Wet 'n Wild is a name used by various

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 ...

s across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, originally owned 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 is not to be confused with the Wet'n'Wild brand owned by

Village Roadshow Theme Parks Village Roadshow Theme Parks is a division of Village Roadshow Limited which operates theme parks and attractions in Australia and the United States of America. The Sydney Attractions Group Pty Ltd was formerly part of Village Roadshow Theme Pa ...

and

CNL Lifestyle Properties 01 or '01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * 01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * ''01'' (Son of Dave album), 2000 * ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''O1'' (Hiroyuki Sawa ...

or the stand-alone waterpark Wet N' Wild Waterworld in Anthony, Texas.

History

The name was first used for a water park when

founder

opened his first water park

Wet 'n Wild Orlando Wet 'n Wild Orlando was the flagship water park of Wet 'n Wild owned by NBC Universal, located on International Drive in Orlando, Florida. It was founded in 1977 by SeaWorld creator George Millay. It closed on December 31, 2016. It was the ...

in Orlando, Florida in 1977. Wet 'n Wild in Orlando, however, closed permanently December 31, 2016, and was replaced by

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 Orlando ...

. Millay went on to open six more water parks under the same name in the United States, Brazil and Mexico. In 1997 and 1998, Millay sold the water parks to various owners including

Universal Parks & Resorts Universal Parks & Resorts, also known as Universal Studios Theme Parks or solely Universal Theme Parks, is the theme park unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The company, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, operates Universal theme par ...

Palace Entertainment Palace Entertainment is a subsidiary of Madrid, Spain based Parques Reunidos which operates various attractions including amusement parks, zoos, and water parks around the world. Palace Entertainment is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is ...

and private companies for a total of $77 million.

Locations

* Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe – operated by

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

* Wet 'n Wild Cancun – a water park in

. At opening in June 1997, the park spanned * Wet 'n Wild São Paulo – a water park in

. The $42 million park opened in October 1998, and spanned

Previous locations

– operated by

in Orlando, Florida, closed December 31, 2016. It has been replaced by the new

waterpark that opened in 2017. * Arlington, Texas – rebranded as Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Arlington when purchased by

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any a ...

in 1997. Located across

Interstate 30 Interstate 30 (I-30) is a Interstate Highway in the southern states of Texas and Arkansas in the United States. I-30 travels from I-20 west of Fort Worth, Texas, northeast via Dallas, and Texarkana, Texas, to I-40 in North Little Rock, A ...

from

Six Flags Over Texas Six Flags Over Texas is a 212-acre (86 ha) amusement park, in Arlington, Texas, east of Fort Worth and west of Dallas. It is the first amusement park in the Six Flags chain, and features themed areas and attractions. The park opened on August 5, ...

. *

Garland, Texas Garland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located northeast of Dallas and is a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is located within Dallas County except for small portions located in Collin and Rockwall Counties. At the ...

– formerly a

Herschend Family Entertainment Herschend Family Entertainment (HFE) is a privately owned themed-entertainment company that operates several theme parks and tourist attractions within the United States, and as of 2021, one aquarium in Vancouver, Canada. Founded by Jack and ...

"White Water" park. The site is now occupied by a

CarMax CarMax, Inc. is a used vehicle retailer based in the United States. It operates two business segments: CarMax Sales Operations and CarMax Auto Finance. The corporate entity behind the formation of CarMax was Circuit City Stores, Inc. The firs ...

dealership. * Wet 'n Wild Las Vegas, operated from 1985 to 2004 – now All Net Resort & Arena; not to be confused with the present-day

Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas was a water park in Spring Valley, Nevada. The park was part of Village Roadshow Theme Parks' Wet'n'Wild chain of water parks located across the world. The park opened in May 2013 and is located at 7055 S. Fort Apache Ro ...

. * Salvador, Bahia – opened in 1996 as the first international park. It cost $28 million and spanned , however the park has gone bankrupt.

Cancelled locations

* Rio de Janeiro – originally targeted for an October 1999 opening * Brasilia – $32 million, originally targeted to open in late 1998

References

{{Reflist, 33em

External links