Wet ‘n Wild Orlando Closing In 2016
Wet ‘n Wild Orlando will be closing its doors in 2016.
The water park shared the news on their Facebook page, and their website’s blog in a post titled: “Thank you to all our fans for decades of Wet ‘n Wild Orlando.”
After almost 40 years, Wet ‘n Wild Orlando will be permanently closing on December 31, 2016. Check out the… http://t.co/tfQFg1lgZC
— Wet ‘n Wild Orlando (@WetnWildOrlando) June 17, 2015
“Since its opening in 1977, Wet ‘n Wild Orlando has been a place where guests have created wonderful memories. As America’s first water park, Wet ‘n Wild has been the birthplace of numerous innovations that are now considered a common “part of the water park experience.”
“Today, we are announcing that the park will close permanently on December 31, 2016. However, the groundbreaking spirit that has defined Wet ‘n Wild will continue in the development of Universal’s Volcano Bay, a next-generation water theme park that reimagines what it means to be a water park.”
“We’re grateful to our countless fans and team members for making Wet ‘n Wild such a special place for so very long.”
Wet ‘n Wild was one of the country’s very first water parks when it opened in 1977. In 1998, it was acquired by Universal, which is currently working on developing Volcano Bay near its Cabana Bay Beach Resort, which is scheduled to open sometime in 2017.
According to WKMG Local 6, Universal is calling Volcano Bay the “next-generation water theme park,” which has a lot of exciting new attractions including: a lazy river, rapid river, wave pool, water-coaster, and water slides coming out of the volcano.
America’s 1st water park closing. Universal pulls the plug on Wet’n Wild Orlando. http://t.co/49ZhEZGEQW pic.twitter.com/ZsVZ1cuRsz
— The Disney Blog (@TheDisneyBlog) June 17, 2015
Luckily, the Wet ‘n Wild employees will have the opportunity to work at the company’s other resorts.
“There will be plenty of opportunity across all of Universal Orlando Resort and at Universal’s Volcano Bay when it opens in 2017,” Universal said. “Our hope is that these team members will take on new roles across our destination as we move forward.”
Wet ‘n Wild Orlando closing in 2016 http://t.co/tLYyJGWqPq pic.twitter.com/VScizfWuWn
— WPXI (@WPXI) June 17, 2015
Wet ‘n Wild currently ranks fourth among the Top 20 water parks in North America, and brought in nearly 1.3 million visitors in 2014 alone.
[Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images]