U.S. research snapshot · Prepared with ChatGPT
Water recreation in the United States extends well beyond commercial ticketed waterparks. It also includes independently operated parks, municipal aquatic centers, hotel waterslides, indoor waterpark resorts, ordinary public swimming pools, and swimming beaches. This research surveys the available counts, categories, manufacturers, and significant gaps in national data.
How to read the figures: Published industry totals, property-level confirmations, and estimates are identified separately. A count for the United States and Canada should not be mistaken for a U.S.-only count, and a percentage of park agencies is not a percentage of municipalities.
1. How Many Waterparks Are in the United States?
Hotel & Leisure Advisors (H&LA) counted 1,266 operating waterparks across the United States and Canada as of February 2026. Its Canadian category figures imply approximately 77 facilities in Canada, or roughly 1,189 in the United States. The U.S. figure is an inference from the regional breakdown, not an independently published official U.S. total. [H&LA, 2026]
The inventory includes municipal facilities and indoor and outdoor waterpark resorts, rather than only private, standalone parks.
Ownership and management patterns
| Segment | Group | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Hotels with waterparks | Affiliated with national hotel franchises | 49% |
| Hotels with waterparks | Independent | 51% |
| Standalone waterparks | Municipal / nonprofit | 72% |
| Standalone waterparks | Private / for-profit | 28% |
Source: H&LA’s combined U.S.-and-Canada inventory. Each percentage describes its own segment, not all 1,266 waterparks.
Independent is not the same as single-location. Independently affiliated hotels might still be part of ownership groups, and a franchise-branded property may be owned locally. This source does not provide an exact U.S. count of single-location waterpark owners versus multi-location operators.
H&LA reports 22 openings and four closures during 2025 across the two countries. All eleven new standalone outdoor waterparks cited in the report were municipal. The report tracked 28 potential U.S. openings in 2026, but projected openings cannot be counted as operating parks. [H&LA]
2. What Kinds of Waterpark Rides Exist?
Waterpark attractions can be grouped by the guest experience rather than solely by their physical shapes. A single installation may combine several of these elements.
| Attraction | Typical experience |
|---|---|
| Body slides | Open or enclosed flumes ridden directly without a raft |
| Speed and drop slides | Steep descents, sometimes with trapdoor starts |
| Tube slides | Single- or double-person inflatable tubes |
| Family raft slides | Large rafts carrying several riders |
| Funnel and half-pipe slides | Wide curved walls, oscillating climbs, or steep transitions |
| Bowl slides | Spinning, circular, or spiral sections |
| Racing slides | Parallel lanes, often with mats |
| Water coasters | Gravity-assisted and/or propelled uphill and downhill passages |
| Lazy rivers | Gentle currents for floating |
| Action rivers | Stronger currents, waves, and rapids |
| Wave pools | Artificial surf or ocean-like waves |
| Surf simulators | Continuous standing waves for boards or bodyboarding |
| Interactive play structures | Sprayers, small slides, tipping buckets, and climbing areas |
| Splash pads | Ground-level water features, commonly with no deep pool |
Manufacturers increasingly combine funnels, enclosed tubes, high-banked turns, launches, and other elements into hybrid rides. See the product catalogs of ProSlide, WhiteWater, and Polin Waterparks.
3. Who Manufactures the Waterslides?
ProSlide Technology — Canada
Known for water coasters, large funnels and bowls, racing slides, and specialized signature attractions. ProSlide’s reported project portfolio includes Hersheypark, Splish Splash, and OKANA.
WhiteWater — Canada
Supplies raft slides, water coasters, racing slides, bowls, interactive water-play structures, and wave equipment. The company’s portfolio includes large family raft and combination rides.
Polin Waterparks — Turkey
Manufactures body, tube, raft, racer, speed, and combination waterslides; distinctive designs include King Cobra and Storm Racer. The company reports thousands of waterpark projects internationally.
Aquatic Development Group (ADG) — United States
Especially important for complete aquatic projects, with wave pools, lazy rivers, surf systems, waterpark planning, and construction. ADG reports more than 100 waterpark developments and more than 550 wave systems.
Design, construction, manufacturing, and operation are different roles. Several firms may contribute to a single waterpark or attraction; the park owner need not be the slide manufacturer.
4. Hotel Companies and Brands With Waterslides
Waterslides are not exclusive to dedicated waterpark resorts. Some are provided as one amenity at a conventional hotel, while other resorts are designed around indoor or outdoor water recreation. Brand-wide proportions are rarely disclosed consistently.
Waterpark-focused hotel groups
| Brand | Operating locations | With indoor waterparks | Outdoor aquatics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Wolf Lodge | 23, U.S. and Canada | Essentially 100% | Outdoor pools at multiple properties; no verified chain-wide count |
| Kalahari Resorts | 4 operating U.S. resorts | 4 of 4 (100%) | Outdoor aquatic facilities and slides at all 4 |
| Gaylord Hotels | 6 U.S. resorts | Varies by property | 5 of 6 have waterparks; not all are indoor |
These counts describe the named brands, not the U.S. hotel market as a whole. Kalahari’s Virginia location, scheduled to open later in 2026, is not counted as operating. Great Wolf’s 23 includes a Canadian resort. Gaylord’s official brand page reports six resorts and five waterparks. [Great Wolf; Kalahari; Gaylord]
The distinction between indoor and outdoor facilities matters. Kalahari combines year-round indoor parks with outdoor aquatic attractions at its four operating resorts. Great Wolf emphasizes indoor waterparks across the brand, while outdoor amenities vary. Gaylord operates five waterparks across six resorts, but its indoor-pool and outdoor-slide arrangements must be checked property by property.
Examples beyond dedicated waterpark brands
| Hotel group / brand | Example | Aquatic attractions |
|---|---|---|
| Marriott / Gaylord | Gaylord Rockies, Colorado | Indoor and outdoor pools, with slides |
| Hilton | Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii | Outdoor pool complex with a large waterslide |
| Hyatt | Hyatt Regency Hill Country, Texas | Outdoor pools, waterslide, and lazy river |
| IHG / Holiday Inn Express | Aberdeen, South Dakota | Indoor pool and waterslide |
| Wyndham / Howard Johnson | Howard Johnson Anaheim, California | Pool and outdoor water-play area with slides |
| Disney Resorts | Disney’s Beach Club Resort, Florida | Outdoor aquatic complex, substantial slide, and lazy river |
Examples from property-level amenities research. A named property’s facilities must not be extrapolated to every hotel in its chain.
What proportion of ordinary U.S. hotels have pools and waterslides?
No dependable national percentage was verified for each of the following: hotels with waterslides; hotels with indoor pools; hotels that have both indoor and outdoor pools; or outdoor-pool hotels with a waterslide. The lack of a common amenity definition is a major obstacle: booking platforms may label a property simply as having a “pool,” without consistently indicating indoor/outdoor status or waterslides.
Consequently, the waterpark-resort proportions in the table above must not be presented as hotel-industry averages. A national hotel amenity census would need to inspect properties individually and track the source and date for each feature.
5. How Many U.S. Municipalities Have Swimming in a City Park?
The precise number is not established by the available national data. Municipal swimming might mean an outdoor public pool, indoor aquatic center, waterpark, natural swimming beach, or a swimming facility located on park property. Those definitions are not equivalent.
What the national park-agency data does show
| Measure | Reported share of park agencies |
|---|---|
| Offer aquatics programming (NRPA Park Pulse, 2026) | 68% |
| Maintain outdoor swimming pools (NRPA Park Pulse, 2026) | 49% |
| Have outdoor swimming pools (2026 NRPA Agency Performance Review, separate sample/measure) | 53% |
| Operate/manage outdoor waterparks (2026 Agency Performance Review) | 18% |
| Operate/manage indoor swimming facilities or indoor waterparks (2026 Agency Performance Review) | 34% |
NRPA measures concern park and recreation agencies, not a complete census of cities. The 68% statistic describes aquatics programming, not ownership of outdoor waterpark facilities. The outdoor-pool figures are from two distinct NRPA products and should not be blended. [NRPA Park Pulse; 2026 Agency Performance Review]
A tentative nationwide extrapolation
The U.S. Census Bureau counted approximately 19,495 municipal governments in its 2022 Census of Governments. Applying an illustrative 49% outdoor-pool rate to that universe yields about 9,500 municipalities. This is only a scenario calculation, not a validated count: park agencies may serve counties, special districts, or more than one community, and the data do not establish that a given swimming facility is physically located in a municipal park. [U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments]
Conclusion: Thousands of municipalities likely provide public swimming, but the number offering swimming specifically inside a city park remains unverified. A more precise inventory would match municipal park addresses to outdoor pools, indoor aquatic centers, waterparks, and designated swimming beaches.
6. Main Findings and Research Opportunities
- Municipal water recreation is a substantial sector. In H&LA’s standalone waterpark segment, 72% of facilities in the U.S. and Canada are municipal or nonprofit.
- Hotels operate very different aquatic models. Great Wolf and Kalahari focus on indoor waterparks, while conventional hotels may offer anything from a single small waterslide to a substantial indoor/outdoor complex.
- Waterpark inventories cannot stand in for swimming-pool inventories. A count of waterparks excludes many conventional hotel pools, municipal pools, splash pads, and beaches.
- Single-site versus multi-site ownership needs separate research. Brand affiliation alone does not identify a facility’s ultimate owner or how many locations that owner operates.
Future research would benefit from four distinct inventories: waterpark locations, hotel aquatic amenities, municipal swimming facilities, and waterslide manufacturers and projects. Each location record should specify indoor/outdoor status, slide types, operator, ownership or franchise relationship, and supporting sources.
Sources and Further Reading
- Hotel & Leisure Advisors — Waterparks Continue to Innovate in 2026
- National Recreation and Park Association — Agency Performance Review
- NRPA — Learning Occurs Where Aquatics Happen
- U.S. Census Bureau — Census of Governments
- Great Wolf Lodge — Locations
- Kalahari Resorts — Official Site
- Gaylord Hotels — Our Brand
- ProSlide Technology
- WhiteWater
- Polin Waterparks
- Aquatic Development Group
Research snapshot only. Facility inventories, hotel amenities, brands, and project pipelines can change. Estimates are not formal statistical surveys, and the absence of a verified count should not be interpreted as zero.