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Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier At 2501 Seawall Blvd.


tw2ntyse7en

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In the news recently, it was made known that Landry's is getting all of their financial "ducks in a row" in what looks to be an attempt to purchase something big. Citykid added in another post:

citykid09 said:
Maybe he is about to build a theme park for Houston!

A nice theme park is what Houston needs, I am tired of Astroworld.

This leaves me wondering Houstonians, what theme park would we want next? Which would we benefit the most from? Where would we put it?

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Landrys owner Tilliman is not even thinking about building an theme park. He didn't even mention nothing about a park period. y'all need to stop making things up, and looking for things to talk about cause this ain't going nowhere dreaming. The closest theme park we will see is Kemah Boardwalk, and downtown aquarium. Please people stop all these rumors, cause it's not even true. thanks

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Well, although I think he may be in the hunt for the Astros, a theme park would be great for Houston and it would be nice if he were indeed going that route. Six Flags has taken advantage of Houston for a long time now by not investing in the park because they know they don't have to, and the end result has been AstroWorld "going down the tubes" and is a national disgrace in the theme park community.

Personally I would love to see a Universal Park, like Islands of Adventure in Florida. That park is perfect for what I think would work in Houston. It is a mix of a kiddie/family park with thrill rides. There are a lot of "traditional" styled families in Houston and there are a lot of young people. A park like that would cater to both. When I worked at AstroWorld, one of the common complaints was the kiddie area was not large enough and most of the rides in the park were too big for kids. On the flip side, due to space issues, AstroWorld/Houston has never had what is called in the Amusement Park community as a "Big Ride". We marvel at Texas Cyclone and Serial Thriller, but compared to many other parks those rides are "small change". Islands of Adventure is a fine mixture of both, that is so incredibly themed, it literally looks like it is not of this earth.

Universal Texas could have a Texas Themed section, a Space/Future section(Houston), a large Kiddie/Family land, a area themed after a character or movie like at their other parks with rides like those that are found at Universal Studios, and possibly a Safari Section since Tillman is into exotic animals now ;) . The themeing alone would be a draw.

With regard to location, I think out 288 would be perfect. Someone mentioned a possible theme park idea next to the Race Park they are building down there, but I haven't heard much else. That location would be great in so many ways. It would be in relatively close proximity to NASA, Galveston's Beach, the Cruise Ships, Moody Gardens, Schlitterbahn, Gulf Grehhound Park, and even Kemah. It would also be not too far from Reliant Stadium, Hobby Airport, and Downtown. Not to mention a possible rail connection to all of these places in the future (I can dream can't I?) It would be ideal IMO.

Tillman building a park would be great if no other reason than to teach Six Flags a lesson for taking advantage of this city. Who knows, maybe Six Flags will finally sell the park to the Rodeo like they have requested in the past and end it's days in Houston to make room for another park.

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*IF* Landry's opens up a theme park, would it be Fish Themed? :)

Seriously, since we're all talking hypothetically, I think an ideal location would probably be in some of the vacant pieces of land in the east side or maybe FINALLY dear down that Northline or NorthWest Malls (or land near those areas). It would better serve Houston (Tax Wise and Local Residences) if it was located in close proximity to Downtown. It would be fair for ALL residence in the communities of Sugarland to the Woodlands.

We have plenty of open spaces in or near the loop, why should we give such a tax base to Sugarland, Pearland, or any of the other communities that obviously who's residences are hesistant to support anything outside their little subburban bubbles?

Ricco

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has tilman fertitta purchased the flagship hotel with plans for a permanent mini carnival (trolley, rollercoaster, carousel) as an added feature yet?

Landry's chief sets sail on host of new ventures

Nancy Sarnoff

Houston Business Journal

Pinning down Tilman Fertitta these days is tricky.

The head of Houston-based restaurant empire Landry's Restaurants Inc. has so many real estate projects in the works that when he's not out visiting one of the company's construction sites, he's in his private helicopter flying to one.

Galveston is taking up much of the Island native's time lately.

Last month, the city of Galveston accepted Fertitta's bid to buy the Flagship Hotel for $500,000. The bid required a $7.5 million letter of credit.

Fertitta was the only bidder for the timeworn property, which sits on a pier over the Gulf of Mexico.

Fertitta's plans for the project

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Do Houston really needs another theme park? Houstonians these days rather travel to Universal Studios in Florida to have a good time. Six Flags Astroworld is not even on the top 25 theme parks in the country, and besides it has really low ratings. The only theme park is mention is Arlington, Texas Six Flags over Texas, and that just barely made it to the top 25. It's alot of things to do in Houston besides Astroworld! Majority of visitors come to Houston and sight see, and visit Astroworld. The only way I see Houston getting another theme park is, somebody buys out Astroworld, or just buy out Six Flags period, or a company merge with Six Flags. I can not see two theme parks in Houston, somebody really going to lose money, and that probably be Astroworld.

If they had built that theme park in the dome like they said they was, Astroworld would be a setting hull. Astroworld is nothing be long ass lines for one, second, half of the damn rides do not work, third, they need to clean up more around that place cause it look like crap. They think by adding more new rides to the park would attract more people. Astroworld is on the edge of getting their feelings hurt, like one time in the news a Scotland family visit Astroworld, and they said "this is a nasty place to visit. I will not recommend people to visit this place. Trash all over the place. It's not well kept." That's a shame for an international family to say that.

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Its good that he's going to Galveston. Galveston's best chance for economic health is as a tourist spot. We would attract a lot more tourists if Houston became Houston/Galveston as far as a tourist destination. Theme parks don't appeal to me

but maybe they can eventually put one in Galveston. I hope we don't succumb to the casino temptation, as they are vile.

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  • 1 year later...

^^ Hey, Niche. What do you mean about crappy amusement park? If you go to Kemah Broadwalk on weekends it stay packed. Tillman is making a killing in Kemah like you mention "crappy amusement park." This will be a great addition for galveston strand, if the deal get's a go.

And for the gambling permitted here in Texas? That will never happen. They tried that remember? Twice, or three times.

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Has anyone been to the Navy Pier in Chicago? I'd like to something kinda like that in Galveston. I guess I'm also gaudy at heart.

I"ve been to the Navy Pier. For Chi-town, it works.

But for the Enchanted Island, I'd rather have something that wraps the coast or adds to already festive sidewalk environment or complements the trolley rather than something that sticks out into the water, detracting from the street scene.

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^^ Hey, Niche. What do you mean about crappy amusement park? If you go to Kemah Broadwalk on weekends it stay packed. Tillman is making a killing in Kemah like you mention "crappy amusement park." This will be a great addition for galveston strand, if the deal get's a go.

And for the gambling permitted here in Texas? That will never happen. They tried that remember? Twice, or three times.

I'm afraid that you caught me on one of my rare elitist moments. You are correct in that the Kemah Boardwalk (and most every other of Tilman's amusements) stays packed and does good business...people vote with their feet, afterall. I personally don't care for it, but...you are correct. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

That said, I'd be curious to see if and how the Galveston and Kemah amusements cannibalized one another. There's only so much demand for waterfront amusement parks, and having two of them may seriously dilute the Kemah market share.

As for gambling, I'm not familiar with the history of proposals, but I'd think that Tilman is just pushing for Galveston being permitted it, all by itself. That's a more reasonable goal, I'd think, than getting the whole state to have legalized gambling.

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I"ve been to the Navy Pier. For Chi-town, it works.

But for the Enchanted Island, I'd rather have something that wraps the coast or adds to already festive sidewalk environment or complements the trolley rather than something that sticks out into the water, detracting from the street scene.

Navy Pier went from a college to the number one tourist attraction in the Midwest in ten years. Really amazing what they've done there. I think I read in Crain's that it had 22,000,000 visitors last year. In the summer I go there at least once a week. My wife is addicted to their nachos and lemonade.

NavyPier-004.jpg

(View of Navy Pier from my bedroom)

NavyPier-001.jpg

(View of Navy Pier from the Hancock Center)

But you're right -- it wouldn't be a good match for Galveston. 50% of Navy Pier visitors come by public transportation (bus, subway, regular taxi, commuter water taxi, ricksha, [does that count?]). I bet 99% of Galveston's visitors come by car, so it's important that the Galveston waterfront attraction be spread out over as much of the seawall as possible to help with congestion. But how cool would it be if you could take a water taxi from downtown Houston to Galveston Island.

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Well I wasn't thinking exactly like the Navy Pier, maybe something more like a sideways Navy Pier, wide instead of long. Something that would help the Strand out, because as is, The Strand isn't exactly a shopping destination to go out of your way for, unless you want T-shirts. Althought I must admit, I've never been to the Strand at night, so I have no idea if they have a nightlife, but it would be cool to see it with more bars and restaurants also, along with some Navy Pier type thing, then add the other island attractions, like Schlitterbahn and Moody Gardens, and I forgot what my point was, it's too late to be typing

Okay, duh, a sideways Navy Pier would be a boardwalk, I'm not always the brightest

Edited by NewMND
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Downtown would be bustling bigtime with a boardwalk type attraction. I do think that Kemah would suffer ultimately however, even with its proximity to Houston. The only way I could see both surviving is if the attractions were vastly different.

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Maybe what Galveston should have is its own mass transit system linking Houston with the Strand. Like the casinos have. It must work if they've been doing it for years. Since the various municipal agencies can't get their acts in gear, Galveston could take things into its own hands, and charter a couple of buses to make the runs on weekends. Pick people up in the Woodlands, and downtown, and the Heights.

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Hmmm...kind of makes me want to invest in Landry's stock.

Actually, this is probibly some of the best advice I might have heard in a long time :D

I wonder what kind of explosion would happen in Galveston if Gambling was legalized...

Edited by Montrose1100
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Navy Pier went from a college to the number one tourist attraction in the Midwest in ten years. Really amazing what they've done there. I think I read in Crain's that it had 22,000,000 visitors last year. In the summer I go there at least once a week. My wife is addicted to their nachos and lemonade.

NavyPier-004.jpg

(View of Navy Pier from my bedroom)

NavyPier-001.jpg

(View of Navy Pier from the Hancock Center)

But you're right -- it wouldn't be a good match for Galveston. 50% of Navy Pier visitors come by public transportation (bus, subway, regular taxi, commuter water taxi, ricksha, [does that count?]). I bet 99% of Galveston's visitors come by car, so it's important that the Galveston waterfront attraction be spread out over as much of the seawall as possible to help with congestion. But how cool would it be if you could take a water taxi from downtown Houston to Galveston Island.

I think you exaggerate the speed and the extent of the transformation of Navy Pier. It was originally constructed at least in part as a recreational facility, not as a college. The Navy Pier's own web site only claims 8 million visitors per year. More:

In 1927 the pier was renamed Navy Pier in honor of World War I veterans. It would turn out to be a prophetic name change, as the Navy Pier served as a naval training facility during the second World War. After the war it served as the Chicago branch of the University of Illinois. In 1965 the university moved to its new location and the Navy Pier started to decay.

Redevelopment

The first step in the redevelopment of the Navy Pier was the 1976 restoration by Jerome R. Butler, Jr. of the Auditorium building at the eastern end of the pier. One year later it was designated a Chicago Landmark. Another step to the redevelopment of the Navy Pier was taken in 1989, when the city of Chicago and the State of Illinois installed the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition authority. At the same time they committed 150 million dollar for reconstruction of the pier as a recreational center. The renovation by Benjamin Thompson & associates started in 1992 and was completed in 1994. The result is a very successful recreational center next to Chicago's downtown area. With many attractions and 50 acres of parks and gardens It attracts more than 8 million visitors each year.

I love the idea of a water taxi from downtown Houston to Galveston. I have long thought there should be an opportunity for some entrepreneur to connect many of Houston's biggest attractions by water by running a system of water taxis from downtown Houston the San Jacinto Monument, Kemah Boardwalk, a stop somewhere on Clear Lake connecting to NASA via shuttle, and on to Galveston Island. Does anyone have any idea how long it would take to boat from downtown Houston to the island at civilized speeds?

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Just remember the golden rule when it comes to Tilman:

It all revolves around his restaurants. Dispite his foray into seemingly disparate forms of business, it always comes back to the restaurants.

When he bought the Nugget in Vegas, the first thing he did was permit through the City to expand the public areas to add space for one of each of his themed restaurants. This was merely an entree into Vegas with the hope of expanding to a much wider audience beyond the casino.

Kemah is the same way. It is a group of restaurants that happens to have an amusement park surrounding it. Whatever he can do to bring people in to eat. Brilliant strategy.

A Galveston boardwalk/amusement park would be the same thing.

There may be other activities surrounding his investments, but always look closely and you will see that the core of any of them is the food.

He never strays from his strategy and that's why he is successful.

TNJ

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about 25 from downtown and you'll be at the Bay (146), this would be low speed. then 15 in open water to Kemah, and another 25 in open water to Galveston. 2 hours?

you could take Joe's Boardwalk Beast, that takes 120 people almost 50 mph, of course that's an adventure speedboat, not a water taxi.

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Just remember the golden rule when it comes to Tilman:

It all revolves around his restaurants. Dispite his foray into seemingly disparate forms of business, it always comes back to the restaurants.

When he bought the Nugget in Vegas, the first thing he did was permit through the City to expand the public areas to add space for one of each of his themed restaurants. This was merely an entree into Vegas with the hope of expanding to a much wider audience beyond the casino.

Kemah is the same way. It is a group of restaurants that happens to have an amusement park surrounding it. Whatever he can do to bring people in to eat. Brilliant strategy.

A Galveston boardwalk/amusement park would be the same thing.

There may be other activities surrounding his investments, but always look closely and you will see that the core of any of them is the food.

He never strays from his strategy and that's why he is successful.

TNJ

It's a shame the food is not that good. But I agree that it's all about the restaurants. They look nice, but I am always disappointed with the quality.

Tell me this.... does Tilman ever do anything for anyone other than Tilman? I'm sure everyone here knows I'm not a fan of this guy. I do secretly hope he turns out to be a good guy, but I'm not holding my breath.

I was at Galveston on Saturday. The Strand seems to be doing just fine. It 4:30 I had problems finding a parking place. Which makes me wonder where are they going to park all the cars if they keep adding to the Pier area? Hope they include in their plans a monster parking garage.

As far as gambling.... I think if anyone can get it done, it will be Tilman. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not.

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