The , was one of the world's largest
indoor waterpark
An indoor water park is a type of water park that is located inside a building. An indoor water park has the ability to stay open year-round, as it is not affected by weather conditions.
History
Some of the first indoor water parks are at Duinre ...
s, located in
Miyazaki,
Japan. The Polynesia-themed Ocean Dome, which was part of the
Sheraton Seagaia Resort, with the world's biggest retractable roof, which was opened and closed according to the weather conditions; 12,000 square metres of sandy beach, crushed from 600 tonnes of stones; an "ocean" six times larger than an Olympic pool, filled with 13,500 tonnes of unsalted, chlorinated water kept hot at 28°C, equipped with a wave-machine with 200 variations, and listed in the ''
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
"as the biggest simulated pool".'' This resort in Miyazaki, on the southern island of
Kyushu, boasts five hotels, several golf-courses, a botanical park and a zoo; but due to bankruptcy, the dome was later bought by
Ripplewood, an American private-equity fund, in 2001 for 16.2 billion yen ($148 million USD), which was less than 10% of its construction costs of 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion USD). Ripplewood had also invested an additional 3.5 billion yen ($32 million USD) on renovations for the dome; but even after the remodeling of the resort, the hotel closed down with liabilities of 276 billion yen ($2.5 million USD).
The Ocean Dome water park, which opened in 1993 along with the rest of the complex, was visited by 1.25 million people in the peak year of fiscal 1995. Other accommodations within the area include the Seaside Hotel Phoenix, the Sun Hotel Phoenix, and the Cottage Himuka, with 14 cottages in a wooded setting. Depending on the season, entrance cost for the simulated dome was ¥2600 ($21.17) for an adult and ¥1600 ($13.03) for a child. The water park was closed in 2007 by Phoenix Resort K.K. The Seagaia Ocean dome was demolished in 2017, a year after the hotel had received major renovations which did not include the dome.
Gallery
See also
*
List of water parks
The following is a list of notable water parks in the world sorted by region. A water park or waterpark is an amusement park that features water play areas, such as water slides, splash pads, spraygrounds (water playgrounds), lazy rivers, wave ...
References
External links
Phoenix Seagaia Resort homepage in English*
Ocean Dome Seagaia 1993 Japanese TV Commercial*
Miyazaki (city)
Defunct amusement parks in Japan
Water parks in Japan
Buildings and structures in Miyazaki Prefecture
1993 establishments in Japan
Indoor amusement parks
Demolished buildings and structures in Japan
Buildings and structures demolished in 2017
2017 disestablishments in Japan
{{japan-struct-stub