When was wet n wild established

When it debuted, the San Diego park was pretty simple, even by s standards, with only 45 employees, a dolphin exhibit, a sea lion enclosure, and two saltwater fish aquariums. Despite its meager beginnings, the park was a modest success in its first year, attracting , guests. The young Millay was a huge fan of Walt Disney, and saw how the Mickey Mouse icon was bringing guests in droves to Disneyland in Anaheim.

Millay created the character of Shamu, and was convinced that this friendly whale would help bring guests to SeaWorld. And of course, he was absolutely right. Guests fell in love with the Shamu character, and the park became so profitable that Millay was able to subsequently open SeaWorld Ohio in and SeaWorld Orlando in , less than a decade after the first SeaWorld park opened its gates.

However, shortly after the park welcomed its first guests, Millay parted ways with the company he helped found, reportedly after a business disagreement with some of his partners. Rather than retire early, Millay decided to throw himself directly into another project. While Millay was working on developing SeaWorld Orlando, he took note of the oppressive heat in the region. Though Florida is littered with plenty of places to cool off, including natural springs, lakes, and of course beaches, Millay hypothesized that a park in the middle of the state that combined the convenience of a public pool with kid friendly features like splash pads could be a big success in the region.

While this notion sounds like common sense today, such a thing did not exist forty years ago, and Millay was determined to bring his vision of the world's first modern water park to central Florida. By early , Millay had a concept and proposals drafted for what was then being called a "water playground" the term "water park" hadn't quite been invented yet.

In addition, River Country used fresh water in an effort to mimic Florida's natural springs, which wasn't an experience Millay thought a water park should duplicate. Millay wanted to create an all-new experience, and was adamant that "clean" chlorinated water should be used at his new park, similar to what was used in pools. Excitement was high among the public, and the local media was on hand to document this the opening days.

You can check out some archive footage of local news coverage of the brand new park below:. With only half a dozen slides open, a single kids' play area for young guests, and a wave pool with limited capacity, Wet 'n Wild wasn't really a full day destination quite yet.

Making matters worse was the fact that when it was time to market the new park, Millay decided to air commercials on TV that used footage of water slides and play areas that were actually in other parts of North America. When guests found out that the rides they saw on TV weren't really in the park, they were understandably upset and reactions ranged from simple disappointment to full-blown outrage. However, Millay was convinced that his idea for a water park was a good one, it just needed time to develop.

As a founder of SeaWorld, George Millay was no stranger to the industry and had been developing marine- and aquatic-themed restaurants and parks since In , just after opening the third SeaWorld park in Orlando in , Millay resigned from the com-pany due to creative differences with his partners. He immediately began work on a concept he developed while building SeaWorld Orlando: a park in the sunbaked, land-locked Central Florida area that gave tourists a chance to have some fun in the water.

In the s, wave pools, water slides, and splash pads were not new concepts, but no one had yet put them all together in one attraction. So Millay hit the pavement, visiting locations across North America and compiling research files. Millay was familiar with the struggles of opening a brand-new type of attraction; SeaWorld had also suffered a significant loss the first year before the idea took root.

The park's iconic volcanolike mountain has now been given a name, Mount Zele, and a large arch and other elements have been added to signify ancient ruins, of which Atlantis Adventures is a part.

The expansion comes as the park today kicks off its summer season with the three-day KLAQ Balloonfest. She would not divulge how much of that total went for buying the land. The 26 acres were bought with a bank loan, but the new park additions are being paid through park revenues, which are not publicly divulged, she said.

Wet 'N' Wild draws more than , people a year, Edwards-Cottingham said. The 26 acres, most of which are used for parking, were bought with an eye toward future expansions, Edwards-Cottingham said. But around the same time it was purchased, city officials began talking about getting a company to put a water park at Cohen Stadium.

So, the owners put Wet 'N' Wild's Atlantis Adventures addition inside the park on hold while they made a proposal to the city for a Cohen water park, Edwards-Cottingham said. Then, the city issued a request for proposals in July, which resulted in two out-of-town companies being picked as the best proposals.