Barbie is warming up the Hot Wheels and looking for some new homes across the United States.
Mattel, Inc. today announced a new themed entertainment product, Mattel Wonder Indoor Waterparks. Initial plans call for five waterparks in cities across the country, including Orlando.
"Mattel Wonder Indoor Waterparks will encompass many iconic Mattel brands that span generations of play, offering innovative water-based attractions and amenities in a dynamic new format for Mattel," Mattle VP Global Location Based Entertainment Julie Freeland said. "We are thrilled to collaborate with these exceptional industry leaders in waterpark development to create an experience where guests can connect with their favorite brands in an entirely new way."
Mattel is partnering Martin Aquatic for the design of the waterparks, with American Resort Management on board to manage the attractions. Martin Aquatic has created waterpark attractions for several cruise line, as well as assisting with renovations at Universal Orlando's Volcano Bay. American Resort Management's portfolio includes Epic Waters in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Wild Rivers in Irvine, California.
"Blending our innovative experiential design with Mattel's family of brands is a dream come true," Martin Aquatic President and Creative Director Josh Martin said. "We look forward to inspiring that same sense of wonder for kids and adults alike as they cross the threshold into each Mattel Wonder Indoor Waterpark."
No word yet on specific sites for the waterparks or opening dates. Mattel also has licensed two indoor Mattel Adventure Park theme parks that are now in development, with construction underway on a park in Glendale, Arizona and a development agreement in hand for a second, in Bonner Springs, Kansas. No official opening dates for those yet, either, though the Arizona park is facing a deadline to open next year, with the Kansas City area park slated open no later than May 2031.
I would have to agree Russell. I don’t see anyone really travelling for a waterpark, so you either need to be a an attraction for locals or that supplements existing attractions. If you’re going to universal, Disney or even Sea World, they each already have water parks that are a relatively easy upsell. L
You’d have to have a park that can attract people away from that in its own right, and with the limitations being indoor automatically gives you to the scale of attractions you can have, I can’t see that being successful.
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Why in the world would you try to build a water park in Orlando???? Sure, it might make sense to partner with a large resort/hotel to retheme/enhance an existing property with Mattel IP, but to try to build something like this from scratch in the most competitive market in the country is just asking for failure.