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Article: Communities replacing pools with water parks to attract visitors.
- Article from:
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
- Article date:
- April 25, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Chicago Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Trine Tsouderos
CHICAGO _ Six Flags' new 15-acre water park in Gurnee, Ill., boasts 25 slides, a river churning with waterfalls, a 500,000-gallon wave pool, a Tiki bar and one thing sure to warm the oft-chilled hearts of Midwesterners in summer _ heated water.
And that's just one weapon deployed by amusement parks, commercial resorts and even local park districts in their increasingly competitive bids to persuade children _ and their parents _ to slip, slide and surf in the multimillion-dollar aquatic playgrounds.
Call it the water-park wars.
Long gone are the days of the rectangular cement municipal pool with its accompanying ...