IRVINE — Longtime Orange County residents may be reminiscing about the summers they spent with family and friends at Wild Rivers.

There’s good news for them.

Update: Wild Rivers won’t open in 2019, look at the newest map of the water park plan

The iconic water park – which closed in 2011 after a 25-year run to give way to the Los Olivos apartment complex – is on track to return to Irvine in time for the summer of 2019, Wild Rivers President Mike Riedel said.

“We’re working nonstop,” he said by phone Friday, March 30. “It’s an ambitious goal, but I think we can do it.”

Wild Rivers is working with Irvine to open an upgraded 26-acre water park at the city’s Orange County Great Park, that would feature water slides, an uphill water coaster, water play structures for children, a wave pool, a lazy river and Wild Rivers’ popular Congo River Rapids. The old Wild Rivers was 14 acres.

A rendering of the proposed Wild Rivers water park at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine. (Courtesy of Wild Rivers)

A rendering of the proposed Wild Rivers water park at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine. (Courtesy of Wild Rivers)

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A rendering of the proposed Wild Rivers water park at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine. (Courtesy of Wild Rivers)

A rendering of the proposed Wild Rivers water park at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine. (Courtesy of Wild Rivers)



The water park will be a part of the yet-to-be-developed, 233-acre Cultural Terrace, the final major piece of the Great Park where the city is also exploring an amphitheater, a lake, a library and museums. The water park will be along Marine Way, across from the Great Park sports park.

The City Council on Tuesday approved Wild Rivers taking the next step and doing necessary environmental studies on the project before finalizing lease terms.

Riedel said he’s waiting for the Navy, which will soon turn the previous portion of the El Toro Marine Base, over to the city, to get access to the site.

The council also directed staff to immediately start designing a 1,200-space parking lot, estimated to cost $11.7 million, to serve Wild Rivers and other Cultural Terrace amenities.

In the meantime, the City Council approved extending a lease for another year with Tierra Verde Industries for 62 acres at the future Cultural Terrace.

Tierra Verde Industries has leased the site since 2010 for a green waste and recycling operation. The city receives about $1 million a year from the company for rents and other fees.

The company was asking for a two-year extension, but council members said they are worried that could affect the development of Cultural Terrace.