Abandoned Wild Waters - Water Park at Silver Springs - Ocala, FL
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- Опубликовано: 16 июл 2018
- **UPDATE** Demolition of the water park began in December of 2018.
Wild Waters at Silver Springs in Ocala, FL was Florida's oldest water park. It is now closed and may soon be demolished.
Check out the all new Art of Abandonment video, images, and history from the abandoned Wild Waters water park: bit.ly/AbandonedWildWaters
To view or purchase images from this or other abandoned shoots, please visit my website at: www.TheDigitalMirage.com
Video and Images ©Walter Arnold Photography 2018
#WalterArnoldPhotography #ArtOfAbandonment #WildWaters #Abandoned #SilverSprings #Florida
Music: "Rae" by Kevin Graham - Licensed through ArtList at artlist.io/Walter-136270 #ArtOfAbandonment #WalterArnold #WalterArnoldPhotography
![ian - Fit Check (Feat. VonOff1700) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/sDGWDBg45Dw/mqdefault.jpg)
Wild Waters will always hold a special place in my heart. I spent everyday of my summers there as a kid in the 80's. I will never forget 'The Hurricane' and those bright blue double tubes, the 'Bonanza' play area with the water cannons, racing my friends down 'Silver Bullet', or playing 'Super Off Road' in the arcade all day. Its sad that its gone and I cant show my kids where I spent my summers when I was there age.
crazypaul oh man Super Off Road... now that takes me back! :) thanks for sharing your connection to Wild Waters!
Same man :/ We probably played together lol
Let us not forget the Tornado slide which made you drop at a scary angle.
I miss the games and getting those huge sugar sticks.
I'm a 93 baby so I got to experience it most of my childhood.
Silver Bullet, Montezuma's Revenge, Wave Pool... Those were the days!
me and my cousin figured out that at the end of silver bullet you could stiffin out and skipp on the water, one time he went so far that he hit the bushes at the end of the pool. I miss that place
Anyone else live in Ocala and coming back to look at the old memories they had there
here
Born and raised
Hey man there's nothing there it's all gone
I went back in 2017 after leaving 15 years prior. It felt so good and hurt so bad at the same time. I want to visit again but I think the memories of how it was when i grew up there are the ones i want to keep. I dont know if ill ever come back through again.
Yes the fun is over but the joy that it gave to kids like me I will never forget,memories forever🤘❤
I used to plan the summer picnic there for all the E-One employees for 5 years. It was a great destination and they had access to the Water Park and to the concert side. It was so nice to see parents interacting with their children. They provided dinner and drinks for all our employees. It always started around 5pm and the park was just open for E-One. Great memories
This was beautiful and sad. I look at this and it takes me back to the year 2000. I picture myself and I’d stand in the kiddy area and climb that net. This was my childhood and it’s just sad to see how bare and gone Wild Waters is :(
DanzeZingThing same I feel u
Ha! I probably walked past you goin to the wave pool ... I'm much older tho hehe
Every time I visited Florida, my uncle would take us to this water park, I’m so sad it’s closed, I wanted to take my little one here one day but now I cannot
The demolition of this park is so sad. There are so many wonderful memories that I will cherish forever. My children use to get so excited when we got our summer passes to the park. It was so much fun. Now seeing it being torn down is just breaking my heart. I wish that the state could of taken money to restore this park and it would have continued to attract so many tourist. We are suffering now because our tourist attractions are obsolete and it hurts our businesses here in Silver Springs Florida and Ocala Florida. Such a bad decision to not fund this wonderful park and restore it back to its original beauty with updated rides swimming pools and jobs for our young adults during summer vacation. Very disappointed.
Ya ocala sucks so bad. Nothing lasts here ever
I went there in about 2008 and had a great time. Nice little water park. Nothing grandiose, just small and quaint. I have to say I was moved by the video and miss it now even more than ever. Progress isn't so kind sometimes.
You know….when it came to Wild Waters, I find myself agreeing with Umbitch. Progress for Progress’s sake must be discouraged.
i LOVED THIS PLACE AS A CHILD
The sounds of happy kids having fun and splashing around gives you a sense into how lively this place would’ve been in its heyday.
This place was a part of my childhood. I remember going as a kid with my family. Finally mustering up the courage to go on the big slides and alligator ambush. I remember when they built alligator ambush. I remember going on a first date there. So many fond memories in that place. Thank you for immortalizing the greatness of wild waters.
I'm still a kid I'm a tween but I remember going here when I was little I remember playing w/ my friends in the kiddie water playground and riding the silver bullet. When I watched this it brought tears to my eyes because my mom when here as a child I when here as a child its just so sad to see it left there to rot and I herd there tearing the whole thing down next week. I'm gonna cry like a baby I bet. I just have so many memories there and I remember before this one white slide there was a tree... My mom said when she was a kid bubblegum used to be up and down that tree and they nicknamed it the bubblegum tree. It's just sooo sad to see this great place in this terrible manner. It just makes me so sad because when I grow up and have enough money I wanted to bring back wild waters but cuz there tearing it down that my not happen.Rest in peace Wild Waters you will forever have a place in my heart.😭😭😭☹️😕❤️💗💗💞💜❤️💙💛💚💜💔 goodbye wild waters
Impressive production values. I could have watched that for an hour.
Thanks so much MemphisBlues! This was really fun to work on. I learned a lot by making the intro from hand and playing with the motion tracked text. I enjoyed it though :)
I live in Ocala 😭 and I'm 12 now and I remember going to that water park being so exited it will have a special place in my heart 😭❤️
Wow man I didn't know I cared about this place till now I kinda want to cry I grew up here I love this place and I'm not even a water park guy
Omg i a crying i spent so much time there when i was really little and those pics anr bring back so many memories
I only wish I could have had my son experience the amazing adventures you could have here.
This place holds so many memories of my childhood.
I'm sad to see it go.
UGH this made me so emotional. I had a chance to go back before it was gone. I loved that place. Places like this made me who I am today. I'm gonna go tell my grandmommy that I love her and thank her for taking us here time and time again
This video was a tear jerker...who else played here in middle school in the mid to late 90s??
Cool video. Very cinematic. We droned over the waterpark this past weekend. We'll upload the video this Sunday.
Loved this one, great music and beautiful visuals. Really makes you feel the place.
Thank you very much! So glad you enjoyed it.
I have lived in Ocala FL for nearly 44 years, and was actually employed at Wild Waters as a Guest Service attendant in the summer of 1987. I have so many wonderful memories of Wild Waters from that summer, the music playing over the loud speakers, the friends I made, heck, even the burgers and pizza slices they sold tasted pretty good to me. Being able to sit at the top of the Silver Bullet speed flumes and telling the patrons when it was safe to go down was probably one the most enjoyable (and tbh, easiest) jobs I'd ever done in my life. I was genuinely heartbroken by the announcement of the park's closing, and subsequent demolishing, truly a sad and unfortunate outcome for such an iconic landmark for tourists and locals alike.
This place was my young childhood, and from my perspective was one of the only fun things to do in Ocala. The Silver Bullet was the name of that one white slide that sent you straight down to the pool below, and I remember 5-6 year old me would ride that thing over and over (Since the more cooler slides like Alligator Ambush and the really tall pink slide were locked behind an age wall.)
So sad to see the decline of that park while it was still standing, it eventually got way too expensive for my family to go until it closed. Really wish someone would invest in more attractions here, there's so many people here wanting the same thing.
Silver Bullet, Osceola's Revenge, Tornado, Hurricane, they all came flooding back with this video.
Beautiful. Thank you very much for making this. I miss this place a lot.
Perfect as always. Can’t get enough of these! Please never stop doing them!
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Went every summer growing up as a kid. Miss it so much.
I really appreciate you documenting this. What a trip down memory lane...Thanks Walter
Legitimately tested up reliving some of my favorite memories as a child at wild waters. Thanks for this beautiful video.
i only went here once, but it was a core memory. i’ll miss u wild waters
My family went here in 1986 when I was 10 . The whole day they played Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel that was the only song they played. I rode the silver bullet , the Hurricane, all the different slides on a boardwalk that got more intense as you went up higher and swam in the wave pool
Grew up here every summer use to come to the water park when I was 16 the park closed it’s doors as of 2016 the best water park and child hood memories are done
Miss this place...
I know this video is already a year old lmao, but I have to say this anyway.
In a way, this place was like a second home. I remember, and will never forget, every Saturday me and my grandparents would drive 45 minutes to Ocala just to come here. We always got some food from Publix and left it in the car so we could go and eat it later in the parking lot since they didn't allow food lol. I remember every Summer going to get my season pass, and getting a photo taken. Back in December my mom showed me a picture of it being demolished and I instantly knew it was the Silver Bullet, the ride that I was scared of but still loved to death. Eventually we stopped going for some reason. I guess we just forgot. It always sat in the back of my mind but... wow. This video hit 20 times harder though, I met so many friends here. So much time I spent here. Gone. It's crazy because I love watching videos about abandoned places but this just almost made me cry lol. Every second of the video I saw different parts and then I could only think of all the people, all the great food, everything. God am I gonna miss it.
this was the spot for me and my cousins over the summer. We would drive down from Gainesville and spend a day there then we would go out to the smokers picnic tables in the parking lot to eat PB&J's. I loved that place and I will cherish the memory's I made there forever
I miss going there in the 80's as a kid. I remember one day they were promoting the movie Krull and they hid Krull frisbees all over the park and if the kids found one they got to keep it and won a Krull poster. I still got that poster! I lost the Frisbee tho. the slides were awesome. before they made you use a stupid mat.
Brought back so many memories of taking my son and his friends there in the 80's! So sad it closed, got neglected and is being torn down. Wet & Wild in Orlando was also a fun place and it is gone also. But, Ocala doesn't have much to offer for families anymore after 6 Gun Territory, Sliver Springs and Wild Waters closed. We moved away from there in 1986-lived in Silver Springs Shores, which also lost its luster from bad management in the 1990's. I hate to go back--let me have my memories...
I have beautiful memories from here with my mom n kids. My mom rip with the lord n this video made me 😭 both happy n sad tears. Thank u 4 the memories
Welcome back Walter; I love this video and I look forward to a true artist video's like yours; this was wonderful as always...keep them coming :)
David Rodriguez thank you so much!
aw. I went there like forever ago on a field trip and it was LiTtT
I passed by this place so many times as a kid. I always wanted to go but never did. The first time I set foot in it was after it closed. I really wished it was just repaired instead of demolished.
I remember going here as kid, sad to see it shut down :/
Dam....remember going there when I was a little jhit ....hella memories
This video actually made me cry
Breaks my heart to see this place girl have so many fond memories when I was younger and being a lifeguard there can't believe it's gone I wish they would have took better care of it for more many more kids to see and enjoy the beauty of that place
Great video.
Im from New york. I lived in florida as well ..i have many memories at this park. Many trips and fun. 😢😢 havent been back in florida in years. Wow
Sad. I was planning a trip, until this heartbreaking video popped up 😔😔
For many people this video is cool to watch but for me 17 years old I’ve spent every year since 2002 to 2016 at this park and it’s so depressing because I have soooo many memories here and it sucks the only good thing about Ocala is Gone however the memories will always be cherished !!❤️💪🏽
Very impressive brother. I’m from Jacksonville and my family and random youth groups used to go there in the 90’s . I want to take some time and go there myself and get some shots with my drone.
Looks like a cool place its a shame its gone
i remember coming to this water park as a little kid, good memories
So many memories 😭😭😭
I will always love this park, it was so much fun everytime I went there. I’m a few years older now and I’m sad I can’t take some of my friends who never went there with me for a day trip to the park
man i have some amazing memories of this place. I had no idea it was even closed :(
Damn. I remembered this place.
Love this! I’ve been wanting to go there with one of my friends on a mini photography/exploitation day. Any info on how to get in and guards?
Can't recommend that, we partnered with the state of Florida to do this. Most of my work I do legally :)
Walter Arnold Aw damn! Thanks anyway!
There are no guards, my friends and I have snuck in multiple times to look at the old rides and stuff. We jumped the fence and then it was pretty simple since then
shut the fuck up demetri
Excellent.
Thanks so much Jim!
Exquisite as well Walter.
I remember when they were building the alligator ambush. For the first few years it was a double ride attraction. But afterwards it was a single or double rider attraction.
I went only one time and it was the year before it closed😭 if I knew that was the last time then I would’ve enjoyed it even more
I’ve always wanted to go to an abandoned water park! Hopefully one day I’ll come across one. I just subscribed 🤗
I remember those white slides nobody could slide down :'(
RIP I grew up going there when I was jit this shit is sad
2:05 I'll miss the silver bullet it was so fun and I miss is because the time I saw it nothing was there it's all gone now
We always drive past there
And that was the only water park in the town :(
Very sad...
After looking at my old photos l wanted to see how it looks like now l just now found out that it's permanently closed I feel sad about it as l had such a good time there
well I guess things change
Childhood :(
Someone stole my blue board shorts, with the stripe down the side, when i was in the wave pool 😂😂😂 i was so mad lol
Wild Water Waves. Ah yes, my family had lots of fun there.
So Sad. I Lived near there as a kid and my mom would take my sister and i all the time!
Imagine typhoon lagoon going out of business in Orlando Florida I'd be so sad if that goes too
I know the case
This is the place that is really fun but there is a ecsident of robers that stealing something, in that case the people shutting down the place because there is to much case in there like someone is falling down at the slide, a rober, and so much more and that, s why this place is abandoned. So everyone is need to know this place as a memory 😢😢😞😔
I use to go to wild waters
I thought it was purchased by the State?
Beatrice Johnson yes it was. A number of years ago. You can read the full history on my blog at: www.ArtOfAbandonment.com
The state chose to close down the water park portion of Silver Springs.
😭
Why did it close down
I'm glad it's gone. After the chlorine spill in the wave pool, it killed any joy I might have felt going there.
Exactly! We should get rid of bikes too, because I wrecked and scratched my elbows and knees that one time!
Never abandon it was taken away from the people by the state.
1:39 I remember this... this is where I drowned😂
😭 its been demolished
Am I the only one who thinks I have been there in the summer of 2022
I consider abandonment like 10-30 years this is more like on schedule to be torn down lol
what im mad about most is that those fuckers took this damn water park away and left us with like 30,000 fucking crack motels now.
I live there no one ever goes to that water park
It was never never abandon just closedown 😂