It began with the story of a young man in Canada who wanted to start a water park but couldn’t find anyone who could sell him water slides, so he built his own. And he called the company “WhiteWater.”
Circa 1980
Who would have thought that Geoff Chutter’s start-up would become the largest water park supplier in the world and be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2021? At the same time, we marked 10 fruitful years of the Shanghai office and 15 incredible years of being in Dubai.
Pretty amazing if you think about it.
How You—Client, Partner, or Employee—Shaped Our Industry Success
But we didn’t get this far by ourselves; we had a lot of trust and help along the way. Together with industry friends, we boldly shaped the water park and the attractions landscape.
Waterbom Bali
So if you are a client, we thank you for placing your trust in us to deliver the guest experience you had envisioned. You gave us valuable insights on your operational needs and new ideas on how we can innovate and improve.
If you are a partner, we thank you for the great collaboration on thousands of projects. Whether design, manufacturing, or installation, we worked together with the common goal of ensuring the clients’ success.
If you are an employee past or present, we thank you for the passion to create products for every level of fun, the dedication to make our industry safe, and the patience as we grew from an entrepreneurial venture to a structured organization.
Our valued employees
Here is how clients, partners, and employees have contributed to our mutual success.
40 Years to Build a Complete Portfolio to Serve Clients—in Their Time Zone
Based on 40 years of understanding client needs, we have expanded our portfolio, first from water slides to include water play and then to adjacent attractions spaces. This is the result of “putting the right people in the right seats on the right bus,” as Geoff would say. Today, when you come to WhiteWater, we can design an entire water park for you, we can provide surf for your retail space, we can build a water ride for your theme park, and we can develop software to optimize your operations.
Left: Playa Maya Waterpark, OCT Shanghai, China. Right: Vantage software at Aquaventure, Atlantis Dubai, UAE
It’s a given that projects need to be delivered on time, but we also know that different markets have vastly different needs and business practices. That’s why WhiteWater is dedicated to the “local for local” approach, and the advantages are clear. Our regional offices work together with clients in their own time zones and languages. These employees bring a deep cultural understanding and are versed in the commercial norms of different countries. In addition, we have regional supply capabilities, which cut down on both shipping time and carbon emissions.
WhiteWater’s Shanghai team
Defining the Water Park Industry in New Markets
Even though WhiteWater’s office in Shanghai is 10 years old, our first sales in the Asia Pacific—starting with Korea and Japan—took place already within the company’s first five years. WhiteWater was there in China when the water park scene was still being sketched more than a decade ago. In 2011, we became the first international manufacturer in the attractions industry to open an office in the Middle Kingdom. While clients depended on us to wow the emerging leisure audience, WhiteWater would not have grown so fast without their forward-thinking attitude to commit to newly designed products.
Spinning Rapids Ride at Haichang Ocean Park, Shanghai, China
Similarly, in the 15 years WhiteWater has been in Dubai, the expansion of the themed entertainment industry in the Middle East has been explosive. Bigger, taller, faster, stronger—never settling for less than the superlative. Together with partners and clients, we are pushing the boundaries of making memorable experiences, for guests who have the highest expectations.
Wild Wadi, Dubai, UAE
Strong Presence in Europe
With dozens of projects in the works in Europe, our office move from Barcelona to Munich a year ago allowed us to serve the continent more centrally. Recently named Industry Icon—Supplier by Park World Excellence Awards, Rainer Maelzer leads WhiteWater’s European office and brings with him not only decades of water park experience but valuable relationships with regional partners and clients. Collaboration is so much easier when you can do it in German, French, Spanish, Turkish, or English.
Parque Warner Beach, Madrid, Spain
So, dear industry friends, thank you for making WhiteWater’s 40/10/15 celebration possible. As the attractions space evolves in the coming years in terms of technology, sustainability, and expectations, we will continue to be there for each other.