Strategy, trade-offs, and the decisions behind guest experience
Leadership in the attractions industry rarely happens in theory. It plays out in operational meetings, budget discussions, and the daily decisions that determine how a water park evolves, how teams operate, and ultimately how guests experience a destination.
Innovation, safety, guest expectations, labour pressures, and technology are all shifting rapidly. Leaders across the industry are navigating a constant series of trade-offs: balancing long-term strategy with day-to-day operations, guest experience with efficiency, and new ideas with operational risk.
For many leaders, the work is less about visibility and more about clarity – setting direction, building strong teams, and making decisions that will shape the future of their parks.
At ProSlide, we work closely with water park owners and operators around the world as they plan new attractions, expand existing parks, and rethink the guest experience. Those conversations often reveal that the most important decisions shaping the industry rarely happen in the spotlight, but rather they happen in daily operational leadership.
To explore how this plays out in practice, we asked leaders in the attractions industry to reflect on the decisions they make and the pressures they navigate.
Their responses reveal that the most effective leadership today is grounded in relationships, emotional intelligence, and a deep understanding of how strategy translates into the guest experience.
Leadership grounded in relationships
Across the industry, leadership increasingly requires navigating complexity while maintaining strong connections with both teams and guests.
For Tiffany Watts, Chief Marketing Officer at Roaring Springs in Idaho, USA, emotional intelligence is a defining factor.
“I believe emotional intelligence is what distinguishes truly exceptional leaders in the attractions industry,” she explains. “The ability to interact with guests and employees with sensitivity, empathy, and proactive problem solving elevates outcomes and builds loyalty and trust.”
In a sector where guest satisfaction depends on thousands of daily interactions, leaders must balance operational oversight with an understanding of people, both employees and visitors.
Watts notes that when emotional intelligence is paired with industry experience and strong relationships across the organization, it creates a foundation for leadership that teams genuinely want to follow.
Similarly, Michelle Playfair, General Manager of Bingemans Big Splash in Ontario, Canada, sees leadership as an ongoing process of listening and adapting.
“Things are always changing – new technology, evolving guest expectations, updated safety standards,” she says. “The best leaders stay curious, listen closely, and aren’t afraid to try new ideas.”
In an industry defined by constant change, adaptability and curiosity are becoming as important as operational expertise.
From the perspective of the water ride industry, these qualities are often what allow operators to successfully introduce new attractions, adapt park layouts, and evolve guest offerings while maintaining operational consistency.
Decisions that shape the guest experience
Strategic decisions in attractions often appear subtle to guests but have a lasting impact on how a park is perceived.
For Watts, one such decision centered on branding new attractions in ways that elevate the park’s overall identity.
Throughout her tenure, she has insisted on developing distinctive names and logos for each new ride and attraction, reinforcing the sense of scale and legitimacy that guests associate with larger destinations.
One such example is Camp IdaH2O, an interactive RideHOUSE at Roaring Springs, designed and delivered by ProSlide.
“I believe naming and branding each attraction builds excitement and helps create a ‘big park’ image,” Watts says.
While branding may seem like a marketing detail, these choices contribute to the broader narrative guests experience as they move through a park.
For Playfair, operational decisions often begin with something even simpler: listening. She encourages teams to engage more directly with guests and actively gather feedback during everyday interactions.
“Those conversations help us respond quickly, understand what matters most to guests, and make meaningful improvements,” she explains.
The approach also strengthens team engagement. “Everyone feels connected to our purpose, delivering exceptional experiences.”
For Playfair, the experience reinforces an important lesson: when teams are empowered to listen and act on feedback, the entire organization becomes more responsive.
For Brooke Patterson, Chief Brand Officer at Great Wolf Lodge, leadership decisions about guest experience often extend beyond attractions themselves to how the entire environment supports families throughout their visit.
“There’s so much that excites me as a chief brand officer about our Great Geyser Water Park. But when it comes right down to it, the most exciting and fulfilling thing for me is being able to watch our families experience what we’ve created with ProSlide,” she says.
Patterson notes that design decisions that may seem operational can significantly shape how guests experience a park.
“Being able to maximize the amount of seating we have on the deck is really important for our guest experience. One of the unique strengths of ProSlide is their ability to efficiently design the ride structures in a way that helps us maximize our seating.”
When those operational considerations align with storytelling and brand strategy, the result is a more cohesive guest experience.
“Both ProSlide and Great Wolf Lodge have a deep commitment to guest experience, so when you bring together the expertise of ProSlide’s water park attractions with Great Wolf Lodge’s storytelling, you create a deeper, more meaningful guest experience.”
From the design side, Tanis Berthaudin, senior principal ride designer at ProSlide, sees many of these decisions take shape during the earliest stages of ride planning.
“Designing a new water ride is always a balance,” she explains. “At ProSlide, we’re always trying to deliver the best, most innovative ride possible for the client. Parks want something visually impactful or record-breaking, but we also have to consider guest flow, operational access, safety, and how the ride fits within the park’s footprint. Our role is to help realize our clients’ vision while making sure the attraction works well day-to-day for both guests and operators.”
These considerations extend beyond the ride itself to how guests move through the park. “We spend a lot of time thinking about how guests approach the attraction, what they see from different pathways, and how the ride fits within the surrounding environment,” adds Berthaudin.
These insights reinforce how closely operational leadership and attraction development are connected. The most successful projects are often the result of close collaboration between park teams and the partners helping them bring new experiences to life, a position ProSlide reinforces in every project.
Balancing short-term performance with long-term growth
Behind the scenes, attractions leaders are constantly balancing immediate performance pressures with the need to build sustainable growth.
For Watts, that challenge is particularly visible across the multiple venues she oversees at Roaring Springs.
The property includes a water park, family entertainment centre, and event venue, each requiring its own marketing strategy while contributing to a shared destination.
“Executing campaigns for everything from season passes to swimming lessons to bowling leagues requires constant planning and creativity,” she explains.
At the same time, the park continues to introduce new water rides and attractions regularly, adding another layer of complexity to marketing and operational planning.
The result is an environment where long-term brand building and day-to-day performance are deeply interconnected.
Playfair sees a similar dynamic when building and leading park teams.
“Building a strong team starts with living your core values,” she says. “When people feel supported and empowered, that’s when the magic really happens.”
For attractions operators, guest experience is ultimately delivered by people on the ground. Leadership decisions about culture, development, and accountability shape how consistently those experiences are delivered.
Leadership through clarity and accountability
The attractions industry has always been operationally complex. Today, that complexity is only increasing as parks introduce new technologies, expand year-round offerings, and respond to evolving guest expectations.
Across the global water park industry, we see firsthand how the leaders behind these destinations navigate that complexity, balancing innovation, operational realities, and long-term planning.
Their insights reveal a common theme: effective leadership today is less about visibility and more about clarity, accountability, and relationships.
And while those decisions may happen behind the scenes, their impact is felt every time a guest walks through the gate.
