First things first: during our phone conversation Wednesday afternoon, Ron Granados got another call telling him his wife had just given birth to quadruplets.

I couldn't see his face, but he sounded, uh, like a guy about to embark on a giant adventure.

And now, on to other news: Granados also is about to embark on an adventure with the Garden Grove City Council.

Like raising quads, it could get dicey.

Granados learned Tuesday night that the City Council had unanimously rejected the sale of Willowick Golf Course to his Riverside County development company, effectively scuttling long-held plans to convert it to an amusement park.

Granados didn't take the news well. He says the council unnecessarily stretched out its courtship of the project, which would have featured two water-themed sites adjacent to a centerpiece Las Americas park, which would have reflected Latin American history and culture.

"This is not a local project," Granados says. "It's a worldwide project. It's a world's fair."

And even though it now sounds like the project is kaput, Granados still touts it, seemingly getting more irritated at Garden Grove as he goes. "The design of the park is so mystical, you have no idea," he says with real verve. "It has Aztec, Mayan and Incan pyramids, special lighting torches. . . . You're going to think you're there."

Doubters of the lure of a Latin America-themed park are wrong, Granados says, noting that 50% of the Southern California population is Latino. Eventually, the park would sport representative attractions from every state in Mexico in addition to every country in Latin America.

The two water parks, he promises, would be world-class. One would have 14 lagoons and "would look like you were more in the Amazon than anyplace else." The other would be a "Sea Park" and suggest a SeaWorld motif.

So what happened? What happened to a project that Granados says has been kept alive for at least 18 months, only to go to its watery grave on a 5-0 vote?

"Well," Granados says, "we have two thoughts on that. One, they saw me as such an [unpleasant fellow] in the end, they couldn't stand me busting their chops for every stupid thing they did. No. 2, we think another company is involved. They made a deal with somebody else."

Garden Grove Mayor William Dalton told Times reporter Dave McKibben that a study showed that Las Americas would be more of a daytime destination, resulting in little bed tax for a city that needs additional revenue.

When McKibben asked why the relationship with Granados' firm, Granados Partners, went on so long, Dalton said: "You're talking about a lot of money and 95 acres. You want to make sure you look at every avenue. . . . When you looked at it, there are a whole lot of mountains to climb over."

Granados says the city ain't seen nothing yet. In so many words he says it's a slap in the face of Latinos, and he won't stand for it. "It's not about the water park or the Sea Park or Las Americas. It's about Latinos having a source for funding for Latino education."

He's referring to a personal pledge that half of the proposed park's profits would have gone into an endowment for 100 Latino students each year to attend USC.

"I don't know who the hell they think they are," Granados says of Garden Grove officials, "but they're going to be responding to a lot of Latinos. They're going to have the Latino community turning on them."

I suggest that that sort of talk won't endear him to Garden Grove City Hall. "I don't care," he says.

I asked Mayor Dalton if he wanted to respond to the more heated comments from Granados. He said he'd rather not.

Garden Grove has been in a perennial search for a large project to generate revenues, including casinos, a music-themed entertainment complex and a London Bridge replica over a faux river.

Granados disputes my suggestion his project is now officially dead, saying the courts will have something to say about that.

Ever the cheerful one, I tell him as we wrap up that if nothing else, he had an eventful 24 hours. I suggest that perhaps the birth of quads will offset the disappointment of losing the theme park.

I can't say that he replied directly to that.

But he did offer this parting shot to Garden Grove: "I was never hoping for this type of fight publicly, but I'm going to bring you the public fight of your life."

I feel comfortable making this prediction: Granados will have his hands full in the months ahead.

Dana Parsons' column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

He can be reached at (714) 966-7821 or at dana.parsons@latimes.com. An archive of his recent columns is at www.latimes.com/parsons.