OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark

[gaeddert2]

Dredging Oklahoma River https://youtu.be/Ahw8GkhA8Ro

[Pete]

^

Amazing!

Thanks for the hard work you put into all your videos and photography. Great asset to OKC.

[jn1780]

Dredging Oklahoma River https://youtu.be/Ahw8GkhA8Ro

So I guess they make a path to the middle of the river and dig backwards along that path. I guess they can't there is no way to get a barge in there to dig from.

[Pete]

So I guess they make a path to the middle of the river and dig backwards along that path. I guess they can't there is no way to get a barge in there to dig from.

Or maybe dredge the sides to the middle, then back out while excavating?

[Anonymous.]

That was incredibly interesting. I am definitely not an engineer, but It does seem very... inefficient? I suppose not having any real natural slope to move the stagnant water along is a difficult challenge. Maybe attempting this in July and August would be a better move lol.

[Pete]

[Pete]

Not long ago, there was an announcement this area was being dubbed the "Horizons District".

http://www.horizonsdistrict.com/

Now, it looks like OKANA is just the name for the hotel and the waterpark, and the rest of the development going to call itself the "First Americans District" which I guess is a district within a district? Or maybe they just dropped Horizons?

[TheTravellers]

Who names and decides the boundaries of a district? City, state, state tourism dept., CVB?

[Snowman]

Who names and decides the boundaries of a district? City, state, state tourism dept., CVB?

It looks like in theory the property owners of the district, though at least some seem primarily done by businesses in the district (the Business Improvement Districts even seem to have the most about their operation on the city's website), but the others may act in a similar way. BIDs are somewhat like a TIF, property owners pay a special assessment, but get influence on what is done with that money in the district like special signage or unique streetscape. Granted naming still would need approval by city, but unless potentially offensive likely just rubber stamped.

[Pete]

Fast progress on the massive OKANA resort and indoor waterpark surrounding the First Americans Museum.

More details have emerged, such as renderings for the waterpark and plans for a big ‘wibit’ water structure/course, as well as a large arcade, several large restaurants and retail establishments, a big spa, outdoor slides, a swim-up outdoor bar, and more.

The Oklahoma River is currently drained for dredging but soon a pedestrian bridge will be added over the waterway as well as a landing and park for the OK River Cruises.

The entire project will open sometime next year and future phases are also in the planning stages.

[Mballard85]

It's so wild how quickly you can get something up when you are actually motivated to do so.

[Pete]

^

Those photos were taken last Friday; I usually do photography on the weekend.

And you can see the number of workers and their vehicles on that day... A small army.


It's a fun time for OKC with a bunch of big projects underway or on the drawing board.

[CatholicSooner]

Very nice.

So it is officially a Family Entertainment center and not a convention center?

[Pete]

So it is officially a Family Entertainment center and not a convention center?

It's really both: convention/meeting space on the ground floor and arcade, laser tag, restaurants, etc. on the 2nd.

[CatholicSooner]

It's really both: convention/meeting space on the ground floor and arcade, laser tag, restaurants, etc. on the 2nd.

Nice, thanks

[irishtate]

Okay, so this is probably a completely naive question, but is the water park portion of the resort going to be for hotel guests only? If not what is the likelihood that this dries up (no pun) the attendance at White Water... if at all? I haven't been to WW in probably 20 years so I have no clue how their current attendance is holding up, btw.

[Pete]

Okay, so this is probably a completely naive question, but is the water park portion of the resort going to be for hotel guests only? If not what is the likelihood that this dries up (no pun) the attendance at White Water... if at all? I haven't been to WW in probably 20 years so I have no clue how their current attendance is holding up, btw.

I believe hotel guests will be offered package deals that would include the indoor waterpark and maybe some credits at the arcades and other things in the Family Entertainment Center.

But, I would also expect that anyone would be able to buy passes to the waterpark as stand-alone charges; at least up to certain capacity limits. I would also think the lagoon would be a fee-for-use arrangement, with cabana rentals being extra. But the many restaurants, bars and retail shops would almost certainly be open to the public.

I know Great Wolf Lodges allow for a certain amount of day passes for their waterparks for those not actually staying at the hotel.


All conjecture on my part; none of this has been confirmed by OKANA.

[jn1780]

Your probably not going to like the price if your a day pass guest, but maybe it won't be too bad.

[Pete]

Your probably not going to like the price if your a day pass guest, but maybe it won't be too bad.

I think we discussed this upthread but I just looked and a day pass at the Great Wolf in Grapevine, TX is $75 a day. $67.50 for half a day.

[BoulderSooner]

I think we discussed this upthread but I just looked and a day pass at the Great Wolf in Grapevine, TX is $75 a day. $67.50 for half a day.

if you look that is saturday .. ... Monday-Thursday is 50 and 45 for half .. friday and sunday are 60/54 and Sunday is

[Pete]

if you look that is saturday .. ... Monday-Thursday is 50 and 45 for half .. friday and sunday are 60/54 and Sunday is

Wonder if they give weekday discounts during the summer when kids and their families can actually go?

[BoulderSooner]

Wonder if they give weekday discounts during the summer when kids and their families can actually go?

great wolf only started offering Day passes in 2019 .. and they are limited based on how full the resort is ..

[_Cramer_]

Looks like they have the crane up and going on the parking garage. If it's all pre-fab concrete it will go up quick! Probably 60 days if I had to guess!

[CatholicSooner]

Maybe this will finally get the clinton water park to drop their rates...they are absurd. Much more expensive than GWL

[Snowman]

Maybe this will finally get the clinton water park to drop their rates...they are absurd. Much more expensive than GWL

Given they are around 90 miles apart, and a farther distance than White Water or OKC Rapids/Riversport have been to Clinton, decent odds can still operate it like is in a different market.