Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs |
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Location | Palm Springs, California, United States |
Coordinates | 33°48′15″N 116°29′29″W / 33.804202°N 116.491457°W |
Owner | Pono Acquisition Partners I, LLC |
Opened | 1986 | as Oasis Water Park
Closed | 2018 |
Previous names | Oasis Water Park (1986–2001) Knott's Soak City (2002–2013) Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs (2014–2018) |
Operating season | March–October Closed thru 2021 |
Status | {{{status}}} |
Area | 21 acres (8.5 ha) |
Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs was a fun water park located in Palm Springs, California. It was a great place to cool off and have adventures! The park used to be owned by a company called Cedar Fair. During that time, it was known as Knott's Soak City. In 2013, a different company, CNL Lifestyle Properties, bought the park. There were plans for the park to open again in 2022 after some big updates, but it remains closed.
Contents
History of the Water Park
Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs first opened its doors in 1986. Back then, it was called Oasis Water Park. It was started by a group called Waterpark Associates.
Growing Bigger and Changing Owners
By 2001, Oasis Water Park had grown quite a bit. It covered 16 acres of a 21-acre property. The park had 20 different rides and attractions. About 200,000 people visited it each season.
In May 2001, Cedar Fair decided to buy the park. The deal was completed a month later for $9.1 million. The park was quickly renamed Knott's Oasis Water Park. This new name helped bring in more visitors for the rest of that year.
Becoming Knott's Soak City
Over the winter of 2001 and 2002, Cedar Fair spent $2 million to make the park even better. They also changed its name to Knott's Soak City. This made it part of a family of water parks, like others in Chula Vista and Buena Park.
As part of the updates, the park's water cleaning system was improved. All the slides were repainted and given new names to match the other Soak City parks. A new play area called Rain Fortress was also added. It was built by a company called WhiteWater West. The park reopened in March 2002. These changes helped the park get about 40% more visitors and make more money in 2002.
New Name: Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs
On August 14, 2013, Cedar Fair announced they had sold the Palm Springs Soak City park. The new owner was CNL Lifestyle Properties. The park was allowed to keep the Soak City name until the end of the 2013 season.
In November 2013, CNL Lifestyle Properties finished buying other water parks too. They bought Wet'n'Wild Hawaii and Wet'n'Wild Phoenix. As part of this deal, CNL also got the rights to use the Wet'n'Wild brand name in the United States. This came from an Australian company called Village Roadshow Theme Parks.
In December 2013, CNL announced that the Palm Springs water park would open as Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs for the 2014 season.