Local recalls everything that made Ogle’s so special in Pigeon Forge
Ogle’s Waterpark in Pigeon Forge was once the largest waterpark in the area with six giant water sides, a wave pool, a kid’s play area and snack stations throughout the park. For three decades, it served as a beacon summoning tourists and locals to frolic in the East Tennessee summer sun. While the mountains offer a great escape and many natural wonders, a beach-like swimming experience is not one of them. So as the tourist boom of the 50s and 60s gave way into the 70s, a waterpark in the heart of Pigeon Forge seemed like a no-brainer.
Ogles Waterpark was a concrete paradise back in the 80s and 90s in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Many people remember it fondly. It had a handful of slides and a large wave pool. It closed in 2002. Today, the Lumberjack Feud attraction sits in its place. Soaky Mountain Waterpark and Dollywood’s Splash Country are now the most popular waterpark attractions in the area.
IN THIS ARTICLE
What happened to Ogle’s Waterpark?
I think Ogle’s had poor timing as an attraction. It may have been too soon, or too late. Had it come earlier, Ogle’s would have had the charm and style of previous decades. Had it come later, it would have had the advantages of modern design, things like green areas and shade. Instead, the park looked like it was constructed out of the same batch of asphalt as the parking lot. A chain-link fence was all that separated Ogle’s from the outside world. As a result, there was little to the imagination left of the poor souls stuck in traffic on the Parkway and the bathers often feeling like exhibits in a zoo.
Everything that made Ogle’s Waterpark so great in its era
Slides like the RipTide Waterslide, the Twin Twister and the Hydro-Chute – a fully enclosed tunnel slide introduced in the early 1990s – were revolutionary for their time. Ogle’s Waterpark was summer personified, Grand Central Station for the electricity of youth.
It was also the birthplace of thousands of summer romances and more than a few heartbreaks. It was an oasis, not just of highly treated chemical water, but of freedom where young men and women learned the various rules and boundaries of games of infatuation they’d play in one form or another for the rest of their lives. Ogle’s was the place to be just a little too young to understand all of that.
Ogle’s was sunbathing with the smell of Coppertone – in those ignorant, cancerous days. It was testing the limits of how much heat you could take before dipping into the cooling, chemical waters. It was forgetting to reapply your sunscreen and paying the price the next day. Ogle’s was perfect. Then times changed. It is among some of the great attractions that inevitably shuttered including Magic World, Porpoise Island and Tommy Bartlett’s Water Circus. It wasn’t the only attraction that didn’t get the timing quite right.
When did Ogle’s Waterpark close?
Ogle’s closed in 2002 for good, and it was demolished to make way for Waldens Landing in 2003. Its closure, I bet, was likely due to sky-rocketing land values. The simple math was the worth of the land became far more than the park would produce. But it was more than that. We’d moved past the heady days of the Beach Boys when everybody across the USA wanted an ocean and a surfboard.
Today, better-designed waterparks have come to the Smokies, like Dollywood’s Splash Country and Soaky Mountain Waterpark in Sevierville. These parks offer something Ogle’s couldn’t. They offer improved family experiences and lots more to do. There were better rides and water slides and lazy rivers.
What attraction took its place?
Ogle’s is gone now, lost to the march of time. Where once the summer passions of thousands of teenagers were lit, now sits Paula Deen’s Lumberjack Feud, located within Lumberjack Square in Pigeon Forge. The times certainly have changed indeed.
Do you remember going to Ogle’s Waterpark? Let me know in the comments!
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We loved Ogles Waterpark. We spent a lot of time there during the summer with our boys on our cottage at The Home for Children in Seiverville. It was so much fun!
I vaguely remember another old attraction up there, Magic World. I believe it was where the professor Hacker’s putt putt place sits now. Would love to see a write up and some pictures on it! Not many remember it like they do Ogle’s.
Already in the works! <3
I remember it very well! Isn’t it up there next to Alamo Steakhouse? My parents took me to Silver Dollar City / Dollywood as a kid, and I absolutely loved it! But I also wanted to check out Magic World and Ghost Town, but we couldn’t afford all of that. Fond memories of driving down Chapman Hwy, through Sevierville and Pigeon Forge on our way to SDC / Dollywood, passing by Ogles, Magic World, and the SDC steam locomotive that sat by the highway welcoming us to SDC!
What a lovely memorial to Ogles Waterpark! I remember going as a kid while camping with my parents & grandparents at the KOA just outside Dollywood. It was the first time my little brother & I saw our parents, then ages 27 & 30, act like kids! One of my favorite childhood memories!!!
In the mid 70’s I went there often. I’m from NC but my mother was a big Elvis fan so we went that way a lot. I’m 50 now but I can still remember a young teenage girl that worked there back in the mid 70’s, at that time she was about eight or ten years older then me and we became good friends. Even to this day I still remember her name and phone number. I’m sure the number changed long ago. It was her parents number back then. It’s funny how somethings stick with us over the years as get older. Great times…
I remeber going to ogles like it was yesterday something we looked forward to three times a summer.
Once with the family and then church and then all the guys would get together there. Was amazing and then to see it go seemed so depressing. But made wonderful memories there.
It was my favorite place to go in the summer. I was devistated when it closed. I tell my son about how amazing it was. It’s not like what options are today. Ogles will always be my favorite
I grew up their and remember that place very well. My parents worked at another long lost place in pigeon forge call Tommy Bartlett’s water circus and later became Smokey mountain water circus. My parents would drop me off at Ogles water park on their way to work. So much fun
I am Trying to do a documentary on defunct parks in the Smokies! If anyone has any photos brochure’s or videos from Ogles please email me at exploration.unknown75@gmail.com
I remember watching them build it. Then begging to go when it opened. With Paula falling out of grace a few years ago. Maybe we need to move her on and rebuild it.
I remember ogles magic world and another place I loved it was called porpoise island
I do so miss some of my favorite places like porpoise island that was in pigeon forge .
Loved Ogles’s, Magic World & Porpoise Island
I remember Ogles water park bc I use to live to go there they had the wave pool and all!! Until the last time I went and there was no bell ringing to sound for the waves and I got separated from my mom while I was in the pool and almost drown! So needless to say that was the last time we went! But I have a lot of memories from there and also of the circus on the water that was down there.
We Loved Ogles.Long time ago.
I remember it well but never got to go. Coming into town for vacation and it would be packed.. I went to the yellow, banana slide close to it and the huge concrete, bone breaking blue one at the end of town.. It would be a major lawsuit today.So many things have changed since then. The saddest to me was Hillbilly Village, talking outhouse was great. If you look at the strip today, at best , half have the same name as it did back when Ogle’s waterside stood above the strip. It’s still Pigeon Forge and the gate way to the Smokey Mountains but it has a totally different feel than it did back in the 80s and 90s.. I’m sure kids will be doing the same thing we are now, 40 years from now. Wondering what happened to one of there favorite places. O, do you remember the tanks on wheels that shot tennis balls and u could shoot at the tanks from the outside fence. Awesome. Maybe lasted a year. Was great..
I seem to be the only person to remember that. I have asked everyone I know that goes there if they remember the tanks and shooting tennis balls at it but nobody else does. Was starting to think I made it up in my head.
I remember Ogles! Have a few pics I took there. Really miss the older things that were in Pigeon Forge. Many memories over the years 💜
To this day I still expect to see it from all directions but particularly coming from Wears Valley. I remember before Dollywood it was silver dollar city and a green ball with SDC logo on it and how it smelled. How about that tank park that fired tennis balls or you could be a cannon along the wall? Indoor skydive….
Oh Yeah, Flyaway indoor skydiving! I loved that, it was so much fun!
Ogles was a fun place. I remember something that may not be true but with this day and age it probably was. Hershand Entertainment would only allow one water park and forced ogles to close. We were going to get six flags here and they stopped it and just added more roller coasters to Dollywood
Not true. The owners decided to retire. Splash Country and Ogles were open simultaneously.
I remember Ogles Waterpark I was about 16 yrs okd and went there with my friend and my mom and with my cousin I miss it alot it was very fun to go there
I remember leaving there with blistering skin and raw feet as a child. My brother and I have pictures in the pools at the end of the slides where we were under water looking out of the glass enclosed walls. Really cool. Great memories for sure!!!