W’burg waterpark slated to open on Wednesday, July 1

It’s official. The Kentucky Splash waterpark is opening this summer.

“We are going to open July 1. We are in the process of getting it COVID-19 ready right now,” Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison said Friday afternoon.

“We have been working as if we were going to open. We have been doing the cleaning and all that stuff and the prep work. We are going to put several things in place to make it as safe as possible.”

These COVID-19 prevention steps include:

• Plexiglass screens are being installed at all points of sale.
• All employees, who are working inside, will be required to wear masks, such as those working at ticket sales, the concession stand and in the gift shop.
• Masks will be provided to visitors that want masks.
• There will be multiple hand sanitizer stations throughout the park.
• Cleaning will be done throughout the day, and additional disinfecting will take place as employees leave for the day.
• A contract is in place to have the restrooms commercially disinfected once a week.
• Chairs and tables will be spaced allowing for six feet of social distancing space in between. Family groups will be allowed to sit together.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced guidelines last week for public swimming and bathing facilities to open.

Harrison said that based upon those guidelines, water park officials have calculated that about 1,850 guests can be allowed in the waterpark at any given time or about 50 percent of the waterpark’s capacity.

Harrison said that ticket sales will be done on the website so people can see how many tickets are still available at a given time.

Harrison cautioned that all 1,850 tickets won’t be sold at any given time in order to ensure room for season ticket holders, whose tickets will be honored. He said some tickets will also be kept in reserve in case people driving by on the interstate see the signs and decide to stop at the waterpark.

The exact number of tickets that will be held in reserve and the amount that will be sold daily hasn’t been determined yet.

Harrison said that he is anticipating that local schools won’t start classes back until late August, which would give the waterpark an eight-week season of being open seven days per week.

The park ordinarily is only open on weekends only during the month of August once schools go back into session. It traditionally closes after Labor Day Weekend.