omaha79 wrote: Tue Jun 09, 2026 2:35 pm
I'm firmly against the casino and race track. This will create massive issues that Bellevue isn't prepared for.
I would agree with this statement. If they want to push family attractions, then stick with that. They already mentioned ideas such as an adventure tenant. Not sure if that's Urban Air, high ropes/rock climbing facility, etc. I thought the rendering mentioned skydiving on one of the buildings. That could be an indicator of IFLY indoor skydiving.
So scrap the casino/race track concept. It doesn't fit the vibe or clientele you are trying to attract.
omaha79 wrote: Tue Jun 09, 2026 2:35 pm
I'm firmly against the casino and race track. This will create massive issues that Bellevue isn't prepared for.
I would agree with this statement. If they want to push family attractions, then stick with that. They already mentioned ideas such as an adventure tenant. Not sure if that's Urban Air, high ropes/rock climbing facility, etc. I thought the rendering mentioned skydiving on one of the buildings. That could be an indicator of IFLY indoor skydiving.
So scrap the casino/race track concept. It doesn't fit the vibe or clientele you are trying to attract.
the only thing i could see is maybe if they are thinking of it as a destination where mom and dad could go hit the slots while the kids are in the hotel room. Not saying i agree with it, because we already have 5 casinos in the area, but maybe that's their train of thought. Kind of an all-encompassing district
That is definitely their thought, but being so close to a neighborhood is not going to go well. Plus the fact that they don't have a casino license. I sure hope that citizens can challenge the casino part of the project if it ever moves further. Bellevue has been trying to get a casino for years.
thenewguy wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 8:36 am
the only thing i could see is maybe if they are thinking of it as a destination where mom and dad could go hit the slots while the kids are in the hotel room. Not saying i agree with it, because we already have 5 casinos in the area, but maybe that's their train of thought. Kind of an all-encompassing district
So the parents can gamble the family vacation budget away in a few hours of fun. Well kids...we will be hanging out in the hotel room for the remainder of the vacation. lol
I would rather attract a day spa / beauty retreat business. Or more interactive/experience businesses. Check out Ripley's Believe it or Not portfolio. Some of the smaller attractions would be a good fit. (Mirror Maze, Mini-golf, VR/movie/gaming experience, themed escape rooms, etc.)
thenewguy wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 8:36 am
the only thing i could see is maybe if they are thinking of it as a destination where mom and dad could go hit the slots while the kids are in the hotel room. Not saying i agree with it, because we already have 5 casinos in the area, but maybe that's their train of thought. Kind of an all-encompassing district
So the parents can gamble the family vacation budget away in a few hours of fun. Well kids...we will be hanging out in the hotel room for the remainder of the vacation. lol
I would rather attract a day spa / beauty retreat business. Or more interactive/experience businesses. Check out Ripley's Believe it or Not portfolio. Some of the smaller attractions would be a good fit. (Mirror Maze, Mini-golf, VR/movie/gaming experience, themed escape rooms, etc.)
lol. not saying i agree with it, just that may be their thought process. Maybe they feel like casting a big wide net will land the most fish? I agree with having an alternative experience- they could include an alpine coaster, a pirate's cove, etc. For that matter, an actual amusement park nearby would be fantastic.
Hard pass on any new casino or arena in the metro area. They should try to attract a Cosm location or create a ripoff like you see with the generic brand Top Golf venues. This would be a game changer for Omaha and fit with the spirit of the original concept for the Goodlife districts.
Linkin5 wrote: Sun Jun 14, 2026 11:12 am
Hard pass on any new casino or arena in the metro area. They should try to attract a Cosm location or create a ripoff like you see with the generic brand Top Golf venues. This would be a game changer for Omaha and fit with the spirit of the original concept for the Goodlife districts.
at first i couldn't figure out why you were showing a clip of a football game, but then i realized what it was. That's incredible...and there isn't anything remotely close to that around here. That would be a slam dunk for people going there. Have a decent food/drink selection and there's no way that thing isn't packed
Linkin5 wrote: Sun Jun 14, 2026 11:12 am
Hard pass on any new casino or arena in the metro area. They should try to attract a Cosm location or create a ripoff like you see with the generic brand Top Golf venues. This would be a game changer for Omaha and fit with the spirit of the original concept for the Goodlife districts.
at first i couldn't figure out why you were showing a clip of a football game, but then i realized what it was. That's incredible...and there isn't anything remotely close to that around here. That would be a slam dunk for people going there. Have a decent food/drink selection and there's no way that thing isn't packed
Ha yeah I thought the same thing the first time I saw a video posted from there. Apparently they also show movies there as well.
Linkin5 wrote: Sun Jun 14, 2026 11:12 am
Hard pass on any new casino or arena in the metro area. They should try to attract a Cosm location or create a ripoff like you see with the generic brand Top Golf venues. This would be a game changer for Omaha and fit with the spirit of the original concept for the Goodlife districts.
at first i couldn't figure out why you were showing a clip of a football game, but then i realized what it was. That's incredible...and there isn't anything remotely close to that around here. That would be a slam dunk for people going there. Have a decent food/drink selection and there's no way that thing isn't packed
Ha yeah I thought the same thing the first time I saw a video posted from there. Apparently they also show movies there as well.
That's really neat. AI's telling me they cost about $80-90 million to build. We really only get those kind of projects done with public-private partnerships. I could see that doing really well here especially with pro sports events, except tickets for the dome are kind of insane. I guess it saves people time and money having to travel to a pro game, but just looking at world cup games at Cosmo Dallas, the South Africa vs. Canada match has some near back row seats for a cool $444 each!
I was out of town for the past 2 1/2 weeks but drove by last night and maybe 1/3 of the roof is on and glass is also being installed on the sides, I will try to get a photo soon.
Going south on 75 makes it appear pretty small when driving by, but a better vantage point is coming back north out of Plattsmouth and seeing it off in the distance. Makes it appear much larger from there than up close.
Yeah, my kids keep saying that it doesn't look big, but then I point out the size of the workers compared to the building to get a better scale. I also took a few more yest:
I'm surprised they have not released any recent rendering with the new branding. I read in some press releases that Orlando will have the first one opened. I don't think they have even started building it yet. Orlando's location will be close to Disney. I'm sure they have connections to build this faster with all the theme park connections.
I found some renderings for Orlando and Bradley, IL. Of course, actual design could look different. Orlando's location will be 90,000 sq ft.
I am not sure those are actual renderings that were released. When I search for them, those are rendering depicted from fan pages and not from the actual resorts.
skinzfan23 wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2026 11:57 am
I am not sure those are actual renderings that were released. When I search for them, those are rendering depicted from fan pages and not from the actual resorts.
Are you telling me that they are not constructing waterslides that look like death traps, or waterslides that you have to crawl through the ventilation system to get to.
skinzfan23 wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2026 11:57 am
I am not sure those are actual renderings that were released. When I search for them, those are rendering depicted from fan pages and not from the actual resorts.
My opening line said we haven't seen any renderings with theming. I was referring to official releases. The images I found were part of news articles for that city. Maybe they were using conceptual art for the article.
Bradley, IL has a website. They mentioned Bellevue as 100K. I believe that number has go up now.
And Bellevue is the only one currently under construction.
skinzfan23 wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2026 2:11 pm
Just to be clear, that website for Bradley is a fan website, not affiliated with the city or the construction group.
I just scrolled all the way to the bottom and noticed Unofficial Fan page. Sheesh! Good Catch!
I still find it strange we have not seen any official releases with branding yet. Hopefully, we will see some soon!
On a sidenote, he also said that they are still working with a casino developer and it may cost around $350 million. I hope that still doesn’t happen but he did say that they have to get it approved from the gaming commission.
I hope the casino/horse track concept gets scrapped. The horse track alone takes up so much space. I think they need to double down on the family attractions. They could use 1-2 major venues to pair with the waterpark.
Play the opposite move from the water park and do an indoor skiing/snowboarding center. Or indoor snow tubing.
Some of you might remember Council Bluffs pushing a concept nearly 20 years ago. It had indoor skiing with a water park under the slopes. The Water and Snow is a fun pairing. I would rather see this than a horse track.
If Great Wolf Lodge is competition, then take elements from them for attractions.
Some Great Wolf locations offer high ropes courses for kids. Then bring a massive Rock Climbing/ High Ropes Center. https://bolderadventurepark.com/
Great Wolf Lodge has MagiQuest. Bring in a facility that specializes in interactive games like Level 99. https://level99.com/
that's a big building. We were in Sandusky to go to Cedar Point and stayed at Castaway Bay Resort. It was 38,000 sq feet, so quite a bit smaller than this, but even that felt a lot bigger than it was. I can't imagine how big this is going to feel inside with everything going in there. And the slides at Bellevue Bay are going to be bigger, too. I'm super excited
skinzfan23 wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2026 5:33 pm
Mayor Hike was on the Jean Stothert radio show and mentioned more renderings and details will be released on October 1.
He also stated that American Resort Management, who is managing the waterpark is building a hotel with Mattel theme.
Oooooh - do you think that means you'll get to ride an orange Hot Wheels track out of your room right into the waterpark?
thenewguy wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2026 6:02 am
that's a big building. We were in Sandusky to go to Cedar Point and stayed at Castaway Bay Resort. It was 38,000 sq feet, so quite a bit smaller than this, but even that felt a lot bigger than it was. I can't imagine how big this is going to feel inside with everything going in there. And the slides at Bellevue Bay are going to be bigger, too. I'm super excited
I'm excited for it - wish it was being built along 370 further west, maybe even by Werner Park or elsewhere. I do hope it brings more development to the area where it is going... but I feel Bellevue just doesn't have the draw that other parts of the metro offer.
thenewguy wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2026 6:02 am
that's a big building. We were in Sandusky to go to Cedar Point and stayed at Castaway Bay Resort. It was 38,000 sq feet, so quite a bit smaller than this, but even that felt a lot bigger than it was. I can't imagine how big this is going to feel inside with everything going in there. And the slides at Bellevue Bay are going to be bigger, too. I'm super excited
I'm excited for it - wish it was being built along 370 further west, maybe even by Werner Park or elsewhere. I do hope it brings more development to the area where it is going... but I feel Bellevue just doesn't have the draw that other parts of the metro offer.
while i agree with that, i can definitely see it being a catalyst for something more. For the local tourists, it's an easy enough to get to location. I'm not even sure being next to Werner would help *that* much since there's not much out by it, either. Maybe somewhere down the line, we'll land an amusement park near the water park and it'll be a destination (although i'd bet my life savings that it wouldn't ever happen)
