Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The Abandoned Water Park

On the way to Disneyland last April, Brad and I passed by a very abandoned water park. We told ourselves we wanted to go explore, but we never got to.. So this time, we were determined.
We did a little research to make sure we weren't going to get eaten alive by guard dogs, or zapped to death by electric fences.
I also wanted to know more about this place.
It's a water park, in the middle of no where.
The park was known as Lake Dolores, and Rock-A-Hoola Water Park. It was built in the 50's and 60's and closed in the 80's but was reopened in 2002 as "The Discovery Water Park." But, it's been closed since 2004.
A lot of the big slides have been sold and shipped to other water parks. All other slides have been taken down, due to vandalism and of course Rob&Big.(Click this to see the water park with all of it's slides,  and a bunch of boys nearly kill themselves.)
So, it didn't look too much like a water park when we got there, but it was spooky non the less.

We saw a lot of graffiti, mostly pictures of male genitalia and dirty words.. (Which I don't understand why people feel they have to do that. Can't they just write, "Bob Was Here" and sign it xoxo?? I don't know..)Anyways, I tried to avoid taking photos of that, but it's likely that I missed some, and for that I apologize.
The Oriental looking arches are actually the posts that held up the slides.. we had to use our imaginations.
 And by the way, the doors were not locked. The gates were wide open, and there were no signs saying do not trespass.


The most eerie part was walking around and "feeling" it.
My very first job was at a water park, I worked at the concessions.
I had random flashbacks of wearing baggy t-shirts, long khaki pants, with tennis shoes in the hot sun while everyone around me was playing half naked.
I had flashbacks of counting cups, dropping lids, running a cash register, and sneaking in art projects for the slow times.
Flash backs of finding creative ways to show the world I was still a girl under that baggy t-shirt, and baseball cap. (Lots of bright colored eyeshadow and jewelry did the trick.. we weren't even allowed to tuck in our shirts!)
And of course that awful flashback of everyone getting out of the pool for a "Code Brown" which usually meant more people coming to the concessions.


19 comments:

  1. so cool! i always see buildings and things that are abandoned that i want to explore, but most have no trespassing signs--i don't really want to be arrested, but i still want to go in them!

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  2. Haha yes... getting arrested is never on my agenda. I MIGHT have still gone in here if there were "no trespassing" signs.. only because it's in the middle of no where!

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  3. i'll trespass any day of the week!

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  4. Wow! That's really a great shoot report!
    I wish I'll find a place like that someday... It looks so creepy, magical, forbidden and FREE!
    Like always, but never common, a great post by T2TT!

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  5. I won't bail you out of jail Brad!!

    Thanks so much Chiara!! Are there any abandoned places where you live?

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  6. H!
    Really great pictures, I particularly like the ones with rotten stuff.
    Did you make them with a lomo camera?

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  7. Thanks Alice! I didn't use a lomo camera this time, I used my DSLR with some bright settings then sharpened the images while editing them. :)

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  8. That looks so awesome! You are so adventurous

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  9. Your creepy adventures make me want to move to the midwest.

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  10. It is really kind of cool and creepy. Like from a movie! How fun that you guys actually went in there! Great pics! xxx

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  11. Looks like a wonderfully eerie time (can you imagine exploring at night??). Really like that shot of the ticket booth and all the Art-Deco facades!

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  12. Thanks guys!! It was really creepy, and nighttime would be WONDERFUL!!
    Sharon! You don't have to move out here for creepy adventures! I had lots of them when I lived in the south, and the east!

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  13. Wow, how fun to explore! I bet skateboarders love that place

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  14. How awesome!
    I also had to think how incredibly awesome it would have been had they not re-opened it in 2002 and you got explore one closed down in the '80s!

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  15. Wow, this is cool without end! Ha, they would never let something stand around decaying like this in switzerland, AND leave it open. and im not really saying this as a positive thing... i wish there would be more to explore in my home country. :o)

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  16. nothing beats a creepy adventure! i was thinking the same thing as V... i wonder what this place looked like when it was first closed in the 80's.

    so crazy... think of all the memories made there and now it's just abandoned.

    xx, kara

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  17. you find the coolest places!! i love it!! this place does look spooky! that you for sharing girly!!

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  18. Very Cool. You always find the best places to explore. Thank you for all the inspiration! http://eclecticharge.blogspot.com/

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  19. Funny I found myself looking for things on the Park and I came across this page. I worked there doing outside events back in the day. I Have not been there since 2000 when we did an event there. It looks like there is some interest in bringing some of the park back. As I get more info on it I will let you all know. Also at night the park does have few things that I have noticed and I never was one that believed it was haunted but real late at night when there is no one around it does sound like kids playing and having fun. I always thought it could be the wind or something until a friend was with me and heard it I told him It's just the wind. Then he informed me that there was no wind. I do have some cool stuff from the park, it went threw a few name changes I have a Lake Delores sign and a Rock-a-Hoola sign that is shaped like a guitar that has the logo and it says that you Must be this tall to ride this side. I see the park now and it is really a shame. The guy that owned and designed the new park which are the building that are up now really loved that park and what he had created. He was so picky about how that park looked. I bet he is just freaking out. I know I had no money in the park and every time I drive to Vegas I always think what a shame because it was once one of the best places to be in the desert on a hot summer day.

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