The splashes at Big Splash have been missing for a decade now. Come October, the 40-year-old East Coast Park landmark and its name will also go the way of the multi-coloured water slides into history.
When its lease expires, the site will be returned to the Government for redevelopment, thus bringing the curtain down on one of Singapore’s first water theme parks.
Housewife Toh Sew Lay, 52, who once visited the water theme park with her secondary school classmates, says: “Going there was a real treat because it was the biggest water park at the time. I had so much fun playing in the pool.
“I could not swim, so I found the slides a little daunting at first. Nonetheless, I still went on them in the end and had a splashing good time.”
The attraction was developed in 1977 at a cost of $6 million by Goldhill Properties, a private developer, and opened in the same year as a water theme park with four pools, including a 50m-long pool capable of creating 1m-high waves, a 230m-long flowpool, where water was kept in constant flow, and a children’s pool. All the pools were filled with seawater.
The water slides had five lanes. The tallest slides were more than six storeys high and were reportedly the highest water slides in the world at the time.
During Big Splash’s heyday in the 1980s, it had big-name tenants such as KFC and many corporate events were held there.
Mr Morgan Chow, 64, public relations manager of current anchor tenant, The Seafood International Market & Restaurant, has been working at the restaurant since 1983. He recalls the numerous celebrities who visited the place, including Hong Kong actors Chow Yun Fat and Stephen Chow, Taiwanese star Chiling Lin and Chinese actress Gong Li.
He says: “For me to meet so many famous people and be able to talk to them, I felt very honoured.”
But in the 1990s, the 300,000 sq ft Big Splash complex fell into disrepair. The slides grew filmy with algae and word of the dubious sanitation of the pools spread and became an urban myth.
Between 1997 and 2000, it reportedly suffered losses.
Then in 2006, Seafood International tendered for the site from National Parks Board and did away with the water slides. It has since become a lifestyle and dining enclave.
Its last day of operation is Oct 21, although some businesses will cease operations earlier.
Some tenants, including Seafood International, will have to stop operations temporarily while they look for new locations.
But until its closure on Sept 16, the 500-seat restaurant – which has been operating at the location since 1983 – will run a Thai-themed a la carte lunch buffet promotion, featuring many dishes on its original menu, such as Thai prawn cakes, fishcakes and basil prawn and chicken.
Says its director Justin Tan, 43: “We want to bring back the favourites for old times’ sake, so those who supported us can come back for one last visit.”
This article was first published on July 24, 2016.
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