In celebration of their 48th anniversary, the Collier family has invested $10 million to break ground on a brand new water park and hotel here in Pigeon Forge. On July 5th the Collier family invited the Sevier County community to a ground breaking ceremony for the expansion at Country Cascades, set to be held at 9:00 am, Tuesday, July 12th at Country Cascades, 204 Sharon Drive, Pigeon Forge.
The new project includes the Summit Tower, a new lodging facility complete with 98 family suites, as well as the 30,000 sq. ft. Cascades Outdoor Water Park.
“The project has been completely guest centered,” said Kay Collier-Pittman, “Guests told us that they want normal power outlets and USB outlets and they want them conveniently placed. We took pictures, had people mark where they wanted outlets, and now we have a room with 18 outlets. You can charge pretty much anything, and you won’t have to pull out the bed to get to it!”
The hotel will feature plenty of other luxury touches, like 43 in. HD flat screen TVs, granite counters, and plush linens.
“We have worked really hard to create modern resort amenities while keeping our Smoky Mountain charm. Our guests will see that this is truly the hotel room of tomorrow, and it is going to be one of the best lodging options available in Pigeon Forge,” said Collier-Pittman.
The Cascades Outdoor Water Park is going to be an impressive addition to Pigeon Forge, offering a top-quality family experience. Don Collier had this to say: “We are spending $2 Million to make sure a family can have days of fun when they stay at our resort. We have two major slide attractions, RiverChaser and RiverRun, as well as Splashaway Bay, a water activity center. Splashtacular, a slide manufacturer from Kansas City, MO, has created attractions for some of the country’s most notable water parks and they have made some incredible attractions for us.”
Attractions at New Country Cascades Water Park
RiverRun is a 300 ft. long, high-speed body slide that takes riders on a four story plunge thorough twists and turns. RiverChaser is a raft slide, able to accommodate one or two riders in a tube; the RiverChaser is the signature attraction and starts in a translucent channel that sweeps over the resort campus before coming back into the waterpark. Splashaway Bay comes with two more slides, an open dual racer and a 30 ft. enclosed slide that is a transitional piece to help prepare kids for the big slides. It’s all topped off with a massive 350 gallon tipping bucket. All of this surrounds a beached entry leisure pool that includes water basketball and a sun shelf where guests can sunbathe while still in the water.
Aside from providing visitors with an amazing water park and lodging options, the project is also set to be awesome for the community.
“We have done a lot to keep this all here in the community. We secured our loan from Home Federal Bank, our building is being built by Rouse Construction, it was drawn by Mike Smelcer of SRA Architects right here in Pigeon Forge, and the master pool plan and pool construction are being done by Ben Tipton with Tipton Builders,” said Collier, “Of course it will create plenty of new jobs and a facility like this will generate millions in taxable revenue that will benefit the City of Pigeon Forge and the State of Tennessee.”
Be sure to check out our Facebook Page on July 12th for a live stream of the ground breaking to get a behind-the-scenes look at the birth of this amazing water park!
