Wet ‘n Wild is a name used by various

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 ...

s across the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, 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 United Parks & Resorts. The parks host shows st ...

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. The Sydney Attractions Group Pty Ltd was formerly part of Village Roadshow Theme Parks; however, it was sold in 20 ...

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'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''01011001'', the seventh studio album from Arjen Anthony L ...

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 January 1, 2017. History Devel ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

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

Volcano Bay Universal Volcano Bay Water Theme Park, often shortened to Volcano Bay, is a tropical-themed water park at Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. Owned and operated by Universal Destinations & Experiences, Volcano Bay replaced Wet 'n W ...

. 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 Destinations & Experiences Universal Destinations & Experiences (UDX), formerly Universal Parks & Resorts, is the theme park unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The company, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, operates Universal theme parks and resort propert ...

Palace Entertainment Parques Reunidos (meaning "Reunited Parks") is an international entertainment operator based in Madrid, Spain. The group operates over 60 parks in about dozen countries. Parques Reunidos operates theme and amusement parks, zoos, water parks, f ...

and private companies for a total of $77 million.

Locations

Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe (often simply referred to as Wet 'n Wild or Emerald Pointe) is a water park located in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, and part of the Wet 'n Wild chain. There are 40 rides and attractions, including 5 pools ...

– operated by

Herschend Family Entertainment Herschend is a privately owned themed-entertainment company that operates several theme parks and tourist attractions within the United States, and as of 2021, one of its aquariums in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded by Hugo, Mary, ...

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

* Wet 'n Wild Cancun – a water park in

. At opening in June 1997, the park spanned Since 2017, it has been part of the multi-park VenturaPark. * Wet 'n Wild São Paulo – a water park in

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

Previous locations

– operated by

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

waterpark that opened in 2017. *

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

– rebranded as Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Arlington when purchased by

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It was formed on July 2, 2024, following a merger between longtime rivals Cedar Fair and the former Six Flags ...

in 1997. Located across

Interstate 30 Interstate 30 (I-30) is a major Interstate Highway in the southern states of Texas and Arkansas in the United States. I-30 travels 366.76 miles from Interstate 20, I-20 west of Fort Worth, Texas, northeast via Dallas, and Texarkana, Texas ...

from

Six Flags Over Texas "Six flags over Texas" is the slogan used to describe the six sovereign countries that have had control over some or all of the current territory of the U.S. state of Texas: Spain (1519–1685; 1690–1821), France (1685–1690), Mexico (1821� ...

. *

Garland, Texas Garland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located within Dallas County, Texas, Dallas County with portions extending into Collin County, Texas, Collin and Rockwall County, Texas, Rockwall counties. It is located northeast of Dallas and is a ...

– formerly a

"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 company began as a side business of Circuit City Corporation, Inc., opening its first loc ...

dealership. * Wet 'n Wild Las Vegas, operated from 1985 to 2004 – demolished for planned developments, including NBA-ready arena, which never materialized and now vacant land; not to be confused with the present-day

Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas Cowabunga Canyon Waterpark is 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, until it was purchased by Pyek Group in March 2022. Pyek Group ...

. *

Salvador, Bahia Salvador () is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality and capital city of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognize ...

– opened in 1996 as the first international park. It cost $28 million and spanned , however the park has gone bankrupt. * Rio de Janeiro – opened in October 1999. Attracted over 300 thousand visitors in its first year but ended up closing in 2004 due to small financial gains.

Cancelled locations

* Brasília – $32 million, originally targeted to open in late 1998, but during construction, a system of residential water pipes was found under the proposed park's terrain, which led to the cancellation of the project.

References

{{Reflist, 33em

External links