Magic Springs Theme and Water Park says it has met projections on attendance despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Michael Wampler, the park's director of sales and marketing, told The Sentinel-Record in May that attendance numbers for the park are confidential. State health directives limit the capacities of the theme park and the water park.
Wampler said this week the park has not reached the capacity where they would have to limit the number of visitors allowed into the park.
As far as masks, "we're staying with guidelines," Wampler said, adding that "masks are highly recommended."
Masks are required on two rides, the bumper cars and The Hawk. Masks are required to enter the restaurants in the park in accordance with Arkansas Department of Health directives.
Wampler said social distancing is going well in the park, but noted park employees have had to remind people to keep their distance. "Sometimes they just forget," he said.
Magic Springs added several extras to its schedule this month, including mermaids and movies, and guests can now bring ice chests into the park on Sundays.
Wampler said the additions have been well received so far.
The mermaids appear in the wave pool on Mondays. They do two one-hour shows per day, at 1 p.m. and at 4 p.m.
Wampler said they have "done two so far," and the "kids just love it." The mermaids, supplied by Fancyful Parties in Little Rock, do both a meet and greet with the children, and then they put on a show.
This is the third year that Mermaid Mondays have been a part of Magic Springs. Due to the coronavirus, Wampler said that the meet and greets are different this year. He said the kids "still get a photo with them," but they "can't go up and hug them."
After the meet and greet, the mermaids "swim in (the) pool to show off tricks with their tails," Wampler said.
"Very popular," Wampler said about the show so far.
Another thing the park is doing this month is Dive-In Movies, where guests can watch a movie while floating in the Wave Pool.
The park closes at 7 p.m., but the pool is kept open until it is dark enough to show the movie, which is around 8:40 p.m., Wampler said.
The first movie, on July 10, was "Frozen 2." The next Dive-In Movie will be "Toy Story 4" this Friday.
Wampler said the park has been doing these kinds of movie screenings for around 15 years, and last week's screening was one of their best.
"We had one of our largest attended Dive-In Movies," he said, adding there were "upwards of 300 people" in attendance.
As for the safety of the event, Wampler said it is held in a chlorinated pool and the tubes the guests float in do not allow the movie watchers to get close to each other.
"Tubes provide social distancing," he said.
The park is now allowing guests to bring in a cooler stocked with food and drink on Sundays. Wampler said the only exceptions are that guests can't bring in alcohol or glass containers.
Wampler said the idea came about as a way to give back to the guests, noting it allows for "one day of the week (where) families are able to picnic in the park."
The park also continues to hold concerts. There are two more scheduled for this month -- Dokken on Saturday, and Skillet with special guest Ledger on July 25.
Wampler said each of these events -- mermaids, movies and concerts -- are included with admission to Magic Springs.
