MURRIETA: Mulligan Family Fun Center plans water park
Construction will begin in March on a project that could see about half of the 7-acre Mulligan Family Fun Center in Murrieta converted into a Western-themed water park, a company official said Friday. The first phase of the water park is expected to open this summer and will consist of five speed slides, multi-level platforms, interactive aquatic controls and what is being called a “Big Splash Pumping Station,” a company news release stated. Murrieta Mayor Randon Lane said adding a water park would be good for the community.
“Anything we get as far as a water park is a benefit to the residents, especially with the heat we get in the region,” Lane said. “I’ll take my kids there.”
The project’s initial phase is expected to cost between $1.2 million and $1.5 million, said Robert J. Araiza, marketing director for Mulligan Family Fun Centers.
“The market is prime for it,” Araiza said of the decision. “The water park that was supposed to go in Temecula is no longer an option.”
In Temecula, Clearwater Waterpark Development, which built Wild Rivers Waterpark in Irvine, had wanted to build a water park on 20 acres on Diaz Road and west of Interstate 15. The company, however, was unable to secure funding for a project.
Mulligan Center opened in Murrieta in March 1996 and offers a variety of activities, including miniature golf, go-cart racing, laser tag and batting cages.
If it works out, the Murrieta water park could be expanded to include attractions on about half the park, Araiza said, and could include a “lazy river and some more extreme water ride elements,” Araiza said. Such an expansion would take about five years and be accomplished in two more phases, Araiza said.Some of the current attractions would have to be removed to create space for the water features.