Imagine this: the height of summer is here at last. There's warm sun, cool waters, a drink in your hand, and your family is finally out of the house. But this isn't an exotic getaway: it's a day at the waterpark.
With Ontario entering the final step of its summer reopening plan in just a few days, families (whether vaccinated, about to be or as vaccinated as they can be) are looking for fun things to do with what's left of the summer.
And what better way to beat the heat than spending a day poolside? That's where Wet n' Wild Toronto comes in. Less than a half-hour drive from Oakville is the second-largest waterpark in all of Canada, and they're finally making waves again.
Few Greater Toronto Area (GTA) businesses have been impacted as severely by the COVID-19 pandemic as have outdoor parks. Waterparks especially, with their limited season and normal Labour Day closures each summer, have been shut down since September 2, 2019 - almost two years.
For 2021, several waterparks are staying closed for yet another full year and won't be back until 2022. And while Oakville's excellent public outdoor pools have been open since mid-June, you can only stay for a maximum of 45 minutes. If you want a safe, exciting, daylong aquatic adventure, Wet n' Wild has you covered.
Last summer 2020, Oakville News visited several businesses and popular destinations forced to adapt during the seemingly endless COVID-19 pandemic. As vaccination rates continue to skyrocket, even more facilities are reopening, and some are doing so for the first time in years.
Wet n' Wild Toronto is the closest waterpark to a majority of Halton, and from Oakville, it's a 25-30 minute drive. So with bathing suits, towels and sunscreen in hand, Oakville News visited the park as some of its first guests in 2021.
What does a waterpark look like in a pandemic?
The truth is, it feels extraordinarily close to a normal day at the pool. Besides needing to pre-book your visit online, stay physically distanced in lines for a slide, and wear a mask while in the washrooms or store, everything else feels the same.
"We are totally about family fun and relaxation," says Susan Kruizinga, one of the park directors. "When you’re here for the day, you’re not here to stand in lines. We want people to come with the family and feel like you can relax, go on some slides and have some fun in the water."
Susan explains that the park is currently limited to 25% of the daily capacity, which is just over 1,500 people per day. That might sound like a lot, but spread across a 200+ acre outdoor area, there's more than enough room.
And more than anything else, the staff is just excited to see people swimming and sliding again. General Manager Steve Mayer says reopening earlier this week "felt fantastic."
"It was exhausting being closed," says Mayer. "It was so long, and we just didn’t think we’d get there. It got a little frustrating when we thought last year (in 2020) we could open, and we got left behind because pretty much every waterpark in North America was open except in Ontario. Being open now just feels incredible."
And there's huge market interest in the GTA for waterparks, including Halton. During their last full operating in summer 2019, Kruizinga says there were thousands of season pass holders from Halton and hundreds of daily guests. Now they're just glad to have anyone back who's ready for some fun in the sun.
"At first, we were a little nervous, you know? There's a lot of COVID-19 protocols that are in place, and we had to take into consideration all these new rules and figure out, for us, how to implement them."
Kruizinga continues, "Like us, some guests were understandably nervous. But then this week, when we got to open those gates, we were like giddy little teenagers. We were just so excited that we had guests again - everybody was at the front gate to welcome them, and we started crying."
What does it take to make a waterpark fun?
Steve Mayer and Susan Kruizinga actually began working together more than a decade ago, and their journey to revamp Wet n' Wild is wilder than most stories get. The two of them worked together at another waterpark in Texas, spending years turning it into a successful business.
Steve has more than 30 years in the waterpark business from US properties. He says the same three things remain the keys to effective operations: "It needs to be safe and clean, and then it needs to be fun."
The park first opened in 1986 as Sunshine Beach and later became Wild Water Kingdom. When the park closed at the end of 2014, it was clear that renovations and upgrades were needed to bring the park to life. That's when Steve and Susan came in - their combined experience would help reopen the park as Wet n' Wild in 2017.
"We invested over $30 million before we opened," Susan explains. "We spent most of it in 2016 getting ready to open the next summer," and that included renovating almost every structure on the property and then adding five new water slides.
Susan, who grew up in London, Ontario, had a clear understanding of the local market. Steve had the experience from a lifetime in the business. Together, they ventured to the GTA to create a premier waterpark, a goal they've achieved.
But what are their favourite things to do? Funny enough, one of Steve's favourites is the food, having fallen in love with Canadian cuisine. "I'm originally from Iowa," he admits, "but I love poutine!"
Steve also jokes that Susan's afraid to ride most of the thrilling slides, though they both agree on their favourite attraction. "It has to be the Krazy Kanuck. It's a great ride that families can do together," says Susan. The ride is a large, family tube slide that takes up to four riders in a massive, multi-coloured raft ride.
After visiting the park himself, this reporter has a few tips of his own: the Typhoon raft slide was a lot of fun, as was the Klondike Express, where four people can race on a mat down long, intertwining water slides. I went three times in a row - it's probably the most fun this reporter has had since the start of the pandemic.
Wet n' Wild continues to overcome challenges
Despite the joy of reopening, successful new safety programs implemented, and the enthusiasm to go swimming, there are still more challenges to come for the park. Large numbers of new staff, limited capacity and fixing maintenance problems from almost two years of closure mean the park spent most of the Spring working overtime to get everything ready.
"The province figured out this year that outdoor activities are the safest ones," says Mayer. "When I think of other amusements like us, now we’re finally happy because we needed to get all of this running again."
Kruizinga adds, "There were definitely a lot of challenges to re-open the park. It was totally shut down for 18 months, and not being open after two winters wreaked havoc on us. Last year we did try to get started to open, but when we were told we couldn't, we had to stop everything because it costs so much money just to get the park open at all."
"A lot of our infrastructure is underground," she explains, "So when we first turned on some rides, the pipes burst, and they’re ten feet underground. That was a big challenge that you normally wouldn’t have."
As for the safety of the waters, they're doing everything possible to reassure visitors, and Susan admits, "We actually say if you’re not comfortable, stay at home. We have been following all of the protocols set across North America for parks that even opened last year, and not one case of COVID-19 has been attributed to an outdoor waterpark anywhere, and that includes last year before vaccinations were in place."
"So if you aren't comfortable yet, it's okay to wait. But we are doing everything we can; if you’re swimming in a pool, you’re basically swimming in Purell."
Mayer also says that, "Chlorine kills COVID-19 in less than one second. The virus can't survive." (While that's an oversimplification, the CDC does back up Steve's claims that it's almost impossible for COVID-19 to spread in chlorine swimming waters, and the government of Canada cites chlorine as a disinfectant.)
One final, neat touch to showcase safety at the park: all fully vaccinated and inoculated staff are sporting special "Vaccinated" pins. Kruizinga says they're giving paid time off for all staff to get vaccinated and recover.
That's good news for anyone looking to make some waves this summer. Even without pools, though, Mayer and Kruizinga say that if they'd been denied opening again this summer, they would have "opened as a giant patio. You can’t go two years without opening."
Luckily that wasn't the case. As the world gets closer to our new normal, a waterpark visit is an ambitious step that's equally exciting and simultaneously comforting.
"Somebody called me the other day and asked if we had anything new this summer," recalls Kruizinga. "And I said yes: we finally get to open. That's new, so it feels like there’s finally some sense of normality coming back."
Wet n' Wild Toronto is open daily until Monday, September 6, 2021, with tickets ranging from $33 to 46. To learn more about the park and buy tickets, further information is available on Wet n' Wild Toronto's website.