JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – The recent hot temperatures have increased attendance at Adventure Landing as visitors try to beat the heat.
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Officials said the water park’s number of visitors is close to pre-COVID levels. Alex Hatton, the manager on duty said it averaged 2-3,000 people in the water park and on Saturday, they estimated 4,000.
Efforts to convert the site into housing started in June 2021.
The Trevato Development Group wants to build a 427-unit apartment community with about 5,000 square feet of retail and office space.
In 2022, the Jacksonville Beach City Council voted to replace the park with apartments.
Park visitors talked about beating the heat at the water park.
“We have kids so there’s plenty of things to do,” Katrina Ketchens said. “You also got shade and food, the things you need when you’re out here beating the heat, enjoying the family.”
One woman traveled with her family from Georgia.
“Oh my gosh, this is awesome,” Geana Thomas said. “To have about 20 of us out here today and we’re from Savannah, GA and we drove all the way there to come here.”
This is helpful for the water park as even the game rooms have been packed with people who are looking for anything to do when it feels like a sauna outside.
Hatton, the manager on duty, talked about the plan to keep the park open.
“Hopefully we can eventually stay open more than one year,” Hatton said. “That’s kind of the issue we’ve been running into recently. Hopefully, we can get a couple of years and actually have a business plan and be able to make renovations and upgrades for all of our customers.”
He also talked about the surge of visitors.
“It’s definitely been a spike with customers coming through the last few days, the last few weeks really since this heat wave came through,” Hatton said. “Just a lot of families coming in trying to stay cool in the water park really. We’ve had some great numbers.”
The water park portion is hosting Military Appreciation Weekend so all veterans and active military members receive free admission to the water park.