The Park at OWA Transforms into Tropic Falls in 2022

© OWA

The Park at OWA, a gated amusement park located at the greater OWA development in Foley, Alabama, has announced that it is now known as Tropic Falls as of 2022.  The park opened in 2017 and has steadily expanded its offerings for guests, and in honor of a brand new indoor waterpark development the amusement side of the property has been renamed.  OWA now offers the Tropic Falls Theme Park and the Tropic Falls Indoor Waterpark among its many amenities.

The 14 acre amusement park offers 23 different attractions and will undergo a retheming that will see the park "be filled with tropical touches allowing guests to feel like they have stepped into an island paradise."  The changes include a total makeover of the park's entrance area along with the addition of tropical theming throughout the park.

© OWA

The tropical theming (seen above in concept art for the new front gate) is fitting considering this year will see the opening of a $70 million indoor water park at OWA.  The expansion also includes an outdoor wave pool with additional amenities, and will be located adjacent to the Tropic Falls Amusement Park.

© OWA

© OWA

The Topic Falls "water park boasts 100,000 sq. ft of indoor space featuring a retractable roof and sidewall, eleven total water slides, a lazy river, and much more! Thrill-seekers are sure to enjoy the six slides available at the slide tower including Tangerine Scream, a 75’ free-fall slide with a drop floor. The water park will also feature outdoor amenities including a 30,000 sq. ft wave pool named Big Water Bay, a surf simulator, private cabana rentals, and an outdoor dining location named Smugglers Café."

 

The park has created a new toucan mascot that will debut this season as well, with a name chosen by fans of the park.  The Tropic Falls Amusement Park is open now on select days and the Tropic Falls Indoor Waterpark is expected to open around May, 2022.

New Indoor/Outdoor Water Park Concept Art Update From OWA

© OWA

OWA, a large entertainment destination area on the Gulf Coast in Alabama, has provided new views of their new indoor/outdoor water park that will open in 2022.  The facility will join The Park at OWA, an outdoor amusement park, and Downtown OWA, with shopping, retail and a hotel.  The project is now under construction and the property has set up a web page for it, but there is not a lot of detail at this time aside from these new renderings.

© OWA

The majority of the water park attractions will be located inside a building that is able to open on the sides to feed into the outdoor section.  From these drawings the outdoor area appears to contain a large wave pool, a surf simulator, plenty of cabanas and lounge areas and some additional amenities.  It certainly looks like the park plans to have "dive-in" movie showings on a large screen set up at the end of the wave pool.

 

© OWA

© OWA

The water attractions offered indoor includes a selection of slides, a water play area, lazy river and more.   On these conceptual drawings you can see what looks like a selection of Proslide attractions, including both tube and body slides.  The giant octopus tentacles are a nice touch, too!  The park does not look to carry a distinct theme, but it's always fun to have some theming around nonetheless.

© OWA

As for the location of the new indoor/outdoor water park, it appears as though it will take up a currently empty location just to the east of the amusement park.  The above plan shows how it will fit among the existing attractions.  The amusement park's latest addition, an indoor interactive dark ride, can be seen right up against the new indoor water park near the top of the image.

 

Stay tuned for future updates as the construction continues.

Another Round of Park Reopening Announcements

© Kentucky Kingdom

I like posting these!  Here are the latest parks to officially announce reopening dates.  There are several more who are in states that have clarified when parks can open, but we prefer to wait to hear from the parks directly.

Up first is Kentucky Kingdom, which will reopen to visitors for the 2020 season on June 29th.  The water park, Hurricane Bay, will open soon after that.  While more details will come as the opening date nears, for now the park is saying that it "will operate with enhanced sanitizing and cleaning procedures and safety protocols to provide the best possible protection of guests and team members during the current coronavirus crisis."

Also, as a huge plus to the public, they have lowered their gate prices to $29.95 and 2020 season passes are only $49.95.  For people who already purchased 2020 seasons passes (they say there are 15K of them), they have made those passes also valid for the 2021 season.  Nice!

© Aquatica San Antonio

Aquatica San Antonio, located adjacent to SeaWorld San Antonio, will open on June 6th, the park has just announced.  Right now water parks are allowed to open in Texas, but not theme parks so SeaWorld San Antonio will have to open later.

The park has spent the past two months creating a full plan of how to operate the park safely, and they can't wait to welcome guests back and show them a good time.

This news is so new that the park's website isn't even updated yet, but watch for details soon.  The park has also confirmed that their new attraction, Tonga Twister, will be open for visitors on June 6th.

© Arnold's Park

Arnold's Park, located in Iowa, is a small classic lakeside park operation and it's wonderful to see that they are planning on reopening on June 3rd.  We've seen some parks of this size opt to not operate in 2020, so it's nice to see that Arnold's Park hasn't had to go in that direction.

The park hasn't set up a dedicated page that details any changes that have come from the pandemic.  However they have stated on social media that they are setting up a full set of new safety and cleaning procedures to cover the entire property.

For now visitors can look forward to rides on the classic Legend wooden coaster in just a short while!

© Bay Beach Amusement Park

Bay Beach Amusement Park, located up in Wisconsin, is planning to open for the 2020 season on June 26th.  They would like to hold two test days, on June 20th and 21st, with tickets being sold first come first served on those days.  So long as those practice days go well, the park intends to fully open on the 26th.

The purpose of the two test days is to make sure that the elaborate safety plan that has been put into place will work properly with visitors.  I'm sure the park will have no problem finding people who want to come out for the test and try out the Zippin Pippin for the first time this year!

© OWA

The Park at OWA, located in Alabama, will welcome back guests starting June 5th.  The amusement park is one of the anchor attractions at OWA, along with a large downtown shopping and dining area. 

A whole set of guidelines for visiting the park have been published, available at this link.  Face masks will not be required, but strongly encouraged.  They will do temperature screenings at the entrance, and strictly enforce social distancing throughout the park and while on the rides.

Additionally, the park will be limiting attendance levels like we've seen with many other parks.  As such, they will be selling a non-rider wrist band for $5.00 in order to keep track of the total number of guests on site.

The Park at OWA Opens New Mystic Mansion Dark Ride

© Gulf Coast News Today

The Park at OWA has completed another ride expansion, opening their brand new dark ride named Mystic Mansion.  Visitors to the Mystic Mansion ride in special Ghost Tracker Vehicles as they blast their way through the mansion, which is naturally filled to the brim with ghosts.  The family attraction was added to the park to further diversify its offerings, and also to give visitors a break from the sun inside an air-conditioned building.

© The Park at OWA

Before riding through the mansion visitors are greeted by Professor Phearstruck who explains "the history of Mystic Mansion, its curse and who haunts it now."  The main ghost of the attraction is Boocifer, and riders blast at ghosts throughout 15 different scenes as they chase him down.  As they blast the ghouls they accumulate points, allowing the riders to see who in the vehicle comes out with the most points.  That interactive aspect makes the Mystic Mansion a great attraction to ride over and over - to improve your score!

This article from the Gulf Coast Today News has additional details on Mystic Mansion.  The ride was created by Sally Corp., one of the industry's top dark ride creators.

If you'd like to take a trip inside the Mystic Mansion, check out the point of view video below, released by the park.

The Park at OWA Building New Mystic Mansion Dark Ride

© Sally Corporation

Going into its third summer season The Park at OWA has announced a brand new dark ride, created by Sally Corporation and named Mystic Mansion.

According to Sally, the new ride will be a variation of their popular Ghost Blasters attraction, which has been installed in around 10 parks to date.  The Park at OWA's version will feature "the best scenes and gags of past versions, plus the addition of a few new surprises.  Four-passenger ride cars will take riders through 13 whimsical and spooky rooms of the haunted mansion, all rendered in glowing, surrealistically colorful ultraviolet paint."  As with other Sally Ghost Blaster rides, passengers will blast ghosts for points (there will be upwards of 90 targets), creating an interactive and competitive aspect during the 3 minute ride.

The park wanted to build an indoor dark ride for a way to allow guests to enjoy an air conditioned attraction, giving them a break from the sun.  A dark ride, especially one from Sally, is a great way to accomplish this.

© The Park at OWA

“We knew we wanted an indoor attraction, something engaging and fun for families. When we decided on an interactive dark ride, there was no better choice than the specialists at Sally,” said Director of OWA Marketing/PR, Kristin Hellmich.  “Of course we want quality, something that will stand the test of time, but what we’re really after is having park guests leave with a memory that they will want to relive, time and time again. And that’s what you get with a Sally ride."

Also new this summer at the park will be a non-rider pass, allowing visitors to enter the park with groups but not pay to ride.  Paying guests will be given wrist bands.

At the greater OWA destination, a brand new Paula Deen restaurant, candy shop, competitive gaming center along with a 400 seat theater showing Legends in Concert, will open this year.

The Park at OWA Set to Officially Open on July 21st

© The Park at OWA

Not much longer to wait!  The Park at OWA has announced that their official opening date will be July 21st, 2017, just a few weeks from now.  The new amusement park is part of the larger OWA development in Foley, Alabama, which will feature overnight accommodations along with a large shopping, dining and entertainment area.

The Park at OWA has also updated their web page to include details on all the rides they have, along with hours and ticket information.  The park has been exclusively been supplied by Zamperla for rides, featuring 21 in total.  There are rides aimed at all park visitors, from small children to adults looking for thrilling attractions.

Above is a video that the park shared of their biggest ride, Rollin' Thunder, going through test runs.  The coaster features a vertical lift hill, 115 foot vertical plunge and several inversions.  There will be two other roller coasters, a spinning wild mouse style ride named Crazy Mouse and for kids the Southern Express.

Other thrill rides include an Air Race, an Endeavour named Alabama Wham'a, Twister, which has a spinning and inverting pendulum, and Freedom Flyer, a vertical swing ride.

All day tickets are listed as starting at $34.99, with a season pass running $89.99.

The Park at OWA Completes Rollin' Thunder Coaster

© The Park at OWA

Part of the brand new Park at OWA, a new Zamperla designed coaster, named Rollin' Thunder, has had its last track and supports installed.  Featuring blue track and bright white supports, the ride is the largest of the new amusement park - which is a component of the much larger OWA development in Foley, Alabama.

© The Park at OWA

Rollin' Thunder is one of many Zamperla rides at the property, I believe that every ride that will open with the park will be from the manufacturer.  The coaster is a clone of the Thunderbolt, which opened in Coney Island in 2014.  It starts with a vertical lift to a maximum height of 115 feet, then a vertical plunge down at speeds of 56 miles per hour.

The layout includes the vertical loop seen above, along with a zero-g roll, dive loop and a corkscrew - four inversions in total.

© The Park at OWA

There are also several air-time hills built into the layout, the top of one was the final track piece that was installed (above).  Rollin' Thunder runs the length of the park in the dead center of it, with fountains and planters running under it.

© The Park at OWA

Not much of the coaster is standing in this photo, but you can see the supports and footers for it in the center of the park.  You can also make out plenty of other rides that are already in place, along with plenty of trees - much needed in the Alabama sun!  The park shared an aerial video taken just a handful of days later that shows even more rides in place than in this photo - check it out here.

OWA will feature not only the amusement park but also a large shopping and dining area, a central lake, and at least one hotel (a Marriott) when it opens sometime this summer.

New Amusement Park Opening in 2017 on Alabama's Gulf Coast

© Owa

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians have announced a major leisure development in Alabama, near the beaches of the gulf area.  Named Owa, the complex will contain retail, lodging, food and beverage, entertainment and a small amusement park.  Owa means "big water" in Muskogee Creek Indian language, fitting since the development will be centered around a 14 acre lake.

© Owa

The Owa complex will spread over 520 acres, but most important to us are the 14 acres that will contain an amusement park - which also happens to be included in the first phase of the project.  The park is slated to open in May of 2017 - Memorial Day Weekend if all works out.  The images above and below this text are from a fly-through video of the property that was released - while that sun glare is blocking some of the park we can still make out some rides.  There's a high swing type ride, a Disk'O Coaster, Air Race, Wave Swinger, a wild mouse style coaster, and plenty of children's rides.

© Owa

But there's also a fairly large blue roller coaster running directly through the center of the park, lined with water fountains on either side.  The ride is pretty inaccurately described in this article as one of the longest ones anywhere, but there are other worthy details shared there.  The park will have 20 rides, six or seven of which are mid-sized, then I'm assuming the rest are for kids.  The roller coaster is a copy of the Thunderbolt at Luna Park in Coney Island.

© Owa

The press materials for Owa include a gigantic layout of the entire property, but this is a zoomed in area showing just the amusement park.  The owners have also said that they saved room to double its size if crowds call for it.  You can see the roller coaster in the center of the park, with two distinct kiddie areas and the bigger rides over on the right.  The park is fairly modest and it looks like Zamperla scored a nice contract here!  I see at least 4 rides that would come from the manufacturer, but I'm sure there are more... perhaps even all of them.

© Owa

The best part of writing about this new park (wish it had a real name!) is that it isn't just a dream... as seen in this photo there are actually footings already in the ground for the coaster!  It is always risky writing about a new planned park, since so many don't happen, but this photo is extremely encouraging.

© Owa

Future plans for Owa include a full water park, the layout for which can be seen above, several more hotels and plenty additional retail.  For now, you can keep up to date on the Owa project via their official website.