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Grand Texas Theme Park At 23065 Highway 242


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The site is inactive. Opening was planned this spring.

Thanks for the update.

Their website says this: Unfortunately, our Grand Opening will be delayed, but we can assure you, it will be worth the wait, so keep checking in!

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for the update.

Their website says this: Unfortunately, our Grand Opening will be delayed, but we can assure you, it will be worth the wait, so keep checking in!

So, what's the status on this development? Is it still moving forward?

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We already have something like this in the area: The Oil Ranch, which I believe is in Waller or Hempstead. Is it still open? I haven't been since I was in junior high school in the early 90s.

Yes, the Oil Ranch is still going -- we took all of our kids there at various times a few years back...

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  • 1 year later...

We may need to move this thread to The “Woodlands and Northern Pines”

http://www.grandtexa...t_info.html#faq

"As part of the development process, Grand Texas has determined three different desired sites. Two are in Montgomery County, while the other is in Fort Bend County."

maybe we can keep it out of as many discussions of the woodlands as possible....oops, now i've done it again. i'd just as soon move it to "going up" or accidentally just move it to a sugarland thread. ;) heh heh......

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lame lame lame!!! i heard about this project but didn't know the details. it's as bad an idea as earthquest. blech!!!

Why are Grand Texas and EarthQuest bad ideas? Don't you think that Houston could use a big theme park or two? A lot of people in Houston are spending their theme park dollars in San Antonio and Arlington when they could be spending it right here in the Houston area. I hope both parks are built.

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Why are Grand Texas and EarthQuest bad ideas? Don't you think that Houston could use a big theme park or two? A lot of people in Houston are spending their theme park dollars in San Antonio and Arlington when they could be spending it right here in the Houston area. I hope both parks are built.

a real theme park, away from hundreds of homes in established neighborhoods, with a decent concept wouldn't bother me so much. focusing on "texas" themes? for god's sake. i grew up in texas and we are texas themed to death. the rodeo, rodeo/fairs, country music, cows, trains, oil........all old news and super boring. i dread the future promotion of such a place included in the woodlands marketing materials! ".......and nearby grand texas theme park". oh my. :(

put it in pearland or pasadena please.......or even galveston (love you galveston, but you're a tourist town). why tear down forested areas for a theme park when there are tens of thousands of empty, cheaper acres elsewhere.

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a real theme park, away from hundreds of homes in established neighborhoods, with a decent concept wouldn't bother me so much. focusing on "texas" themes? for god's sake. i grew up in texas and we are texas themed to death. the rodeo, rodeo/fairs, country music, cows, trains, oil........all old news and super boring. i dread the future promotion of such a place included in the woodlands marketing materials! ".......and nearby grand texas theme park". oh my. :(

put it in pearland or pasadena please.......or even galveston (love you galveston, but you're a tourist town). why tear down forested areas for a theme park when there are tens of thousands of empty, cheaper acres elsewhere.

If they are going to tear down forested areas anyway - to build housing developments, strip centers, car dealerships or warehouses (which North Houston has plenty of... then I would prefer a theme park in that spot. At least a theme park will allow the masses to use the forested area for recreation (assuming they don't completely clear cut it - which I too would be against). I personally don't have a problem with using Texas themes for Texas tourism. Some of the things, like that ranch area, could be interesting for people (like me) who never came anywhere near a farm or ranches.

Apparently, it is a monumental task building a theme park from scratch. At this point, I don't think the Houston area can afford to be too picky when it comes to large theme park - as we have NONE now. Successful theme parks usually evolve and expand to stay in business over the years. If Grand Texas starts out modest, there is always hope that it will grow into something great. Six Flags over Texas and Magic Mountain both started out very small and even a bit cheesy but evolved into great theme parks over the years. The key and the hard part is getting one started in the first place. Houston is losing a lot of revenue which could be staying right in our own metro if a theme park is built.

Edited by Hugh Stone
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  • 5 weeks later...

It appears you can eliminate the Tomball location for the theme park. Following is an article in the Community Impact newspaper for a new business park.

http://impactnews.com/articles/business-park-to-capitalize-on-exxonmobil-campus-relocation/photos.html#2843

The parks original planned location was listed as 11598 Holderrieth Road. The planned business park is shown in the same location.

TOM201204-01-1m1.jpg

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  • 8 months later...

This came out of nowhere wouldn't ya say?

 

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/humble/news/grand-texas-theme-park-continues-plans-to-move-into-east/article_502edc4a-9c53-51c3-9dc2-3eefa9ac345b.html?mode=story

 

 

Grand Texas Theme park continues plans to move into East Montgomery County
 
 
511e6a53a2d9b.preview-300.jpg Grand Texas Theme park continues plans to move into East Montgomery County
 
 
 

Posted: Friday, February 15, 2013 10:58 am

By JENNIFER SUMMER

New job creation, money back into the county and surrounding school districts and entertainment are just a few of the things the Grand Texas Theme Park will bring to the community.

The plans continue to progress for the educational theme park as developers work through agreements with the East Montgomery County Improvement District, Montgomery County and the Montgomery County Municipal Utilities District #4.

The Grand Texas Theme Park is slated to be located around FM 242 and Interstate 69 which means ad valorem tax will benefit both the New Caney and Splendora Independent School Districts.

Representatives discussed the park and how it will benefit the community at the EMCID board meeting Feb. 14.

“Grand Texas is the name for both the theme park and the entertainment district. This is a theme park based on Texas history and culture,” Monty Galland with the Grand Texas Theme Park said at the EMCID meeting.

“The park will feature the elements of a typical theme park with a couple of major roller coasters and carousel to name a few but it will also have elements that you will not typically find in a theme park like a museum, a focus on live entertainment like music and dance and an exploration of Texas history and culture.”

The projected closing date on the land is April 30, 2013 and between April and October 2013, they intend to have all of their pre-development, engineering and planning completed.

By mid-October, they plan to have site work and infrastructure begin and they are looking at an opening date of March 12, 2015.

The total capital cost of the water park, the theme park, the amphitheater and the paintball is $118 million.

The peripheral development such as the restaurants and such will add another $95 million.

The total development costs are $205 to $220 million.

Information about the Grand Texas Theme Park was first introduced at January board meeting as a compliment to the Earth Quest park.

They are continuing with the developers for Earth Quest Adventures theme park, Contour Entertainment, who presented updated information to the board at their December meeting.

EMCID required for Contour Entertainment to meet three requirements including hiring a qualified investment firm, purchase the land where EarthQuest is set to be situated and present an investment package proposal detailing fundraising and efforts leading them to meet their financial goal.

“A main goal of EMCID is to drive tourism to our area which will benefit all of the businesses in our community as well because families will travel to the area and go to the restaurants and stay at the hotels,” Frank McCrady, president of EMCID, added.

“The addition of a second theme park will give families a reason to stay a night or two at our hotels. We are excited about the possibilities of this coming to our community.”

Grand Texas Theme Park has budgeted to reinvest between $33 and $42 million over the first seven years back into East Montgomery County with a total economic impact of $334 million over time.

The organizers of the Grand Texas Theme Park hope to incorporate everything from ragtime music to zydeco music to Tex-Mex food; they will have a little bit of something for everyone.

The park will feature four dining establishments, a full-service hotel with 200-400 rooms, two limited service hotels with a combined 175-210 rooms and reception hall and chapel.

“We want to make sure all of the elements are successful and there is enough traffic to support the business so we are planning very conservatively,” Galland added.

“This will also bring a lot of new jobs into the community that could truly make a difference for a teenager who is looking for a job or a family who is looking for an additional job to help pay the bills or more savings. Also, this will benefits teachers since there will be a lot of educational elements at the park; they could work during the summer to teach about Texas history and culture.”

They are expecting first year attendance to be around 665,000 rising to 904,000 at the theme park and for the core elements to boast an attendance of 1.4 million growing to a little over 1.8 million.

The entertainment district will be anchored by four primary elements which are the theme park, Big Rivers Water Park, the Pine Grove amphitheater, which has an 8,000 person capacity and a baseball stadium.

They will also have the Gunslinger’s Paintball experience for guests to enjoy.

“With the theme park being the anchor, it is very important for us to have a great team. We have a very strong team including Chuck Hendrix, who oversees the planning and operations for the theme park. He has years of experience since he was previously responsible for operations at all of the North American Six Flags and former general manager for Six Flags’ Astroworld,” Galland said.

The rest of the team have all worked at various theme and water parks in the Houston area and retail areas like the Marketplace in the Woodlands and for the most part, live in the Houston area so that is one of the reasons they chose to open a theme park in the East Montgomery County community.

The Grand Texas Theme Park has partnered with Brae Burn Construction who have a $100 million bonding capability and they will help with construction once they officially sign on to the location of the park and they make their agreements with the three entities.

They also plan to have an agri-tainment arena where the guests can learn about different things like how to drive a tractor, where to plant crops, how to milk a cow and enjoy petting zoos and horseback riding.

“That is what this park is all about is having families interacting with each other and the animals. We want to incorporate the educational aspects of the theme park with fun. It is an exciting venture that we are excited to begin,” Galland said.

 

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Someone explain this to me.  So a bunch of big-shots with more money than brains get together around a conference table and watch some huckster with a PowerPoint with a grand vision of (fill in the blank).  And then somebody writes an article about it.  And people talk about it for 5 minutes.  Is that what this is?

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O PLEASE go to Grand Texas, Red Scare. It just won't be any fun without a grumpy old man hanging around looking miserable and b!tching incessantly.  

 

cu3Sq.png

 

"Why would they come to our concert just to boo us?" :blink:

 

Besides, you're WAY off. The original plan was not even what would be considered a theme park by any normal person.  The plan did not include any rides, roller coasters or all the other fun stuff that their (admittedly cheezy) website claim this incarnation of the park is going to include. There certainly was not a water park in the plan. It was basically a family friendly Texas themed outdoor activity spot that was to cater to birthday parties or company picnics and such.

 

This plan is an actual theme park which could very easily offer as much as AstroWorld ever did, in time. Not as grandiose as EarthQuest to be sure, but many parks that eventually made a big impact in the biz, started off cheezy and small. Magic Mountain started off as a kiddy park with 2 coasters in 1971 and years later it became a major tourist destination. Six Flags Over Texas had very similar beginnings as Grand Texas and in time grew into what it is today. 

 

10 times better? At least. Do your research. Find an old article from 2009 when the park was planned for Tomball and compare it to what Monty Galland is proposing today.

 

I'm just hoping for the best. Houston could use this. No need to rain on people's parade. If it this isn't your bag, I'm sure there are other places (and threads) that offer things you do like. I hope.

 

 

 

Edited by Mister X
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  • 3 weeks later...

I hate the name Grand Texas Theme Park. Why does everything have to be Texas this, Texas that? Earthquest was more international and cosmopolitan. I'm tired of hearing Texas proud, Texas toast, Texas size, etc. Houston is already stereotyped as cowboys, country accents, and cattle. Houston is more diverse than that.

Edited by treblelino
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I hate the name Grand Texas Theme Park. Why does everything have to be Texas this, Texas that? Earthquest was more international and cosmopolitan. I'm tired of hearing Texas proud, Texas toast, Texas size, etc. Houston is already stereotyped as cowboys, country accents, and cattle. Houston is more diverse than that.

Texas has a huge amount of recognition pretty much everywhere in the world for all of the reasons that you mentioned above. I can absolutely see why they would want to utilize all of that brand equity instead of trying to create something completely new and different.

BTW, they have a website up. http://www.grandtexas.net/grandtexasthemeparkB.html

Edited by livincinco
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Technically the website is “not up” and has been that way for years. If you go to the home page http://www.grandtexas.net/ you are not allowed access to the site. They are not smart enough to know that search engines easily jump the barrier.

 

Look at the location: “As part of the development process, Grand Texas has determined three different desired sites. Two are in Montgomery County, while the other is in Fort Bend County. We can assure you, this information will be provided as soon as readily available.”

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It sounds like their may be some 'real' money behind this project, but so far, it is not evident in any social media or websites. So far, the graphics released are strictly 'amateur hour'. I would expect to see a 'real' website and better renderings after they close on the land in E. Montgomery county  after April.

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