Ripley Planning $200M Family Resort

NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO-Ripley Entertainment Inc. of Orlando will spend $200 million here over the next two years to create its first ever resort. The 25-acre project will include a 404-unit hotel, a 90,000-sf indoor waterpark and an 115,000-sf aquarium.

The development will be called Great Wolf Lodge, which is a brand of the Great Lakes Co., a privately owned waterpark developer based in Madison, WI that has developed several projects in the Midwest. The hotel and waterpark is scheduled to open in 2005. Amenities of that project will include a themed family restaurant, an arcade, a gift shop, confectionery, Aveda Concept Spa, meeting space, fitness center, outdoor recreation and pool area, animated clock tower and “Cub Club” activity center.

Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada is scheduled to open in 2006. One of the main attractions will be the Greenland sharks, one of the largest predatory sharks in the world. One exhibit is an acrylic tunnel under an aquatic habitat featuring a moving walkway that transports visitors through multiple marine exhibits highlighting a wide variety of sharks, eels and tropical fish.