There’s new info on the wire about the Bearfire Resort coming to Texas!!! I missed this one by a couple of weeks. Thanks goes to ReiMontana for posting about it on the DallasSnowboarders.com forums! The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting a lot of current information on the project. Most notably, the location (just north of Ft Worth) is finally public. Here are the key points:
development group’s plans for a 150-acre theme park
At the center of the outdoor park planned for the northwest corner of Eagle Parkway and Interstate 35W in north Fort Worth is a 25-story mountain, linked by gondolas to a woodsy, sprawling ski lodge.
To keep things cool in the sweltering heat, fans will blow a fine mist, cooling the ambient air by 20 degrees.
Bearfire assembled a team that includes theme-park developers who have longtime experience with Disney and Universal Studios parks, as well as former congressman Dick Armey.
Jacobson said he is not worried about finding the financing for the $696 million project.
Designing the park is Greg Damron of Florida-based Damron Design, who helped design theme parks for Universal Studios.
Project manager Iain McGillivray, chief executive of McGillivray Consulting Group of Florida, is a former chief estimator for Universal Studios and now designs resorts and theme parks. Another key team member is Steve Baker of Florida-based Baker Leisure Group, who worked for Disney for two decades and now designs theme parks and attractions around the world.
Bearfire has all 527 acres of the former Intel site in north Fort Worth under contract for $25.8 million, Jacobson said. They have a year’s option on the land, Aaron said.
One of the peculiarities of the former Intel site is that it still has a multimillion dollar foundation, left over from when the company planned to build a computer chip plant there in the 1990s. Having the infrastructure for the electricity, water and sewer already at the site gives their plans a head start, Aaron said. Plus, they are planning to incorporate the tunnels at the site into the resort’s plans.
Besides a giant resort lodge and a 30-acre mountain, the planned Bearfire Resort theme park will have several other attractions:
Moguls, half-pipes and other extreme snowboarding and skiing experiences, as well as recreational slopes and bunny hills for novices
A European village with steeples and cobblestone roads for shopping
Fast-paced luge rides on a synthetic-ice surface called Easyglide-350
A winding path for ice skating on a synthetic-ice surface
Ice rafts, where several people at a time free-fall 252 feet down a slope
A snowball field with manmade snow
Night skiing, with the potential for a light show
A midslope viewing area that will serve refreshments
An amphitheater with professional winter sports performances
Preliminary adult ticket prices: $38 for a ski pass and $52 for an all-area pass.
Attached to the article was a black and white version of an artist render of the resort. I’ve attached a full color copy they sent me (an exclusive now, I guess). I have another render; however, I’m trying to confirm permission to post it. If I get the OK, I’ll have it up soon.
Texas Snowpark
I received and interesting phone call yesterday. Someone from Snow Magazine found some of my posts regarding the Bearfire Resort project and hunted me down. I have noticed in the past few weeks, a lot of traffic hitting my site is coming via google searches for information on the resort. All this buzz makes it feel that much more “real”. If I were still down in Texas, I’d go out, find the site where they’re building, and snag some photos. Anyway, I’m excited to see if I get quoted in print. Come to think of it, I’m not entirely sure she ever asked for my real name. Furthermore, she didn’t really ask me anything that I hadn’t already discussed here on the site. Still, I was stoked to get the call.
Having done our homework, we didn’t need to ask many questions about the quality of the