Eerie abandoned waterpark nestled in heart of California desert lists for $11 million
The last time it was a running water park that echoed with the laughter of families enjoying the summer heat, it was 2004. Since then, the place formerly known as Lake Dolores Waterpark has morphed into 250 acres of a post-apocalyptic-looking wasteland that is festering on the California market for $11 million.
The park opened its gates in 1962 to the public in the Mojave Desert and was named after the wife of businessman Bob Byers, who originally designed it as a private playground for his extended family, Business Insider reported.
Since then, the park had been riddled with bad luck, arson, bankruptcy and an employee accident and waddled through three attempts to re-brand and reopen, only to have the park decay into a strange ghost town with the sound of haunting wind rustling through abandoned attractions replacing the sound of families enjoying the day.
“I’ve visited the park several times over the years since it was first abandoned, and each time it is slightly more decayed and weather-beaten – not to mention covered in spray paint,” photographer Shaun Astor of Raise the Stakes Photography told the New York Post.
Rumors of a reopening began to circulate in 2019 when the private firm G&GF Enterprise was given permission to “revitalize the land” and transform the place into a “roadside playground,” Business Insider said.
But the former park still stands disgraced as the listing hovers in the shadow of three name changes and a plethora of concerning happenings, including one bizarre incident that took place in 1999 when an employee of the park became a paraplegic when he used one of the slides after hours only to discover the catch pool didn’t have enough water in it, the Desert Way said.
The employee was awarded a $4.4 million payoff, which was “a contributing factor in the demise of the waterpark,” the Desert Way reported.
Many videos have been made about the water park, including one from Expedition Theme Park, which referred to the place as “full of danger” on its YouTube channel.
The former park was even featured in a in a Tony Hawk episode in 2015, the New York Post said.
This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Eerie abandoned waterpark nestled in heart of California desert lists for $11 million."