Kings Island plans new water park resort

MASON, Ohio (AP) -- Paramount's Kings Island will develop its water park near Cincinnati into a 15-acre resort with an Australian theme.
The Boomerang Bay park will offer four new attractions that draw upon the Gold Coast aspect of Australia and feature tropical landscaping.
"It will give you a resort-like feeling, that you're in some exotic location, a whole different world," said Jeffrey Siebert, spokesman for the amusement park, which is also in this Cincinnati suburb.
Boomerang Bay plans include The Tasmanian Typhoon, which looks like a giant funnel at the end of an enclosed 269-foot tunnel. Siebert said riders will slide down the ride on four-person, cloverleaf-shaped inner tubes into a splash pool.
Kookaburra Bay will be a shallow-water pool with a waterfall backdrop for people who just want to sit in the water and relax, Siebert said.
Other attractions will include another 54-foot-high water slide and a play area for kids.
The new park is scheduled to debut in the spring of 2004.
The amusement park does not release specific dollar figures on improvements, but the new resort park will be a multimillion-dollar project, Siebert said recently.
Kings Island is one of five amusement parks operated in the United States and Canada by Paramount Parks.