Along Loop 101 near Cardinals Way in Glendale, four hotel towers rise from a 60-acre lot south of State Farm Stadium, while roller coaster track has been visible on the ground for years. VAI Resort has not announced an opening date.
The key question right now is the status of the Mattel Adventure Park, one of VAI Resort's two major components. Axios Phoenix reported in August 2026 that Epic Resort Destinations may no longer be involved in the project.
What Changed Between Late 2025 And Right Now
VAI Resort broke ground in 2021 under a different name, Crystal Lagoons, developed by a group called Epic Resort Destinations. The plan included a Mattel-branded amusement park with Hot Wheels coasters, a Barbie Beach House, and a He-Man laser tag arena, aimed at a 2023 opening.
In 2022, Epic ran into money trouble and signed the project over to Tommy and Grant Fisher, a father-son duo of former border wall contractors, who renamed it VAI Resort and kept building toward the Mattel park alongside it. From there, the opening date has moved on a fairly predictable schedule. Late 2023 became late 2024. Late 2024 became "phased opening starting late 2025, with other phases through the first half of 2026," according to VAI's own marketing team in a spring 2025 interview, as reported by ABC15. By September 2025, that language disappeared entirely. ABC15 reported that VAI said it was "not ready to provide a specific opening date" and would only announce one nine to twelve months before it actually happened.
Glendale's city manager, Kevin Phelps, offered a different number a few weeks later. In an October 2025 interview, he said the resort was tentatively set to open in two phases by the end of 2026, working from an office near Westgate Entertainment District with a direct view of the construction site. That timeline and VAI's own public statement don't match, and by April 2026, local reporters had confirmed what the mismatch suggested. With less than nine months left in the year and no announcement made, the resort was not going to open in 2026 either.
The Mattel Adventure Park's Developer Status
A further update came in August 2026, when Axios Phoenix looked into the status of the Mattel Adventure Park specifically, timed to National Roller Coaster Day. The report raised questions about Epic Resort Destinations' continued role in the project.
Epic Resort Destinations, the company that had walked away from the overall resort in 2022 but stayed attached to the Mattel piece, seems to no longer have any role in it. When Axios asked VAI spokesperson Rian Kirkman about Epic's involvement, he said only that "VAI is the owner and operator of the Mattel Adventure Park." Multiple attempts to reach Epic co-founders Mark Cornell and Glen Bilbo went unanswered, and emails to both men bounced back as undeliverable. Mattel itself didn't respond to questions either.
Axios visited the site while reporting the story. There was no evidence of active work at the theme park portion of the property. Axios Phoenix reported that VAI spokesperson Jenn Joseph said:
"VAI Resort is in the process of redefining the guest experience and creative vision of the Mattel Adventure Park. We look forward to sharing more in Q4 as the project progresses."
Today is October 1, 2026. Q4 starts today.
What The Site Looks Like Today
The resort side of the property, separate from the theme park, has visibly more built on it. The plan calls for four towers, named the Amphitheater Tower, Rhythm Tower, Cadence Tower, and VAI Villas, totaling 1,100 rooms. Company officials have said the amphitheater and its adjoining tower represent phase one, alongside a set of restaurants, including a Mediterranean seafood concept from chef José Andrés called Bar Mar, which has been attached to the project's opening announcements for more than a year without a firm date of its own.
What sits behind the fence right now is a mix of finished structural work on the hotel towers and long-idle theme park track. The two halves of the project are being built, or not built, on very different clocks, which is easy to miss if you only glance at the skyline from the freeway and assume the whole thing is one construction timeline running late together.
Other Issues Connected To The Project
Some of what's slowed VAI down has nothing to do with construction crews. In May 2025, Glendale voters faced two ballot measures tied to the project. Proposition 401 would have rezoned 10 acres near the resort to allow VAI to build office space and a parking garage for employees. Voters rejected it. Proposition 402, which allows VAI to flush water from its pools and other amenities into the city's sewer system, passed. Separately, the state authority that owns State Farm Stadium, along with the Arizona Cardinals, filed suit against the city over parking rights near the resort, a case that was still active as of Phelps's October 2025 comments.
None of that stopped the project's scope from growing. Phelps described watching it expand from a $350 million development with 600 rooms to what he now estimates at close to $1.3 billion and 1,100 rooms. The city projects VAI will generate $32 million a year in revenue once it's operating.
What To Watch Next
If VAI follows through on Jenn Joseph's statement, some clarity on the Mattel Adventure Park's future, including whether Epic Resort Destinations has any remaining role at all, should surface sometime in the next three months. That's a smaller, more specific thing to watch than "when does it open," and it's the piece most likely to actually move before the end of the year.
The resort side has its own tell. VAI has said repeatedly that it will announce a specific opening date nine to twelve months before it happens, and that concert tickets or hotel rooms would go on sale ahead of that date. No such announcement had been made as of this writing, which means even under VAI's own rules, an opening before mid-to-late 2027 is already unlikely.
For now, the resort and theme park have different reported statuses: more of the resort structures are built, while reporting found no evidence of active work on the theme park portion. VAI has said it is redefining the Mattel Adventure Park's guest experience and creative vision.
Projects like VAI Resort are one part of Glendale's ongoing development. Inspired Real Estate Life keeps an eye on what's actually happening in this neighborhood, not just what's on a rendering, so you hear about it when there's something real to report.
