Does anyone remember "WILD WILD WET" the waterpark that used to be off of the 5 freeway in Anaheim? It was located at the site where the BANCO POPULAR building now stands. It was next to the Sheraton Hotel.
This would have been in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was a concrete water slide in Anaheim, right off the I-5. I never went there, but I remember seeing the ads, and the television commercials for it. My wife went there once.
Also, another reader, "Daveondemand", submits a memory of going to a water park, but can't recall the name of the park. I believe he's also remembering Wild Wild Wet...
I recall a small waterslide park located just North of Ball road and what used to be Manchester (now Disneyland drive or something like that). Does anyone remember what it was called or seen any pictures of it? Currently, there is a Banco Popular building where I think it used to be along with that expressway that leads directly from the 5 fwy into the "Disneyland Resort Megastructure" I remember going to this water park in the early 80's and wiping out really bad. It felt like I swallowed half of the pool...There were so many other entertaining things to do in that general area i.e the mini golf place across the street from Disneyland on Harbor (next to what used to be Melodyland"), and the "slic Track" go-karts off the 5 freeway next to the Corvette Mike's original location between Ball and Lincoln...ahhh the memories
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12 comments:
Yes, the name of it was WILD WILD WET. My friend knew the name of it along with many other OC landmarks of the past. So much has changed in such a short time...
I was also curious about the "Tom Sawyer" island-like park across the street from Knott's Berry Farm. Does anyone remember what the official name for that place was? there was a merry-go-round and miniature train that traversed the entire property. You could rent paddle boats on the lake too. It was located behind Independence Hall..
Yes, I grew up in OC in the 70's. I recall Wild Wild Wet had concrete slides and you rode down on a foam mat. If you wiped out it was not pretty. Fiberglass tubes were much better when they came along!
I remember going there at least once when I was a kid. My mom was mad because the concrete slide put a hole in my swimsuit. I definately spent more time at Skateway than here though.
Is the Tom Sawyer thing gone?
I'm planning a trip with my husband and he grew up there and he said that is one of the places he would like to visit, but I can't seem to figure out what it was. He said it was free at the time this would have been late 60's early 70's.
We also went to WWW in the late 70's. You slide down the concrete tube slides on a foam mat. I think this was close to Disneyland.
Yes, I remember wild wild wet in the early 80's. Weren't there a couple of slides? A bigger one and a smaller one? Also...sadly, the Tom Sawyer island thing across from Knott's is no longer there. We used to go there all the time in the 70's. There was a also a live burrow ride.
The waterpark used to rent the mats in different colors and you got to slide for 20 minutes until they called your color off the hill. The place had a large stairway on the right side, about 6-8 different concrete slides and one splash landing pool at the bottom. Pretty cool for the days. It was setup a lot like a skate park. By the way, there were a couple of those in OC too.
Oh my goodness. I thought I was the only one that remembered Wild Wild Wet. I spent more summer days there than I care to remember. What fun it was.
I can recall a few visits to wild wild wet in 1979-80. There were four double slide (meaning each slide had actually two identical side-by-side parallel lanes racing down) so in total 8 slides. BUT when standing on the hilltop (looking at the direction of pool) it was only the two right hand twin-slides which were in use. For some reason, the two left ones were never used, and only one time when they were filming some tv commercial, and they needed a huge turnup, those two pairs were also running (and entrance was free).
The weird thing about it was that the pricing was per hour, but you had no proof of what time you entered. Just some bouncers near the pool had to try and remember when everyone entered.
(I think - I was only 7 back then)
http://www.historicaerials.com/ here you can find an aerial photo of wild wild wet circa 1980. lat 33.8207 long -117.9220 click the 1980 tab.
I remember the place across the street from Knott's it was part of Knott's. My parents were weekly sellers at the swap meet in orange on saturdays and if we did well enough on saturday we got to go to "Free Knott's" as we called it.Burrows,merry-go-round,train,feeding ducks from a gumball machine dispenser and a whole bunch of shops. We bought 'Knott's' jelly there every couple of weeks for our sack lunches. I believe there were orchards there in the early 70's, beyond the burrow trail.
I remember getting stung by a bee at Wild Wild Wet. Still, fun times at that place.
Very close to that was Concrete Wave, a skate park that I spent a lot of time at. I think I still have my membership card for that place, too.
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