History
The Enchanted Village theme park was first opened in 1977 by Byron Betts. The initial 12-acre (49,000 m2) park site held only a half-dozen rides. In 1984, Wild Waves Waterpark was built adjacent to Enchanted Village; the combined amusement complex became known as Enchanted Parks. In 1991 co-owners Michael Moodenbaugh and Jeff Stock paid $8 million for Enchanted Parks. In 1993 Michael Moodenbaugh traded his share of Enchanted Parks, Inc for shares in their jointly owned amusement park in Amherstburg, Ontario Canada called Boblo Island Amusement Park, Inc. In 1993 Jeff Stock purchased several rides from Boblo Island. Jeff Stock then sold his shares of Enchanted Parks, Inc in late 2000 to Six Flags for $19.3 million. In 2000 the park had grown to over 70 acres (280,000 m2), with more than 20 rides, and was the Northwest's largest waterpark. In 2002 and 2003, major expansion took place, with the addition of several new attractions, many manufacturered by Zamperla and S&S Power. Also in 2002, approximately 1000 seasonal workers were employed for positions as rides operators and food service workers. Many of these seasonal workers are also students of local high schools.
In April 2007, Six Flags sold the park to Orlando-based real estate investment trust CNL Income Properties (which leases the park to PARC Management).
On January 25 Parc Management had defaulted on its lease with CNL for wild waves and a majority of it other parks and the new Management company of Norpoint entertainment (owned by previous owner Jeff Stock) took over and is making many changes to the park including adding a new water ride for the 2011 season.
As of the CNL Income Properties acquisition, the park was renamed Wild Waves Theme Park. Under new ownership, the park has also since adopted a new logo. Other parks owned by CNL Income Properties include Darien Lake Theme Park Resort in western New York, Elitch Gardens, Frontier City, SplashTown Waterpark, White Water Bay, and Waterworld Concord, all of which were sold in a $312 million purchase from Six Flags.
The Wild Waves/ Enchanted Village Theme Park holds an annual FrightFest Halloween Celebration which is a staple of the Federal Way Community.
Read more about this topic: Wild Waves Theme Park
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