Valcartier Vacation Village (a.k.a. Village Vacances Valcartier in French-speaking Quebec) opened back in 1963 and has since become known as North America’s largest winter playground. Located 20 minutes outside of Quebec City, Valcartier offers a 600-site campground, thrilling whitewater rafting trips on Jacques-Cartier River, a 194,000 square foot 4-start hotel with 153 suites, an outdoor waterpark, an indoor waterpark, a 6,000 square foot spa and more! What else could they possibly added to make this place even cooler? Answer: a FlowRider® Double surf simulator machine!
The hotel portion and the 102,000 square foot indoor waterpark, called Bora Parc, are brand new! Along with the FlowRider, there is a 4,000 square foot wave pool, 14 different waterslides, a family aqua play area with fun water games, a lazy river and a full restaurant atop a terrace overlooking the entire indoor park. The park’s capacity is whopping 1,000 people!
As soon as our official North American licensee, Aquatic Development Group, completed the installation, Adam Muller, FlowRider Merch Manager and Assistant Staff Trainer, hopped on a plane to Quebec City.
Once on the ground, Adam was met by A) Quebec’s first major snow storm of the year that knocked the power out throughout the entire property and then B) the property’s aquatic operations team and new lifeguards and wave operators. Adam wasted no time with the new Valcartier FlowRider team by running though the “dry land” portion of the training. It wasn’t until close to midnight that the power came back on and Adam was able to teach the team the how to ride the wave and also the ways of teaching patrons how to ride.
“The closest FlowRider to Valcartier is a 3-hour drive way, so the team is pumped to have a brand new wave in their town,” said Muller. “All seven team members took to bodyboarding and flowboarding pretty fast, so it won’t be long before these guys can not only WOW their guests, but can also put on showcase events for hotel and waterpark guests.”
Video recap from Adam Muller’s training trip to Bora Parc at Village Vacances Valcartier.
Although we are not the operators of these venues, it’s very important to FlowRider and ADG that our FlowRider owners know that our focus on safety and the experience of their guests is of utmost importance. In fact, these post-installation training sessions are included in the purchase of our machines. As with most things, there is a right/safe way and there is a wrong/risky way. Adam, Marshall Myrman and the rest of the team are extremely passionate about spreading that message and making sure that the thrill of surfing we spread all over the world remains that way – thrilling!
We wish Valcartier Vacation Village the best of luck during their opening week! A fresh staff gets to show off their fresh spaces to loyal and brand new guests alike.
Stay tuned here for the latest news and info at Valcartier Vacation Village.
See Ya On The Wave!