Wet 'n Wild Orlando was the flagship
water park
A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming, and other baref ...
of
Wet 'n Wild owned by
NBC Universal
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, located on International Drive in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
. It was founded in 1977 by
SeaWorld
SeaWorld is an American theme park chain with headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It is a proprietor of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (one park will be ...
creator
George Millay
George Millay (July 4, 1929 – February 6, 2006) was an American businessman and founder of SeaWorld and Wet 'n Wild water parks.
Millay was born July 4, 1929, at Mercy Hospital and grew up in Ocean Beach, San Francisco, and Hawaii. After ser ...
. It closed on December 31, 2016.
It was the water park favoured by former
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
player
Roy Keane
Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, coach and former professional player. He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his club career, 17 of which came during ...
, following visits there during the
1994 World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...
, which he competed in with the
Republic of Ireland national football team
, FIFA Trigramme = IRL
, Name = Republic of Ireland
, Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI)
, Confederation = UEFA (Europe)
, website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...
.
History
Development and ownership
While developing SeaWorld, George Millay realized the need for a water park, later recalling "being in Florida, with all its heat and hot sun, you naturally think about cooling off in water". In the mid-1970s, he directed his time and money towards the project. The idea stemmed from the
splash pad
A splash pad or spray pool is a recreation area, often in a public park, for water play that has little or no standing water. This is said to eliminate the need for lifeguards or other supervision, as there is little risk of drowning.
Typical ...
at
Ontario Place
Ontario Place is an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. ...
in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and the
wave pool
A wave pool is a swimming pool in which there are artificially generated, large waves, similar to those of the ocean. Wave pools are often a major feature of water parks, both indoors and outdoors, as well as some leisure centres.
History
T ...
at
Point Mallard Park
Point Mallard Park is a park located in Decatur, Alabama, United States that sits on of the Flint Creek shoreline. Flint Creek is a tributary of the nearby Tennessee River. The park, portions of which are open year-round, borders the Wheeler N ...
in
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
. His desire was to combine these two elements and build upon it in order to achieve a good
return on investment
Return on investment (ROI) or return on costs (ROC) is a ratio between net income (over a period) and investment (costs resulting from an investment of some resources at a point in time). A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favourably ...
. Due to his prior success with SeaWorld, he was able to form a team of investors to fund the project.
The park opened in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
on March 13, 1977. Although it opened to rain and suffered a $600,000 loss in its first year of operation, Millay kept it open. He later claimed it "started making money the second year and never looked back".
The success of the park spawned several other
Wet 'n Wild-branded parks across the Americas.
In 1998, Millay sold off his interests in his parks. The Orlando location was purchased by
Universal Studios Recreation Group, who continued to lease the land on which it is located.
In mid-2013, Universal purchased the of land for $30.9 million.
Expansion and later years
In 1998, the Hydra Fighter was added to the park.
Riders were able to control their suspended gondola through the use of high-powered water guns.
In 2000, the park renovated their Kids Park children's area. The original aviation theme was converted into a sandcastle theme. The renovation saw three
ProSlide Technology
ProSlide Technology, Inc. is a Canadian designer and manufacturer of water rides and water park resorts. They design and manufacture both traditional slides and innovative rides such as water coasters, funnel-shaped Tornado slides, and Bowl slid ...
"Kidz" slides added as well as a castle with a tipping bucket which dumped of water every three-and-a-half minutes. With the exception of the three slides, it was manufactured entirely by Integrity Attractions.
In 2001, the park began a multi-year expansion plan with Canadian manufacturer ProSlide Technology.
It added The Storm, a pair of
ProBowls, in 2001;
The Blast, an
inline tube slide
A water slide (also referred to as a flume, or water chute) is a type of slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at water parks. Water slides differ in their riding method and therefore size. Some slides require riders to s ...
, in 2003;
Disco H2O, an enclosed
Behemoth Bowl
A water slide (also referred to as a flume, or water chute) is a type of slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at water parks. Water slides differ in their riding method and therefore size. Some slides require riders to si ...
, in 2005;
and Brain Wash, an enclosed
Tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
, in 2008.
In 2011, the Kids Park was demolished. In 2012, it was replaced by Blastaway Beach, a larger children's water play area, also themed around sandcastles.
In 2014, the Bubba Tub was removed and replaced with the Aqua Drag Racer, a four-lane race slide.
On June 17, 2015, it was confirmed that the park would close on December 31, 2016, to be replaced by a new water park,
Universal's Volcano Bay
Universal's Volcano Bay Water Theme Park, or Volcano Bay, is a tropical-themed water park at Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. Owned and operated by Universal Parks & Resorts, Volcano Bay replaced Wet 'n Wild as Universal Orlan ...
. The park permanently closed on December 31, 2016 and was demolished from February 2017 to June 2017. Volcano Bay opened across the site on May 25, 2017.
The former site of Wet N' Wild became a resort known as
Universal's Endless Summer Resort which opened in June 2019.
Attendance
The park was the most-attended water park in the United States until 1999, when
Walt Disney World Resort
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake, Florida, Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando ...
's
Typhoon Lagoon
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is a water theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida near Orlando, and is one of two operating water parks at the resort. It is the second water park to open at the resort, preceded ...
and
Blizzard Beach surpassed it.
At the time, it was averaging around 1.3 million visitors for several years.
Attractions
Final attractions
Former attractions
In popular culture
The park was featured on Travel Channel's Extreme Waterparks and was also the setting for the music video for "
Se a vida é", by the
Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...
.
The park was featured for Puerto Rican band
Menudo for their video Nao Se Reprima in Portuguese.
See also
*
List of water parks
The following is a list of notable water parks in the world sorted by region. A water park or waterpark is an amusement park that features water play areas, such as water slides, splash pads, spraygrounds (water playgrounds), lazy rivers, wave ...
References
External links
*
* (archive)
*
{{Theme Parks of Florida
1977 establishments in Florida
Universal Orlando
Universal Parks & Resorts
Water parks in Florida
Amusement parks opened in 1977
Amusement parks closed in 2016
2016 disestablishments in Florida
Defunct amusement parks in Florida