The Standards Behind Every Water-Park Guide
Our E-E-A-T framework in full: who writes and reviews our content, how we source it, how we verify every price, season, address, and phone, how we handle the constant churn of seasonal pricing and operator consolidation, our advertising and FTC compliance, and our human-in-the-loop AI policy. Read alongside our Sources & Methodology.
What is on this page
1. Editorial Mission
Families plan water-park trips around prices, seasons, height rules, and driving distance — and the information online is often stale, scraped, or contradictory. Our mission is to bring every U.S. water park into one plain-English, in-depth, regularly-updated guide, with details that are real, latest, and verified, so anyone can plan a visit with confidence.
2. Our E-E-A-T Commitment
Experience: our guides reflect first-hand knowledge of how water parks actually work — seasons, pricing tiers, height rules, and add-on fees. Expertise: our editors understand the U.S. aquatic-safety framework, operator structures, and pricing models. Authoritativeness: we cite primary sources — the park’s own official page and the relevant regulator — never auto-scraped aggregators. Trustworthiness: every detail is human-verified, we disclose our methodology, we date every page, and we correct errors quickly.
3. Source Hierarchy
We work to a six-tier source hierarchy, where higher-tier sources govern when sources conflict:
- Tier 1 — The park’s official website: for name, address, season, hours, attractions, pricing, and policies.
- Tier 2 — The operator / parent company: official corporate pages for ownership, season passes, and chain-wide policies.
- Tier 3 — Federal safety & health bodies: the CPSC and the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act; the CDC Model Aquatic Health Code.
- Tier 4 — State & local regulators: state and county health departments and state amusement-ride safety programs.
- Tier 5 — Standards & credential bodies: ASTM standards; PHTA and NRPA operator credentials; lifeguard-certification bodies.
- Tier 6 — Industry & consumer bodies: the WWA and IAAPA for industry context; the FTC and state Attorneys General for consumer protection.
Full detail on each tier is on our Sources & Methodology page.
4. Verification Workflow
- Identify the authoritative source. The park’s own official website — never an auto-scraped aggregator.
- Open every page. A human editor opens the park’s site to confirm name, address, season, hours, and attractions.
- Verify pricing. Check gate vs. online prices, child/senior/military rates, and season-pass tiers against the park’s page.
- Cross-check the address against the embedded map.
- Confirm height & age rules for headline attractions.
- Confirm the operator & parent company — ownership changes often.
- Dial-test the phone on a quarterly cycle — confirming the line answers and routes correctly.
- Editor sign-off. A second editor reviews end-to-end, including the “not the operator” notice and the 911 / lifeguard / Poison Control / 988 emergency framework.
5. Operator-Consolidation Discipline
The water-park industry consolidates frequently: chains acquire independents, parent companies merge, and a park’s branding can change while the location stays the same. We track both the day-to-day operator and the ultimate parent company for every park, and we re-verify ownership at each quarterly review — so our guides reflect who actually runs a park today. When ownership changes, that triggers a same-quarter update.
6. Independence
uswaterparkguide.org/ is independent. We are not affiliated with the CPSC, the CDC, any health department, the WWA, IAAPA, the PHTA, the NRPA, any park operator, or any parent company. No park or agency reviews our content prior to publication. No payment is accepted for editorial coverage or for favorable placement of any park.
7. Advertising Relationships
We are funded by display advertising. Our editorial content is never altered to favor any advertiser. We decline advertising in these categories:
- Operations that misrepresent themselves as an official park or ticketing channel
- Ticket-resale schemes that imply official affiliation we do not have
- Products with deceptive claims under FTC Act Section 5
- Products with environmental/sustainability claims that fail the FTC Green Guides
8. FTC Act Section 5 and State UDAP Compliance
Our own promotional content is written to comply with Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. §45), which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices, and with state UDAP statutes. Spot something deceptive on our site or in an ad? Report it to us and to reportfraud.ftc.gov.
9. Corrections
If an entry is wrong — a stale price, a changed season, a closed attraction, a new owner, a dead phone number — we want to know and fix it. Reader-reported corrections are our priority queue: 7 business days for most, with a 48-hour priority path for broken links, dead phone numbers, and major pricing or season changes.
10. Authors and Reviewers
Site content is written and reviewed by editors who research the U.S. aquatic-safety framework, operator structures, and park pricing. Pages carry a clear “last reviewed” date so readers know how current the information is.
11. AI and Automation
We use software tools for spell-check, grammar review, and routine drafting assistance. However, no editorial fact, price, season, address, telephone number, attraction detail, or ownership detail on uswaterparkguide.org/ is published from AI without human verification against the park's own official website. We do not auto-generate or auto-publish park entries. This human-in-the-loop standard is central to our E-E-A-T commitment.
12. Contact
For corrections, editorial questions, or sourcing inquiries: info@uswaterparkguide.org
Spotted a Correction?
Email us with the subject “Correction”. Corrections are our priority queue: 7 business days for most; 48 hours for broken links, dead phone numbers, and major pricing or season changes.
📧 info@uswaterparkguide.org