Windsor

Adventure Bay breaks attendance record on Family Day

More than 3,000 guests visited Adventure Bay Monday, a record for the park. Special rates and great weather were factors, says park manager.

More than 3,000 guests visited the park on Monday

Guests ride a water slide at Adventure Bay. (City of Windsor/Adventure Bay/Facebook)

More than 3,000 people splashed their way through Windsor's Adventure Bay on Family Day, a record for the water park.

Special holiday rates, warm weather and a social media campaign were all factors that led to the higher than normal numbers, according to manager Jen Knights.

"We has an extremely successful Family Day weekend," she said, adding the park saw 900 guest Saturday and another 1,100 Sunday.

Long lines stretched through the building Monday until 6 p.m. as many waited for a chance to hit the slides, but according to Knights the maximum wait time was a "reasonable" 15 minutes.

Adventure Bay Family Water Park. (CBC)

"It was great to see local families coming down to the park and experiencing it with friends and family from out of town," she said.

The water park introduced new rules and prices on Feb. 17 in an effort to combat sinking attendance.

The new 'Land Lover' fee for people who don't want to get their feet wet was set at $5 for a full day and $2 after 4 p.m. 

Regulations that set a limit on the number of kids an adult could bring in and required 10 and 11-year-olds to be within arms reach of parents at all times have also been relaxed, Knights added.

"We had a couple of bigger families comment … that they were thrilled to see that they can have one of the parents in the water participating while mom or dad sits on the side and keeps a peek on the towels or reads a book," she said.

Bracing for March Break

Staff are still adjusting to higher numbers of guests, but Knights said the park is already gearing up again in hopes next month will be busy as well.

"We felt folks had a good experience and ... we're gearing up for hopefully a very busy March Break period."