The Rock-a-Hoola sign that greeted visitors into the park, April 2011.
LocationNewberry Springs, California, United StatesCoordinatesOpenedMay 1962Closed2004Previous namesLake Dolores Waterpark is an abandoned waterpark off Interstate 15 in the Mojave Desert in the community of Newberry Springs, California, United States. The waterpark had operated under numerous names in the past, including Lake Dolores, Rock–A–Hoola Waterpark, and Discovery Waterpark.
History
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Beginnings (1950s–90s)
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The park was originally designed and built by local businessman Bob Byers for use by his extended family.[1] Lake Dolores was named after Byers' wife.[2]
The initial phases of conception, planning and construction took place in the late 1950s and early 1960s. An expanse of arid land on the eastern edge of the Mojave Desert 100 yards (91 m) from Interstate 15 was chosen for the project. The area contains underground springs fed by the Mojave Aquifer. Lake Dolores, the body of water, is a 273-acre (110 ha) man-made lake fed by underground springs.
In May 1962, a basic campground adjacent to the small lake was opened to the public. Enthusiasts of motocross and people traveling on Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas gave the campground some business.
Over the next 25 years, rides and attractions were added, and the site evolved into a waterpark, which was advertised on television with the slogan "The Fun Spot of The Desert!"
The park featured eight identical 150-foot (46 m) sixty–degree–angle steel waterslides mounted side by side on a man–made hill. Riders rode on small plastic "floaties" which skimmed 40 to 50 yards (37 to 46 m) across the lagoon when they hit the water at the slide's end.
Nearby were two V–shaped waterslides, also roughly 150 feet (46 m) long, which were ridden standing up. The slides ended about 15 feet (4.6 m) above the water, shooting the standing rider out of the end like a human cannonball.
On the "Zip–Cord" ride, riders hung from a hand–held device attached to a guide wire for approximately 200 feet (61 m) at a 30–degree downward angle. At the end of this wire the hand–grip would slam into a blocking mechanism and come to a stop about 20 feet (6.1 m) above the water, with the momentum thrusting the hanging rider 20 feet (6.1 m) forward into the lagoon.
In the middle of a smaller adjacent lake were three high diving boards, and three trapeze-like swings hanging from an A–frame structure mounted on a 20-foot (6.1 m) high platform. Riders launched themselves from these swings into the lake.
The park saw its peak attendance between the early 1970s and the mid-1980s. After a downturn in popularity in the late 1980s, the park closed.
Later development (1990–2004)
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Rock–A–Hoola Waterpark
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Byers sold the defunct park in August 1990 to Lake Dolores Group LLC, a three–member investment group led by Oxnard, California businessman Terry Christensen, who envisioned a more polished park with a 1950s theme.
In 1995, the original water slides were removed and replaced with more modern fiberglass water slides built by WhiteWater West and were painted red white and blue in reference to the United States flag. One of the slides was "The Big Bopper" advertised as the world's largest family raft ride, and promotion was contracted to Beachport Entertainment Corporation,[3] and the park reopened under a new name, "Rock–A–Hoola", on July 4, 1998. The new park featured the constant playing of 1950s and 1960s rock and roll music throughout the park along with some compatible graphics. In its "Rock–A–Hoola" incarnation, the park included a river ride on inflated tubes.
An on–premises RV park had been planned but its opening was delayed. In its three seasons, the park amassed three million dollars in debt, one of the three investors experienced financial problems, and an employee paralyzed in a 1999 accident was awarded $4.4 million in damages. That award was affirmed by the California Fourth District Court of Appeal in 2004.[4][5]
The park filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2000. The court–appointed trustee failed to find a buyer and, in August 2000, the bankruptcy filing was changed to Chapter 7 liquidation. The bankruptcy judge overseeing the case returned the property to Dolores Byers (husband Bob Byers died in 1996) with most debts discharged.
Dolores Byers sold the property in September 2001 to S.L. Investment Group LLC of the City of Industry, California. She died a month later.
Discovery Waterpark
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After a $400,000 renovation, the waterpark reopened in May 2002 under a new name: Discovery Waterpark.[6] In 2002 and 2003, the park was only open on weekends. In the summer of 2004, its final summer, the park only operated intermittently.[7]
After final closing
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Some of the park installations were sold off in 2009. The Big Bopper and Thunder Road water slides were sold and dismantled and shipped to Cultus Lake Water Park in British Columbia Canada, where they were painted light blue and renamed "Colossal Canyon" and "Zero-60" and installed. Repeatedly vandalized, the park fell into ruins. Much of the park was torn apart by people who salvaged metal and wires from the buildings. Urban explorers frequently visited the waterpark, ignoring the "no trespassing” signs.
Redevelopment proposals
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Lake Dolores Waterpark in 2012In 2003, Olympic Gold Medalist and former professional football player Ron Brown and the Pro Players Network, a group of former and current professional athletes, formulated a proposal to purchase the park and turn it into a camp for disadvantaged youths,[8] but this effort failed. The Oasis Themepark group announced a project in 2011 to renovate and reopen the park, but this effort failed.[9][10][11]
The park was purchased in 2013 by G&GF Enterprises, LLC.[12] In 2019, the company sought approval from the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to redevelop the water park. The proposal was a five phase plan set for construction to begin in 2020, with an anticipated full park opening in 2026.[13] Project approval was given in March 2020.[12] The project fell through, however, and the property was listed for sale in 2021 for $11 million.[14]
Other uses
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The remnants of Rock-A-Hoola Waterpark in the foreground, and Interstate 15 in the background.The park was used in the 1998 film Desert Blue, where a rising Hollywood starlet becomes "marooned" in a small desert town while on a roadtrip with her father. There, she gets to know the town's rather eccentric residents, including one whose hobby is pipe bombs and another who is trying to carry out his father's dream of building a waterpark in the desert.
The park appeared in a March 2008 episode of the reality show Rob & Big on MTV. Professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and friends used the waterpark and its slides to perform skateboard stunts for the show. In June 2012, another skate film Kilian Martin: Altered Route directed by Brett Novak and sponsored in part by Mercedes-Benz showed the park in its current state while reflecting on its past appearance. TrustoCorp, a group of artists from New York City, transformed the park in 2013 to a "TrustoLand" as an artistic statement, by repainting many signs and buildings with unusual images and messages.[15]
On May 27, 2013, Boards of Canada publicly debuted their album Tomorrow's Harvest by playing it first at Lake Dolores Waterpark. They had previously hinted that it would be played there by tweeting satellite images[16] and uploading a video to YouTube featuring a distorted advertisement for the park titled Look Sad Reel, an anagram of Lake Dolores.[17][18]
Top Gear America used the water park in September 2014 as an obstacle course in Season 5 Episode 7 "What Can It Take".[19]
In November 2014, the water park was used as the site of an Operation Lion Claws airsoft event, 'War of Angels'.[20]
The park was a setting for a 2015 Mini Cooper television commercial featuring Tony Hawk.[13]
Lake Dolores appeared on an October 2016 episode of Abandoned, which airs on Viceland network.[21]
In 2018, the abandoned park was the victim of arson, causing the destruction of the Lazy River Cafe and Arcade. [22]
In February 2020, the park appeared in the music video for American singer Kesha's music video for her song "High Road".
In April 2022, pop supergroup BTS filmed a mini concert called “Proof Live” on the old waterpark grounds. It aired on YouTube on the 9th anniversary of BTS’s debut, June 13, in celebration of the release of their new anthology album Proof. They performed 3 songs from “Proof” including “Born Singer”, “For Youth”, and their single “Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment)”, which featured surprise guest Anderson .Paak on the drums.
In 2022, the park was featured in a show called "Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America."
See also
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References
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You love water parks. We love water parks. Everybody loves water parks – and it’s not hard to see why! There’s something about the combination of relaxing pools, blissful lazy rivers with invigorating slides, and attractions that make for an unforgettable day out, perfect for giving the kids a treat or making memories with the girl gang.
Here at Loopagoon, we’re always keen to face the future when it comes to ladies-only attractions and family fun of the highest calibre. Let’s take a closer look into water park history and learn about the heritage behind Loopagoon and what we do best.
While there’s some debate as to what counts as the world’s first water park, most historians would point to the 1906 International Exhibition in New Zealand, which almost certainly featured the world’s first purpose-built water chute.
However, It was in the 1950s and 1960s, during the boom of the first major theme parks, that the notion of an aquatic amusement park was first taken seriously. San Diego’s Sea World opened in 1964, which combined leisure pools with the controversial aquatic zoo. Its founder – George Millay – took some of the enormous profits from this enterprise and opened Wet ‘n’ Wild in Orlando, Florida.
For the first time, an amusement park was launched without animals or roller coasters and focused entirely on communal pools, water slides, and the pioneering Wave Pool and Splash Pad that brought countless families to the facility from across the United States.
One of the most popular attractions at Loopagoon and at other water parks worldwide is surely the Lazy River. Its appeal isn’t difficult to understand; riders are carried along a meandering waterway, pushed by jets strong enough to propel swimmers with ease, yet gentle enough to make this an attraction suitable for the vast majority of guests.
We have Wet ‘n’ Wild pioneer George Millay to thank for this, too. It is said that Millay was on a research trip in the Jaya Ancol region of Indonesia, where he saw families swimming, splashing, and enjoying themselves in a large moat that surrounded an island. Supposedly, the shape of the island and the force of the river meant that swimmers were pushed along by relatively gentle currents, allowing people to circle the island with ease before being swept along once again.
Upon returning to Wet ‘n’ Wild, Millay created the first Lazy River attraction – and the world has never looked back!
Water slides such as the Tornado and Octopus Racer are firm favorites with visitors to Loopagoon and are perfect examples of just how far water attractions have evolved since the very earliest pioneers of the style. Every decade, new breakthroughs are made when it comes to speed, movement, and safety, and Loopagoon’s amazing array of slides represents a real pinnacle in engineering.
As mentioned previously, our Thunder Waves pool – which brings a tropical storm to the heart of our water park – is a newer incarnation of the first wave pool dreamed up by George Millay in Florida (although history fans will love the fact that the King of Bavaria in the 19th century supposedly had a rudimentary wave machine in his indoor swimming pool). The innovation of an automated and dynamic wave machine, producing enough movement in the pool to replicate a stormy sea, was a stroke of genius which still delights guests today.
We’ve been especially pleased with the success of Flow Rider – our high-octane indoor surfing experience, allowing guests to hop onto a board and ride a fast-flowing sheet of water under expert guidance. The technology behind this particular type of attraction was invented in 1987 by Tom Lochtefeld – another key figure in water park history – and was inspired by a surfing trip to La Jolla. Shooting copious quantities of water every second in a sheet travelling up an incline, Lochtefeld’s design became a major attraction at Schlitterbahn water park in Texas, attracting amateur and professional surfers from across the globe.
Loopagoon was created to be Saudi Arabia’s first ladies-only water park – a safe and private space in which women could enjoy all the fantastic features of a water park, including a private beach, multiple pools, rides and attractions, with their friends or children. Since opening, we’ve welcomed countless women and their families, and have strived to consistently improve our level of service and the quality and quantity of our rides.
Last year, for example, we launched our fantastic Flow Rider attraction – a chance for our guests to try indoor surfing and body-boarding with a trained professional – in a safe and controlled environment. Such adrenaline-fueled thrills paired with the blissful private beach, the relaxing lazy river, and the child-friendly Aqua Venture playground really do make Loopagoon the ideal location for an unforgettable day out!
As we move into the future, we’ve no doubt our water park will continue to get better and better with every coming year. Why not come along this summer with friends, family and loved ones to create new memories and endless splashing fun?