Photo TR: Wild Rivers 7/22/09

I'm introductionless.

Awesome water park in Irvine. If you've seen a lot of Malcom In the Middle then you might recognize this place.

Overall Wild Rivers looks like a small and crappy water park, but I left the place loving it! Highly recommended!

While I was walking around taking pictures my friend Kevin (XII) was getting video.

Patriot twisting and turning over the parking lot.

The only thing special about Patriot is the rollback.

Two very painful slides! The trasition into the bowl sucks! Cou can feel where the different parts of the slide connect (the feeling of the sections of the slide slicing up your back). Still fun though.

In line for Patriot you can watch riders smack their head against the bowl as they enter it.

This was bumpy as hell! It's fast, the rafts twist around, people fly off or get stuck, and the awesome pops of airtime that causes it.

The Wipe Out slides were interesting. At the start they have you sit in front of a huge water tank. When it's time to go, the op releases the tank of water and it flushes you down the layout of the slide at a really fast pace. It's kind of a water launch.

Sweitzer Falls are the slides next to Bombay Blasters. The slides that don't go underground.

It is a bumpy slide because of the rubber tube, but you shoot out the slide FAST!!

You start half way up the hill and the water slide immediately dive and travel underground. The whole slide feels like a launch.

(now can you get an idea where it starts?)

My favorite water slides in California!! (think where the hell the slide start from)

Surf Hill: you can get stuck half way down, or go full speed and loose the mat on the way down.

Every slide that is blue is made out of rubber! These things are pretty much giant slip n slides. The rubber slides are really bumpy. Not in a painful way though. Just kinda whiplashy.

The Liquidator is one of those dangerous rides that are always closed and the park doesn't remove them. You would probably die if you went down it. At least thats what one of the staff told me.

WAHTUBEE!

The water slide has a really cool name.

The longest water slide in the park. The first part of the slide is ok but then there is sets of heavy trims.

Wave Pool area

The Splash Zone is attacking!

When the sign said "Splash Zone" it wasn't joking!

You get a board to use in the other wave pool.

This park has a lot of familiar names for slides like Hurricane Harbor, Typhoon Lagoon, and Congo River Rapids.

Wild Rivers has the type of wave pool where they have people wait in line to get in it.

All the good slides are in one big area.

This place isn't that big but the slides are excellent! This place kind of reminds me of Blizzard Beach. There is a small slides area on one side of the park and a hill of all the intense slides.

Park entrance

Aww the Liquidator is dead? That made one of the best Malcolm in the Middle scenes ever!

That was a great tr of a decent looking place, I suppose I should get down there one of these days

Alright! Always glad to see another water park TR. Looks like fun and thanks for the pictures. Will have to do this one next time I'm in California.

I loved Wild Rivers when I visited last year in it's supposed last season. I did feel a little creepy as everybody was pretty much under 20 years old in the park, minus the parents. I'm really glad our group was my friend and his two little sisters. Kept down on the 'your old' stares. hahaha

Chris.

Great Trip Report!

If you have time, would you mind uploading the pictures instead of linking to them? I'd love to include this TR in our park index.

--Robb

^ No problem

I can do that tomorrow.

^^ When I was there everyone was either very skinny or very fat.

Cool TR, I didn't even know Wild Rivers was still open. I always liked how it seemed to have that "local park feel".

Excellent trip report.

Wild Rivers has always been a fun little water park. I live a few minutes away from it, and everyone who goes there seems to have a great time.

It seems that every year they talk about 'closing' it for good. The Irvine Land Management Gods who own the property will eventually tear down Wild Rivers and build something else on it.

I hope it stays around for a while, it's a unique little water park, that I would highly recommend for a visit.

My favorite water slides in California!!

Yes!! Bombay Blasters are totally unique and awesome fun! How many water slides launch you out a couple feet above the water like that? I've only ever seen that at Wild Rivers.

Honestly, I'm surprised they are still around. I figured they'd have gone the way of Rampage at Raging Waters by now.

Thanks for the TR!

I'm really interested to see the start off of the wipeout slide lol.

Great TR!

Wild Rivers I love the place ( its 3 miles away from my house) , but the park seems very rundown lately. I think ive just been there way to much, but Bombay Blasters is still great. Nice photos, glad you had fun!

--Jay

I live within ten minutes of Wild Rivers, and have tried to go there every year (haven't always made it). It is not the best water park I have been to, but it is definitely the most unique. For some reason, most of the people I take there say it isn't as good as Knott's Soak City or Raging Waters.

I heard somewhere that Wild Rivers had two more summers after this one before they were going to be shut down, but I hope that doesn't happen. The plan seems to be to use the site for houses, but the amphitheater has a lease until 2014. Hopefully they will be smart and keep Wild Rivers around at least that long, as most people probably don't want to live next to an outdoor amphitheater.

The Wipe Out slides were interesting. At the start they have you sit in front of a huge water tank. When it's time to go, the op releases the tank of water and it flushes you down the layout of the slide at a really fast pace. It's kind of a water launch.

Yes, I got a butt-load of water up my nose on that slide. Not a pleasant memory if I recall correctly.

Also, the rollback on Patriot is fun if you have a raft full of fat people. I had two big uncles, my dad, and me in the raft. We went so far up the spike.

My friend and I were planning to go here during our trip to southern California earlier this year, but didn't because of budget constraints. Looks like an awesome water park. It seems like a larger version of the former Windsor Waterworks in northern California that closed down about 5 years ago...with the the ghetto, yet homemade feel to it. I really need to go here before the talk about its closure becomes a reality.

I went on the Liquidator back when it was still open years ago...It really wasn't that exciting. A very basic slide. So no, it won't kill you. You didn't miss out on much.

I went on Edge and Ledge around the time that they opened and it was by far the two scariest slides that I've ever been on. If any of you have been on the twisting slides on Black Snake Summit at Hurricane Harbor, its pretty much like that but with a 50 foot drop.

Why did the Liquidator close? It looked awesome in Malcolm in the Middle. They showed it having a huge splash when people flew out.

The Liquidator from Malcolm in the Middle was a combination of Edge/Ledge, The Abyss and Bombay Blasters. The big splash you saw was the ending of Bombay. People tended to get a lot of minor injuries on it (Edge/Ledge) which led to them eventually modifying it, then closing it.

I'm jealous! Las Vegas needs a water park again!

Great Pictures!

Yay, I'm a cashier at Wild Rivers. I kind of hate it after working there though, but it has some kick ass slides.

I went on the Liquidator back when it was still open years ago...It really wasn't that exciting. A very basic slide. So no, it won't kill you. You didn't miss out on much.

Yeah it looked short. Straight, helix, then a drop. I meant if you tried sliding down it now then it might kill you. Some of the slides have broken water valves.

Nairobi Express (the slide to the right of Surf Hill) was open for only one or two hours for the day. It was closed for the rest of the day because of valve problems. I got a couple rides down it. It's like Bombay Blasters. Only a little faster and with airtime.

Great TR!

Bombay Blasters is my favorite ride!

The big splash you saw was the ending of Bombay. People tended to get a lot of minor injuries on it (Edge/Ledge) which led to them eventually modifying it, then closing it.

I hit my head on the slide a few times on the way down Bombay Blasters. I had a throbbing headache afterward.

I remember this park from the 90's Nickelodeon show Wild n' Crazy Kids! They had a few challenges on the rides including the Bombay Blasters and the Congo River Rapids. Good stuff.

I love the Bombay Blasters.

Gentlemen, cross your legs though.

I learned the very, very hard way.

Chris.