Published February 19, 2025 | Updated June 19, 2026

Established as a trading post in 1822, Nebraska’s oldest city is building something new.

Bellevue Bay Indoor Water Park is under construction in Bellevue, and when it opens in the spring or summer of 2027, it will be the fourth-largest indoor water park in the country. Construction has been moving quickly. The city reported remarkable progress in March, and since then the structure has gone vertical, with a glass exterior and retractable roof taking shape northwest of the Highway 34 and Highway 75 interchange.

This is a development I am following closely, and since my last update, I wanted to share that the biggest recent development is a branding partnership with Mattel. Bellevue Bay will be the first water park in the world to incorporate Mattel themes, opening at least a year before any others. The partnership includes Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, Thomas & Friends, and Masters of the Universe, and will feature a dedicated 10,000-square-foot entertainment area. Mattel has also reached a deal with WhiteWater, one of a handful of companies in the world capable of manufacturing large-scale water park attractions, to provide slides, wave pools, and play structures.

Harrison Johnson, the city’s Director of Economic and Community Development, told KMTV the partnership will help move things along: “They are one basically of two or three other companies in the whole world that can manufacture these slides so having them have the contract with Mattel will help expedite a lot of our intellectual property process to get these slides off the rack and hopefully over to the park.”

The park will be owned and operated by the City of Bellevue in partnership with American Resort Management. The project team includes Holland Basham Architects, ARCO Murray, a national design and construction firm, and Olsson Engineering. It will serve as the anchor to the 575-acre Bellevue Good Life District, a state-designated area that uses tax incentives to drive development, create jobs, and attract tourism. A connected hotel is expected to open within six months of the park.

At more than 115,000 square feet, the park will feature water slides, a lazy river, an interactive splash zone, and a wave pool, which will be covered and expanded with more water features in the future. For a sense of scale, the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City has a 38,000-square-foot indoor water park. Bellevue Bay will connect to hotels, dining, and retail via a climate-controlled walkway. The goal, according to Johnson, is for Bellevue Bay to become the largest indoor water park in the country.

Joshua Pilcher built the first trading post in this area more than 200 years ago for the Missouri Fur Company. It was later taken over by Lucien Fontenelle, the father of Logan Fontenelle, and the surrounding land is now part of Fontenelle Forest which was founded in 1913. The trading post helped establish what would become the City of Bellevue. Since then, Bellevue has become home to Offutt Air Force Base. Now it’s primed to become a top entertainment district in the state with the construction of one of the country’s largest water parks.

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• https://bellevuetimes.com/bellevue-bay-water-park-promises-to-make-a-splash-by-2027/
• https://www.3newsnow.com/papillion-lavista-ralston-bellevue/bellevue-bay-water-park-secures-deal-set-to-open-years-before-other-mattel-themed-parks#google_vignette
• https://www.wowt.com/2026/03/23/bellevue-city-officials-give-update-construction-waterpark/
• https://www.islands.com/2161073/bellevue-bay-indoor-water-park-newest-largest-indoor-nebraska-outside-omaha-family-friendly-destination-open-2027/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue,_Nebraska