Second midstate water park close to breaking ground in Warner Robins

For the past two years, Steve Rigby has been designing and redesigning his plans for an enormous water park adjacent to his Rigby’s Entertainment Complex in Warner Robins.

In July 2013, Rigby announced plans to build a water park with 11 slides and other amenities on 25 acres. He’s now about 60 to 90 days from breaking ground on Rigby’s Water World, he says, with plans to open it in spring 2016. The private investment is “in excess of $15 million,” Rigby added.

“I’ve never stopped working on it,” he said. “It’s a massive project. Any development I do takes me close to two years to get it to the building stage. ... I’ve done five feasibility studies.

“I’ve been in business for 35 years, and I’ve never failed, and I like to take my time. If you spend this kind of money, it’s got to be right.”

He had planned a 40-foot slide, but that’s recently been changed to a 100-foot slide -- equal to a 10-story building. In order to accommodate the slide, it has to be placed on a different side of the park. So the site is being re-engineered, he said.

“I’ve done that several times because as I travel and see new things I like to implement them into my projects,” he said. “Same thing with Rigby’s (Entertainment); it took us about two years to design it (with) 17 renditions, and it took me about 18 months to build it.”

In addition to the 11 water slides, Rigby’s Water World will include a lazy river equal in length to about four football fields, a wave pool and two large areas for children -- one for toddlers 2 to 5 years old and one for children 6 to 10, he said.

About 30,000 square feet will be added to the existing 50,000-square-foot facility at Rigby’s Entertainment. It will include more eating areas and party rooms and will add 12 bowling lanes to the existing 10 lanes.

Rigby employs about 70 people at the entertainment center and said he would probably add 70-80 workers for the water park.

BIBB’S PARK OPEN HALF OF SEASON

Also in July 2013, Marietta businessman Jeff Franklin, president of Spirit of America, said he was considering building a water park in the Warner Robins area. He planned to build close to Interstate 75 and to get help from the local government to make it happen.

Franklin talked with Peach County officials for about two years about building the park there, but in fall 2014, county commissioners balked when asked to change some road improvement plans. Even though they changed their minds later, Macon-Bibb County officials had already called Franklin to push an 8-acre Lake Tobesofkee site for the water park. Construction began in late December on the $2.7 million Sandy Beach Water Park at Lake Tobesofkee.

Original plans included an indoor pool, a wave pool, children’s splash pool, a lazy river and two water slides at least 250 feet long.

The Bibb County government granted Spirit of America a 20-year lease on the site and agreed to use bond money to pay for nearly $250,000 in public improvements for the park.

The park was expected to be open for Memorial Day weekend, but builders were not able to meet that deadline. Several amenities had to be put on hold in order for the park to open this year, and opening day was delayed until the Fourth of July weekend.

Although Franklin had expressed disappointment in July that attendance numbers -- about 300 weekdays and about 800 on weekends -- were not what he had hoped they would be, last week he said he was pleased with the overall turnout.

“We’ve had a lot of people there on the weekends,” he said. “We have some corporate outings during the week. We’re happy, and the bank is happy with us and our attendance.”

The park hired about 40 workers this year and “we were really pleased with the lifeguards,” Franklin said. “They went through a very difficult process. That was a really bright spot ... they took their jobs seriously.”

Labor Day will mark the close of this season for the park, he said.

“Then we go to work on our wave pool and we have a big slide that’s going in,” Franklin said. “It’s being delivered in a couple of weeks.”

The new slide is a 430-foot long white water slide.

“We bought it last year but we ran out of time to get it installed,” he said.

Also a permanent building is being built for ticketing, concession and offices to replace the modular structures.

The Bibb County water park is much smaller than the one Rigby is planning in Houston County and “a different animal,” Franklin said.

Another major difference between the two parks is the admission price. The price to get in the Sandy Beach water park was lowered after the park opened. Prices range from $7 after 4 p.m. to $10 to $12.50 depending on age and height, plus $3 to park. Admission to Rigby Water Park would be $25, Rigby said.

Although Franklin told The Telegraph in October 2014 “you wouldn’t want a water park within 100 miles of another one,” he said last week he’s not worried about Rigby’s Water Park diluting the pool of customers.

“I definitely think there will be room for two water parks,” Franklin said. “I admire (Rigby) for staying with it and getting it done. ... I talked with Mr. Rigby several years ago and he told me about that project and I think it’s an awesome idea. His is a lot bigger than ours ... and that’s not us.”

Rigby agreed the competition does not concern him.

“There are a lot of people in this two-hour radius, so there is enough business for everyone around,” he said. “We will have a full restaurant. We will have a swim-up bar for adults. We are going to have different activities here.”

Information from The Telegraph archives was used in this story. To contact writer Linda S. Morris, call 744-4223 or find her on Twitternote>

This story was originally published August 22, 2015 at 7:59 PM with the headline "Second midstate water park close to breaking ground in Warner Robins ."