Wave pool, pavilions part of new additions to Macon water park

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – When Sandy Beach Water Park reopens for it second season, visitors will see big changes.

When it opened last year, the park had two slides, a lazy river and a kiddie splash pad area. There were also temporary bathrooms. Park Owner Jeff Franklin said they had overly ambitious expectations for their short timeline. However, this year he’s fulfilling his original promise.

Just because it’s the off season, doesn’t mean there isn’t activity at Macon’s water park.

“To be more prepared, I think is the main goal. We want to be ready for the customers when they get here. We want to have good food for them. We want it to be no hassle.  They walk in, they find a place to sit down, we provide them with food. We have plenty of room to spread out. Our capacity is at 1,500 now,” said Franklin.

Workers are building pavilions throughout the park to provide shade.

Construction workers spent all day Wednesday building the parks new features.

“We just completed the entrance building that we’ve been working on for the past couple of months. It provides opportunity for us to expand our concessions and provide some tasty treats,” explained Franklin.

If the sun gets too hot, just step under the new pavilions for some shade.

“We had a lot of requests for family reunions, birthday parties. They wanted some place that they could have their snack or their birthday cake so the pavilions were the answer,” said Franklin.

Franklin is listening to the feedback he got from the first season.

“That current in the lazy river, even though it was only running a mile and a half an hour, it was really difficult to get straight across there,” recalled Franklin.

The lazy river now has a bridge to cross into the sand island.

Now there’s a bridge to take you to the island. Franklin’s favorite feature is the new wave pool.

“It’s enormous. We’re putting gunite in it now and the pool will be finished in about three weeks,” said Franklin.

Franklin has even more plans for the park’s future.

“The bathrooms, that’s next up, and the slide,” explained Franklin.

Visitors will have to wait until the park’s third season to enjoy permanent bathrooms and a new slide.

The park opens for its off-season May 7th. You can book a private event during that time. Sandy Beach Water Park opens to the public the third weekend of May for select days and every single day for the summer starting Memorial Day weekend.