Volume 1, No. 18. October 5, 2001
New Arrivals
It's a waterpark!
Grand Country Square in Branson,
Missouri, announces the arrival of Splash Country Indoors, September 21, 2001.
Measurements: 20,000 square feet (6,061 square meters) , 2,000-square-foot (606
meters) toddler area, 150-foot (45.5 meters) lazy river, three-story treehouse
with two tube slides, two spas holding up to 20 people each and a recreation
pool with three basketball goals. Delivered by EMPEX Watertoys, Fugleberg Koch/Group
One Entertainment, Mendota Engineering, Neuman Pools, ProSlide Technology, SCS
Interactives, Superior Foam, Turner Construction, Water Technology and West
Coast Netting.
The two little boys stood outside the door to the new indoor expansion of Grand Country Square's Splash Country waterpark. It was 9:30 a.m. (09,30) Sunday morning, two days after the park had quietly opened to guests of the Square's 319 hotel rooms. Glenn Robinson, Grand Country Square's founder and owner, came upon the boys and told them the doors would not open for another 30 minutes. "Do you mind if we wait here?" one of the boys asked. Robinson said, "Sure, you can," whereupon one of the boys said, "You have an amazing place here for kids."
That was all the dedication Robinson needed for his new installation, though he is planning an official ribbon cutting October 18 with 1,500 invited guests and local dignitaries. Of all the ventures Robinson has pursued in his retail/entertainment center, which includes restaurants, music theaters, souvenir shops and the hotel, the 1999 opening of the mine-themed Splash Country ranks among his favorites. He loves watching three generations of families play in the park, and his business sense further tingles at the incremental increases in booked hotel rooms and rates guests are willing to pay that the waterpark brought. "It seemed to me that in the last few years of retail we were not seeing near as many families as we used to," Robinson said. "The first summer we opened up the outdoor waterpark, we had more beautiful families than I'd ever seen in business before."
The indoor addition, which carries on the outdoor park's mine theme plus uses 55-foot tall windows to give the lazy river the feel of a real mountain river, gives the hotel a year-long water play element. In just the two weeks since its unannouced opening, Robinson has seen a noticeable increase in families with pre-school-age children visiting on weekdays. "It's amazed me."
Obviously, he has a great place there for business.
See the November issue of Amusement Today for a profile on Splash Country Indoors.