Fun factories.(From The Editor)(Editorial)

For someone who likes having fun, it's hard to be in a better business than waterparks. I mean, we're talking about an industry that spends countless hours of serious time and money to come up with the latest in slip-sliding thrills.

But as fun as waterparks are, they leave a little something to be desired for anyone over a certain age. While kids enjoy laughing and screaming for hours (and hours), many adults, including those in the higher-income brackets and those without children, have a slightly more sophisticated, more quiet, idea of fun. For years, American waterparks have done little to appeal to this demographic.

But as Aquatics International's Rin-rin Yu points out in this month's feature, "Adult Playgrounds," two trends are converging that promise to dramatically reshape the industry.

The first is something everyone is talking about: indoor waterpark resorts. It used to be that a waterpark only had to entertain a family for several hours or a day. But with the advent of the indoor waterpark, the entertainment has to continue over an entire weekend or longer. That includes fun for ...