Anindoor water park is a type of water park that is located inside a building. An indoor water park has the ability to stay open year-round, as it is not affected by weather conditions.
The first indoor water park in the United States known as the Polynesian Resort Hotel and Suites in the small tourist town of Wisconsin Dells, WI. The hotel opened in 1989 and the water park in 1994. It was built in an effort to make the Dells a year-round tourist destination, rather than just a summer one. Since then, the Great Wolf Lodge brand has expanded, with multiple locations in the U.S. and a single venue in Canada, at Niagara Falls.[citation needed] The DreamWorks Water Park, originally slated to open in late 2019, will be the United States' largest water park upon opening.[8]
Since the opening of the first park, the indoor water park business has become increasingly popular, especially for Edmonton in Canada, and Wisconsin Dells in the U.S., which proclaims itself as the "Water Park Capital of the World". The Dells has five water park resorts that have at least one water park bigger than 55,000 sq ft (5,100 m2). This includes Great Wolf Lodge, Kalahari (Wisconsin's Largest Indoor Water Park), Chula Vista Resort (Lost Rios), Wilderness Territory (Wild West, Klondike Kavern, Wild WaterDome), and the Hotel Rome at Mt. Olympus. Wisconsin has the most indoor water parks in one state. Other states in the U.S., especially in the midwest, are building more indoor water parks separate or to existing hotels so they can become a year-round destination. More water parks are also being built in Canada, Europe and Asia. Tropical Islands Resort (Krausnick-Groß Wasserburg, Germany) with an area of 66,000 m² (710,000 sq feet) is currently the largest indoor water park in the world.
Tropical Islands Resort - inside
Tropical Islands Resort - inside, with the dome-shaped roof of the building visible
^"Parcs de loisirs"(PDF). P.C.M. Ponts et Chaussées et Mines (in French) (5). Paris: Association professionnelle des ingénieurs des Ponts et Chaussées et Mines: 50. 1986. ISSN0397-4634. OCLC473874833. Retrieved September 29, 2019.