It's about time someone made waves at Ocean Breeze

The first question everyone asks Kieran Burke, former Six Flags CEO and the new owner of Ocean Breeze Waterpark, is, will Hugh Mongous stay? Will the giant gorilla in swim trunks survive massive renovations and remain the landmark of the Virginia Beach water park?

That's when Burke pulls the ol' switcheroo. Would you keep Hugh Mongous?

Of course, I say. He is as close to legend as it gets.

Well, sentiment is on his side, Burke says.

Despite the fact that plowed snow still dots the corners of parking lots and walks outside seem like opportunities for frostbite, there is, for the first time in a long time, excitement about Ocean Breeze.

Burke is energized by his $7 million acquisition, and why shouldn't he be? His newest playground is next door to what he describes as a world-class aquarium. He is enthusiastic about the city's convention center, as well as hotels planned for the future. Military personnel, he says, are particularly loyal water-park customers.

He promises improvements. He's committed to a "proper" marketing effort, the kind that makes it impossible to go anywhere in Virginia Beach without thinking about water slides.

Next month, his ownership team plans to announce at least two new attractions for the summer season that begins in May. At least one additional attraction already is planned for the 2012 season.

And if he is so excited, if he is so committed to starting with a clean slate that even the idea of getting rid of the untouchable Hugh Mongous is on the table, that must mean he is serious about renovation.

It's about time somebody talked about the park without saying "meh."

For years, Ocean Breeze has been written off as second-best, largely tourist-driven entertainment. Water Country USA in Williamsburg was the splash station of choice.

But Burke says all the right things.

"The park has not had a lot of new investment in the last 10 years." It was not marketed the way it should have been. "We are going to make Ocean Breeze into a first-class water park." This is not a one--inning game. He says he's not in the business to make quick improvements and flip the property at a higher price to the next bidder. "We feel the park had the chance to be a special place."

Last year, Burke and his team began transforming a Nashville water park that had withered from the same inattention as Ocean Breeze. They added a state-of-the-art wave pool and a lazy river. They reopened campsites. They opened a restaurant. This summer, they're building a four-story attraction with ropes and geysers and trees that dump buckets of water on visitors. They made sure every aspect of the property was more festive.

The result was good enough for an uptick in attendance and what, without giving specific figures, Burke described as a "very solid year."

Similar plans are in the works for Virginia Beach.

Ocean Breeze has been a point of fascination for longtime residents, in part because it never quite lived up to its hype. It's been too long since it was on the A-list of attractions. It was never fun enough, or received good enough reviews, to suggest to out-of-town guests, especially when the sand and beach and water are right there.

But talk to Burke and hear him say that this market appealed to him because "in Virginia Beach, there's a limited number of things to do" and that he views this as "a home run for us" and that he's never been welcomed into a community like he has in Hampton Roads, and it feels right.

It feels like either he's been in the amusement park business for a while and knows how to take people on a ride or that he saw what the rest of us have seen for years - a water park that could be so much better.

Mike Gruss, (757) 446-2277, mike.gruss@pilotonline.com