in Scandinavia and Poland being more used to the cold. Whenever I’ve used the pools at the Europa Park hotels, I’ve noticed the water temperature being noticeably colder than UK pools. I think that Brits are used to our pools being heated to around 29-30 degrees whereas abroad they only heat them to about the mid-20s. Perhaps this could be an issue in that an outdoor water park in the UK would have the expectation of being warmer water and would therefore cost more to keep heated.
Then again, Aldershot Lido isn’t heated and they do very well.

Has anyone ever visited the Energylandia water park? I’m intrigued to know if it ever gets that busy.
 
I suspect the main difference is that these other countries have much longer school summer holidays than the UK. Also, the UK schools break up quite late, whereas some other countries have the summer break earlier in the year. Even if the water park was busy for most of the summer, 6.5 weeks isn't long to cover all the costs of a permanent water park.
 
Is it costing much to have it sitting doing nothing all winter though? You drain the pools, probably only employ one or two maintenance people over the winter to look after the place, can’t think of any other big costs.
 
I guess it all comes down to the investment case.

Do you spend £Xmillion on building an outdoor Waterpark that can only be used for a couple of months a year.

Or do you take that same money and use it to invest in a different asset that will generate income all year (or theme park season) round.
 
Yes, and there are going to be one off costs for getting the water park open each year, in terms of hiring and training all the staff, doing a deep clean etc. Presumably the slides will need some kind of annual safety inspection. It's a lot of cost to get the water park open each year if you've only got it for 6.5 weeks.
 
I think it’s interesting that both Splashdown water parks are in very tourist heavy areas, where footfall is way higher in the summer months. In areas like these, I think an outdoor water park could work. Perhaps at Flamingo Land, as it’s near the coast, or even Oakwood for the same reasons.

Inland parks tend to have their attendance spread out more across the season so, like people have said, a big investment wouldn’t be justified for something only open for 6-8 weeks is summer. In an area near the sea though, where it’s considerably busier in the summer anyway, I think it would be a worthwhile investment.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Has anyone ever visited the Energylandia water park? I’m intrigued to know if it ever gets that busy.
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Yes, last august on a 34 degree day and the Waterpark was rammed with many of the 7000 sunbeds being used and queues to the bottom of the slide towers.

Then again this year a couple of weeks ago. Weather was 22 degrees and the Waterpark was empty, must have been around 500 using it.

So id say similar to here. When very hot it's very well used, then not very well used when a bit cooler.
 
In all my visits, I've never seen the outdoor section of Brean Splash open. Granted I've never been in the summer holidays, when I'm sure it is open. But I have been early summer, including in May this year on a warm and sunny day.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I know that indoor pools can be extremely expensive to run, with the cost of heating and lighting. Surely an outdoor water park would be a less costly option for the park operators?
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It's the opposite unfortunately. To keep heating water to an enjoyable temperature in cold climates costs an absolute bomb and all that lovely warmth just floats away as steam. It has to be heated through the night too as it takes ages to get up to temperature. Inside the heat from the pool heats the room and so long as it is insulated well the water loses far less temperature and requires far less heating. They also require a lot more cleaning as detritus from outside will always find its way in.

The likes of Centre Parcs have the right idea, the initial cost of the dome pays for itself easily and it sort of feels like you are outside anyway.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Is it costing much to have it sitting doing nothing all winter though? You drain the pools, probably only employ one or two maintenance people over the winter to look after the place, can’t think of any other big costs.
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Draining a pool for anything more than brief maintenance is extremely damaging. The walls, lining, tiles etc. are all designed to work under the pressure of the water - take that away, and things start cracking, breaking down and just generally degrading. Similar story if you cool the water too much.

So, a disused pool over winter would have to remain filled, heated to at least some extent, and so still have significant overhead costs.
 
Islander said:
Draining a pool for anything more than brief maintenance is extremely damaging. The walls, lining, tiles etc. are all designed to work under the pressure of the water - take that away, and things start cracking, breaking down and just generally degrading. Similar story if you cool the water too much.

So, a disused pool over winter would have to remain filled, heated to at least some extent, and so still have significant overhead costs.
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I’m not sure that this is always the case though. I see that PortAventura keep their pools filled and therefore chlorinated over the winter, presumably for the reasons you’ve outlined.

But the local outdoor lido pools near where I live, do all drain their water in the winter and then clean and paint the pools in early spring before filling them in ready for the opening dates which are usually around late May.
 
Islander said:
Draining a pool for anything more than brief maintenance is extremely damaging. The walls, lining, tiles etc. are all designed to work under the pressure of the water - take that away, and things start cracking, breaking down and just generally degrading. Similar story if you cool the water too much.

So, a disused pool over winter would have to remain filled, heated to at least some extent, and so still have significant overhead costs.
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There was a documentary about Center Parcs sometime during COVID (okay, Covid's still here, but you know what I mean), and they said that each night all the water gets drained into a tank to make it cheaper to heat. It wasn't clear how many of their water parks did this. I don't think Center Parcs have big expanses of water like a wave pool though.
 
Just come back from splashdown quaywest, been a major incident where a man died, not very impressed with how the park managed the situation as they kept the park running for 30 minutes while they were attempting CPR. No lifeguards or staff seemed to know how to deal with the situation.

Just thinking about the family with how incredibly sad this situation is.
 
Joeythorpe said:
Just come back from splashdown quaywest, been a major incident where a man died, not very impressed with how the park managed the situation as they kept the park running for 30 minutes while they were attempting CPR. No lifeguards or staff seemed to know how to deal with the situation.

Just thinking about the family with how incredibly sad this situation is.
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That’s awful, sorry to hear that such a tragic thing happened. Something like that would be absolutely horrible for their friends or family are with them to experience but I’m guessing it must really shake up and affect all the other guests that are there as well.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
That’s awful, sorry to hear that such a tragic thing happened. Something like that would be absolutely horrible for their friends or family are with them to experience but I’m guessing it must really shake up and affect all the other guests that are there as well.
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Yes the whole park seemed in a state of shock and a lack of communication didn’t help as people were still able to use some of the slides and could see everything that was happening.

Together with a family member we were telling the staff to close the pathways of and to stop sending people down the slide that had an exit by the man. looking at Facebook comments others were attempting to close walkways also.

Just incredibly sad and was not problem with the park/slides that caused this it’s seems, just the lack of staff training it seemed.
 
Yes hopefully they look into putting better measures in place if an incident should occur again, I feel for some of the staff as it must’ve been a shock as a lot were very young.

Also it’s great to see investment that is going into the place, new racer slides for this year and a big splash tower and slides being built for next year. Also lots of room for future expansion of more thrilling slides
 
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