Construction for Wild Rivers Water Park in Irvine is well underway, and residents got a birds-eye-view of the progress at the highly-anticipated aquatic theme park, thanks to a short aerial video clip posted on the city of Irvine’s Instagram page. Slated to open inside the Great Park later this summer, the $60 million water park broke ground in early July.
The quick clip, posted on Sunday, Jan. 23, has now been viewed more than 15,000 times and received dozens of comments from social media users. With the anticipated opening approaching, both adults and children seem to be getting ready for the water park’s opening this summer.
Instagram user @TJ.Medina seemed to generate some positive feedback with his comment:
“Petition for 21 and up no kids allowed for the first week, We deserve this
While Mike Riedel, president of Wild Rivers did not comment on debuting an a 21-and-older event, he did provide Irvine Weekly with some additional photos showcasing the construction progress thus far.
The hype around Wild Rivers began long before this weekend and long before construction even began. In July 2020, during the peak of the pandemic, Wild Rivers broke months of social media silence sharing new illustrations of the new site design.
Then, in July, the project was able to acquire the funding it needed to begin construction. While the project was originally projected to break ground in April 2021, unforeseen setbacks delayed the timeline.
In November, Wild Rivers has shared more details of Irvine’s soon-to-be water park, as it prepares for its 2022 re-opening. In October, Wild Rivers posted a virtual fly-over of the park’s new design.
However, some residents were disappointed in the renderings and asked if the minute-long video contained all the new rides and attractions.
“The rides are way better. The fly-through does not include all the slides,” Wild Rivers wrote in a comment on its Facebook page.
With an estimated construction timeline of 10 months, Wild Rivers began construction on July 7. Since then, the park has released season tickets and begun to preview its newest attractions on social media.
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