Perspective said:These ballpark images are insane. Irvine already has dozens of awesome ballparks, and is now stepping up its game. We'll be checking this out Sunday.
I wonder if Irvine intends to attract massive tourneys drawing teams from many states? HBO profiled how farmland is being converted to sports complexes in middle America to attract tourism dollars:
"Youth Sports Inc-Full Segment: Real Sports (HBO)
The business of youth sports tourism is booming these days, fueled by investors who are building huge state of the art playing complexes, and parents who are willing to spend heavily on travel teams in hopes their kids can fulfill their athletic dreams. Catch Real Sports anytime on HBO OnDemand, HBO GO & HBO NOW."
IHS3000 said:https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/...water-park-eyes-return-to-irvine-in-2019/amp/
https://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/...e-last-big-piece-of-orange-county-great-park/
Iconic Wild Rivers water park eyes return to Irvine in 2019
Tomoya Shimura
March 30, 2018 at 5:31 pm
IRVINE ? Longtime Orange County residents may be reminiscing about the summers they spent with family and friends at Wild Rivers.
There?s good news for them.
The iconic water park ? which closed in 2011 after a 25-year run to give way to the Los Olivos apartment complex ? is on track to return to Irvine in time for the summer of 2019, Wild Rivers President Mike Riedel said.
?We?re working nonstop,? he said by phone Friday, March 30. ?It?s an ambitious goal, but I think we can do it.?
Wild Rivers is working with Irvine to open an upgraded 26-acre water park at the city?s Orange County Great Park, that would feature water slides, an uphill water coaster, water play structures for children, a wave pool, a lazy river and Wild Rivers? popular Congo River Rapids. The old Wild Rivers was 14 acres.
The water park will be a part of the yet-to-be-developed, 233-acre Cultural Terrace, the final major piece of the Great Park where the city is also exploring an amphitheater, a lake, a library and museums. The water park will be along Marine Way, across from the Great Park sports park...
rickr said:Can we ask them to cancel all these projects and just lower the MR?
Mety said:rickr said:Can we ask them to cancel all these projects and just lower the MR?
What if all those projects get canceled and the MR still remains? JK
I hope that Water Park comes back.
IHS3000 said:WILD RIVERS - UPDATE OCTOBER 2018
http://wildrivers.com
?The design for Wild Rivers is beginning to take form. Take a look at the latest site plan. Did we bring back the Wild Rivers' Mountain? You bet we did! You cannot tell on the plan but the mountain runs nearly the length of the site at the bottom of the site between the wavepool and the storage building. In the coming months we will be asking our fans to suggest names and colors schemes for the rides.
The only things yet to do with the City is for staff to finish their review of the environmental studies and for the City Council to approve the environmental report and approve a final lease. We hope to get this finished with the existing Council before the election.?
IHS3000 said:https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/...water-park-eyes-return-to-irvine-in-2019/amp/
https://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/...e-last-big-piece-of-orange-county-great-park/
Iconic Wild Rivers water park eyes return to Irvine in 2019
Tomoya Shimura
March 30, 2018 at 5:31 pm
IRVINE ? Longtime Orange County residents may be reminiscing about the summers they spent with family and friends at Wild Rivers.
There?s good news for them.
The iconic water park ? which closed in 2011 after a 25-year run to give way to the Los Olivos apartment complex ? is on track to return to Irvine in time for the summer of 2019, Wild Rivers President Mike Riedel said.
?We?re working nonstop,? he said by phone Friday, March 30. ?It?s an ambitious goal, but I think we can do it.?
Wild Rivers is working with Irvine to open an upgraded 26-acre water park at the city?s Orange County Great Park, that would feature water slides, an uphill water coaster, water play structures for children, a wave pool, a lazy river and Wild Rivers? popular Congo River Rapids. The old Wild Rivers was 14 acres.
The water park will be a part of the yet-to-be-developed, 233-acre Cultural Terrace, the final major piece of the Great Park where the city is also exploring an amphitheater, a lake, a library and museums. The water park will be along Marine Way, across from the Great Park sports park...
paydawg said:The water park is part of the "cultural terrace"? ....the irony....
NicholasHunter said:I LOVE THIS CONCEPT! Recently went on a tour last weekend and viewed a couple models. They told me to take a deeper look at everything great park has to offer. Very impressed to say the least. Love the environment at the pools, Kind of reminded me of Palm Springs.
-First time buyer
IHS3000 said:Interesting... The new Great Park Rinks has plans to host badminton, basketball and volleyball events, too.
Ducks? new state-of-the-art practice facility taking shape at Great Park in Irvine
Elliott Teaford
August 9, 2018 at 4:32 pm
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/08/...acility-taking-shape-at-great-park-in-irvine/
?IRVINE ? The sounds of construction echoed through the Ducks? new practice facility Thursday at the Great Park. Workers assembled the floor-to-ceiling windows along the eastern side of the building. Others drove forklifts here and there. Still others worked on door frames and aluminum duct work.
By December, if all goes as scheduled, the workers will be replaced by hockey players, figure skaters, mothers and fathers, coaches and spectators. The din of hammers and saws and trucks will be replaced by skates gliding along the ice and pucks launched from sticks.
Construction is roughly 65 percent completed.
Sometime in January, the Ducks are expected to hold their first practice in the new $104-million building, which is comprised of four rinks, including a 2,500-seat arena. It will be home not only to the Ducks, but to youth hockey programs, and will serve as a U.S. Figure Skating facility. Olympians such as Nathan Chen and Ashley Wagner are expected to train at the Great Park.
A full-service restaurant, a team store, a pro shop plus training facilities also will be housed in the state-of-the-art building, the largest in California at 280,000 square feet. Three of the rinks will be standard NHL-sized at 200 feet by 75. The fourth will be an Olympic-sized rink at 200 feet by 100.
?We?re hoping it will be one of the best in the United States,? said Art Trottier, vice president of The Rinks, the Ducks? group of nine facilities stretching from Lakewood to Anaheim and from Corona to Poway. ?We looked at the new facilities in Pittsburgh. We looked at the one in San Jose.?
Trottier dreamed for many years of building a facility that was an upgrade on Anaheim Ice, the Frank Gehry-designed practice home of the Ducks since 1994-95. The Ducks quickly outgrew the two-rink building and plans accelerated when Henry and Susan Samueli bought the team in 2005.
?This was always on their minds, since they purchased the team,? Trottier said of the Samuelis. ?There was always a goal of building our own complex. This is the first new construction (in Orange County) since Anaheim Ice.?
The Great Park, on the site of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, already has facilities for soccer, tennis and volleyball on part of its 1,300-acre plot of land near the junction of I-5 and I-405, at the eastern edge of Irvine.
The Ducks? new facility, privately financed through a foundation run by the Samuelis, also will host curling, short track speed skating and sled hockey in addition to hockey and figure skating. There are plans to host badminton, basketball and volleyball events, too.
The primary focus will be on hockey and figure skating. Demand for ice time has been great across The Rinks? network, according to Trottier. The new facility will ease some of the burden shared by rinks in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties.
?This is a great investment for the community, for the city of Irvine,? he said.
It also gives the Ducks the ability to spread their wings in ways they couldn?t in their previous home, or at Honda Center, where they have practiced more often than not since Randy Carlyle became their coach in the first of his two stints in 2005-06. The weight and locker rooms will be bigger and better, for example.
?We think it?s going to work,? Trottier said. ?Hockey is still growing here. Ice is impacted right now. Everyone talks hockey, but it?s going to be a great asset to the community because everybody can use it, if they want to try figure skating, if they want to play broom ball, if they want to have a birthday party.
?You can do anything here with this space.?