WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 28, 2025--
Kalahari Resorts & Conventions, home to America’s Largest Indoor Waterparks, and the founders of National Waterpark Day, will celebrate the ninth annual holiday on July 28. The celebration will feature a fun-filled day of family-friendly festivities at all four of its award-winning resorts. Established in partnership with the National Day Calendar in 2017, this celebration spotlights the adventure, excitement and memory-making power of waterparks nationwide.
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Families race to compete in friendly competition during National Waterpark Day at Kalahari Resort.
Guests are greeted by Kalahari characters during the poolside celebration on National Waterpark Day.
Guests kick off National Waterpark Day at Kalahari Resorts with an epic poolside bash.
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“When we started National Waterpark Day, our goal was simple: inspire families to come together, unplug and enjoy some uninterrupted fun,” said Travis Nelson, President of Kalahari Resorts. “Watching our guests embrace that spirit year after year reminds us why we created this celebration in the first place.”
On July 28, Kalahari resort locations in Wisconsin Dells, WI, Sandusky, Ohio, Pocono Mountains, PA and Round Rock, Texas will have on-site foam parties and live DJs spinning poolside tracks, exciting games and giveaways, foodie pop-ups, family poolside activities, meet-and-greets with everyone’s favorite Kalahari characters, and more.
On July 28 only, guests can also dive into a 24-hour flash sale offering up to 30% off overnight stays, $10 off waterpark day passes, 10% off cabana and bungalow rentals, and 30% off fall 2025 season passes when they use the promo code WATERPARK.
“Whether it’s our flagship Wisconsin Dells location or our newest resort in Texas, National Waterpark Day is the perfect time for families to dive into summer,” added Nelson. “From the sun-drenched outdoor pools that lets guests soak up every ray to the mega slides in our indoor waterpark that keep the excitement flowing, Kalahari gives families the flexibility to craft their ultimate waterpark getaway.”
For more information on National Waterpark Day activities or to book your stay, please visit kalahariresorts.com.
About Kalahari Resorts & Conventions
Kalahari Resorts & Conventions in Wisconsin Dells, WI, Sandusky, Ohio, the Pocono Mountains, PA, Round Rock, Texas, and opening soon in Spotsylvania, VA, deliver a beyond-expectations waterpark resort and conference experience all under one roof. The African-inspired Kalahari Resorts, privately owned by the Nelson family, are home to America’s Largest Indoor Waterparks. Todd and Shari Nelson, the founders of Kalahari Resorts, were honored with an induction into the Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame in 2023. All Kalahari Resorts feature well-appointed guest rooms and suites, the full-service Spa Kalahari, a fun-filled family entertainment center, on-site signature restaurants, unique retail shops and a state-of-the-art convention center. For more information, members of the media are encouraged to visit kalaharimedia.com.
Families race to compete in friendly competition during National Waterpark Day at Kalahari Resort.
Guests are greeted by Kalahari characters during the poolside celebration on National Waterpark Day.
Guests kick off National Waterpark Day at Kalahari Resorts with an epic poolside bash.
PRAIA, Cape Verde (AP) — Three patients with suspected hantavirus infections were being evacuated from a cruise ship to the Netherlands on Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said, as the vessel at the center of a deadly outbreak remained off Cape Verde with nearly 150 people on board waiting to head to Spain’s Canary Islands.
Associated Press footage showed health workers in protective gear heading to the ship for the evacuation that included the ship's British doctor, who Spain's health ministry said had been in “serious condition” but has improved. An air ambulance later departed.
Three people have died, and one body remained on the ship, the World Health Organization said. Eight cases have been recorded in all, three of them confirmed by laboratory testing. Hantavirus usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings and can spread person-to-person, though the WHO calls that rare.
Contact tracing had begun on two continents, Europe and Africa, in search of infections around people who earlier left the ship, which departed over a month ago from South America for stops in Antarctica and several remote Atlantic islands.
Two Argentine officials investigating the origins of the outbreak said the government's leading hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus while bird-watching in the city of Ushuaia before boarding.
They said the couple visited a landfill during the tour and may have been exposed to rodents. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, with the investigation ongoing. Authorities previously said Ushuaia and surrounding Tierra del Fuego province had never recorded a hantavirus case.
The Dutch foreign ministry said the three people evacuated were a 41-year-old Dutch national, a 56-year-old British national and a 65-year-old German national who would be "immediately transferred to specialized hospitals in Europe.” A Dutch hospital confirmed it would take one. German authorities were preparing for a second.
Two remain in "serious condition," Dutch ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions said, and the third had no symptoms but was “closely associated” with a German passenger who died on the MV Hondius ship on May 2.
Health officials said passengers and crew members still on the ship are without symptoms; the WHO said passengers represent 23 nationalities. Their journey to the Canary Islands will take three or four days, Spain’s health ministry said, adding that the arrival “won´t represent any risk for the public."
Meanwhile, authorities said testing in Switzerland, South Africa and Senegal had shown positive for the Andes strain of the virus. The WHO says the species of hantavirus is found in South America, primarily in Argentina and Chile, and can spread between people, though that’s rare and only through close contact.
The World Health Organization’s top epidemic expert told The Associated Press the risk to the public is low, and the Andes variant is known even if WHO has never seen a hantavirus outbreak on a ship.
“This is not the next Covid, but it is a serious infectious disease,” Maria Van Kerkhove said. “Most people will never be exposed to this.”
For those on the ship, access to clinical care is important, she said, because infected people can develop severe acute respiratory distress and need oxygen or mechanical ventilation. The hantavirus incubation period can be one to six weeks, or more, she said.
The ship left Argentina on April 1. The WHO has said the itinerary included stops across the South Atlantic, including mainland Antarctica and the remote islands of South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena and Ascension.
The ship is now in the Atlantic off West Africa's island nation of Cape Verde. The WHO said passengers were isolating in their cabins.
Two Dutch infectious diseases experts were joining the ship, Van Kerkhove said.
Spain’s health ministry said it would receive the ship in the Canary Islands after a request from the WHO and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. The Canary Islands regional president , Fernando Clavijo, said he worried about the risk to the population and demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Authorities in Switzerland said a former passenger was being treated at a Zurich hospital after testing positive for the Andes strain. South African authorities earlier said two passengers who were transferred there tested positive for the strain. One, a British man, was in intensive care and the other collapsed and died in South Africa.
Swiss health office spokesperson Simon Ming said the patient there had left the ship during its St. Helena stop. It was not clear when or how he traveled to Switzerland.
The patient’s wife hasn’t shown symptoms but is self-isolating as a precaution, a statement by the office said.
“There is currently no risk to the Swiss public," the office said, while looking into whether the patient had come into contact with others.
At St. Helena, the body of the Dutch man suspected to be the first hantavirus case on board was taken off the ship. His wife flew to South Africa, where she collapsed at the Johannesburg airport and died.
Later, a British man was evacuated at Ascension Island and taken to South Africa.
The ship's operator has not said if other people left at those or other locations.
The South African health ministry says officials have traced 42 out of 62 people, including health workers, they believe had contact with the two infected passengers who traveled there. The 42 tested negative for hantavirus.
But 20 people still need to be traced, including five people who may have been on flights to South Africa with some of the passengers as well as flight crew members.
Some may have now traveled overseas, the ministry said.
DeBre reported from Buenos Aires and Keaten from Geneva. Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria. Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa; Mark Banchereau in Dakar, Senegal; Renata Brito and Joseph Wilson in Barcelona; Geir Moulson in Berlin; Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands and Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg contributed to this report.
This version corrects to say the evacuated doctor is British.
An air ambulance takes off with evacuated patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship from the airport in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
An air ambulance takes off with evacuated patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship from the airport in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
The MV Hondius cruise ship is anchored at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Health workers in protective gear evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship into an ambulance at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Health workers in protective gear arrive to evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Health workers in protective gear evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Health workers in protective gear evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Health workers in protective gear evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Health workers in protective gear evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
A night view of the MV Hondius cruise ship anchored at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
An aerial view of the MV Hondius Dutch cruise ship anchored in the Atlantic off Cape Verde, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Arilson Almeida)
An aerial view of the MV Hondius Dutch cruise ship anchored in the Atlantic off Cape Verde, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Arilson Almeida)
