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Some of the water slides at the Kalahari waterpark in Sandusky, Ohio.
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Water park in Sandusky to become U.S. biggest

Water park in Sandusky to become U.S. biggest

SANDUSKY - Erie County, already home to the amusement park with the most rollers coasters in the United States, may soon be the beach to the nation's largest indoor water park.

Kalahari Resorts Inc., which has the largest indoor water park in the country at a resort in the Wisconsin Dells, Wis., said yesterday it will announce tomorrow a $50 million expansion of its two-year-old water park in Sandusky.

When finished, the $150 million resort in Sandusky will have a water park bigger than the 125,000-square-foot one it operates in Wisconsin. Its Sandusky property has an 80,000-square-foot indoor water park, 600 rooms, and a new $19 million conference center.

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The company won't say how much bigger the water park along Lake Erie will be, but according to industry reports, the expansion will be done by December and will increase the size to 173,000 square feet.

"They're very accurate on their estimates and they've had that claim as the biggest indoor water park for a while. If they say [Sandusky] will be bigger, it probably will," said Aleatha Ezra, an official for the World Waterpark Association, in Overland Park, Kan.

Kalahari spokesman Carrie Leum said the firm is withholding details until tomorrow. It plans to have Sumo wrestlers perform belly flops at its water park pool to symbolize its ambitions.

"One thing they've done in the Dells is make it a year-round tourist destination, and this effort will mimic that," she said.

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The Sandusky park opened in May, 2005. But it faces competition from smaller parks in its immediate area. Great Wolf Lodge operates a 42,000-square-foot indoor water park in the Sandusky area, and Cedar Point has its 38,000-square-foot Castaway Bay resort.

This month, Port Clinton officials approved plans by the Puller Group Inc., of Indianapolis, to build an indoor water park, hotel, and marina on 14 acres there. The water park's site wasn't given.

Plus, a fourth indoor park was approved less than a year ago in Erie County, which also has an outdoor water park at Cedar Point. Cedar Point is best known for its many roller coasters.

Neighboring Ottawa County has at least one water park.at least one water park.

But Kalahari Resorts aims to dwarf its Ohio competitors. Most indoor water parks are 30,000 to 60,000 square feet, Ms. Leum said. "Kalahari already went beyond the size of most water parks with their initial park in Sandusky, and that's kind of the company's mantra: Go big or go home," she said.

Ms. Ezra, of the water park association, said the bigger indoor water parks in the United States are 60,000 or more square feet.

In North America, the largest indoors is the World Water Park in Edmonton, Alta., 225,000 square feet. Internationally, a park in Brand, Germany has 710,000 square feet and is housed in a former Zeppelin hangar.

Contact Jon Chavez at:

jchavez@theblade.com

or 419-724-6128.

First Published January 30, 2007, 1:41 p.m.

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Some of the water slides at the Kalahari waterpark in Sandusky, Ohio.
Industry experts say the indoor water park would grow to 173,000 square feet.
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