Cowabunga Canyon Waterpark is a

water park A water park (also waterpark, water world, or aquapark) 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 ...

in Spring Valley,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. The park was part of Village Roadshow Theme Parks' Wet'n'Wild chain of water parks located across the world, until it was purchased by Pyek Group in March 2022. Pyek Group also owns Cowabunga Bay and together these 2 water parks makeup the Cowabunga Vegas brand. The park is located at 7055 S. Fort Apache Road, southwest of the I-215 and Sunset Road interchange.

History

On August 6, 2011, plans to develop a water park in the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan St ...

were unveiled. The owners of the Hawaiian Falls chain of water parks in Texas were behind the proposal to open the park by Memorial Day Weekend 2012. On November 14, 2011, ''Splash Canyon Waterpark'' was officially announced along with a listing of the rides and attractions to be included in the park. On February 3, 2012, it was announced that the opening of the water park would be delayed by a year. In June 2012,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n-based entertainment company

Village Roadshow Village Roadshow is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange a ...

revealed they had plans to open a Wet'n'Wild-branded water park in Las Vegas. The company already operated Wet'n'Wild Hawaii and Wet'n'Wild Phoenix in the United States, as well as amusement and water parks in

including Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast. On October 4, 2012, it was announced that Village Roadshow Theme Parks would be opening Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas in May 2013 on the site of the proposed Splash Canyon Waterpark. Village Roadshow held a 51% stake in the park with private investors including

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...

and

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a r ...

holding the remaining 49%. The water park cost over

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

50 million. In mid-May 2013, Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas announced the park's opening and operating schedule, as well as a charity auction for the first rides on four of the park's slides. Due to the popularity of the park, Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas' opening was staggered for different ticket holders. Following a private grand opening party on May 23, the park opened to Gold Pass holders on May 25, Season Pass holders on May 28, and all other ticket holders on June 3. Demand for season passes caused the park to cease selling passes for the year, and pushed expansion of the park forward to the immediate end of the season, as Village Roadshow owned 71 acres around the park for future expansion. A 2019 high school "neon night" was marred by multiple fights requiring police intervention and an early closure of the park. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas did not open in spring 2020. Even after legal restrictions were removed, Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas remained closed. In March 2022, the Wet'n'Wild property was purchased by Pyek Group and re-branded as ''Cowabunga Canyon Waterpark'', which joined into partnership with Cowabunga Bay Waterpark, known as Cowabunga Vegas. Season passes are shared between the two parks. Cowabunga Canyon opened in May 2022.

Attractions

Cowabunga Canyon features 26 attractions including: * Deuce's Wild – two speed slides (formerly known as Canyon Cliffs) * Cactus Creek – a

lazy river "(Up A) Lazy River" is a popular tune and song by Hoagy Carmichael and Sidney Arodin, published in 1930. The melody is by Arodin, arranged and with words modified by Carmichael. It is considered a jazz standard and pop standard, and has ...

(formerly known as Colorado Cooler) * Hi-Ho Silver – a multi-person raft ride featuring corkscrew turns and speeds of up to (formerly known as Constrictor) * Ricochet Racer – a multi-lane racer water slide with 6 lanes (formerly known as Desert Racers) * Boomer Wrangler – a WhiteWater West Boomerango water slide (formerly known as Hoover Half Pipe) * The Lone Ranger – a WhiteWater West Rattler water slide (formerly known as Rattler) * Dust Bowl – a WhiteWater West bowl water slide (formerly known as Royal Flush Extreme) * Piñata Falls – a WhiteWater West AquaPlay area which features a variety of slides as well as a tipping bucket (formerly known as Splash Island) * Cadillac Shores – a

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 Th ...

capable of producing waves (formerly known as "The Wave Pool") * Boot, Scoot, & Boogie – a series of inline tube slides (formerly known as Zipp, Zapp, and Zoom) * Texas Tornado – a ProSlide Technology Tornado water slide (formerly known as Tornado)

References

External links

* {{coord, 36.059941, -115.300122, region:US_type:landmark, display=title 2013 establishments in Nevada Water parks in Nevada Buildings and structures in Spring Valley, Nevada Tourist attractions in the Las Vegas Valley