(UPDATED) WildWater Youth Focus Group visits site of WildWater Park

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Sammy Confer for The Cullman Tribune

Cullman, Ala. – Wednesday was a very special day for the WildWater Youth Focus Group as they held a meeting inside the Cullman Wellness and Aquatic Center’s indoor pool area to talk about the new WildWater Park that will open up at the beginning of the summer. The kids watched a short video on what the new water park will feature and they even discussed names for one of the slides. They were then taken to the construction site and got a quick sneak peek of where all the rides and slides will be.

Garrett and Aubrey Scott, ages 9 and 12, respectively, loved seeing the new water park up close and even talked about what rides they can’t wait to get on.

“It was pretty cool.” Garrett Scott said. “I’m very excited to get to go on the rides.” Aubrey Scott said, “I think my favorite ride will be the one where you get to race on it, the rainbow one. I’m very excited to get to go on the rides as well. It was very cool to get to be on a construction site for the first time, see how it gets done.”

Graham Anderson, age 10, can’t wait for the water park to open up and was really excited to get to see the new water park up close.

“It was amazing.” Anderson said. “I think I’m going to love the wave pool. I can’t wait to go on all of the slides as well. It was amazing and breathtaking to see it up close.”

Dianne Evans, who is the manager of the new water park and the Aquatic Center director, talked about when conversations about a new water park got started, plus the excitement of having a new one in Cullman.

“About two years ago, we started outgrowing our concrete and we just needed an expansion.” Evans said. “We are just so fortunate that they all put it together and it’s coming along great. It’s going to be great to have a new water park. I think people are going to come from all over when they find out about how many slides we have and a nice wave pool. It’ll be a great place for children with a little kiddie pool area.”

Evans was excited to have a group of kids be able to see the construction of it up close, and talked about the expectations of the new water park.

“Wasn’t that wonderful?” Evans said. “What a great experience for them to come and take a look at the place. I know that they’re excited to be able to come back and play in it. I think it’s going to be a big hit. We’ve have had a lot of people that’s come from Trussville and up north up here, so I think it’ll be a great experience.”

Leah Waldrop, who is the marketing and public relations director, talked about what’s she most excited about when it opens. 

“Being a mom, I’m excited about the new kids’ slides in that particular kids’ zone area.” Waldrop said. “It’s going to play in nicely with the current kids’ zone. I’m also excited to see a wave pool here in Cullman. I think that’s a fun attraction for kids and adults of all ages.”

Waldrop added: “The ticket prices can be found at wildwatercullman.com. We have ticket prices based on age and height, and of course senior citizens and active military discounts, as well as large group discounts too.”

Leah talked about the WildWater Youth Focus Group and wanted them to see a sneak peak of the new water park up close.

“We really wanted to pull in a group of kids from the community to see a sneak peak of what the water park is going to look like.” Waldrop said. “We really wanted them to be a part of naming a slide or two and being able to see the construction and the process of the water park, so we opened up an application process for a WildWater Youth Focus Group. We had over 260 kids from around the community apply for the group. We were originally going to choose 12 kids at random, but we bumped it up to 15 since we had such a large response. We had a lot of fun today, showing the kids the water park, the video of what it’s going to look like, and we got a lot of creative ideas for our water slide that we are wanting to rename, as well as a new name for the wave pool and we’re really excited to announce those names soon.”

Waldrop was really happy that she was a part of helping get a group of kids together and having them, along with their parents, see it up close for the first time.

“It was really exciting for WildWater and the City of Cullman as a whole to have a group of young kids and their parents come and help understand the WildWater expansion, understand what it’s going to look like.” Waldrop said. “Plus, just have their fingerprint on it and the fact that our community, young and small, are getting to participate with us, is just a tremendous thing to be a part of.”

Waldrop added: “It’s unbelievably special to have a water park like this for the City of Cullman and Cullman County to have something like WildWater and the expansion that we’re doing. Growing up in Cullman, we always went to Spring Valley Beach and Point Mallard, so you always dreamed about having something like this in your own hometown. I think having something like this is going to be huge for generations to come.”

For more information, visit: https://www.wildwatercullman.com/.

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