Calypso Park to open next summer

In Montreal on Wednesday, Aug. 19 to assess the state of the work, Village Vacances Valcartier Group president and CEO Guy Drouin, the project's promoter, indicated construction was well underway. “I am very proud to announce that the official opening of the largest theme waterpark in Canada will take place on June 7 next year,” he said. “You can see the enormous 100-acre worksite from Highway 417, near the Limoges exit. Constructing a completely new park allows us to offer the latest state-of-the-art technology and draw on all our experience to build a waterpark that will satisfy the tastes and needs of families and young adults from the day it opens.”

Originally slated to open this month, two months of construction delays last year pushed back the park’s opening. “We don’t want to give vacationers a half-finished water park,” Drouin said at the time the delay was announced. “We want their first experience at Calypso Park to be extraordinary and magical.”

Construction, which began over 20 months ago, is now 80 per cent complete, according to a press release issued by Village Vacances Valcartier.

The major attractions, such as Fast Track, with its eight racing slides, and Boomerango, with its giant slides recreating a whitewater river, were finished several weeks ago, as were some of the others.

The 50,000-sq.-ft. wave pool, as big as three NHL rinks, is finished. The building and equipment are in place, and artists are now at work creating the theme “magic” and transforming the entire park into a fantasy world.

The structures of the restaurants, shops, locker rooms and service pavilions are also finished.

All the slide complexes are finished with the exception of Zoo Lagoon, an attraction designed especially for toddlers, which will be built over the coming weeks. Several teams are busy with the finishing work on the banks of the Jungle Run river, the earthworks around the water slides and throughout the park.

The human resources team is also busy. Several pre-hiring sessions have already taken place. During the peak season, Calypso will employ more than 500 people, including 125 lifeguards.

The project is expected to generate $750 million over a 10-year period in spin-offs for the entire National Capital and eastern Ontario regions.

Calypso is the outcome of an investment of more than $45 million, including $2 million from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. When completed, it will be one of the largest tourist projects in Canada.