Writer: Joshua Andino
2 min read May 2023— Atlantic City is about to welcome the largest beachfront waterpark in the world just in time for the summer season.
Set to open for the Memorial Day weekend, the Showboat Resort’s Island Waterpark is slated to become the largest beachfront waterpark in the world once it opens.
The $100 million waterpark will cover 120,000 square feet, and include over a dozen slides for guests to enjoy. as well as a 1,000-square-foot surf simulator and lazy river. Parents and adult travelers will also be able to enjoy a 10,000-square-foot adults-only recreation area that will include features such as a swim-up bar, cabanas and manicure stations. The park also includes dry land activities such as a 1,000-foot cloud coaster for guests to take in the views, zipline and a tree house club for booking private events. Finally, the park will include a retractable roof for guests to enjoy the sunshine on bright summer days.
With the park slated to inaugurate the summer season on Memorial Day weekend, tourism numbers across South Jersey and its beachfront communities have slowly inched towards pre-pandemic levels. “By 2023, we anticipate that the state and our region will be back to 2019 levels, which was one of our highest-achieving years in the past decade. Everyone is ready to begin traveling again, and New Jersey is positioned for success due to that accessibility,” explained Michael Snyder, director of operations for Visit South Jersey in his interview with Invest: South Jersey 2022.
Labor, which has been a key issue for the gaming and hospitality industry over the last few years, is slowly beginning to ease. “We’re hearing from our partners that the pressures they’ve had over the last few years are easing up; many businesses were cutting back on their hours simply because they were short on staff, and we’re hopeful that won’t be as much of an issue this year,” explained Jeff Vasser, executive director for the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism (NJTT) in his statement to New Jersey Business Magazine.
For Atlantic City, the new park, while also bolstering the region’s tourism economy, also represents the ongoing diversification away from a primarily gaming-driven economy. In a separate conversation, Marty Small, Mayor of Atlantic City, told Invest:,“We are also on the cusp of changing the culture in Atlantic City in terms of family entertainment. There has been a lot of on-and-off talk about building a water park and now it is finally happening.”
With the park scheduled to open soon, the city’s tourism and economic development agencies have rebranded to better align with the growing and increasingly diverse array of hotels and offerings the city provides.
When speaking to Invest: last year, Mayor Small was bullish on the future, saying, “Atlantic City is going to thrive…This is what we need to do to make Atlantic City what we know it can, will and should be.”
For more information, visit:
https://www.showboathotelac.com/
https://www.atlanticcitynj.com/
