Updated June 4 at 2:55 p.m.

Park develops ways to compensate customers for two-week weather delay

After months of weather-related construction delays, Hawaiian Falls Water & Adventure Park officials said May 30 the facility's opening date has been pushed to Monday, June 9.

The delay is the third since Memorial Day weekend, which was when park officials originally planned to open the facility. The opening day was then pushed to Friday, June 6, then to Saturday, June 7, and now Monday, June 9.

Opening ceremonies will begin at 10:30 a.m. The park will open for season pass holders at 11:30 a.m. and to the general public at noon, said Hawaiian Falls CEO David Busch.

Hawaiian Falls shipped dated fliers during the last week of May telling guests the park would be open June 7. The decision to delay the opening another two days was made June 4. Busch said the park will "take care" of any guests that mistakenly arrive on June 7, but he did not elaborate how.

The park was originally scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend, but storms in May disrupted construction. The project was already 28 days behind schedule because of this year's harsh winter, Hawaiian Falls spokesman David Alvey said.

The rain prevented crews from laying concrete and waterlogged the work site, forcing crews to spend days pumping water out of the ground, Alvey said.

Busch said this is the first time the company, which runs water parks throughout Texas, has missed its target for opening day.

"We understand [customers'] disappointment, and we are highly disappointed as well," Busch said. "Having built these over the last 40 years—we've built 24 of them [worldwide]—I can't think of another time we've opened late. We're very regretful of that."

In an effort to make up the delay to customers, all of the park's guests on June 9 will receive a voucher for a half-priced day pass to the park redeemable any day the park is open this year.

In addition, all guests to the Pflugerville water park this summer will receive free admission to the adventure park, the facility's dry play area.

Busch said the free admission is meant to be a show of good faith. The adventure and water parks are usually ticketed separately.

"We want to be good neighbors, and we want to make a favorable impression to the community," Busch said.

The adventure park will trail the opening of the water park by roughly two weeks and operate year-round. It will resume charging normal admission after the water park closes for the year, Busch said.

Hawaiian Falls will also extend the water park's summer season for season pass holders, Alvey said. Prepurchased passes for Hawaiian Falls were meant to guarantee park access from Memorial Day weekend, May 24–26, to Labor Day, Sept. 1. The park has sold more than 2,400 discounted local passes to Pflugerville residents.

To make up for lost days at the beginning of the season, the park will stay open exclusively for pass holders beyond Labor Day by the same number of days the opening is delayed past May 24.

"We promised May 24 in good faith, and that's what we've been working toward," Alvey said. "If it's a week or two weeks past May 24, that's how far we'll extend their season past Labor Day."

Busch also said that any customer who wants to return a season pass can do so for a full refund.

Construction crews are working around the clock, Busch said, adding that Pflugerville officials have often allowed the work to continue into the night.

"That's a tribute to the city—allowing us to pour concrete until 2 o' clock in the morning," Busch said. "That's what we have to do to get this thing open."

Busch said he remains confident that 2014 will be profitable for the new facility.

Hawaiian Falls must make enough money to pay down the debt issued for the park by the Pflugerville Community Development Corp. Leaders of the PCDC, which owns the park, do not foresee the delay affecting Hawaiian Falls' loan payments.

"They can easily make their payments on the [bank] notes with a month's operations, and the first payment isn't even due until July," PCDC executive director Floyd Akers said, adding that the park will start making "real money" once local schools close for summer.

Akers also pointed out that Hawaiian Falls is a statewide company with many parks. If the Pflugerville park's revenues disappoint, Hawaiian Falls can still make its payments by drawing on its other parks, Akers said.

Busch hinted that the Pflugerville park might expand if attendance is high this year.

"We will always reinvest in the park." Busch said. "We've got 23 acres there."