Response

All the urban islands are merging into one big island, at least from a distance.

Flying taxi service.

Building on 'cheap land' is what Houston's all about. How many landmark developments in this city were originally built on 'cheap land'? Not that I'm expecting a 'landmark' development from Hard Rock. 

 

1. GRB

2. Galleria

3. Astrodome

4. TMC

5. IAH

6. ?

There. This is proof that this project has now been blessed by God. The smelly rich and the under privileged all living in perfect harmony in one divine neighborhood. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicely said. Most just come here to b¡tch. 😊

3 hours ago, nate4l1f3 said:

This was a joke.  I laugh at those who are scared as you can see by my post at the top of the page. 

I used to laugh at that kind of stuff or at least not take it seriously enough to acknowledge it. But for some reason, it just got less funny in the last couple of years. I hear it's getting less funny in Europe these days too.

Here are some photos taken of Big Rivers/Gator Bayou that were posted on their face book page. Last weekend was their 'soft' opening. Not everything is operational yet. The big slides won't be open until later in the month. It looks like it turned out pretty nice to me. Not as many water attractions as Splashtown or Schlitterbahn right now, but it looks bigger and cleaner and not as crowded - yet. It looks like fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/GrandTexas/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

Too bad you didn't get here sooner to set everybody straight, right?

Better to be undesirable than deplorable.

Incredible > Cool.

That's right. We need to keep those lots empty for another eternity so that someone else can develop something slightly cooler for our great great grandbrats. 😏

It hasn't lost it's coolness.

O.K. I'll play nice.

I'd take the 'walkability' of Buffalo Bayou Park to the 'walkability' of uptown any day. If I could live anywhere in Houston that I wanted to, it would be along Allen Parkway and that beautiful stretch of park along Buffalo Bayou. Screw dodging cars. But, too bad about that cool pedestrian bridge not being built, I would think that would seal the deal with potential buyers. 

Even the first floor will have a great view of downtown. 😀

Obviously they started with the water/adventure park because they only had enough money to build a water/adventure park. And after 10 years of promotion, interviews and promises, certainly the investors believed that a water park would be better than no park at all. There's like 8 water parks in DFW. I think Houston can sustain more than 4. (actually there's 5 if you consider Pirates Bay in Baytown) and none of them have an adventure park included in the admission. Maybe it will be enough to keep this place in business long enough to get the investors on board to eventually get that theme park built. Maybe, maybe not, but I doubt you or I know any more about it than the banker that loaned them the 20 million that got them started. 

 

I agree that, "coming soon" doesn't mean much, but it does mean that the plans haven't been cancelled and that's still better than anything else you've got in the way of major theme park construction in Houston right now (I don't count Adventure Point as major construction). There are no details about the theme park on their cheezy, amateurish website, but Galland continues to speak about construction of the theme park in recent interviews. It's still mentioned on the master plans. I think there are no details about the theme park on the website because they still don't have the financing to build it or the plans are still being finalized, modified or re-imagined. Maybe they're starting over from scratch. Who knows. Nobody's saying you have to believe the theme park is ever going to happen. You can be as pessimistic as you please but I wouldn't be basing my entire opinion on whatever you're reading (or not reading) in the Chronicle slideshow or the Grand Texas low-budget, seldom updated website (the last post in their "news" section was in October 2018).

 

But here is an article from 2 weeks ago from a local news org where Galland is interviewed (take it for what it's worth)...

 

“As we get the waterpark operational and we perfect that operation, we’re putting in infrastructure at the same time to get ready for construction of the amusement park,” Galland said. “It’ll certainly be a few years before it opens, but we’re getting there. The infrastructure will take place over then next year—that will be the biggest jump-start on development and construction of Grand Texas Theme Park.”

 

https://communityimpact.com/houston/lake-houston-humble-kingwood/development-construction/2019/05/02/grand-texas-to-open-waterpark-adventure-park-attractions-may-25-for-memorial-day-weekend/?fbclid=IwAR1Xk0oDPHNagIAlGIl3Mz05WV2uJoYig2FnKtdQSLqkHQ3lWRh2-Q_BPyU

 

 

See. He's still talking about it. Galland has been saying they would be starting with the waterpark and the theme park would follow for years now. He said there would be a water park and there is now a water park. He said there would be an adventure park and there is now an adventure park. He said there would be the racing park, the rv park and hotels and they have all happened. I haven't seen any downsizing of anything that has actually been built so far.  So sue me for not being as pessimistic as I used to be about it when he is now saying they are putting in the infrastructure and it will be a jump-start for the construction of the theme park. 

 

 

Don't confuse the Grand Texas Development with the Grand Texas Theme Park. The theme park is just one aspect of the development. The Grand Texas website does corroborate that there are multiple facets to this development. Not sure how you miss that. There's even a map showing you where all the various parks and side developments will be located.

 

No matter what the Chronicle says, what they are opening now is not a theme park (9), it is a water park (5) and an adventure park (3). There is a difference. The theme park may well never open. But they have opened the water park, the adventure park, the speed sport racing park, the RV park, some retail and some of the hotels/motels are currently under construction. So they're almost halfway there.

 

Right before they started construction of the water park and adventure park, (around December of 2017) I was very skeptical that they were ever going to get any more of this project built. But to my amazement, they actually did get 2 of these parks open. So who knows, we may actually see a theme park there one day. But it's years away if it's coming at all.

 

A theme park is a monumental feat of construction. Water park development is small potatoes compared to theme park development and I can't blame anyone for being skeptical about a theme park ever being built. The developers have missed so many timelines and come up with so many ridiculous excuses for delays that I for one would take anything they say with a grain of salt.

 

With that being said, I think it is a miracle they have even come this far.  So I'll cut them some slack for now because although it seems to be taking forever, so far they have been delivering what they have been promising. I certainly credit the developers with persistence.

 

If the theme park is built on the scale of Hanna-Barbara Land or Busch Gardens Houston (those places were built for little kids and had no major rides at all) , it probably won't be around long. But if the theme park is built anywhere close to this plan, I think it will have a very good chance for success. As for the success of Big Rivers, the one thing that will set them apart from the other water parks in town is that the Gator Bayou Adventure Park is included. No rides, but those zip lines look like fun to me. 

 

 

No doubt the debbie downers are going to have a field day tearing into this 'value engineered' design and everything about the current state of Houston architecture. But no matter, it's still a nice building, great height for the area and we could have done a lot worse. Jenga style buildings aren't everything.

See below.

Big Rivers is a waterpark. Gator Bayou is an Adventure Park. Grand Texas Theme Park is a Theme Park. 

 

Big Rivers and Gator Bayou are opening now. Nothing about the theme park has been scaled back yet because it has not even broken ground yet.

Don't worry, all that 'top architecture' from the 70's hasn't gone anywhere.

It looks so "Logan's Run". All that's missing is "Carousel".

Don't panic!