DreamWorks Water Park
LocationAmerican Dream Meadowlands
Coordinates40°48′26″N 74°04′09″W / 40.807101°N 74.069175°W / 40.807101; -74.069175
ThemeDreamWorks Animation
OwnerTriple Five Group (under license from NBCUniversal)
General managerMarena Thompson
OpenedOctober 1, 2020
Operating seasonYear-round
PoolsA single pool
Water slides15 water slides
Websiteamericandream.com/venue/dreamworks-water-park

DreamWorks Water Park is an indoor water park within the American Dream shopping and entertainment complex, at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. Opened on October 1, 2020,[1] the water park includes 15 water slides and 15 attractions, and covers 8.5 acres (3.4 ha).

History

Under construction, 2019

The American Dream shopping mall was first proposed as Meadowlands Mills in 1994.[2] The mall, later renamed Meadowlands Xanadu, was nearly complete in 2009 when construction stopped due to a lack of funding.[3] In 2011, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority formalized an agreement with Triple Five Group, which assumed ownership of the mall and renamed it "American Dream". The revised mall plans included an amusement park and a water park.[4][5] DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg announced in July 2012 that some of the amusement attractions would be themed upon DreamWorks productions.[6] In September 2016, Triple Five announced that the indoor amusement park space would be occupied by Nickelodeon Universe, and that DreamWorks Animation would work in partnership to develop the water park.[7]

Triple Five stated in June 2018 that the water park would open in the end of 2019.[8] By November 2018, the mall's vice president of Communications announced that the water park would open in September 2019.[4] However, by that date, DreamWorks Water Park's opening had been delayed to November 27, 2019.[9][10] In October 2019, surfers began testing the 1.5-acre (0.61 ha) wave pool.[11] Six days before the scheduled opening, Triple Five announced that they were postponing the water park opening again due to undisclosed reasons.[12][13] On February 25, 2020, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs announced that 18 of the 27 rides at the park had been inspected and approved for opening. Of the other nine, four had completed engineering review and were ready for inspection, and the last five rides were still in engineering review.[14]

On February 27, 2020, DreamWorks Water Park announced an opening date of March 19, 2020.[15] However, due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Jersey, its opening was delayed once again.[16][17] On September 3, 2020, American Dream announced the new opening date for the water park.[18] DreamWorks Water Park officially opened on October 1, 2020.[1]

Incidents

DreamWorks Water Park was temporarily closed on February 19, 2023, after a decorative helicopter fell into a swimming pool, injuring four people.[19][20] The park later reopened six days later on February 25, 2023, with the helicopter permanently removed.[21]

Attractions

DreamWorks Water Park occupies six stories adjacent to Nickelodeon Universe American Dream.[22] According to the mall's organizers, DreamWorks Water Park is the largest indoor water park in the United States, at 8.5 acres (3.4 ha).[12][23][a] Specific areas include an area themed around Shrek's Soggy Swamp, a Kung Fu Panda-themed children's play area called the Kung Fu Panda Zone, and a Madagascar-themed tower called Madagascar Rain Forest with 15 water slides.[12][25] All of the park's water slides were exclusively developed by ProSlide Technology, a Canadian company.[26][27][28] Inside is a 1.5-acre (0.61 ha), 1,500,000-U.S.-gallon (5,700,000 L) indoor wave pool and a lazy river which runs through Shrek-themed scenery.[12][25][4] DreamWorks Water Park also contains a set of dueling slides, the world's second-tallest body slides, starting from a height of 142 feet (43 m) and featuring a 50-foot (15 m) free fall.[4][26][27] Another attraction is a 1,600-foot-long (490 m) "hydro-magnetic roller coaster called Toothless Trickling Torpedo" and a Proslide KrakenRACER mat racer slide called Dragon Racers. Dragon Racers and Toothless Trickeling Torpedo are the only rides in the water park that are themed towards the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.[4][26][27][29]

There are also 31 luxury cabanas within DreamWorks Water Park. These were built to plans by interior designer Jonathan Adler, a native New Jerseyan.[12][23][25] Themed decorations include balloons of Shrek and Donkey from the Shrek movie franchise, and Alex and Marty from the Madagascar movie franchise.[27] Characters such as Shrek, Puss In Boots, Alex the Lion, King Julien, the Penguins of Madagascar, Po, and Poppy and Branch from Trolls, make daily appearances at the water park.

List of attractions

Notes

  1. ^ The DreamWorks Water Park is alternatively advertised as the largest in North America, including the United States.[13][24]

References

  1. ^ a b NJ.com, Allison Pries | NJ Advance Media for (October 1, 2020). "American Dream mega-mall reopens Thursday. What to know about stores, parking, water park". nj. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  2. ^ Hendry, Cheryl Ann. "Finding Nature in an Industrial Swamp: A Case Study of New Jersey's Hackensack Meadowlands" Archived January 25, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, p. 196, Montana State University, 2017.
  3. ^ Pristin, Terry (May 19, 2009). "Xanadu, a New Jersey Mall, May Be Too Big to Fail". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 28, 2012. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e Katzban, Nicholas (November 12, 2018). "See the progress on the American Dream water park, now taking shape". NorthJersey.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  5. ^ Henry, Samantha (May 3, 2011). "Xanadu mall project to get new name, big expansion". New Jersey Herald. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  6. ^ ""Shrek" Theme Park Planned at Stalled NJ Mall". NBC New York. July 11, 2012. Archived from the original on September 23, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  7. ^ "SpongeBob, Ninja Turtles sign on with American Dream". North Jersey. September 13, 2016. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  8. ^ Pries, Allison (June 19, 2018). "American Dream: The 16-year (and counting) journey of a mega-mall that might actually open kind of soon". nj. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  9. ^ Pries, Allison (September 20, 2019). "American Dream's theme park to open in October. For other attractions, you'll have to wait". nj. Archived from the original on September 23, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  10. ^ Pire, Taryn (November 27, 2018). "The Latest Developments of American Dream Meadowlands Have Us Beyond Psyched". New Jersey Family. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  11. ^ Pries, Allison (November 7, 2019). "American Dream's indoor wave pool opens soon. Check out surfers testing it out". nj. Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  12. ^ a b c d e Pries, Allison (November 21, 2019). "DreamWorks Water Park at American Dream mall delays opening". nj. Archived from the original on November 22, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  13. ^ a b "Opening Of American Dream Mall Water Park Delayed". CBS New York – Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic And The Best of NY. November 23, 2019. Archived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  14. ^ NJ.com, Allison Pries | NJ Advance Media for (February 25, 2020). "A bunch of rides at the water park coming to American Dream have passed inspection". nj. Archived from the original on February 26, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  15. ^ Pries, Allison (February 27, 2020). "Water park, some stores at American Dream mall announce openings". nj. Archived from the original on March 1, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  16. ^ "American Dream postpones DreamWorks Water Park opening". Blooloop. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  17. ^ Pries, Allison (July 15, 2020). "American Dream mega-mall will reopen, owner says. Here's what it's planning". nj. Archived from the original on July 16, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  18. ^ NJ.com, Allison Pries | NJ Advance Media for (September 3, 2020). "American Dream announces reopening date, but it's far away". nj. Archived from the original on September 4, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  19. ^ "American Dream Mall DreamWorks Water Park closed Monday after 4 hurt by decorative helicopter in New Jersey". ABC7 New York. February 20, 2023. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  20. ^ McNicholas, Tim (February 20, 2023). "4 injured following malfunction at American Dream mall". CBS News. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  21. ^ Redmond, Kimberly (February 27, 2023). "American Dream's water park reopens following state investigation". NJBIZ. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  22. ^ Fung, Esther. "Could a Ski Hill, a Theme Park and 1 Water Slides Save the American Mall?". WSJ. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  23. ^ a b "Nickelodeon Just Opened the Largest Indoor Theme Park in the Western Hemisphere". Travel + Leisure. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  24. ^ Porpora, Tracey (November 26, 2019). "Opening of DreamWorks Water Park at American Dream is delayed". silive. Archived from the original on November 28, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  25. ^ a b c "Phase Two: DreamWorks Waterpark at American Dream to open in a week". newjersey.news12.com. November 20, 2019. Archived from the original on November 28, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  26. ^ a b c "American Dream mega-mall finally opening with Nickelodeon theme park and DreamWorks water park". Orange County Register. October 22, 2019. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  27. ^ a b c d "Take A Virtual Tour Of American Dream's Water Park [Videos]". Mahwah, NJ Patch. November 23, 2018. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  28. ^ "American Dream - ProSlide: World's Best Water Ride Designers". ProSlide. Archived from the original on December 2, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  29. ^ "American Dream". American Dream. Archived from the original on March 5, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020.

External links

Meadowlands Sports Complex
DreamWorks Animation
Categories