Pictures: The Last Sad Days of Abandoned Schlitterbahn Kansas City

Don't bother going to the site of the former Schlitterbahn Kansas City to do some urban exploration. It doesn't exist anymore. The only thing that's left of the park are the happy memories many made there, and memories of the horrible tragedy that occurred at the park on August 7, 2016.

The tragedy itself, and perhaps how Schlitterbahn handled the aftermath of the tragedy along with disclosure of how unscientifically their signature ride was designed, contributed to the park's demise. Yet, Schlitterbahn Kansas City existed during some challenging times for the amusement park industry.

The park opened on July 15, 2009, with a second phase already planned that was drastically scaled back because of the Great Recession and its aftermath. Even though many of the resort aspects of the park never materialized that didn't stop Schlitterbahn Kansas City from trying to make a statement.

That statement would be Verrückt. The world's tallest and fastest waterslide. Design and construction problems prevented the ride from opening on schedule, and it finally opened to much fanfare on July 10, 2014, after being featured on The Travel Channel's "Xtreme Waterparks" the month before.

Then came the tragedy on Verrückt on Elected Offical Day, an annual promotion Schlitterbahn Kansas City held for elected officials and their families that gave them free admission to the park. The ten-year-old who died on the ride just happened to be the son of a Kansas legislator.

What came out in the aftermath of the tragedy about how the park designed and tested the ride was just as troubling, as were the lax laws regulating the design, construction, and operation of amusement rides in the State of Kansas.

That was the beginning of the end of Schlitterbahn Kansas City and the beginning of the end for Schlitterhahn being THE name in waterparks. In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, Schlitterbahn sold two of their Texas parks to Cedar Fair, the parent company of Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun, for $261 million dollars which wanted into the Texas amusement market.

If there was a chance of Schlitterbahn Kansas City reopening, the sale of two of  Schlitterbahn's Texas parks and the coronavirus pandemic was the end for the Kansas City park. Cedar Fair didn't need the park because they have their own combined with Worlds of Fun.

In November of 2020 before the demolition, Exploring the Abandoned, visited the park and shot a video. Keep scrolling to see their video and look at some screenshots from the video, and learn more about the park's troubled history and what's next for the site the park used to sit on.