Life Floor Wins 3 Leading Edge Awards from the World Waterpark Association

We’re honored to win three Leading Edge Awards from the World Waterpark Association for our work on Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, Meryal Waterpark, and Blue Surf Bay Waterpark! These projects show the elevated design aesthetic that can be achieved with our triangle gradients.

Keep reading to learn more about each of these award-winning destinations.

Photo provided courtesy of Royal Caribbean.

ICON OF THE SEAS

Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship

Our surfaces enhance 7,961 sq ft (740 sq m) of space across four amenities onboard Icon of the Seas. Vibrant triangle gradients complement the colors on play structures and contribute to elevated theming across the vessel. This project marks the 14th Royal Caribbean destination Life Floor surfaces.

This iconic vessel features our key partners Martin Aquatic Design and Engineering and FlowRider.

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Meryal Waterpark

Qatar, Doha

This record-breaking waterpark created by WhiteWater, in collaboration with Qetaifan Projects and Water Technology, Inc., boasts many firsts. A blue toned triangle gradient creates an oasis motif complementing the surrounding arid landscape. This thematic amenity provides a pleasant space for families to cool off in the hot Qatar sun.

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Blue Surf Bay Waterpark

Blue Springs, Missouri, USA

Blue Surf Bay Waterpark is a stunning indoor and outdoor facility constructed as an expansion to the Blue Springs, Missouri Fieldhouse in 2024. From a year-round indoor space to seasonal outdoor offerings, this comprehensive aquatic center has something for everyone to enjoy!

This meaningful project highlights many of our partners and industry friends including Water Technology, Inc., SFS Architecture, Landmark Aquatic, LLC., McCownGordon Construction, Waterplay, NinjaCross, and Splashtacular, LLC.

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Plus, congrats to our partner, WhiteWater, for their award for The Rise of Icarus at Mt. Olympus Waterpark!

MT. OLYMPUS WATERPARK

Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA

Mt. Olympus Waterpark immerses guests with a Greek mythology theme complete with elements like colonnades, Greek iconography, and tailored attraction names. June 2024 marked the completion of the outdoor kids’ area which boasts America’s tallest waterslide, The Rise of Icarus, designed and built by WhiteWater.

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To learn how to get Life Floor’s award-winning surfaces specified and installed at your project, start a conversation with our team. We would love to collaborate with you to make your dream into a reality.

The Benefits of Diversifying Play Features in Aquatic Environments

Everyone experiences play in different ways. It’s the reason why there isn’t just one type of spray feature or just one type of pool. Aquatic environments are always changing and adapting to new trends and regulations in the industry. Likewise, aquatics facility directors and operators are constantly evaluating updates that will deliver increased value to their guests and members. In order to provide features that appeal to a wide variety of individuals, facility staff needs to choose what combination of elements will allow for limitless play for their intended audiences.

Providing options for guests to engage with a facility in different ways is a crucial component of play value. At Life Floor, we talk about this concept often because it’s a central tenet of why we design safety surfacing to be interactive and engaging. Play value directly influences guest perception of a facility and can be a determining factor of whether or not guests will return. For example, if a child has a better experience at a park farther away, parents may be more inclined to return to that park even if it is more inconvenient. 

One way to increase play value is to provide experiences for different age groups. Any type of water play for infants and toddlers can be seen as risky from their perspective. For instance, interacting with a simple spray feature on a splash pad is often a new and exciting experience. For older children, riding down high-speed water slides, scaling lofty towers, or getting drenched under tipping buckets can be seen as more exhilarating ways to interact with aquatic environments. These different features help shape children’s development at different stages.

Awareness of how specific age groups prefer to interact with water features can be meaningful when determining how to zone a facility properly. Lopesan’s Costa Bavaro Resort is a good example of zoning for different development stages in a child’s life. At this facility, large landscaped “islands” separate the larger risky play area, equipped with slides and high platforms, from the adjacent splash pad, where smaller children may feel more comfortable. While these zones are located on opposite sides, they are also connected across one large aquatic play area. This integration allows children the freedom to move from one area to the next, encouraging them to balance safety and adventure. When an aquatic play area offers this range of features, guests can gradually choose to engage with riskier play elements, which ultimately helps to boost both decision-making skills and self-esteem. Accommodating a variety of preferences also increases play value and enables families of all ages to enjoy these spaces for longer periods of time. 

Social interaction is another crucial part of play learning. Just as it may be difficult for a child to play house alone, it is important for them to be able to collaborate with other children in aquatic environments as part of their experience. Spray features, water tables, and interactive activities that contribute to this social play can elevate learning in both creativity and problem solving. Children are able to boost their communication and social skills as they practice working together and learning to share or compromise as they explore these environments together. 

Diversity of play is encouraged by maximizing the creative options available; however, these options don’t have to be limited to the spray features, slides, and towers on site. The design of a facility’s floor can also enhance play value by giving children the opportunity to creatively invent games based on the patterns and images below their feet. When an aquatic surface is also cushioned and slip-resistant, children can more confidently run, jump, and explore to fully enjoy all that a facility has to offer. 

By engaging with visitors more holistically across all features of an aquatic design to accommodate different age groups and comfort levels, facility supervisors, operators, and decision makers can create more encompassing parks filled with limitless possibilities for play. The experiences they offer can encourage important developmental milestones for children while also creating long-lasting family memories along the way. 

Pairing Safety Surfacing with Risky Play at Costa Bavaro Resort

Located in Punta Cana on the coast of the Dominican Republic, Lopesan’s Costa Bavaro Resort offers 5-star accommodations and amenities to provide guests with an oceanfront Caribbean experience. Among the features on this 27-acre property is a 16,146 sq. ft. aquatic play area named Splash Island, the result of the creative collaboration between Martin Aquatic Design & Engineering and WhiteWater West and installation by Inside Edge. Splash Island’s main attraction is an elevated play structure by WhiteWater complete with slides and spray features. This area is augmented by integrated natural landscaping elements functioning as “islands” and Life Floor surfacing, which pairs theming with our tiles’ slip-resistant and impact-attenuating properties. Our High Tide color combination of blue tiles is featured in the main play area while sandy colors speckle the deck to simulate a beach where parents relax as children and teenagers play. The pairing of Life Floor surfacing with WhiteWater’s multi-level play structure and the other spray features on-site creates an attraction committed to both adventurous play and safety. 

Large landscaped “islands” separate the larger risky play area from the adjacent splash pad where smaller children may feel more comfortable. These different zones help shape children’s development at different stages. Any type of water play for infants and toddlers can be seen as risky from their perspective. For instance, interacting with spray features on a splash pad is often a new and exciting experience. Life Floor surfacing enables this type of early water play and exploration while also providing cushioning for potential falls from wobbly footing at this age. 

Children will ultimately seek out more adventurous activities as they get older. It is important for facilities, when possible, to include more advanced risky play features such as the elevated play structure, slides, and spray features seen at Splash Island. These play elements inspire them to explore and develop the skills necessary in adulthood to make good choices and have fun. Life Floor promotes this risky play by encouraging children to play how they were meant to: without fear of falling or getting seriously injured. By providing a slip-resistant and cushioned safety surface, children are supported in their activities and are emboldened to create their own stories as they interact with each other and the features at Splash Island. 

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We all love to see visible joy on children’s faces when they spend an exciting day imagining, discovering, and exploring in environments that cater to adventurous play. To explore other projects where we’ve lived out our mission to increase play value and make aquatic areas safer for children around the world, head to our Portfolio. 

Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott: Families Focused on Fun

“Before, it used to be concrete so there wasn’t a day that we wouldn’t get an injury. So when we’d get injuries we’d give our injury reports every day even if it’s a band-aid or something like that… ever since we had Life Floor we haven’t had one.”

— Ari Padila Waterpark Supervisor

Excited vacationers looking to experience the best of Southern California look to the Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott whether it’s an annual seasonal visit, or a once-in-a-lifetime trip. 

In addition to spacious accommodations and wonderful staff, the hotel is proud to offer guests their Surfside Waterpark, a 20,000 sq ft waterpark for families to bond and kids to play off a day of excited energy. They first approached Life Floor in 2017 for their kiddie pool and stairs, and after two years of reduced injuries, they came back with ideas to expand the surfacing. 

This 4,300 sq ft concrete splash park that sat underneath a WhiteWater West multi-level play structure had been a significant pain point and continued to stain and deteriorate. The splash park’s concrete surfacing got extremely hot in the Southern California sun and the kids would be so excited to play and get off the slides that they would slip and fall on the abrasive surface.

The WhiteWater design team wanted to create a surface that combined safety, comfort, and play elements, like hopscotch, surfboards, a Twister-like game, and inlaid sea creatures, in order to enhance the guest experience with both passive and active play value.

Going from daily injuries to injury-free days was a huge relief for the Courtyard by Marriott staff, and the guests immediately enjoyed the more comfortable flooring. While we were filming the splash pad, one guest remarked, “The colors are really vibrant. It’s not slippery at all. We’ve actually been to this hotel before, so it’s nice to see sort of the new, updated look and feel. And the kids really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun, and no one fell and everyone seemed to have a blast.”

The difference between concrete and Life Floor is more than just a reduction of injuries. The way families and kids played completely changed with the new surface. Parents started sitting down on the splash park with their kids, and toddlers flocked to this open and free play area without worry about bumps, bruises, or hot concrete.  

“The kids love it. The kids play differently out here with Life Floor. It’s a really funny thing - parents are out here sitting down with their kids. It’s hard to explain, but they play differently and they have more fun and it looks beautiful.”

— Brian Schinski, Operations Manager

LIFE FLOOR + WHITEWATER PARTNERSHIP

Bringing non-slip cushioned surfaces to the world WhiteWater is very pleased to have entered an exclusive distribution agreement with Life Floor for the global water park market. Life Floor’s patented foam-rubber flooring system significantly reduces slips and falls, the #1 cause of water park injuries. However, with Life Floor, when a fall does occur, bumps and bruises are minimized. This is a game-changing product for the water park industry because as every owner and operator knows, the majority of water park injuries occur in this category.

“The partnership further confirms WhiteWater’s designs and product offerings as the safest in the industry,”

— Geoff Chutter, WhiteWater’s President and CEO

DELIVERING FUN - SAFELY

Jonathan Keller, Life Floor’s CEO, sums up the announcement of this new partnership, “Working with WhiteWater, the market leader, was an obvious choice to access a wider market, but we’ve also found that the missions which drive our companies are very aligned. Both companies are single-minded about delivering fun safely with the highest quality products available. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are excited by the opportunities that this agreement represents.”

Chris Biancofiore, the Product Manager for WhiteWater’s wide range of interactive water play products and attractions, commented, “On Life Floor, kids feel safer and freer to push their boundaries without the fear of getting hurt…simply put, they play differently.  The forgiving surface isn’t abrasive, so it’s soft on bare feet and won’t skin knees.  As a result, the only tears will come from when they’re told it’s time to leave the park.”

MORE THAN JUST SAFETY

Life Floor is longer-lasting and stays cleaner. While Life Floor’s non-slip ‘soft fall’ is its biggest benefit, its quality manufacturing also makes it incredibly durable. The completely waterproof tiles will not absorb water or other liquids and last as long underwater as they do above water. Its closed-cell construction does not support the growth of microbes.

Virtually impossible to stain, its more resistant to chlorine and UV exposure than other rubber composite products on the market, making Life Floor not just a safety choice, but an economical one as well.

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About WhiteWater

WhiteWater, The Water Parks and Attractions Company, is the leading global designer and manufacturer of innovative water park products and active family attractions for world-class clients. We specialize in water slides, multi-level water play structures, wave-generating equipment, FlowRider® stationary surfing machines, harnessed attractions, interactive play, and water rides. WhiteWater is dedicated to providing the ultimate WOW experiences to our clients and their guests by delivering projects on time, on budget, and to the industry’s highest quality and safety standards. Our industry-leading innovation is driven by a team of 600 extremely talented employees in eight offices around the world working together to complete over 5,000 projects since 1980. Recently, WhiteWater was awarded Canada’s Best Managed Companies designation for its excellence in management and business practices.

Una de Boer | Director of Marketing
+1.604.249.3432 | una.deboer@whitewaterwest.com
whitewaterwest.com

About Life Floor

Life Floor manufactures Life Floor tiles, a foam-rubber flooring system designed for use in wet areas with barefoot traffic. Created as an alternative to concrete and other conventional materials, Life Floor is the only safety surface specifically designed and engineered to perform in aquatic environments. Life Floor combines award-winning safety with unparalleled design capabilities, delivered by an expert team committed to a world-class experience for everyone who interacts with our products. All over the world, people trust Life Floor to make their aquatic environments look and feel extraordinary. Life Floor was founded in 2011, and has served the biggest names in water parks, including Carnival Cruise Line, LEGOLAND, Cedar Fair, and Great Wolf Lodge. In 2016, Life Floor became the only surfacing company ever to win the World Waterpark Association's prestigious Kelly Ogle Memorial Safety Award.

Gwen Ruehle | Vice President, Business Development
+1.612.405.2718 | gwen.ruehle@lifefloor.com
lifefloor.com

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FAQS

Who is WhiteWater West Industries (WWI)?

The Original Waterpark Company! Founded in 1980, WWI helped start the World Waterpark Association and are the oldest manufacturer of fiberglass water slides. They are also the largest supplier of equipment (slides, wave pools, surfing machines, play structures) in the entire world, in fact their business is as large as all of their competitors combined. They have done over 6000 projects in the 38 years they have been in business. To get a sense of scale, if they were to install Life Floor around all of their previous projects, that would require more than 60 million square feet of Life Floor.

At this point, WWI does everything from designing, specifying, planning, supplying, managing projects, and helping maintain waterparks and theme parks all over the world. Their largest markets are China, the United States, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, and they complete from 170-220 projects per year.

What does this partnership mean for Life Floor?

Life Floor is now WWI’s recommended safety surface. Soon, Life Floor will be included in all designs for water park Multi-Level Play Structure (MLP) equipment, as well as on applications such as slide towers, wave pools, and around FlowRiders and slide pads.

How did this partnership happen?

WWI and Life Floor both value safety, and the partnership is focused on safety first and foremost. We believe that bringing the leader in aquatic safety surfacing design and manufacture in partnership with the leader in water park design and manufacture will create safer aquatic recreation experiences for potentially millions of people.

How will this partnership work for customers?

New water park customers interested in purchasing and installing MLPs can obtain Life Floor for their facility by working exclusively through WWI.

If you are a water park customer with a preexisting relationship with Life Floor, you may contact either Life Floor or WWI directly for MLPs and other projects.

If your park does not have WhiteWater equipment, you can still buy from Life Floor directly.

What about splash pads?

Given our commitment to splash pad safety via our work with NSF-50, Life Floor will still be selling splash pad surfacing directly to clients.

Has WWI purchased Life Floor?

WWI has not purchased Life Floor. Life Floor remains an independent company, and we look forward to seeing how this partnership will serve the waterpark industry going forward. 

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If you have any questions about how this partnership affects you, or how to best obtain Life Floor for a project, please contact solutions@lifefloor.com.