[Chron] Developer has big plans for new water park in Galveston

I'm glad this is about to open. It's not Astroworld, but at least we will have something close for people to go to. I'm really annoyed by all the Six Flags Over Texas ads on TV lately.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/3697785.html

March 3, 2006, 12:18AM
TOURISM
Ready to make a splash
Developer has big plans for new water park in Galveston


By JON PAUL MOROSI
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle


Jeff Henry speaks of the $34 million Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark as if it is his toy — which in one sense it is.

''I started out in this business when I was 11," said Henry, Schlitterbahn's director of water park development. ''I'm 51 now. This is like a piece of art to me. I've never had so much fun in my whole life."

Soon, Henry will find out if water-loving visitors from Texas and beyond share his enthusiasm when the state's third Schlitterbahn location opens.

After delays caused by a fire and Hurricane Rita, Henry said he now has a ''target date" of March 11. The landscaping is finished, and the amusements are being tested. But he and others with Schlitterbahn Waterparks say they have yet to set an opening date.

"March 11 is my target — that's all I'm going to say," Henry said Wednesday. "I sure hope to make it. It's progressing very, very well."

The summer-season opening date, April 22, is much more concrete, Henry said. Potential visitors should check the theme park's Web site — www.schlitterbahn.com — for updates.

''There's still work to do," Henry said last week. ''We've been riding the rides the last few days. This is going to be a great park."

The construction project has absorbed two potentially crippling delays — one after a fire in an airplane hangar that was to have been part of the park, and again last year when Hurricane Rita threatened Galveston. Henry described them as a "reality check."

''Building new facilities is never easy," he said. "It's not easy to start a new business at any time. You find there are always stumbling blocks and hurdles.

''The fire was a setback. It knocked us way further back than we thought. The hurricane was a setback. It knocked us back even further. That was more of a time thing. It didn't do much damage, but we had to take everybody off site. By the time we got back to the site, two weeks had gone by. By the time we really got back to work, a month had gone by.

''We were thinking: How could that have just happened?"

But the determined response from Schlitterbahn ownership made Joe Jaworski, a three-term member of the Galveston City Council, feel optimistic about the park.

And Henry said the concrete was built to withstand 132-mph winds.

''I think we're going to be OK," he said. ''I hope we are."

Henry has come to expect surprises on construction projects.

"I'm real bad about overspending," he confessed. "My family asks if I'm ever going to deliver one on budget."

But he's earned the freedom to do that within this New Braunfels-based private company by being the innovator whose ideas, like uphill water coasters, have helped make it one of the top water parks in the country, according to company spokesman Jeffrey Siebert.

The current plan calls for the Schlitterbahn to initially open a section of the Galveston park called Wasserfest. Covering this area is Henry's latest innovation — a 70,000-square-foot retractable building designed to allow this area to operate year-round. Henry said the building, which can be opened or closed within eight minutes, is the first of its kind. This will allow the Galveston park to open for a winter season, running from October through March, in the Wasserfest area.

"Whenever it rains, we'll be able to stay open," Henry said. "When it stops, you punch a button. It's neat."


'Family entertainment'
Success at Schlitterbahn would add an option to the island's tourism economy.

"It's family entertainment," Jaworski said. "Galveston has, for many years, been getting away from the crazy drinking, hooligan-type tourism."

Although Galveston has not provided any public funds, the City Council did approve the lease of additional land last week for expansion.

The park may employ up to 550 people for its summer operation, up from about 200 during the winter, Siebert said. Many of the immediate positions have already been filled, and most year-round staffers were trained in advance of the missed December opening date.


Growing sector
Water parks have been growing in recent years, even as theme parks around the country "are having a hard time," said Peter Tarlow, of College Station, a tourism expert and the president of Tourism and More.

The presence of 18 indoor and three outdoor water parks in the Wisconsin Dells, a hub of tourist attractions in the heart of that state, have more than doubled the size of the tourist economy there between 1994 and 2004 by turning it into a year-round destination.

The area includes Kalahari Water Park, which with 125,000 square feet of space is the single largest indoor water park, and another park, Wilderness Hotel & Golf Resort, which includes more than 200,000 square feet spread across several units.

Henry said his family's company helped to manufacture materials for some parks in the Dells, so he is familiar with that model. In the end, though, he wanted to modify the year-round approach to fit the Southern climate.

"We don't think the indoor model is necessarily going to work in the South," Henry said. ''It's too hot here. So we forgot about that and conceived of the convertible system."


'A very good show'
Tourism industry observers believe the Schlitterbahn company has the wherewithal to be successful in Galveston.

''The Schlitterbahn people run a very good show," Tarlow said. The Schlitterbahn will be a day trip for people in Texas and a ''bonus" attraction for out-of-state visitors to the Houston area, he said.

The new park figures to attract even more cars to Galveston. Henry said he is not concerned about traffic on ''95 percent of the days."

''The days where I see a traffic problem are the days that already have one," Henry said.

Jaworski said the park illuminates why there's a need to expand the highways in and around the island.

''I see the size of the parking lot, how many cars it's capable of accepting, and I question whether our roads, for a busy day, are adequate," he said.

Henry expects guests to come to Galveston through every means possible.

''You're going to see everybody from the Dells — everyplace in the world — head to Galveston in the next few months," Henry said.

jon.morosi@chron.com


RESOURCES
Graphic: A look at Galveston's Schlitterbahn