Oasis Amusement Park On Lake Of The Ozarks Will Be Open By Fall 2026, Developer Says

"We are on pace to have the amusement park 10 months from today."

Jeff Tegethoff, developer of The Oasis at Lakeport, says the project is finally ready to move again, and he's confident visitors will be experiencing the thrills of the Slingshot ride and taking in the stunning views from the top of the ferris wheel, by late 2026.

Why?

Tegethoff explains the project funding is finally in place. A bond sale this month raised $100,700,000 for the development, and the money from that bond sale was wired into the development's account this week. "That was wild," Tegethoff mused, noting the long-awaited inflow of the massive amount of money.

"That is the final piece of the capital stack," he said, explaining the project funding comes from the bond sales and also a loan. "The loan closed in June. We have 100% of the $495,000,000 now either spent or in escrow."

Now with funding in place, money is flowing again, and Tegethoff is planning an all-subs meeting next week, where Brinkmann Constructors — the general contractor — will review the new timeline with subcontractors.

That timeline is pretty firm now, Tegethoff said, with the largest wild cards out of the way. That's why he's confident the project will be done by next fall.

As LakeExpo has covered before, the saga of buying the Lakewood Resort timeshares was the largest factor in the project delay. It took the development team a year and a half longer to buy those than they had anticipated, dealing with more than 2,000 individual titles. Many of the owners of those titles were extremely difficult to track down.

Tegethoff said the majority of the amusement park construction will be above-ground work, now, as most of the underground work is already complete. He's happy about that, because under the ground sits one of his greatest financial unknowns: rock.

Oasis at Lakeport - Drone Photo - Nov 2025
LakeExpo

"You can drill as many boreholes as you want, and you're still going to miss something," he said, in a lament common to builders in the rocky Ozarks. "You really don't know until you get in in there... and figuring out the utility infrastructure when you're dealing with that much rock and everything is a real challenge."

The Marriott hotel project will take longer: likely opening in late-2027. But with a target of fall 2026 for the amusement park, the skyline should begin changing soon. The ride-construction crew is scheduled to arrive in February.