LOXLEY, ALA MAY 27, 2017

The abandoned water park on Water World Rd in Loxley, Styx River Water World was opened from 1977 until 1993. It’s located off of the Interstate 10 exit in Loxley near Shelton Fireworks, the Oasis Travel Stop and Wilcox Video.

The property was made famous locally and on the internet for the large fiberglass statues that remained visible. As of recent years the statues have either been relocated to different locations nearbyor inevitably composed the rubble piles we saw when we visited. Dean Jeffrey managed to get some of the better photos published in 2002 when he visited, featured here in a summary post of the property’s status history.

The parking lot at Styx River Water World is basically asphalt and sits on a slant next to the roadway, just west of a mobile home park. The ticket booth is in surprising good condition. Once we were inside we saw a lot of small wooden crosses littered across the former park area. You can see where the pool was dug out of the ground although the majority of the structures have been demolished other than the frame of the concession tables building featured in many urban explorers posts of their visits to the site. To our great displeasure we were greeted by a water moccasin while walking around this area (large black venomous snake common in this part of Alabama in areas like this next to a creek or river).

We walked around the perimeter of the small lake and found a few different deteriorated ride cars and an old shed with large sprawling piles of rubble next to it where I made out at least one piece of a former statue. Once we came back around to the center we noticed a building of some sort on the west side of the property near the mobile home park. We began to walk towards this building although we quickly retreated when we saw a man on a golf cart ride past near where we were headed. We exited the way we came as this was posted no trespassing and this wouldn’t be a surprising rural area to be shot for doing so. I expected to have more time inside so unfortunately I only stopped to take any photos while we were outside and the experience has kept me from going back. Would have been awesome to see it a few years ago as it should now be considered more than partially demolished although it’s still a rarity in an area like this.

Shot on iPhone by Luke Schlauder