[title subtitle=”story: Marla Cantrell | images: courtesy Chris Shillcutt”][/title]
Wild Winter Country
It’s a warm day in November, with highs reaching the seventies. Chris Shillcutt is at work in North Little Rock, without even a jacket, though he may rethink that decision later. Because it has started to snow, furiously. This snow is blowing from two 25-ton machines Chris ordered months ago. When Chris tries to explain the machines, which have been running twenty-four hours a day since the first of November, he says you have to imagine a giant snow cone maker. They freeze water, and then blades cut the ice into flakes. The flakes ride a conveyor belt into the blower that shoots the snow across Wild Winter Country.
Does it feel like real snow? It absolutely does.
The company that makes the machines also has equipment at Legoland in Florida and Snow Mountain Park in Georgia – big parks with big ideas. But not too big for Chris. “We lived in Atlanta when I worked for Six Flags,” he says, “and I thought if they can get snow in Atlanta, we most certainly can get snow in North Little Rock.”
These two mammoths are part of the master plan that turns Arkansas’ biggest water park, Wild River Country, into Wild Winter Country, for the first time ever. As the months pass – the park remains open through March – more snow will accumulate, simply because the temperatures will be dropping and less and less snow will be melting. The water slides and lazy river are farther back on the property, so nothing interferes with this new addition. And at the front is a big hill, which is perfect for snow tubing and tobogganing.
One of the main attractions is Tubin’ Ruben’s Slippery Slopes, where kids and adults hop on snow tubes outfitted with hard shells on the bottom and fabric-covered inner tubes on the inside. The ride takes passengers about 300 feet down, through the snow, and each ticket is good for ninety minutes of fun. Chris thinks this ride is so important because many of us never get to places like Colorado or the Poconos to see endless landscapes of snow. With the opening of Wild Winter Country, he’s hoping to offer a little of that winter wonderland right here at home. There is no specified age limit on Tubin’ Ruben’s Slippery Slopes. Chris says the park is deferring to parents to monitor their children.
If Chris could offer any advice before you head out, it’s this: check the website’s calendar for their days of operation – they vary as we get closer to the holidays – and reserve your tubing tickets in advance. If the weather interferes you can get your money back, or come back another day. “We’re selling 100 snow tubing passes every hour. There’s only 100, so if you come here without booking ahead, you could be disappointed. I sure don’t want that.”
But if your kids are too small for tubing, there’s the Polar Bear Playground, where you can make snow angels, build snowmen, throw snowballs at targets in the Snowball Alley, and toboggan on a gentler slope called Cub Paw Raceway.
All this winter fun will work up an appetite. No worries. There is plenty of food, including coffee, hot chocolate, soups, chili, burgers, pulled pork sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, hot dogs, ice cream, cookies, and tarts. There is also a S’mores pit, so families can buy a kit with graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows, then head to the outdoor fire pit and make their own treats.
To make it an even happier holiday hotspot, there are Christmas lights everywhere, Christmas music plays, and there’s a gift shop to boot. The big guy himself, Mr. S. Claus, is at the lodge on the property through December 23, and he is posing for pictures with all the good boys and girls.
For Chris, the best part of Wild Winter Country is seeing all the kids in Arkansas enjoying a day playing in the snow. “I can’t wait to see kids who’ve never had the opportunity to do anything like this before, get in here and do this. They’ll be excited and smiling. I like being part of that.
“That’s why we’re opening Christmas Eve morning and Christmas afternoon. Those two days are the busiest at the movie theaters, because families are looking for something to do together. This gets them out, gets them doing something active.”
Already, clubs, like the 130 students from Russellville High School, have booked group packages. They’ll be heading to Little Rock for an educational trip in January, and finishing off the day with a visit to the park. Companies are also taking advantage, seeing this new venue as a great place to hold parties, and people are booking birthday celebrations.
Wild Winter Country, which opened in late November, will stay open through March 30, 2014, to accommodate those on spring break. There is nothing else like it in the state.
Chris and his staff are ready for the crowds heading to North Little Rock during the next few months. There are snow guards – the cold weather equivalent of lifeguards – all around the park, watching those on the slopes. The lights twinkle, the hot chocolate waits, and all across the park the snow falls, turning the water park into a winter wonderland.
As for those of us dreaming of a white Christmas, it’s Chris Shillcutt – not Kris Kringle – who can deliver, no matter what the forecast predicts. “Let it snow!” he says, and then turns back to the two machines that are guaranteeing just that.
Let it snow, indeed!
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Wild Winter Country
6820 Crystal Hill Road
North Little Rock
501.753.8600
To plan your trip, visit wildwintercountry.com.
Check calendar for dates and times.
Open through March 30, 2014.
Park admission $5.43 + tax and includes access to Snowball Alley, Polar Bear Playground and Cub Paw Raceway.
Under 24 months enter free of charge.
90 minute snow tubing session is $16.29 + tax. (please book online in advance)
Call for group rates or email groupsales@wildrivercountry.com.
