Today Orlando is home to multiple water parks. From Typhoon Lagoon to volcano Bay. However
one water park, located on 192, just 1.5 miles from Disney, operated for 20 years before
becoming abandoned and forgotten. This is the story of Water Mania.
"There's something big going on in Orlando."
"Water Mania, Florida's water theme park"
Orlando is the birth place of the modern water park. While Walt Disney World opened an old
fashioned swimming hole with slides in 1975, it would be SeaWorld creator George Millay
who would adapt the idea into a fully fledged full Water Park in 1977. The park stemmed
from the realization that spending time in SeaWorld could be… really hot. What do you
naturally think of when really hot? Well Cooling off in a Water Park of Course.
Inspired by the splash pad at Ontario Place in Toronto along with the wave pool at Point
Mallard Park in Alabama. Wet N Wild Orlando would bring slides, pools and a full day out
with a separately ticketed Water Park experience to the Central Florida Area.
"What's a Wet n wild? Hair raising, mind blowing, risk taking, sun bathing, eye popping, wave
hopping, play all day, and never stopping, slide chuting, thrill seeking, day dreaming
place to go for fun"
Over the following decade the park would expand greatly, it wouldn’t be long until Disney
would follow suit. Disney's new water park wouldn’t be the second in the area however
but the third. In the summer of 1986 just a few miles from Walt Disney World, Water
Mania would open.
"36 aces of thrill and spills for the entire family 7 days a week"
Bob and Iris Larson moved to the Kissimmee area in 1958, with a strong work ethic, over
the years they became well known in the local community. Originally opening a plant that
made plastic drainage pipes.
The 1965 Walt Disney's announcement that they would bring a theme park to the area would
spark many changes for Osceola County residents. Soon the area would have a huge boost of visitors
which led to many entrepreneurs to take new paths with new opportunities. No more so than
Bob and Iris Larson.
In 1973 the couple secured a 1.25 million dollar bank loan to build a 120 room hotel
known as the Red Carpet Inn. While today hundreds of hotels could be found in the area, in the
70s hotels were much more limited. The original hotel located on Vine St in Kissimmee was
an instant success and not long after they would break away from the Red Carpet Inn franchise
and create their independent hotel company, known as the Larson’s Lodges.
Later in 1978 they would open a second Larson’s hotel, this time just 1.5 miles from Walt
Disney World, They were not done yet though and in August 1986, following in Wet N Wild's
footsteps they opened the area's second major Water Park. (not counting River Country)
"River Country, big river country, its a hoot its a holla, its a water jamboree!"
Located in Kissimmee at 6073 West Irlo Bronson Highway or US 192, right next to I4 and directly
across what would later become Celebration, The 37 acre park, while smaller than Wet N
Wild, offered an alternative to the extremely busy Water Park that inspired it.
Water Mania started strong, within its gates multiple attractions could be found. The wave
pool called White Caps at 720,000 gallons of water was the largest in the region.
Other attractions included Twin Tornados, two flumes that guests could choose which
one they wanted to head down 320 feet on a mat, the screamer a free fall 72 foot slide,
The Double Berzerker which featured double dips, The Abyss an enclosed dark blue 380
foot long slide as well as the Banana Peel, a family 2 person tube slide. There was of
course a lazy river here called cruisin creek, offering 850 foot tropical experience that
winded through out the park.
Water Mania also featured a large picnic area known as the great american picnic area or
later The woods, it was a 3 acre retreat to get away from the hustle and bustle of the
water park that included a playground and sports courts. A large effort used on attracting
sports teams and schools to the park. Many local residents were given coupon tickets
and local school trips were frequent visitors to Water Mania.
The park was an instant success with locals as well as visitors to the rapidly growing
tourist area.
Just a few years after opening, When Typhoon Lagoon opened in 1989 public relations director
for Water Mania was asked about the latest Disney Park. The response was that we really
don't see Typhoon Lagoon affecting us at all, We have competitive admission prices and have
more slides then they do. Water Mania had 11, Typhoon only had eight.
1988 had been extremely popular for Water Mania, and they did not think this addition
of the new Disney Park would change that.
Surprisingly it didn’t and the park only became more popular in the 90s. In 1989 the
park expanded with a new slide. This time a 14 foot wide slide designed for families.
Costing 600,000 dollars the park's 12th slide would be 45 feet high and called The Anaconda.
Constant additions were planned to bring new guests in to the park as well as to help compete
against Wet N Wild, Typhoon Lagoon and the Fun N Wheels fun park that was nearby. Again
it worked and attendance increased 55 percent from the year before.
For the first few years the water park even hosted a halloween event called the Haunted
Forest. Located in the woods behind the park, guests would head down a dark winding path
full of ghosts and ghouls. It was presented in conjunction with Gateway High School and
benefited their theater department.
1992 saw the park get a new attraction called Wipe Out. Designed by Veteran Californian
Surfer Tom Lochtefeld it was the second such ride in the country. A surfing attraction
that anyone could enjoy, not just practiced surfers. Wipe Out simulated a surfing wave
by pumping 35,000 gallons of water per minute up an inclined ramp forming a continuous surfable
wave, which could then be body surfed by guests in the park. At least until they would wipe...out...
hence the name. Get it. Wipe Out. Yeah. The attraction was extremely popular allowing
500 people every hour to ride. To be able to do this you had to be as tall as a standard
boogie board. Personally I don't know how tall that is, but I'm sure they had one to
check.
Throughout the 90s the park became more and more popular with over 500,000 guests visiting
each year. In the earlier years the park would be home to concerts as well, next to the wave
pool artists such as Warrant, Gregg All Man, Steppenwolf, Ted Nugent and Bad Company performed
in the early years.
Competition would become even fiercer when Disney would open Blizzard Beach in 1995.
This new park would break water park records and be extremely popular. Water Mania would
focus on their local audience and offer multiple deals and coupons throughout the year to keep
enticing people in, cornering a different market to what the largest parks would offer.
1996 saw the park advertise it was getting a face lift, The ride Looney Flume was refurbished
and The Abyss added a second channel, along with the pool being resurfaced.
After this however investments began to decline and less and less was added to the park. A
water Coaster was proposed, along with a wind tunnel to simulate rain storms and a hurricane.
Not really something that was needed for Florida. Neither of these ever happened.
In 1992 Some of the land the park was on transferred to the Larson couple's children including
Gary Larson who was the general manager of the park. His brother Randy would take over
and operate the Larson Hotels. And two days after the land was gifted the couple sold
the remaining Water Mania Land to Water Mania Inc for 3 million dollars. The president of
the new company would be Gary Larson, one of the couple's 3 children and now joint owner
of the park along with his brother. Park attendance would decline in 1997 when an accident at
the park contributed to the death of an employee, who was repairing the park's wave machine
for the pool. The sadly grisly death occured as the employee was sucked into the wave machines
turbine. The incident occured during park hours but was inside a building out of sight.
The park was closed and guests were asked to leave the pool. Water Mania was fined 15,590
dollars by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration for 34 safety violations. Many
of which were considered so serious that could have led to death. They were given 30 days
to fix them all. And the employees family sued the park.
Water Mania would remain open with little major investment throughout the early 2000s.
After operating for 10 years as a year round park, Water Mania would close over the winter
as guests began to….. Dry up.
The park would open the following year scaling back concessions and food offerings along
with a reduction in staff. They decided they would add some classic 192 experiences that
would stay open year round,this included a go kart track, mini golf and an arcade. Those
who already had tickets for the shortly announced closed period were allowed to use them at
the arcade or at Church Street Station or Cypress Gardens. None of which really exist
anymore. The park stated this new approach would help with their niche of locals visiting
and help them to stay competitive into the future.
Following the 2001 September 11th attacks the park began to struggle, with the huge
decline of tourism around the country the park would only open on select weekends. Co
Owner Gary Larson however was able to offer some of the displaced employees at Eagles
Wings, another company the family owned which made Neck Ties.
Water Mania had begun to look quite run down and residents of now built Celebration were
not fans of seeing it every time they headed home. 2003 did see a new addition to the park,
a 25 foot high climbing wall that would drop water on your face. The park called it cooling
as well as fun. Definitely very cool.
A huge….. Blow would hit the park in 2004. Hurricane Charley.
The 2004 Hurricane Season was a bad one for Florida and Charley left large amounts of
destruction at Water Mania. Signs were torn down and canopies blown away. Seven large
oak trees were knocked over and the slides were damaged.
The park sustained 100,000 dollars worth of damage, along with losing power for 24 hours.
Water Mania was closed for over a week and it took two days just to clear debris from
the wave pool. It was inspected and reopened with some attractions remaining closed. One
of the slides called The Screamer was destroyed, over the closed season in time for the park's
20th anniversary in 2005 the slide was rebuilt.
Less than a year later Water Mania would be closed and abandoned.
After operating for its final 20th season it was announced in August 2005 that Water
Mania would close for good on September 5th. The owners were approached by a private buyer
back in January 2005 to purchase the land that the hotel and Water Park was on. They
stated it was not due to lack of business as they had just had their best July ever.
They just decided the time was right to move on.
Some of the 96 employees would be moved to other companies owned by the Larsons and those
that were not were helped to find other employment. Many at Wet n wild. Those that had Single
day tickets and season passes for Water Mania were able to be used for admission to Wet
N Wild instead. It was reported that Wet N Wild had not lost its cool like Water Mania.
The site remained abandoned for 1 year before being demolished in 2006 and replaced with
a Golden Corral and Pirate’s Island Mini Golf. The back section of the former park
was later turned into Camden Town Square Apartments which today uses the old Go Kart sign to advertise
the apartment complex. The mini golf stuck around for a couple years before being replaced
by a hotel.
As for the Larson's Lodge- MainGate it later became the Park Inn & Suites until the majority
of it was knocked down and the front area was converted to a CVS, its contents were
liquidated in December 2005.
Today very little remains of the Water Mania Water Park. Its location on 192 now features
Abandoned hotels and chain restaurants sitting in its place. In the 16 years since its closure,
there are many who look back at the park fondly, as a place they visited multiple times and
have incredible memories during their visits. it wasn’t as big, flashy or even most likely
as safe as some of the other water parks in the area. The park definitely had that local
Kissimmee charm, but it sure could offer a lot of fun for those who spent time there,
even, in its later run down state. Over time though Water Mania has become Orlando's forgotten
Water Park.
"Water Mania, Florida's water theme park. Located a half mile east of I4. On highway
192, Kissimmee."
Gary Larson said that he is proud that a family owned company such as his, had been able to
be successful in the areas tourism industry for so long. If you look at the history of
the smaller tourist attractions in the area after Disney opened, a 20 years operation
is quite the feat. Sadly throughout the decades it has been harder and harder for smaller
operations to continue to compete with the larger companies offerings
Bob Larson passed away the same year the park was sold in 2005. He had worked his whole
life to create a business for his family. He overcame many hardships during his life
but never stopped pushing forward, forging their way into the legacy of Kissimmee Tourism.
Bob and Iris Larson would become known as Osceolas first family of tourism, later being
inducted into floridas Tourism Hall of Fame.
Gary Larson said when asked, that while the family business would go in a different direction
from the Water Park, they would continue to love tourism and have been successful in it
for 30 years. It was in the Larsons blood. Iris said that running a business isn’t
about how deep your pockets are. You've got to have the ability to dream.
Thank you so much for watching this episode of Expedition Extinct. If you enjoyed it make
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What is your favourite Orlando Water Park? Let me know in the comments below. We will
see you next time.