London park to break ground for massive 550-person wave pool

A wave of excitement will wash over London’s East Park next season. The east-end amusement park is breaking ground Thursday on a massive wave pool that’s scheduled to open in June.

The water attraction — only the third of its kind in Southwestern Ontario — will help cement London’s place as a summer tourist hot spot, says the head of Tourism London. “This is state-of-the-art. It’s about as good as it gets,” Tourism London general manager John Winston said.

The feature will attract waveriders from as far away as the Toronto area and the Great Lakes states, Winston added.

Alon Shatil, a partner and general manager at East Park, pegged the cost of the wave pool between $2 million and $3 million.

The Hamilton Road park features a water park, batting cages, go-karts, bumper cars, rock climbing, golf course and driving range.

The 881-cubic-metre wave pool will be able to hold up to 550 swimmers at a time.

Shatil said a computer system will control the waves.

At nearly 70 metres long, the wave pool will be bigger than London’s last one at the now-shuttered Wally World, the south-end waterpark that closed in 2005.

East Park bought the Wonderland Road attraction’s seven slides, including the Bullet — a 16-metre high slide that’s become a legend among thrill-seekers.

The wave pool will be included in the waterpark daypass.

Hollandia Pools and Spa, a London-based company, is building the pool.

The wave-pool announcement comes on the heels of news that a portion of the former Kellogg cereal plant will be reborn as an indoor adventure park called the Factory that will feature an indoor ropes course, a trampoline park, electric go-karts, minigolf, escape rooms, axe-throwing, an arcade and a toddler soft play area.