Wet 'n Wild Closing

[MizMissy]

Universal Blog announced today Wet 'n Wild will permanently close on December 31, 2016.

Universal's Volcano Bay scheduled to open in 2017.



Thank You to All Our Fans for Decades of Wet ‘n Wild Orlando

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 (http://blog.universalorlando.com/whats-new/volcano-bay-announcement/), 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. Share your favorite Wet ‘n Wild memories with us in the comments below, then click here to sign up (https://www.universalorlando.com/Customer-Profile/emailsignup.aspx) for the latest information on Universal’s Volcano Bay and other Universal Orlando content.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Glad they finally announced it... Rumors were true ;)

[DonaldDuck1117]

Makes you wonder why not keep both water parks open. Disney has two on their property. Unless, of course, this frees up land for another project...

[John]

Makes you wonder why not keep both water parks open. Disney has two on their property. Unless, of course, this frees up land for another project...

Bingo - plus in terms of modern tech, this park will pale in comparison to Volcano Bay. But I think you hit the nail on the head - future use of the land for something more exciting....

BTW...

The park was founded in 1977 by SeaWorld (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaWorld) creator George Millay (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Millay) and is considered America's first water park.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Makes you wonder why not keep both water parks open. Disney has two on their property. Unless, of course, this frees up land for another project...
Future projects...

[DonaldDuck1117]

So what does Universal have up their sleeve? From the naked eye the site looks too small for a theme park with too many hotels right next door. An offsite hotel perhaps?

[DizneyFreak2002]

So what does Universal have up their sleeve? From the naked eye the site looks too small for a theme park with too many hotels right next door. An offsite hotel perhaps?
No one knows... Just wild speculation right not, but no one feels this will be a third gate... A new Universal hotel, maybe office space, a second CityWalk... anyone's guess at the moment...

[NJGIRL]

I know it was going to happen but I am still a little sad. I have fond memories of Wet n Wild. It was a great place back in the 90's....plus that is where I met Michael Jackson!

[DonaldDuck1117]

No one knows... Just wild speculation right not, but no one feels this will be a third gate... A new Universal hotel, maybe office space, a second CityWalk... anyone's guess at the moment...

Office space? That's boring. Unless...3D office space!!:thumbsup:

[DizneyFreak2002]

Office space? That's boring. Unless...3D office space!!:thumbsup:
Not really... They could remove office space by their current parks and use that land to expand... The managers and Creative have to go somewhere... They have to be creative with what they have right now, until or unless they buy more land... and it is possible, but they will be paying a hefty price for it... May be cheaper to knock down WnW, build office space there, knock down their existing office space, and expand...

[baldburke]

I know it was going to happen but I am still a little sad. I have fond memories of Wet n Wild. It was a great place back in the 90's....plus that is where I met Michael Jackson!

Wow...MK at the W&W? Was he just hanging out? I can't imagine he was there for a show? Did he do any of the slides?

[NJGIRL]

Wow...MK at the W&W? Was he just hanging out? I can't imagine he was there for a show? Did he do any of the slides?

No...my dates in my original post was off. It was the early 80's. before "thriller" came out...he really wasn't popular then.

Very long story but I will make it short as possible. I was at W& W with my cousin who lived in Orlando (BTW his family lived there long before WDW) and I started to talk to this girl that was sitting next to me at the wave pool. It turned out that she was from the town next to mine and I knew her brother, he was dating one of my friends! She was there with her boyfriend and family. She told me the day before they were at Circus World. They were in line for a rollercoaster and should have been put in the front row. They were then seated in the second row and couldn't figure out why the front seats were left empty......then MJ was escorted onto the rollercoaster. Before they took off he turned around and spoke to them for a minute, and when they got off he talked to them again.

Now back to W & W. We decided to walk around together and go on a few slides. Back then W&W had motor boats you could rent all the way in the back at the lake for an extra charge. We walked back there and no one was around. As we came up to the lake my new friend said..."hey there's Michael"...I thought she was just kidding, but there he was on the little strip of beach! We walked up to him and he remembered them from the day before and said hi to me too! We talked to him for a couple of minutes and then left him on the beach.

It's funny back then I didn't think anything of it. it was really no big deal. It is more of a story now because of how famous he became again.

On a side note...after we got back to our chairs we spotted his sister and bodyguard sitting a few rows away from us. They stuck out like a sore thumb. It was August in Orlando at a waterpark and they were fully dressed. I did get a picture of them!.....I didn't of Michael because I didn't have my camera with me when we were walking around.

About an hour after I met MJ, we saw a lot of commotion. The body guard sprung up and started running. Someone must have noticed him and a whole flood of people were chasing him.

That's my big Michael Jackson story. lol


Stay tuned for my Keith Richards, Dolly Parton, Kevin Nealon, and Eric Clapton encounters. haha