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.