Major Expansion Aims to Give Houston One of America’s Best Waterparks: A Whole New SplashTown is Taking Shape

Houston’s biggest waterpark is taking a ride on the wild side with a brand new expansion that will nearly double its size. Wet ‘n’ Wild SplashTown has visions of competing with the best waterparks in the country.

SplashTown is upping the ante. Its water attractions currently splash and sprawl over 48 acres, but the new multiyear, multimillion dollar expansion would bring it up to 80 acres.

After 34 years, it’s key to always evolve, SplashTown general manager Jody Kneupper tells PaperCity. “We need to be ready to do that again,” Kneupper says. “We need to transform the park and keep going.”

That means adding to the existing 41 slides with new, state-of-the-art attractions. The additional space will come from open land adjacent to SplashTown’s location along I-45 North.

“We always get excited when we get something new,” Kneupper says. He’s thrilled that the park’s operator Premier Parks has committed to make SplashTown one of the best properties in its group with this new expansion.

Right now, SplashTown is testing the waters of new ideas with the help of design firm Aquatic Development Group. “The waterpark business is growing, and we’re looking for new rides, new things people are looking for,” Kneupper says.

All kinds of attractions are in the preliminary concepts, including new restaurants, swift lazy rivers and family rides.

The Tornado, which falls into the last category, is one of the most popular existing attractions.

“There’s a perfect spot where you could throw in another family raft ride,” Kneupper says of the renderings. He can also see the potential of a lazy river because so many patrons enjoy “getting in the water and experiencing it together.”

“We want to keep making this park grow along with the Northwest Houston area,” Kneupper notes.

Splashtown is no stranger to upgrades. It rebranded back in 2014 as Wet ‘n’ Wild SplashTown, under the new ownership of Premier Parks. That $20 million renovation reinvented the park’s landscape. It also added new gift shops, a new front gate, a new parking lot and new rides.

Just last year, SplashTown added the Alien Chaser ride. The 60-foot-tall ride shoots riders down tunnels in two-person tubes, rocketing them into massive saucers.

No firm timeline is set for the build out yet. But when the time comes, the construction on the adjacent land is not expected to interfere with the Spring waterpark’s regular season.

SplashTown reopens on May 5 for the 2018 summer season. It’s competing with newer parks, most prominently Katy’s Typhoon Texas, which opened in 2016.