![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260612-RAGING-WATERS-01-KQED.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGenerations of South Bay families have relied on Lake Cunningham water park to escape the heat. Now, as temperatures climb, the city is shutting down the water park indefinitely. <\/p>\n
Jun 12, 2026<\/p>\n
Updated 4:44 pm PT<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A photo of Raging Waters in San Jos\u00e9. The city said beginning this summer, the water park formerly known as CaliBunga\/Raging Waters will temporarily close. \u00a0(Eusiceidragi via Flickr)<\/p>\n
\u201cFor more than 40 years, Lake Cunningham\u2019s water park has been where San Jos\u00e9 families go to beat the heat,\u201d Mayor Matt Mahan said in a statement on Thursday. \u201cDespite a temporary closure, our commitment is to keep this park active now and build an aquatic destination worthy of the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ed Bautista, a spokesperson for the city\u2019s Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department, emphasized that only the water park itself is closing \u2014 not the surrounding regional park, which includes the Action Sports Park and a 50-acre lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vision is going to be creating something new,\u201d Bautista told KQED. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a new modern aquatic destination with a state-of-the-art water park, expanded aquatic amenities, and really innovative interactive play experiences that will better serve the residents and visitors for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
A revolving door of operators<\/p>\n
CaliBunga\u2019s closure marks the latest turn for a park that has changed hands repeatedly in recent years. Raging Waters operated under Palace Entertainment from 1985 until September 2023, when the company walked away early from its lease with the city.<\/p>\n
Subsequently taken over by California Dreamin\u2019 Entertainment Inc., a Sacramento-based investment group, it was reopened as CaliBunga in July 2024 under a contract set to run through September 2025. The company told KQED at the time <\/a>that it had invested roughly $6.5 million into repairs and upgrades, with its CEO comparing the aging infrastructure to the movie The Money Pit \u2014 because every time they turned something on, something else broke.<\/p>\n The city has maintained that the CaliBunga arrangement is temporary, voting in late February 2024 to award the contract through September 2025, with the option to extend another six months.<\/p>\n Before CaliBunga\u2019s contract was set to expire, the city planned to accept bids from California Dreamin\u2019 and other contractors for a long-term operator. Bautista said the city ultimately selected Lakeside Partners through an open, competitive request-for-proposal process.<\/p>\n \u201cA request for a proposal was submitted, and in an open competitive process, the partners, Lakeside Partners, were awarded the bid based on their vision and their plans,\u201d Bautista said. He declined to comment on other bidders.<\/p>\n Lakeside Partners is connected to a current development proposal<\/a> in East San Jos\u00e9: the redevelopment of the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course, a 113-acre site adjacent to Lake Cunningham. Its real estate investors have proposed building roughly 2,000 homes there, a project that housing advocates have called one of the most important in the city in a century,<\/a> and one that remains under environmental review.<\/p>\n Details of Lakeside\u2019s contract with the city \u2014including its duration, rent structure and who will pay for the planned upgrades \u2014 have not yet been released. Bautista said the city is still working out those terms and will share them with the public once finalized.<\/p>\n What\u2019s open this summer<\/p>\n Community organizations are planning a series of summer activities, including water play days, a live concert series, kids\u2019 maker events, skate and BMX showcases, and outdoor movie nights.<\/p>\n Recreational swimming will also be available at three East Side high school pools \u2014 Overfelt, Mt. Pleasant and Silver Creek \u2014 through a partnership with the East Side Union High School District.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest thing is that the park is still open,\u201d Bautista said. \u201cThere will still be activities happening at the park, additional swimming pool opportunities and nearby destinations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Generations of South Bay families have relied on Lake Cunningham water park to escape the heat. Now, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-358624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}