Sources & Methodology — WaterParkUSA.org — Six-Tier U.S. Hierarchy

Sources & Methodology

Where Every Fact on waterparkusa.org/ Comes From

Explicit, named sources at every editorial layer — the park’s own website, operator and parent-company portfolios, state and local health-department inspection records, CPSC and the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, the CDC Model Aquatic Health Code, ASTM standards, the WWA, IAAPA, the PHTA, NRPA, lifeguard-certification bodies, Secretary of State filings, and SEC EDGAR. Read alongside our Editorial Policy.

Effective date: January 1, 2026
Last reviewed: April 2026
Re-verification cycle: Quarterly + after every confirmed acquisition

The Six-Tier Source Hierarchy

Higher-tier sources govern when sources conflict. We list every body we draw from explicitly so a reader can verify the same source themselves.

1Primary — the park’s own website

The single most authoritative source for any specific park. We click through the park homepage, hours/calendar page, tickets/pricing page, attractions page, accessibility page, and any current renovation or closure notice. For every park we capture address, customer phone, season, hours, headline attractions, slide height/age requirements, admission pricing (gate vs. online, child/senior/military, season-pass tiers), parking and cabana fees, and accessibility provisions.

2Operator and parent company

For ownership and operating-status verification, we use:

  • Six Flags Entertainment (Hurricane Harbor brand) — portfolio pages
  • Palace Entertainment — portfolio of water parks and family entertainment centers
  • Great Wolf Resorts — indoor water park resorts
  • Kalahari Resorts — indoor water park resorts
  • Walt Disney World (Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach)
  • Universal Orlando (Volcano Bay)
  • SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (Aquatica, Adventure Island)
  • Herschend Family Entertainment and other regional operators
  • Municipal parks-and-recreation departments and contracted aquatic-management firms for municipal aquatic centers

3State / local health department

  • State and county/local health-department aquatic-facility permit records and inspection reports, where the jurisdiction publishes them online
  • State adoption status of the CDC Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) — which varies by jurisdiction

4Federal and standards framework

  • U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) — cpsc.gov — the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGB Act, drain-cover safety) and product recalls; consumer reports at SaferProducts.gov
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — cdc.gov — the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC), a voluntary model code for aquatic-facility health and safety
  • ASTM International Committee F24 — ASTM F2376 (water slides), ASTM F2461 (aquatic play features), ASTM F1487 (play equipment)

5Industry and certification bodies

  • World Waterpark Association (WWA) — waterparks.org — industry standards and operator education
  • IAAPA — iaapa.org — the global attractions-industry association
  • Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA) — Certified Pool Operator (CPO) credential
  • National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) — Aquatic Facility Operator (AFO) credential
  • Lifeguard-certification bodies: American Red Cross, Ellis & Associates, StarGuard ELITE, YMCA

6Corporate registry — Secretary of State & SEC EDGAR

  • State Secretary of State business-entity filings for verifying the legal status of operators and parent companies
  • SEC EDGAR — sec.gov/edgar — filings for publicly-traded operators, used to confirm ownership and acquisition status

The Eight-Step Verification Workflow

  1. Identify the authoritative source. The park’s own website — not a third-party aggregator or ticket reseller.
  2. Verify URLs live. A human editor clicks every link before publication and after every announced change.
  3. Cross-check the street address against USPS data and the park’s contact page.
  4. Verify operator attribution against the operator’s published portfolio.
  5. Verify parent-company attribution against the parent company’s portfolio page or SEC filings.
  6. Check admission pricing & season against the park’s official tickets page and operating calendar.
  7. Dial-test the customer phone quarterly — confirming the line answers and routes correctly, without generating any false emergency call.
  8. Editor sign-off. A second editor reviews end-to-end against this workflow.

What We Deliberately Do Not Use

  • Ticket-resale aggregators — these often misrepresent themselves as primary sellers and carry inflated or out-of-date pricing
  • Auto-scraped feeds — these go stale within weeks, especially through seasonal price changes and after operator acquisitions
  • Fake park-branded sites — only the park’s official URL is authoritative
  • Unverified user-review aggregators as a source of factual administrative data (we may reference reputation separately, but facts come from primary sources)

AI Policy

We use software tools for spell-check, grammar review, and routine drafting assistance. We do not use AI to publish editorial facts (URLs, phone numbers, addresses, operator attributions, parent-company attributions, seasons, hours, admission prices, accessibility details) without independent human verification against the park’s own page or the operator’s published portfolio. The eight-step workflow above governs every park entry on the site — this human-in-the-loop standard is central to our E-E-A-T commitment.

COPPA and Children’s Information — A Reminder

This site is not directed at children under 13

Under the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and its implementing rule (16 CFR Part 312), we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Although water parks are a family attraction, the site is written for parents and guardians planning visits, not directed at children.

Want to Suggest a Source?

Email info@waterparkusa.org with the subject “Source suggestion”. We review every suggestion against the six-tier hierarchy.

📧 info@waterparkusa.org