Monday is Memorial Day, the traditional start of summer.
Oceans of Fun opens this weekend, as do most city pools in the Kansas City area.
Meanwhile, Schlitterbahn’s phone has been disconnected and you cannot buy tickets for the Kansas City, Kansas location on its website. The KCK branch does still have a page on the Texas-based company’s web site, but the links to buy tickets have been removed.
This is not really a surprise in the aftermath of the death of Caleb Schwab, who died at the park in 2016. Schwab was riding the world’s tallest water slide, the 17-story Verruckt, when his raft went airborne and hit a metal pole, decapitating the boy. The slide torn down last year.
Last summer, 435 found that the park was almost empty on a hot sunny summer day, and the few people there had banned their kids from posting about the visit on social media lest the parents face the wrath of other parents.
“People get really angry if you say you went to Schlitterbahn,” one mother told our reporter.
Other Kansas City media has speculated that the park would not open based on the Schlitterbahn site and the fact that the park had not hired any seasonal help.
However, as of last month, the company’s phone number still worked and allowed callers to leave messages (this reporter’s message regarding ticket purchase was not returned).
Also worth noting: Schlitterbahn doesn’t have the required permits to operate throughout the season. The Kansas Department of Labor told the local Fox affiliate that permits for seven of the 11 rides will expire June 20. The permits for the other attractions expire on July 29.
