NEW CANEY, Texas — It’s a day, 10 years in the making.
“Standing watching people walk through the entry building, through that breezeway for the first time, and seeing excitement and kind of curiosity in their face, that was a pretty awesome feeling," Grand Texas CEO Monty Galland said.
Galland says Saturday’s opening of Gator Bayou Adventure Park is just the beginning of something grand.
“The reality is we’re going to be under construction for the next 30 years," Galland said.
When complete, Grand Texas will include three theme parks, shopping outlets and an RV Park. The portion that opened Saturday is already exceeding expectations.
“I think it’s what this town needed. We’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time," Jacob Jones said.
If you’re up for an adventure, Gator Bayou boasts a floating water park, ziplines, challenge courses, a quite confusing maze, a very high free fall, a petting zoo and of course, gators.
“Year around, it’s 365 days. It's close, there’s water, stuff for the kids to do, it’s fun," Tim Lange said.
Hard to believe that less than a year ago, it was an empty dirt lot, but the labor of love hasn’t been without it’s setbacks.
“Eventually it got to a point where it just didn’t make sense," Galland said.
The park initially told eager guests they’d be open last May, but pushed it back to July. Then they decided the water park wouldn’t open at all this year so they focused all their efforts on Saturday.
“Great food, drinks. Nice place to relax in the sun, out of the sun, they’ve got it all," Lange said.
Gator Bayou will be open every weekend. Grand Texas now hopes to have the water park portion open by Spring Break.