Jan. 7, 2005 -- With the death toll from the Indian Ocean tsunamis at 140,000 and rising, water park operators in Wisconsin and elsewhere are considering dropping the tsunami name from their attractions.

"Who could have guessed last summer when we opened this attraction that we'd be dealing with this worldwide catastrophe?" said Heidi Fendos, spokeswoman for Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells. The resort opened its Great Tsunami outdoor wave pool in July, marketing it as the largest wave pool in the Dells area.

The Lucke family, which owns Wilderness Resort, is considering a name change for Great Tsunami, one of several attractions at the indoor and outdoor water park. Fendos said the resort's owners are concerned that the Great Tsunami name could offend people who associate it with the Dec. 26 natural disaster.

The resort is also responding to the disaster by donating a portion of its January revenue to the UNICEF relief fund for tsunami victims. Wilderness also will create two yearlong donation spots within the resort where guests can contribute to UNICEF, Fendos said.

Other water parks also are dealing with the negative connotations associated with the tsunami name.

At Dover Lake Waterpark in Sagamore Hills, Ohio, the tsunami name was dropped from the wave pool, which is now referred to as Whitecap Wave Pool, said Amy Smigelski, assistant manager. She said the change was made out of respect for the tsunamis' victims.

Sandcastle Water Park in Pittsburgh is thinking about dropping Mon Tsunami as the name for its wave pool, said Mary Lou Rosemeyer, public relations director.

Like the other outdoor wave pools, Mon Tsunami won't open until this summer. But Sandcastle already has completed TV spots and other marketing materials for the coming season. If the Mon Tsunami name is dropped, those ads will be edited to reflect the change, Rosemeyer said.

Water park slides and other attractions often carry names associated with storms, such as hurricanes and cyclones, and those names are not dropped because of their real life counterparts.

But the scope of the Indian Ocean tragedy, which ranks among history's largest natural disasters, struck a nerve, Rosemeyer said.

Corporate identity consultant Tony Spaeth agreed that the tsunamis' immense death toll may be the main reason for the name changes.

But Spaeth, whose firm, Identityworks, is based in Rye, N.Y., said the water park operators should wait about a month, and perhaps convene a focus group, before making any decisions. He said the horror and grief now associated with the word tsunami might fade before the outdoor wave pools open this summer.

Some water park fans were unfamiliar with the tsunami name when the wave pool opened at Wilderness Resort last summer, Fendos said. Many asked what the word meant, she said.

"Now, everyone will know," she said.

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