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Waterpark Profile
Chimelong Water Park
1.4 million guests can’t be wrong!
From the outset, the team at Chimelong Water
Park in southern China set out to create one of
the world’s top five waterparks, and in less than C
himelong Water Park is not only the largest single
waterpark development in Asia, but it is also
arguably the most modern, with what general
MAIN PICTURE: Another busy day 12 months they achieved it. As the award- consultant Alan Mahony describes as “possibly the most
in the wave pool BELOW: The winning facility approaches the end of its second expensive ride package in the world.” Located in the city
expanded children’s area season, Park World pays tribute of Guangzhou, it sits at the heart of the China’s most
populous province, Guangdong, where there are few
other standalone waterparks. Most locals have little
access to pools or beaches either.
All this perhaps goes some way to explaining last
season’s 1.4 million attendance. It is this figure that
catapulted the park into joint third place in the TEA/ERA
Attendance report for 2007, trailing only Disney’s two
waterparks in Orlando. Then came the icing on the
cake: a “Must See Waterpark” award from IAAPA.
Chimelong Water Park debuted in May 2007 as part
of a rapid expansion at the Chimelong Resort, where
just one year earlier the Chimelong Paradise
amusement park had opened. Working to a
masterplan by Whtewater West, the detail design on
the 15-hectare facility was completed locally, before a
rapid period of construction.
“I visited in January last year and there was virtually
nothing done,” remembers Whitewater director Andrew
Wray, “the real work started after Chinese New Year in
February. To build a 15-hectare waterpark in less than
five months is quite unheard of and when it opened it
looked absolutely fantastic, with lovely landscaping
throughout.”
22 OCTOBER 2008
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