Resort News - (7/10/10) Universal Orlando is conducting a survey online that asks a lot of questions about a possible new blue sky waterpark concept. It claims that they don’t have anything planned yet, but are using this to find out what people think about waterparks for “when a project does come up”. Well we all know the lease on the property Wet ‘n Wild sits on will eventually expire or just become too cost prohibitive, so the fact that Universal is fishing for waterpark ideas and freeback is a good sign.
Overall they seem interesting in what the public’s perception of an official Universal themed waterpark would be, and what it should have. Should they have attractions tied into movies and entertainment properties? If so, they want suggestions as to what you would like to see, so go give them your ideas.
So that leaves some questions. If this is true... where would it go up? How would it be like? When would it be complete? Would you want one?
Personally, I'm not sure where it would go up. My best guess is that it is somewhere in the resort (I don't know why, just a guess). I don't want to say the huge land between Hollywood Blvd and I-4, because I think there should be an Avatar theme park there.
Attractions tied into movies and entertainment properties can be very neat! =D
I don't have a timeframe of when it would most likely be complete.
I would really like a water park! That's something the resort is lacking (I can see that they have Wet N' Wild, but with the rumor of WNW going, this is a great opportunity)! =D
I also remember this old rumor from 2007:
(8/2/07) Today we have to discuss the fate of Wet ‘n Wild. It’s been a few years since anyone talked about this, but the latest rumors claim that the end of the road for Wet ‘n Wild may be in sight. For those who need a little history lesson, I confirmed a few years back that the property under Wet ‘n Wild is actually not owned by the park or Universal, but was part of a land lease deal signed by the creators of Wet ‘n Wild back before it opened in 1977.
Even today no one really knows for sure just how long the term of the lease was for, but shortly after I uncovered that fact one of the local Orlando papers did their own research to contact the property owners who confirmed that there was little chance of them signing a deal to renew the lease due to the increased value of the property and it’s key location on I-Drive that could be put to better (and more profitable) uses. An older article in the Orlando Sentinel about Aquatica once mentions that the terms of their lease start to change in 2007 and the price is expected to rise through the roof by 2012.
The bottom line… Wet ‘n Wild is living on borrowed time. This has led many to speculate about when and if Universal Orlando may take the next step to build their own new water park on their own resort property. It’s also been noted that all of the “new attractions” added to the waterpark over the last few years have either been rehabs of older attractions (The lazy river, The Blast) or larger above ground attractions (Storm, Disco H2O, Brain Wash) that would be fairly simple to move to a new location when the time comes.
These days the rumor mill has picked up once again claiming that 2009 could very well be the last summer for Wet ‘n Wild. If this is true, then my best guess may be that Wet ‘n Wild signed a 35 year lease possibly as early as 1975 which could come to an end in 2010. Remember that the park will need time to remove their property from the site, so you can see where the 2009 closure idea may be coming from.
Keep in mind that other than the fact that there is a ticking clock… everything else is just speculation right now. For all we know the park may have another 10 years left on their lease… or they could already be in some kind of overtime extension where the fees grow higher and higher each additional year. If the end is near, I’m sure we’ll hear more about this very soon and Universal is likely to promote this fact to drive up attendance in the final season when they find themselves up against the new waterpark on the block, Aquatica.
Well, the park isn't closed yet, but if the initial rumor I quoted is true, I can see WNW have it's last summer in the 2010-2015 timeframe.
I'll keep you updated.
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