Volume 2, No. 13. July 12, 2002
New Arrivals
It’s
a water theme park!
Pearl River Resort in Choctaw, Mississippi, announces the arrival of Geyser
Falls Water Theme Park, July 9, 2002. Measurements: 15 acres (six hectares),
13 slides, one wavepool, one 1,200-foot-long (364-meter) continuous river, two
interactive play areas, one arcade, two restaurants, two stores, 300 in-season
employees. Delivered by Cross Country Parks, EDSA Cloward, Herb Ramsaier Planning
and Design, Michael Lee Design, Pat Scanlon and Associates and Whitewater West.
The
waterpark built by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians on their reservation’s
casino resort came to roaring life Tuesday. Literally. The noontime ceremony
concluded with Chief Philip Martin encouraging everybody in the audience to
roar. The goal was to wake up a grizzly bear standing at the back of the park’s
wavepool, which itself roars—accompanied by 50 foot-high (15-meter) geysers—whenever
the wavepool starts up.
The
park, not yet completed, then officially opened to some 1,500 guests who came
out on a steaming hot day for central Mississippi’s—and, arguably,
the Southeast’s—most extensively themed waterpark. “A lot of
people were saying they’d never seen anything like this, especially in
this neck of the woods,” said Steve Mayer, a general management consultant
at the park working for Cross Country Parks.
Highlights
include the Western Hemisphere’s first Boomerango slide by Whitewater West
and Creaky Leaky Water Factory, an interactive play structure with 100
different water features. The wave pool opened the next day as did the Lil’
Squirts Hollow, a customized 18-foot-tall (five-meter) tall tree featuring
water-spraying branches and surrounded by carved rocks that also shoot water.
This weekend the park will reach full operation when its two big slide structures
open.
\“We knew we would be opening sometime between July 4 and July 10, which is the beginning of the Choctaw Indian Fair (a four-day music, sports and cultural festival)," Mayer said. "That is why we wanted to get the park open at least partially.”
The
waterpark is just the first phase in a major expansion of the Pearl River Resort's
offerings, which are to include an adjacent white sand lagoon with snorkeling
trails, paddle boats and beach club, a 280-acre (113-hectare) lake stocked with
fish and a 250-room hotel. The resort is also getting a $117 million, 571-room
Golden Moon Hotel and Casino. In addition to Geyser Falls’ opening, the
tribe dedicated on Tuesday evening the opening of Hollywood Star Cars, an exhibit
of vehicles from motion pictures, and Startacular light and water show.
With the slate of opening day activities, a couple dozen journalists descended on the resort from around the state. Geyser Falls is aiming at first for a 75-mile-radius market, but with the theming and in conjunction with the other resort offerings, Pearl River Resort is positioning its new waterpark as destination tourism draw.
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