There is no opening date for Orlando Surf Park, and no approval yet either. Orange County turned down the first plan in December 2025. When the developers went back to the county's Development Review Committee on 23 September 2026, staff asked for a reworked layout, more land for public facilities and a plan for how traffic gets in. No date has been set for the committee's next look at it.
What happened in September
County staff said the proposed layout needs work, but offered to explore changes that account for the steep terrain of the site, a former landfill. Zoning Manager Jennifer Moreau said parking should sit behind the buildings so the lots do not dominate the view from the street, and that she could not support the design exceptions the team had asked for, covering setbacks, parking placement, screening and the length of a block without a pedestrian passageway.
The developer wants the shops facing the water instead, where surfers and spectators would spend their time. Gregory Lee, the BakerHostetler attorney representing Ocean Sports Development, argued that the landfill's slopes and the park's unusual use call for a different arrangement from a typical Horizon West town center. Planning staff said the county could not grant broad exceptions based only on the property's conditions, and both sides agreed to look at alternatives together.
Two other items are open:
- Public-facilities land. The project owes 8.62 acres under Horizon West's adequate public facilities rules. About 3.8 acres can come from right-of-way for road improvements, leaving 4.82 acres unaccounted for. An on-site park or fire station was ruled out because both already exist nearby, so the rest could come from credits on another property in the same village or a payment to the county.
- Roads. County and developer engineers are working out how the entrances and any turn lanes fit planned improvements to Avalon and Schofield roads. Staff also asked how traffic would get in if the park opened before the road is widened.
The next steps listed after the meeting: an updated site plan, engineering documents and public-facilities calculations, answers to the remaining planning, architectural and fire comments, and a new submittal to the county.
The landfill comes first
The 44-acre site at 7902 Avalon Road sits just east of State Road 429, across from Orange County National Golf Center, and was used for years as a private landfill for construction and demolition debris. Moving that waste is part of the plan. Florida's environmental agency approved a revised waste relocation plan on 28 May 2026, and in September a county environmental engineer said the revised plan was close to county approval. The county and the developer are also negotiating a separate agreement for the environmental cleanup.
County property records now list the parcel's owner as Surf Pools USA Inc., which took title in July 2025 from OCE West Orange LLC, the landowner named when the park was announced.
What residents are saying
Traffic is the main worry. On 8 October, WKMG reported that some Horizon West residents want traffic improvements along Avalon Road before more development. "They need to fix the roads before they put the surf park in," resident Kevin Horine told the station, though he added: "At least we would have fun at the surf park." Another resident called it "a great idea for the community and for the kids." A traffic signal at Avalon and Schofield roads became operational earlier this year.
What is planned
The developer's site describes a 44-acre sports and leisure complex in Horizon West, minutes from the Magic Kingdom, built around a 9-acre surf lagoon using the Webber Wave Pool System. The plan shown in September puts the pool between two commercial buildings, with smaller retail kiosks, an athletic facility and parking. It lists 49,900 square feet of retail, a 27,350-square-foot athletic facility, an 11,026-square-foot maintenance building and 596 parking spaces, a slight change from the plan filed in 2023. The site also bills the park as the future home of the National Surfing League, with youth surf and swim lessons from Waves Surf Academy.
The pool's size has been described two ways. The December 2023 announcement described a 15-acre surf pool and a $45 million project. County documents at the time drew the pool at 850 by 475 feet, which works out to about 9.3 acres as a rectangle, so the 9-acre figure on the current site matches the drawings.
The only prices date from 2023, when the developer quoted $100 for 90 minutes or $33 for half an hour. The same prices were shown at a community meeting in February 2024, with no entry fee. Nothing is bookable.
The wave technology
Webber's system drags hulls along a looped steel rail track inside the pool, with software controlling the speed, draft and angle of each hull to shape the waves. Ocean Sports Development holds the exclusive US license. No park in our directory is running a Webber pool yet, and Webber's own projects page says its other licensees are waiting for the US to build first, so Orlando's pool would be an early test of the design.
Good to Know
The schedule has already slipped once. In early 2024 the developer's representative hoped to finish approvals in early 2025 and start construction that year. The next milestone is the revised submittal, then another committee review, and none of that has a date yet.
Of the six Florida parks in our directory, only one is open, and it is a standing wave rather than a lagoon. The state's first surf lagoon is likely to be The Point in Fellsmere, which is under construction. Our Florida guide covers the rest of the state's pipeline.
