founded garland texas may 24 2003 13 years ago 2003 05 24 number of locations 7 area served texas united states owner harvest family entertainment website http www.hfalls.com hawaiian falls waterparks is a chain of faith based waterparks owned by harvest family entertainment . hawaiian falls parks are all built using the public private partnership model where cities contribute funds and or other incentives and the parks are built on public land . each of the seven parks has a separate lease structure with the cities participation ranging from contributing land and infrastructure costs garland and the colony to 100 % financing . 1 the first two parks were in the city of garland and the city of the colony both in texas . the third park was located in the south oak cliff neighborhood of dallas . in 2004 hawaiian falls experienced financial problems and founder and ceo david busch sold the company to herschend family entertainment . in 2006 busch was able to buy the company back from herschend after purchasing then reselling the colony and garland parks to cnl lifestyle properties . in addition to paying rent to garland and the colony hawaiian falls must pay rent to cnl . 2 in 2014 the city of garland conducted an audit of hawaiian falls and was unable to verify hawaiian falls gross receipts for the 2011 season . the audit stated that hawaiian falls could not provide source documentation for group ticket sales group food and beverage sales season pass sales and online ticket sales . 3 after re branding the dallas park bahama beach to hawaiian falls in 2007 the company and the city of dallas agreed to terminate the 11 year management contract because the company could no longer continue to underwrite the losses at the park . 4 5 the dallas park considered the first inner city waterpark was a risky endeavor . david busch said from a business standpoint we shouldn t be doing this . 6 according to busch after hawaiian falls and the city ended the management agreement the park continued to lose money . 7 busch sees his parks as a mission field . 8 the parks are often used for baptisms and other religious activities and busch says there were more than 2 000 baptisms in our lazy rivers and wavepools in 2011 alone . the parks often feature christian concerts and events such as modesty matters in 2013 . 9 hawaiian falls employee program is called connections . 10 according to rawd b. jones whose company pure group administers connections the program includes after hours bible study and church services as well as training on how to bring the gospel to guests . 11 the seven locations hawaiian falls operates are located across the dallas fort worth metroplex area and central texas . in 2014 hawaiian falls opened a new waterpark in pflugerville texas and another in white settlement texas . in addition to the traditional hawaiian falls micropark each of the new parks includes an adventure park rope course with ziplines an arcade and an event center . the adventure parks arcades and event centers are open year round . 12 ceo busch has said that he sees these year round parks as a way for hawaiian falls to achieve endless growth and he is looking to expand outside of texas . 13 in late july 2014 busch reported to the pflugerville community development corporation pcdc that because of delays in completing the park due to construction issues revenues at the pflugerville park were some 30 % less than projected for the park . 14 he implied they would make up this shortfall in the winter stating we will fill that place up all winter long . that s year round revenue . and that s very ... what a relief . 13 in december 2014 hawaiian falls closed its year round adventure parks in pflugerville and white settlement . the company claims the parks will re opening in march dependent on the weather 15 twelve year round employees were laid off . 16 hawaiian falls pflugerville was expected to employ 100 part time workers year round in addition to its part time seasonal and full time year round employees . 17 numerous public private projects have been considered by hawaiian falls and communities throughout the united states including henderson nv ; beaumont tx ; royse city tx ; temecula ca ; grandview mo ; greenville texas ; 18 rockwall texas ; 19 fontana california ; 20 gilbert arizona ; 21 escondido california ; 22 and elk grove grove california. ; 23 and many others . hawaiian falls is awaiting approval on a proposal for a 20 million waterpark in richland county south carolina . 24 contents 1 history 1.1 the beginnings 2002 2003 1.2 expanding hawaiian falls 2004 2007 1.3 completed projects 2008 2014 1.4 hawaiian falls furloughs winter workers at pflugerville 2014 1.5 prospective projects 2005 2014 1.6 current projects 2 locations 2.1 current 2.2 former 3 hawaiian falls garland 4 hawaiian falls the colony 5 hawaiian falls mansfield 6 hawaiian falls roanoke 7 hawaiian falls waco 8 hawaiian falls pflugerville 9 references 10 external links history edit the beginnings 2002 2003 edit the hawaiian falls chain began with the groundbreaking of hawaiian falls adventure park in garland texas on december 18 2002 by david busch of horizon family inc. a california based company . mr. busch has built and operated other water park properties in several states including the park located on the island of oahu in hawaii . busch wanted to start a more community based entertainment venue . hawaiian falls mission is serving the lord by bringing families closer together . 25 the city of garland city council and the parks and recreation board provided the land on which the water park was built . construction for hawaiian falls garland began in january 2003 and opened in may of the same year . in late 2003 hawaiian falls made a similar agreement with the the colony texas . also in 2003 hawaiian falls entered into a lease agreement with the city of dallas to manage what would be bahama beach waterpark . expanding hawaiian falls 2004 2007 edit in late 2004 busch experienced financial problems and had to sell his company to herschend family entertainment . under herschend s employ busch continued to operate the waterparks . 26 in 2005 the dallas aquatic center opened as bahama beach waterpark in dallas texas under the management of hawaiian falls founder and ceo david busch . 6 bahama beach is known as the first inner city waterpark and was considered a risky endeavor . 6 in december 2006 after bahama beach s second operating season david busch informed the city of dallas that the park was operating at a loss of over 178 000 . 5 low discretionary income in the park s market area was one of the reasons given for the loss . 5 busch wrote recognizing there are many intangible benefits our organization receives for providing quality wholesome entertainment to families in south dallas we can not continue to pay for this privilege by underwriting a loss of 178 000 . 5 among other things busch suggested that re branding the park to hawaiian falls might solve the problem . also in 2006 busch had repurchased his company from hereschend family entertainment and sold his parks in garland and the colony to cnl lifestyle properties . hawaiian falls now pays rent to garland the colony and cnl . 2 in 2007 the city of dallas allowed david busch to rename bahama beach to hawaiian falls dallas . 27 the re branding did not stem the operations loss and the city of dallas and hawaiian falls agreed to terminate the eleven year contract with the city of dallas . 5 the park is still open today and operates under its original name bahama beach . according to david busch in october 2006 the city owned and operated park continued to lose money . 7 also in 2007 the company acquired its first non waterpark property aloha adventure park located in lewisville texas . hawaiian falls also invested in two pizza hut express franchises to operate at two of its waterparks garland and the colony . completed projects 2008 2014 edit in 2008 hawaiian falls expanded once again by adding hawaiian falls mansfield in mansfield texas . in late 2010 the city of roanoke texas entered into a letter of intent with harvest family entertainment to build another hawaiian falls waterpark in roanoke . 28 they later broke ground on november 22 2010 . hawaiian falls roanoke opened memorial day weekend 2011 with the mega waterworld attraction the world s largest water playground . in october 2011 hawaiian falls entered into an agreement with the city of waco to take over the former waco city water park and transformed it into the new hawaiian falls waco which opened memorial day weekend 2012 . in december 2011 hawaiian falls announced plans for a 2 million expansion for the roanoke waterpark and another 4.3 million in expansions for the other three north texas parks to be completed by memorial day 2012 . for the 2014 season hawaiian falls opened two new locations in pflugerville and white settlement texas . each of the new parks feature an adventure park that will be open year round . 29 30 on august 6 2013 the city of pflugerville agreed on a development deal with harvest family entertainment to build the sixth and largest hawaiian falls water park just south of the intersection of texas state highway 130 and texas state highway 45 in the city . the 21 million hawaiian falls pflugerville consists of a 15 acre water park along with a 5 acre adventure park the largest water park in the company . 31 in early november 2013 the city of white settlement finalized with hawaiian falls to build their seventh location in the city in western tarrant county texas it features an adventure park water park event center and an arcade center near interstate 820 . 30 both pflugerville and white settlement locations opened in summer 2014 . hawaiian falls furloughs winter workers at pflugerville 2014 edit hawaiian falls founder and ceo david busch promised the city of pflugerville year round revenue stating we will fill that place up all winter long . 13 the adventure park did not prove viable enough to stay open through the coldest winter months and hawaiian falls closed the adventure parks in white settlement and pflugerville in december 2014 until spring 2015 . eight year round employees at pflugerville were let go . 16 austin television news station kxan 32 ran a story about the lay offs in response to facebook comments of pflugerville residents . 33 prospective projects 2005 2014 edit president and owner david busch states that the company is continually seeking new opportunities although many do not come to fruition . over the last nine years hawaiian falls has had negotiations with the following cities henderson nv ; summerlin nv ; manteca ca ; san diego port authority ca ; temecula ca ; royse city tx ; el paso tx ; grandview mo ; rockwall tx ; beaumont tx fontana california in 2005 fontana california city council authorized fontana city manager to enter into a lease agreement with hawaiian falls to renovate and improve the waterpark already inside the martin tudor regional park . 20 the city planning commission would still need to approve the deal . some fontana residents supported the park but neighbors living near the park were concerned about noise traffic and security issues . in 2006 the existing waterpark was closed for renovation because the ground at the hilly location became unsettled and as a result cracks began to surface in the equipment . in 2012 city reopened the renovated park without hawaiian falls