Kalahari now nation’s largest indoor waterpark

Kalahari Resorts and Conventions in Pocono Manor became the nation’s largest indoor waterpark Wednesday with a new addition, according to company officials.

The expanded waterpark — all 220,000 square feet of it — takes up the area of nearly four football fields. Its new section, measuring 110,000 square feet, is jam-packed with water attractions including stacked slides with multicolored fiberglass tubes, a wave pool, an indoor to outdoor hot tub and Coral Cove, a swim-up bar sunken in a cave-like setting.

The waterpark has some high-octane features for thrill seekers like a speed slide with a vertical drop.

To give it some perspective, the waterpark has a maximum marked capacity of 6,900 people.

The new section of the waterpark sports a large, glassed-in area, and along with skylights, provide lots of natural light in the park. The steamy, humid climate in the space was filled with African-themed animal figures.

The resort also added 520 rooms, more than doubling its initial 457-room inventory, bringing its capacity to almost 1,000.

“We were bottle-necked,” Cary Brandt, the company’s corporate creative director of entertainment said of room space. “The convention business is picking up for us here.”

Kalahari has two other locations; in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin and Sandusky, Ohio.

The company has targeted investment in the Poconos.

“The Poconos is the best market for family resorts in America,” Kalahari spokesman Todd Nelson said. “It has a long legacy of people traveling here from New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. Providing a fresh amenity, creating a new one only made sense in the Poconos.”

The resort is also within a three-hour drive of those areas, consistent with a theme of all Kalahari properties.

“We are a drive-to destination,” he said.

The new hotel rooms connects to the original resort at its apex, flowing another estimated 1,000 guests into its amenities. That includes its new Marrakesh Market, an African-themed retail area with items from the continent and specialty foods for sale. It’s a take off of the old spice markets found in that part of the world, Nelson said.

The new additions cost approximately $174 million.

Kalahari built both the new rooms and waterpark space while the resort was in full operation, which Nelson called “quite a process.”

Two new restaurants will open next week; Double Cut Charcoal Grill/Liquor Bar and Sortino’s Italian Kitchen. Both restaurants will be open to the public, as are all the resorts amenities in a pay-to-play attraction.

The waterpark was designed and built through a collaboration between Kalahari and the Neuman Group out of Wisconsin.

Kalahari is also planning to double its convention space sometime in the future.