Just in time for the dog days of summer, the Serengeti Springs Water Park at Hattiesburg Zoo is now up and running.
Officials cut the ribbon on the much-anticipated attraction – which is managed by the Hattiesburg Convention Commission during a May 24 soft opening, during which season ticket holders were allowed into the park. The ceremony was attended by Mayor Toby Barker, members of Hattiesburg City Council, Rick Taylor – who serves as executive director of the commission – and other members of the commission.
“On this day, we celebrate the vision, the collaboration and the collective will it took to embrace change and cast a bold vison towards the future,” Barker said. “It started with the Hattiesburg Convention Commission having an idea to capitalize on the great momentum at the zoo and move it across Gordon’s Creek.
“For the children and youth of our community … there was a lot of watching and waiting and asking ‘when is the water park going to open?’ Gratitude goes out to so many (involved in this project).”
The $10.5 million water park is located on the former site of Cameron Field, which was relocated to Jaycee Park to make room for the new attraction.
The park consists of two phases of construction. Work on Phase I, which began last summer and is now complete, includes a Fusion Fortress Water Play Structure, an entry building with a gift shop and showers, a 150,000-gallon lazy river, a swim-up pool and bar, group pavilions, cabanas, food trucks, a staff office building, and loungers and Adrirondack chairs.
The Fusion Fortress consists of nine slides of varying heights, along with multiple water play areas and two bucket dump stations.
Underneath the Fusion Fortress is a Life Floor, which provides a cushioned floor that is anti-microbial and holds no standing water. The Life Floor features an additional 19 spray toys.
“I hope you all are as excited as we are to see this day arrive,” Taylor told the crowd. “This project is extraordinarily complex.
“For what you see above ground – all the pipes – there’s as much or more underneath the ground, and that’s why a lot of folks, for about a year, wondered when the park was going to get built. To make this complex system work, there have been over 20 different companies handling their part.”
Work on Phase II of the water park will begin anywhere from two to four years from now. That phase will consist of a tower of four water slides.
Upon entering the water park, guests will be asked to check their bags to ensure that no prohibited items are allowed into the park. A list of those items can be found on the zoo’s website at www.hattiesburgzoo.com/serengeti.
Although season tickets are sold out for this year, day passes at $25 each are available on that same website.
The $10.5 million price tag for Serengeti Springs is funded by the Hattiesburg Convention Commission’s earned revenues, along with the existing 2-percent restaurant tax at Hattiesburg restaurants. The water park is designed to be self-sufficient and profitable.
As far as parking, the zoo will continue its shared agreement for parking space with Hardy Street Baptist Church, in addition to the zoo’s current parking. In total, the facility features approximately 200 spaces for that measure.
“For over 30 years, the Hattiesburg Convention Commission has been creating, renovating, building and operating attractions in the Hattiesburg area,” said Jennifer Payne, chair of the commission’s board of directors. “With the opening of this park, our commission now has 11 operational attractions, and three more on the way.
“It’s a lot, and we get asked often why we do it. The answer is simple: our mission is to grow Hattiesburg’s economy by bringing visitors to our city. The attractions that we operate account for 62 percent of all visitor spending in Hattiesburg each year.”
