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IOWA COLONY, Texas (KIAH) Amenities are a big reason why some families choose to live in master planned communities over regular neighborhoods.

Meridiana — located south of Houston in the Iowa Colony area — raised the bar even higher by opening its own water park earlier this month.

Adventure Cove doesn’t have water slides, but it does have many of the other attractions that make water parks huge draws during the summer.

“We noticed that everyone in Houston loves water, so we definitely wanted to have a water component but do something different,” said Matt Lawson, the president of Rise Communities which developed Meridiana. “And that’s how we came up with a wave pool and a tidal river and an island pool along with a number of other things.”

Lawson says the wave pool will be constantly staffed with lifeguards, and the island pool offers still water for those who’d rather just relax.

The tidal river is different from lazy rivers that other water parks have, because it too gets wavy.

There are goals for water basketball, waterfalls, and lawns for activities that don’t involve water like yoga.

Adventure Cove is open every day between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but with a maximum capacity of 900, only Meridiana residents may use it.

Lawson thinks the community having a water park will check off items on the wish lists of families who are considering a new place to live.

“We’ve pretty much checked the boxes on everything and then some when it comes to it,” he said. “So we’re really really excited about Adventure Cove.”