After Weeks Of Lifeguard Training, Water World Set To Open This Weekend
FEDERAL HEIGHTS, Colo (CBS4) - Water World is set to open for its 39th summer season. The community-owned water park features 50 attractions on 70-acres in Federal Heights.
"We're unique, not only are we one of the largest water parks in the country, being nonprofit, what we do here contributes back to the community. And so it's just a great organization," said Bob Owens, general manager of the park.
Water World is one of the largest employers in the northern part of the Denver metro area.
"We hire about 1,000 team members seasonally, so we've just finished that process. Everybody's trained and ready to go and excited for the season," Owens told CBS4.
Among those 1,000 seasonal employees, there are 380 lifeguards, stationed at the top and the bottom of every attraction.
"We've been training for the past month-and-a-half, every single weekend. It's a 20 hour training that the lifeguards go through. It's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday training. They just learn all of the skills they need and they're ready to go tomorrow," said Ryan Bonneau, Aquatic Supervisor for the park.
Visitors to Water World can expect all the favorites, for example, the traditional belly flop contest at the end of June, the lazy river that runs through the park and the Turbo Racer, which is one of the most popular attractions.
"We track all of the participants' slide times. They can race against each other, have a good time with their friends. It has one of our biggest capacities, get eight of your friends all on there at the same time," said Preston Fujiki, Revenue Supervisor for Water World.
In addition to all the longtime favorite attractions, Water World is adding an attraction this year.
"These kids are here to promote Glacier Run, which is our new attraction, and it's heavily penguin themed. And they're learning new dances and stuff like that. That we're going to kick it off later on in June, and have a big grand opening. But it's going to be a very exciting attraction, something like you've never seen before," said Joann Cortez, spokesperson for Water World.
CBS4's Ashton Altieri was live at the water park for CBS4 This Morning. Altieri dressed for the occasion in his weather radar board shorts, which were a big hit among the Water World staff.
Water World is open every day from Memorial weekend through Labor Day weekend, weather permitting.
