"People are ready to get out and enjoy life again," he said. The park's old carousel, with its hand-carved wooden figures, went on the auction block in the 1980s, providing about 1 million that owner Paul Nelson invested back into the park and its. "I am doing a new 10-year plan and I plan on spending over $50 million in the next 10 years," he said. Nelson, who is 88, said he's ready to return to a more ambitious pace of expansion. In the short-term, Nelson said he's planning about $1 million worth of improvements over the next year or so. Nelson said he's looking forward to a good season and insists that he's hopeful about Waldameer's future. Nelson raises an even weightier concern, the potential effects of a continuing war between Russia and Ukraine and what that could mean. "What I am most concerned about is inflation and how that will affect people's spending." "I feel pretty good about our plan," Gorman said. His biggest remaining concern is something over which he has little control. "I think we are going to try to prevent any bad behavior that might reflect on the fun," Gorman said. Gorman said the park has addressed security concerns raised last summer by making plans for a larger security presence and by hiring more off-duty Millcreek Township Police officers. Having older people work with younger people is a blessing." "We are signing up some good kids as well as some older people. Water World wanted to replace an existing under utilized wave pool and create a new, exciting and unique attraction that would re-energize the once popular. "We would like to get a couple hundred more," Nelson said. By Wednesday of this week, Nelson estimated that number had topped 500. Gorman said recently that he had hired about 350 employees. Those efforts seem to be producing results. Gorman and Nelson said the park raised pay rates, offered bonuses and improved benefits in the hopes of finding the help needed for the park to run smoothly. Ultimately, the park moved to a weekends-only schedule for the last two weeks of the season. The shortage became especially apparent during a busy weekend at the end of July that saw management forced to shut down a number of rides for a couple of hours at a time because there weren't enough employees to run them. The park, one of the region's largest summer employers, fell well short of recruiting the usual number of staff members in 2021. Related coverage The pandemic started 2 years ago and Erie's job market still isn't back to normal While the pandemic and a long-delayed opening left in ruins any chance for a profitable season in 2020, a worker shortage that has vexed employers across the country, hit home at Waldameer in 2021. "We have nothing to announce but we have our eyes on several things (park improvements) that we will hopefully make a decision about halfway through the summer," Gorman said. That doesn't mean Waldameer management has resigned itself to a long future of living with the status quo.
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