Published: February 23, 2025 | Last Updated on March 7, 2025, 8:25 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY — After more than two years of construction and nearly a decade in concept development, the sprawling OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark cut its opening ribbon Friday and welcomed the very first guests to the attraction. According to officials, the hotel maxed out its occupancy on the first day and will in coming days.
This culmination of the $400 million project – featuring a state-of-the-art hotel and conference center, numerous restaurants, and a full-sized indoor waterpark – represents a watershed partnership between the City of OKC and the development’s leader, owner, and operator, the Chickasaw Nation.
“We have a lot of reasons to celebrate,” Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby told the assembled crowd ahead of the ribbon cutting. “Above all, today’s ceremony is a celebration of progress and of a partnership.”
Community impact
Sub-freezing temperatures forced the morning’s festivities indoors. City, state, and Chickasaw tribal leaders gathered for speeches and recognitions touting the massive undertaking and its projected economic benefit to both the city and the tribe.
“I can no longer imagine Oklahoma City without the Chickasaw Nation,” OKC Mayor David Holt told the gathering. “OKANA is certainly not the first partnership, and it won’t be the last, but it is the most significant to date.”
OKANA opens its doors not only as the city’s first tribal-owned resort but also as one of its most anticipated economy boosters.
“The economic impact this first year is projected to be about 97 million, but over ten years, the economic impact of this development is projected to exceed a billion dollars,” Anoatubby told the crowd. “That’s got to help.”
Additionally, OKANA has already surpassed its initial hiring projections with over 500 employees on staff as of opening day.
But the economic impact of OKANA will be felt far beyond just OKC, as profits will go to fund and support the Chickasaw Nation itself.
“We don’t have a tax base, so these projects that we have here take the place of taxes,” Anoatubby explained. “People are going to enjoy spending their money here and then it’s going to go to things like education and healthcare, those things that our people really, really need.”
Slides and sliders
By the time the ribbon was cut Friday morning, OKANA resort reservations were already booked solid, thanks in part to some highly publicized social media posts from Mayor Holt.
As the Oklahoma City Thunder drummers played in the lobby, the front desk opened for business and the resort’s first guests checked in to enjoy the 404-room hotel, the huge selection of indoor dining options, and the 100,000 square-foot indoor waterpark.
Even as the temperature outdoors remained stubbornly below freezing, OKANA’s waterpark area boasted 80+ degree heat, and the attraction’s first visitors were already enjoying the summer temps in their beach attire.
That indoor temperature is set to remain unchanged 365 days a year, including all holidays.
Many of OKANA’s indoor dining options also opened with the ribbon-cutting, including Chido Tacos x Tequila and Jack Rabbit Gastropub, as well as the retail spaces for everything from clothing to candy and the waterpark-only food stalls serving up snacks and slider-sized burgers.
The restaurants and retail spaces will be open to the public year-round with no reservation or entrance fee required. Only the waterpark and the outdoor lagoon area will require a day pass.
That outdoor lagoon area – with its towering video screen and groundbreaking audio technology developed by Oklahoma locals Vox Audio Visual – was not yet open to the public on Friday, likely owing to the freezing outdoor temperatures.
New horizons
Alongside First Americans Museum next door, OKANA represents the development of Oklahoma City’s newly coined Horizons District to the city’s southeast along the Oklahoma River.
In addition to the 40-acre resort, the Chickasaw Nation also retains another 100 acres of area in the district that it plans to continue developing over time, continuing the tribe’s partnership with OKC and helping to increase tribal visibility in the city.
Speaking with OKC Free Press following the ribbon-cutting, Governor Anoatubby discussed not only the tribe’s goals and plans for the future but also the hope for OKANA to create a lasting benefit for the community of Oklahoma City.
“We were looking for something that would be good for our people, but also for the people of this community,” he told Free Press. “Things got larger than I actually envisioned to start with, but it’s a very good project and it’s going to help this community.”
Anoatubby said that they’ll continue looking for new ways to expand and develop OKANA into the future, diversifying the resort and its attractions to remain a viable and impactful force in the city’s economy, but also further developing partnerships for the Chickasaw at a city and state level.
“Just by including and working with Oklahoma City, if there’s something else that we’re able to do together, we’re going to do it,” Anoatubby said. “There’s so many things you can get done if you just work together.”
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
