When the Lions Water Adventure Park at the Woodmen Community Center opened Memorial Day, most observers expected the park to be popular. Still, many couldn’t have fathomed the amount of people who visited between then and Labor Day.
In a 99-day span from May 27 to Sept. 2, an estimated 67,250 people walked to the ticket booths of the park to gain admission. The park itself brought revenue of $990,002.72.
The park was so popular, Woodmen Community Center gave out 7,850 day passes so those who were turned away due to capacity crowds could get in free at a later date.
“It’s good to see lot of people we haven’t had in the community,” Assistant Director Earl Keith said. “I’ve seen buses from Tarboro, Rocky Mount and Greenville. We’ve even had people coming in from Wilmington, and they have a water park.
“I think it brought a lot of extra income to the area. People came to the park, stayed in the hotels and ate at the local restaurants. I believe the community felt the impact.”
One of the few people not surprised by the amount of people making their way to the park was Bill Ellis, director of the Kinston/Lenoir County Parks and Recreation Department.
“In the first year, you expect a large volume,” Ellis said. “We estimated 100,000 would use the water park and we were close. When you look at a venue like this, we felt we would average 1,000 a day.”
Ellis said there were expenses to take care of — including paying staff members, water and electric bills — but there was plenty of initial success.
“With our first year of operations we were able to pay expenses and debt services, which is good for any business in their first year of operations,” Ellis said. “We were also able to provide citizens of Kinston and Lenoir County a first-class venue while using a very little amount of taxpayer dollars.”
Director Kelly Cannon thinks the water park will be just as popular when it reopens on May 26, 2014.
“I believe we’re going to be at the same level and reach out to people in other cities who are still finding out about us,” Cannon said. “We also want to meet and improve customer satisfaction with our focus on service and safety.”
Kinston resident Victoria King, 18, attested to the customer service staff members provide at the water park.
“I went to the park one day and really enjoyed it,” King said. “The people who worked there were very helpful and I plan on going back there a lot next summer.”
King also pointed out one of the problems the park had due to the number of patrons.
“The only thing I didn’t like about the park was the long lines for the slides,” she said.
Ellis said there will be more focus on shortening lines next year, as well as providing some additional features for customers.
“We’ll work on improving the wait lines, add a Bojangles Picnic Pavilion and a Debbie and Paul Chused Birthday Hut,” Ellis said. “We’re going to look at different programs and see what we can do differently to keep members happy and interested.”
Keith said the limited amount of parking spaces were also a problem throughout the summer. A common scene around the Woodmen Community Center were vehicles parked around grassy areas nearby.
“It was definitely tough this summer,” Keith said. “The park would be open to the public around 11:30 a.m. and by 1:30 p.m., we would have an overflow.”
Several plans have been brought into action, which should alleviate that burden.
“Next season, we’ll have a trolley,” Cannon said. “We’re also looking at special membership parking so members will have more of a priority.”
There had been talks of expansion to the park, but Cannon dispelled the notion for the upcoming year.
“There will be expansion, but not for next summer,” Cannon said. “We want to assess our first year and go into our second year, then compare data. From there, we’ll figure out what we want to do.”
Although there were some issues in the initial water park season, Ellis has been pleased with the results.
“Overall, it’s been a great first year,” Ellis said. “The members have been patient knowing we have had some growing pains, but we’re working on them to make this center bigger and better each year.”
Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.