VISTA: Waterpark opens to cloudy skies

Managers hoping for warmer conditions as summer arrives

By BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Saturday, May 24, 2008 9:13 PM PDT ∞

VISTA ---- Opening morning at Vista's seasonal Wave Waterpark belonged to the diehard bodyboarders and the birthday party kids.

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Almost no one else showed up before noon. The occasional rain, blustery wind and gray skies kept most folks away.

And the few adults who did show up didn't look thrilled about being there.

"I just now took off my jacket," said Carla Barlow, a Fallbrook woman whose granddaughter was celebrating her 10th birthday with a party at the park.

Her granddaughter hardly noticed the raindrops as she swam in the park's competition-size pool.

"I don't mind it," said Jennifer Barlow, a San Marcos resident who had a dozen friends at her birthday party.

Within an hour of the park's 10:30 a.m. opening, she and her friends had zoomed down the park's massive, multistory waterslides several times. They had floated in the flowing river and played with an inflatable boat in the park's main swimming pool.

"Today's the perfect day because there's no lines (and) they get to ride as many times as they want," said Natalie Livingston, the park's general manager.

By late morning, about 75 people had gone through the park's entrance in the Vista Village area. Typically, a hot day attracts upward of 1,200 people, Livingston said.

She's keeping her fingers crossed that the weather and the park's attendance will improve as the season continues. The hotter it is, the more people come, and the more revenue the park generates.

"It strictly depends on weather," she said.

Last summer, the park attracted 112,000 people, or 9,000 more visitors than it did a year before.

"It was a good summer for us," Livingston said.

The city-owned park opened in 1994, then experienced financial troubles four years later.

But for the last three years, it has ended in the black, helped in part by the opening of a new children's water play area and nice, warm weather, park staff members said.

The park's peak season runs from June through Labor Day weekend, though it remains open on weekends in September. During peak periods, the facility employs up to 170 people.

Every day, no matter what the weather, the diehard bodyboarders come and stay all day, Livingston said. The staff calls them the "Flow Bros" because they repeatedly tackle the monster waves produced by the park's Flow Rider wave machine.

Ten-year-old Daniel Tarapchak said he comes from Murrieta daily to take on the wave machine.

"Because it's the finest thing in the world," he said.

Daniel has an added incentive: He's so good that he has a sponsorship and gets his bodyboards for free, he said.

Several adults standing nearby said the wave machine is great because it produces endless waves, there are no sharks and no annoying sand.

The biggest problem, the teenage riders said, is that when the weather is poor and the crowds light, the number of times they get to ride increases dramatically; they ride so often that their feet become red and raw from rubbing against their bodyboards.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.

Vista Wave Waterpark

Location: 101 Wave Drive, in the Vista Village area

Attractions: Competition-sized pool, five water slides, a slow-moving river, "Flow Rider" wave machine, and children's water play area known Rippity's Rainforest

Hours: Memorial Day weekend, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; then later in June the park will open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cost: Based on height. People taller than 42 inches pay $15, while those under 42 inches pay $11. Senior citizens pay $11 and children under age 3 get in free.

Special events: Family movie nights, "Daddy Daycare" July 20; "Happy Feet" on Aug. 3; "Finding Nemo" on Aug. 17.

Info: (760) 940-WAVE, or www.thewavewaterpark.com