DUNDEE, Mich. — Families may have fond memories of taking trips to Splash Universe Water Park in Dundee, Michigan before it was forced to close during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Under the new ownership of brothers Jacob and Joseph Garmo, the wet wonderland is being prepared to reopen in the fall of 2022.
Joseph said people are anticipating the return of a place they miss. Jacob said the water park was a hot spot in the Detroit and Toledo metros.
"Anytime I've been in Monroe or Ann Arbor and I bring up anything with Splash Universe, everybody just gets extremely excited," Joseph said.
They plan to stagger the reopening with phases. The first phase was reopening the hotel, which has already happened.
Joseph said they currently have a couple of people on business trips staying at the hotel, which has about 160 rooms. Once the water park opens in the second phase, they hope hotel rooms will start to see increased booking.
Jacob said the next phases involve making the park more family-friendly and technology-friendly with updates including removing old games.
The restaurant, arcade, gift shop and banquet hall will also be opened in the fall of 2022.
The brothers said masks and sanitizer will also be available, but they don't plan on enforcing any safety mandates.
Customers who still have season passes, gift cards and vouchers they purchased when the park was open should not toss them out, since the brothers said an exchange program is in the works.