A water park is an amusement park that features waterplay areas, such as water slides, splash pads, spraygrounds (water playgrounds), lazy rivers, or other recreational bathing environments. Water parks in more current states of development may also be equipped with some type of artificial surfing or bodyboarding environment such as a wave pool or a FlowRider.
The very idea for a water park may have been inspired by a Hungarian spa. Some waterparks are more spa-oriented, e.g. Schwaben Quellen, a member of European Waterparks Association (EWA) has no water slides, but instead has lots of saunas, steam rooms, "adventure showers", and relaxation-oriented waterplay areas.
Waterparks emerging from spas continue to more closely resemble mountain resorts as they become four-season destinations. Therefore the whole amusement and leisure time industry is getting even more concentrated as the winter sports are mixing up with the summertime water rides - in time and space. A process of concentration can be observed in the hybrid segments of theme-, amusement-, and waterparks.
Waterparks have become increasingly popular since they began in the 1950's. The United States has the largest and most concentrated waterpark market, with over a thousand waterparks currently and dozens of new parks opening each year. Major organizations are IAAPA (International Associotion of Amusement Parks and Attractions; www.iaapa.org) and WWA (World Waterpark Association; www.waterparks.org).
With eighteen indoor water parks, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, is recognized as the "Water Park Capital of the World." It boasts America's largest indoor and outdoor water parks -- see Noah's Ark and Kalahari Resort).
Indoor waterparks were a phenomenon that started in the Wisconsin Dells in the 1990s but have since caught on quickly in many areas. Usually resort hotels featuring massive indoor waterparks that are often reserved exclusively for overnight guests, companies like Great Wolf Resorts and Kalahari Resorts have branched out from their origin in the Dells to open new locations around the country. The largest indoor water park in the United States is the Water Park Of America in Bloomington Minnesota which opened in April 2006. The premier UK indoor waterpark is the Sandcastle Waterworld at Blackpool England which has a Master Blaster, the world's longest indoor roller coaster style ride.
Spaces that are similar to waterparks include spas (a continuum from the original evolution of waterparks from spas), urban beaches, and splash pads, as well as smaller waterplay areas such as waterslides in many hotels and public pools. For example, the Delta Chelsea hotel in Toronto features a four story waterslide called the "corkscrew".
*Serena Aqua Park in Espoo, near the Finnish capital Helsinki, the biggest indoor water amusement park in Europe, also a large outdoor section, many different pools and slides, a sauna *Almost every Finnish spa has also a big water park department
