Florida water park attracts younger crowd by emphasizing social media
ORLANDO, Fla. — Margaritaville’s new water park uses tech in new ways. Island H2O Live embraces what the youth market wants: social-media options.
The new water park at the sprawling Margaritaville Orlando development in Kissimmee wants its technology to make a big splash in the pools and online with its built-in social-media access.
Island H2O Live, about half the size of typical Orlando water parks, is designed to appeal to a young, digital-savvy customer. It opened June 21.
“Water rides is one thing of it, but we’re really tapping in heavily to what the younger folks of today are looking for,” said Art Falcone, cofounder and managing principal of Encore Capital Management, Margaritaville Orlando’s developer. “We were taking the ideas from what gamers do and putting them into rides.”
RFID (radio frequency identification) technology inside wristbands helps customize select experiences. Visitors can choose the music that plays while floating through a tube ride.
Checking in atop some slides earns discounts on food, beverage and retail items; the more a person rides, the greater the reward. Adults can track their children or wayward friends via the wristbands. Photographs and videos — set up for social-media sharing — are taken automatically at key locations.
“We really created this as a technology park,” Falcone said.
The tech/socialmedia theme extends to the naming of Island H2O Live’s attractions. Featured are raft rides called Hashtag Heights and Profile Plunge; body slides named Drop Down and Live Streaming; and tube slides known as Follow Me Falls, Reload Rapids and the Downloader. The adults-only beach? Private Domain.
“While RFID technology and wristband integration has been around for a number of years, I think parks like Island H2O Live are finding new ways to connect that back to that kind of social-connectivity concept,” said Aleatha Ezra, director of park member development of the World Waterpark Association, based in Overland Park, Kansas.
Large LED screens at the wave pool — aka the Live Lagoon — eventually will be used to show concerts from other venues and movies, Falcone said.
Officials tout 20 experiences at the attraction, spread over its 14 acres.
“Islands H2O Live is going to be in that nice, healthy, medium-size base,” said Ezra, who toured the water-park site while it was under construction earlier this year. “They have a lot of room for expansion.”
A general-admission ticket to Island H2O Live costs $49.99 ($42.99 for folks under 48 inches tall).