The Wave Pool at Wonder World Tried to Kill Me!

When I was ten years old, my parents took me to an amusement park. Wonder-World, it was called.

Like any kid that age would be, I was thrilled. But there weren’t a lot of rides I was allowed to go on, I realized once we were there. Being small for my age meant waiting in a lot of lineups, only to get to the front to find out I didn’t quite meet the minimum height requirement for whatever rollercoaster I wanted to go on - which was all of them. It was a hot day and after spending the entire morning going on boring kiddie rides, I spotted the water-section of the park. There would be slides and a wave pool in there - most of which I would actually be allowed to use.

“Can we go in there, mom?” I asked, pointing at that section of the park. The sounds of kids splashing and playing in the cool water could be heard from the other side of the fence. Like a cold glass of iced lemonade sitting just out of reach.

“We didn’t bring your bathing suit, kiddo. Sorry.”

“But it’s so hot out, c’mon, please! They sell bathing suits at the gift shop!”

My mom looked at my dad, considering it.

“Probably fifty bucks a piece,” my dad grumbled. “Ah, what the hell. It’s hot out, let’s go buy the kid a bathing suit.”

The bathing suit proved to be almost as expensive as my father had feared, but at least it meant I could go swimming.

After going down a couple water slides my parents gave me permission to go in the wave pool by myself, as long as I was careful.

“Stay in the shallow end, okay?” my mom said, looking worried. “And make sure we can see you at all times.”

“He’ll be fine, Lynn. The boy had his swimming lessons, remember?”

My dad didn’t look worried as he sat down on a reclining beach chair and closed his eyes, putting his hat over his face to take a nap.

“I’ll keep an eye on you, just stay close, okay?” my mom said.

I nodded, wandering off into the cool blue water of the wave pool, blending in amidst a crowd of people.

It started off fine. I jumped up and down as the waves came rolling in, staying close to the shallows so my mom could see me. I waved at her a few times and she smiled, finally sitting down and picking up a magazine which she glanced at occasionally.

I started getting bored with the shallow water, though, and started wading in deeper. Being a good swimmer, I felt confident that if I needed to tread water for a few minutes I could, but I wanted to stay where I could touch the bottom. I wasn’t THAT confident yet.

Treading water, I saw the waves start to rise higher and I looked back to see my mom reading her magazine. She was immersed in an article now, by the looks of it, and my dad was passed out fast asleep.

The waves rose up higher and higher and I was laughing and having fun at first, still unafraid. But then when the waves stopped I looked back and my mom was so far away all of a sudden! She was a tiny speck off in the distance and I realized that the waves had carried me in, further into the deep end of the pool. Trying to reach my feet down to touch the bottom, I couldn't get close. My head bobbed underneath the waves briefly and water went up my nose, the chlorine burning my sinuses.

Immediately terrified, I started swimming back towards the shore. But there were so many people crowding into the pool now, I couldn’t get through. A huge tour group of people who spoke a different language and didn’t understand a word of what I was saying were suddenly pressing in all around me. They ignored my pleas for help as I started thrashing at the water, my legs and arms growing tired.

I tried to push past them and they began to yell at me angrily, not understanding that I was almost at the point of drowning.

Then the waves started up again. The group began to laugh and jostle each other, splashing me in the face as the waves rose up, higher and higher, rolling into me with so much unexpected force that my head went under each time and I sucked in water through my nose and gasped it in through my mouth, filling my lungs with liquid.

I struggled and kicked with my legs feeling heavy like blocks of wood and I started to scream, only to have my calls for help drowned out by the excited cries of joy from all around me.

My head started going under the water again and again with the massive waves hammering me constantly. Until eventually I went under and didn’t come back up again.

I realized I was drowning, as I drifted downwards to the bottom of the pool, the water in my lungs like cement shoes dragging me deeper. I remember looking up at the hundreds of kicking legs above. Never in my life had I felt so terrified, as I hit the floor, my arms and legs waving and kicking but gaining no purchase.

Much later on, many years after all this, Wonder World got in a lot of trouble for their wave pool. It turns out that it was flawed - the oversized waves creating an insidious undertow which dragged swimmers in deeper with each cycle, and dragged them under as well. Many of them, like me, were soon out of their depths - literally.

Several children drowned in the wave pool at Wonder World over the years. Settlements and payoffs were handed out, meaning that the park could remain open, the owners never bothering to fix the problem at the heart of the wave pool - the overclocked engine which produced waves far bigger than was supposed to be possible.

But as a ten year old kid, I knew none of this. I just sank deeper and deeper into the water, hoping someone had seen me go under.

As it turns out, my mom was a hell of a swimmer. She dove into the water after flipping the bird to the lazy lifeguards who refused to help. Just as the world was beginning to turn grey around the edges, I felt her grab onto me as she dragged me up towards the surface.

Once we were on dry land I coughed up a lung full of water and breathed a sigh of relief that someone had seen me go under. It turned out my mom had looked up a short while after I’d lost sight of her. She’d seen me struggling and tried to get the attention of the teenage lifeguards on duty, but they were too busy flirting with each other to care, so she’d gone in herself.

Looking back, it’s no wonder the place got shut down later on. It was a class action lawsuit waiting to happen - in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if there was one and we missed the payout. Either way, I’m happy I survived my day at Wonder World, and my experience in the water park there.

I’ll never swim again after that day - and I’ll sure as hell never get into another wave pool.

The waves always look like fun until the day they drag you under.