The Now Abandoned Missouri Waterpark That Never Should Have Been

It's easy to look back and history say that something was a mistake when you know what took place. At the time, it looked like it would become one of Missouri's premier summer fun destinations. Now, there's little left of the abandoned Missouri waterpark that never should have been.

There's a new feature about what used to be the Schlitterbahn waterpark in Kansas City, Missouri which was just shared days ago by Bright Sun Films. We're approaching the 17th anniversary of the groundbreaking which occurred on September 18, 2007 as documented by Wikipedia. The vision of what this waterpark would be for the Kansas City area was amazing.

NOTE: It's been correctly noted that the waterpark was technically on the Kansas side of Kansas City, but it was intended to be a waterpark for the entire region and most of the attendance would come from Missouri.

The waterpark would open in 2009, but it was in 2012 when trouble began when Schlitterbahn Kansas City announced they were designing and the building world's tallest and fastest water slide, Verrückt. During testing, rafts were reported to fly off the ride so a redesign was done. The ride was eventually build and a world record height was confirmed on April 25, 2014.

On August 7, 2016, tragedy would strike as a 10-year-old boy was killed when the raft he was on went airborne and he hit one of the metal supports of the netting. Two other girls were also injured in the incident.

Although the park would close for 3 days, it would shockingly reopen while the waterslide remained closed. Wikipedia says the park remained open through the 2018 season, but would never open again after that.

Schlitterbahn commented on TripAdvisor regarding a comment about the park closing saying that the company had settled lawsuits with the 10-year-old boys family and others who had sued for damages.

If you look at the list of injuries that were a part of the indictment filed against the company, you'll see numerous concussions, broken toes, bruising and whiplash that were caused by the waterslide prior to the fatal accident of August 7, 2016. Looking back at history, it's beyond obvious that the ride never should have opened in the first place.

After the park closed for good, Exploring the Abandoned were allowed to get one last look at the remnants left in the park.

Now, the land where the waterpark existed was being converted into a $90 million dollar amateur sports complex according to Wikipedia. This is the most recent street view of what used to be the water park one year ago.

Hindsight is 20/20. It's easy to look back now and wish this waterpark had never been if it would somehow bring back the life of the boy who died there. That's obviously not how reality works, but I still believe this is the Missouri waterpark that never should have existed in the first place.