A Park for Everyone
One statistic has always been especially important to Hartman.
A large majority of visitors do not have disabilities.
Industry accounts have placed the proportion at roughly three out of four visitors.
That may initially sound surprising.
Why would a park created around accessibility attract so many people who do not personally need those accommodations?
Because that was exactly the point.
Hartman did not want children without disabilities to think of Morgan's Wonderland as “the disability park.”
He wanted them to come because it was fun.
Then something else could happen naturally.
A child who had never spent time around a wheelchair user might stand beside one on a ride.
Two children who might never have met in school could end up playing together.
Parents could talk.
Families could realize that accessibility did not diminish anyone else's experience.
Hartman has repeatedly emphasized this idea: people may be different in certain ways, but shared play makes it easier to recognize everything they have in common.
Project Management Institute later quoted Hartman estimating that roughly one in four visitors to the related water park had a disability.
That meant the majority did not.
To him, that was evidence of success.
Inclusion was happening rather than segregation.
Then Came Water
Opening Morgan's Wonderland did not end Hartman's work.
It produced another question.
What about water parks?
Water presents even more complicated accessibility problems.
Electric wheelchairs cannot simply be submerged.
Surfaces become slippery.
Guests with certain muscular or neurological conditions may need specific water temperatures.
People who require assistance transferring between chairs need appropriate equipment and privacy.
Sensory issues can also become more intense around loud water features.
So Hartman's team began planning again.
The result was Morgan's Inspiration Island.
It opened in June 2017.
The project cost approximately $17 million and was designed as an ultra-accessible splash park.
CBS News described it at the time as a water park built so that children who had never previously been able to enjoy a conventional water park could finally participate.
The facility included multiple splash areas and a wheelchair-accessible river ride.
One of its most distinctive innovations was a waterproof motorized wheelchair.
Traditional powered wheelchairs rely on electrical systems that cannot safely enter swimming areas.
The park therefore provided specially designed chairs powered by compressed air.
Visitors could temporarily exchange their regular wheelchair for a waterproof one and move through aquatic attractions with far greater independence.
Different splash areas also offered water at different temperatures because some guests with muscular conditions can experience painful cramping in cold water.
These were details most conventional water parks had never needed to consider.
For Hartman, they were the entire point.
The Boy Who Could Finally Play in Water
CBS News visited Morgan's Inspiration Island shortly after it opened.
One of the children there was Hayden Young, a 10-year-old with cerebral palsy.
Until then, he had never experienced a water park in the way many children take for granted.
At Morgan's Inspiration Island, he could.
His mother watched him splash and play.
Her reaction summarized the philosophy behind the project more effectively than any architectural plan could.
Seeing him happy made her happy.
Another parent described something similar.
For many families, recreation had always required compromise.
One child participated.
Another watched.
One parent went on the ride.
The other stayed behind as caregiver.
Morgan's facilities were trying to erase that pattern.
The family was supposed to experience the attraction together.
From a Theme Park to an Entire Campus
Once the first park proved successful, the Hartmans kept expanding the idea.
Morgan's Wonderland was no longer just a theme park.
It became the foundation of a growing ecosystem of accessible spaces and services.
Sports facilities followed.
Education.
Healthcare initiatives.
A water park.
Then an ambitious camping project.
Morgan's Wonderland Camp was conceived as a place where people with disabilities could experience outdoor activities traditionally considered difficult or impossible to make accessible.
Camping.
Swimming.
Horseback riding.
Challenge courses.
Nature programs.
Even ziplining.
The camp covers 102 acres on the outskirts of San Antonio.
Construction took roughly 16 months, and the project represented an investment of approximately $34 million.
When it began accepting registrations in 2021, the organization described it as an “oasis” where people with and without special needs could share a camp experience.
The design once again challenged assumptions.
A person using a wheelchair should not have to stand below and watch someone else zipline.
So designers worked on accessible approaches.
Cabins needed space for mobility equipment.
Bathrooms needed flexibility.
Activities had to accommodate families with very different physical and cognitive needs.
The result was not simply an accessible building.
It was an attempt to make outdoor adventure accessible.
From One Family to Millions of Visitors
The project that began with a single family's experience eventually attracted people from around the world.
Morgan's Wonderland has reported visitors from dozens of countries.
Recent widely circulated figures place total attendance across the broader organization at more than two million visitors, with guests traveling from around 67 countries.
Families have crossed continents because they could not find comparable recreational facilities closer to home.
That fact reveals something both inspiring and uncomfortable.
Morgan's Wonderland is remarkable.
But its international popularity also demonstrates how uncommon truly inclusive recreation remains.
A family should not necessarily need to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to find a playground where every child can participate.
Hartman's hope has long been that others will copy the philosophy.
The goal is not for Morgan's Wonderland to remain unique forever.
Success would mean inclusive design becoming normal.
The Difference Between Accessible and Inclusive
There is an important distinction at the center of the entire project.
Accessibility asks:
“Can this person enter?”
Inclusion asks:
“Can this person participate with everyone else?”
A building can technically be accessible because it has a ramp.
But once inside, a wheelchair user may discover that the primary attraction requires stairs.
A playground may meet minimum construction codes while still offering very little a child with limited mobility can actually use.
A hotel may have one accessible room while the pool, restaurant or social areas remain awkward.
Hartman's projects deliberately aim beyond minimum legal compliance.
Morgan's uses the term “Ultra-Accessible.”
The idea is to design around a wide range of physical and cognitive needs instead of treating accessibility as an afterthought.
That philosophy is now extending beyond recreation.
The Next Experiment: A Hotel
One of the newest projects is Morgan's Hotel.
Importantly, as of September 2026, the hotel is still under development, rather than already operating.
The project is planned as a 93-room hotel near Morgan's Wonderland.
Texas state records list it as a roughly 70,000-square-foot development with an estimated construction cost of $16 million.
The hotel describes itself as “Ultra-Accommodating.”
Its design goes beyond simply having a handful of wheelchair-accessible guest rooms.
Planned features include wider doorways and accessible furniture arrangements.
Audio cues for guests with visual impairments.
Sensory-calming features.
Flexible accommodation based on individual guest needs.
The hotel is expected to open later in 2026.
The organization hopes the model can influence the wider hospitality industry.
Because families who need accessible recreation encounter many of the same problems when they travel.
Finding a hotel may be difficult.
Bathrooms may not accommodate equipment.
Beds may be the wrong height for transfers.
Doorways may be too narrow.
Lighting and sound can create sensory stress.
Staff may not understand specific needs.
The Morgan's Hotel concept asks the same question Hartman asked about the theme park years earlier:
What would happen if accessibility were considered before construction instead of afterward?
Morgan Grew Up With the Project
One part of the story often becomes frozen in time.
Viral posts continue describing Morgan as a 12-year-old girl standing beside a swimming pool.
But Morgan grew up.
Born in 1993, she is now in her early thirties.
The Gordon Hartman Family Foundation currently describes her as 32.
She remains central to her parents' work.
Visitors recognize her.
She attends events.
Her name appears across the various facilities.
But Gordon has always tried to emphasize that the projects are not simply monuments to his daughter.