We ask regional leaders to support a serious feasibility effort for a new traditional theme park in the Seattle area.

For nearly 50 years, Wild Waves Theme & Water Park has served as one of the only traditional amusement and water park destinations in Western Washington. It has given families, students, workers, tourists, and longtime residents a place for summer memories, school trips, first roller coaster rides, water park fun, Fright Fest traditions, and local seasonal employment.

With Wild Waves scheduled to close after the 2026 season, the Seattle region is at risk of losing its only major traditional theme park experience. A warehouse may bring industrial use to one property, but it cannot replace the cultural, recreational, tourism, and family value of a regional amusement park.

We are not asking one city to simply build a park on its own. We are asking public and private leaders to treat the loss of Wild Waves as a regional opportunity: to study, recruit, and support a new Seattle-area theme park or family entertainment district in a realistic location with strong transportation access.

Why this matters?

A new Seattle-area theme park could:

• Preserve a beloved regional recreation tradition after Wild Waves closes.
• Create seasonal and year-round jobs for local residents.
• Support tourism, hotels, restaurants, retail, and small businesses.
• Give families an affordable regional alternative to out-of-state theme park travel.
• Provide a major youth employment pipeline for South King County.
• Strengthen South King County as a destination, not just a warehouse corridor.
• Create a car-optional visitor plan using Link light rail, Sounder, bus service, and shuttles.
• We believe Kent Valley should be studied as one of the strongest possible locations.
• Kent Valley has industrial and commercial land, regional highway access, proximity to Seattle and Tacoma, and potential connections to Kent Station, Kent-Des Moines Station, Star Lake Station, Federal Way Downtown Station, Sounder, King County Metro, and Sound Transit service.

A new park does not need to copy Wild Waves exactly. It could be a modern regional attraction with:

• Traditional family rides
• Roller coasters and thrill rides
• An indoor or outdoor water park
• Seasonal events and Halloween programming
• Family entertainment areas
• Food, retail, and hotel partnerships
• Shuttle service from nearby transit stations
• Strong stormwater, floodplain, traffic, and environmental safeguards

What we are asking leaders to do

We respectfully ask regional leaders to:

• Create a formal feasibility study for a new Seattle-area traditional theme park or family entertainment district.
• Include Kent Valley, Federal Way, Tukwila/SeaTac, Auburn, and other South King County locations in the site review.
• Identify zoning districts and parcels where a theme park, amusement park, water park, or entertainment district could legally and realistically be considered.
• Compare the public benefits of a theme park district with additional warehouse-only development, including jobs, traffic, tourism, tax revenue, youth employment, and quality-of-life impacts.
  Invite private theme park operators, landowners, master developers, investors, and attractions companies to participate in a regional request for information.
• Require any proposal to include responsible traffic planning, transit access, floodplain review, stormwater management, environmental protection, noise mitigation, public safety planning, and community benefits.
• Explore shuttle connections from Link light rail, Sounder, and major bus hubs so the park can be accessible without requiring every visitor to drive.
• Preserve the idea that South King County should include major public-facing recreation and tourism uses, not only industrial warehousing.

Suggested decision-makers to engage

This effort should involve:

• City of Kent leadership
• City of Federal Way leadership
• King County Council representatives
• King County economic development and flood-control officials
• Sound Transit and King County Metro
• Private landowners in Kent Valley and South King County
• Theme park operators such as Premier Parks or other regional attraction companies
• Master developers with experience in large public-private projects
• Local chambers of commerce, hospitality businesses, schools, and community groups

Our request

We ask public officials, private developers, and regional business leaders to begin a serious conversation now — before the Seattle area permanently loses its only traditional theme park identity.

Wild Waves should not disappear without a regional replacement plan.

The Seattle area deserves a new, modern, transit-connected, family-friendly theme park destination that honors the legacy of Wild Waves while building something stronger for the future.

Please support a feasibility study, site search, and public-private recruitment effort for a new Seattle-area theme park.