Waterford Oaks County Park Has 20 Million Dollars to Spend

Waterford Oaks County Park Has 20 Million Dollars to Spend… How would you spend it? No, really… Oakland County Parks wants to know.

In 2025 we wrote a blog post about the “Uncertain Future of Waterford Oaks Wave Pool” where we went down memory lane about the waterpark and wondered about the future. Oakland County Parks did not take closing the Wave Pool / Splash Pad / Waterpark lightly and promised they were hard at work thinking of ideas as to what could be done to improve Waterford Oaks County Park. If you remember, we lobbied hard for a Winter Sports Park type of destination.

OAKLAND COUNTY PARKS EVENTS
WATERFORD OAKS COUNTY PARK BMX
PARADISE PENINSULA PLAYGROUND AT WATERFORD OAKS COUNTY PARK
WATERFORD OAKS SLED HILL
FIREWORKS & FLANNELS

Waterford Oaks County Park Has 20 Million Dollars to Spend

Oakland County Parks wasn’t joking when they said they weren’t taking the closing of the Waterford Oaks County Park Wave Pool lightly. The decision was not made hastily nor was it made without tremendous adoration and respect for this iconic Oakland County family-friendly attraction. To prove it, they have $20 million dollars to spend on the site for a “Grand Attraction” and… they want YOU to have a say in how it’s spent.

OC Parks isn’t just taking suggestions, they’ve mapped out an Interactive Co-Creation Lab where you can help design facets of the site. There are over 14 attractions to choose from…

• A Splash Feature
• Lazy River / Winter Skating River
• Rock / Ice Climbing Wall
• Electric Go-Karts
• Raft Rides
• Zip-Lining / Aerial Biking Coaster

You can also look at other features planned for the park’s development while you’re at the Co-Creation Lab thinking about your favorite “Grand Attraction”.

Waterford Oaks County Park Wave Pool – Nostalgia

If you’ve seen the decline of Waterford Oaks Wave Pool over the past few years, you’d understand the county’s reluctance to keep it going… as well as their soft spot for wanting to keep it going. The park AND the wave pool were once the shining jewels in the County.. and in Metro Detroit.

My mom used to pack us up and drive to Waterford from Fraser, MI every summer beginning right around the time the park opened (I’m dating myself). It wasn’t quite like a trip to Cedar Point for us, but it was close. I loved it. The park was once brand new… and there wasn’t anything like it around Metro Detroit.

Waterparks were all the rage. Waterford Oaks was the first, then Four Bears popped up in Utica in the early 80s… You could even go down waterslides at Lakeside Mall at Hydrotube in the mid-80s. The Waterford Oaks wave pool was “state-of-the-art” back then. The park even added a 2-flume waterslide that I personally enjoyed even more than the Red Oaks Waterpark waterslide. Later, a family raft ride (Ragin’ Rapids) was installed and that was fun too. You could spend an entire summer day there and never get bored.

When I began to take my own kids to my favorite waterpark of my youth, I noticed the once awesome waterslide was getting (VERY) rickety and I remember going on the Ragin’ Rapids Raft Ride and wondering “Geez, how much does this behemoth cost to run?”.

First OC Parks benched the waterslide (and all of its splinters on the steps), then… the Ragin Rapids was sent packing later on. Both of those closings were understandable. Times were / are changing.

The Waterpark wasn’t just “getting old”, it was getting geriatric… even Jurassic.

So, how would you spend $20 million dollars at Waterford Oaks County Park? For more info, visit OaklandCountyParks.com