San Jose's waterpark at Lake Cunningham — known most recently as CaliBunga, for 38 years before that as Raging Waters — will not open this summer. The city has selected Lakeside Partners to plan a reimagined facility, with no reopening timeline set.

If you had a San Jose waterpark day on the calendar this summer, scratch it. CaliBunga Waterpark at Lake Cunningham Regional Park, 2333 South White Road in east San Jose, will not open in 2026. The City of San José confirmed the closure June 11, saying it has selected a new partner — Lakeside Partners — to plan improvements and "reimagine" the 23-acre site. No reopening date or capital commitment has been announced. The CaliBunga name will not survive the transition.

The park has had a rough few years of operator turnover. Raging Waters opened on the Lake Cunningham site in 1985 and ran for nearly four decades before Palace Entertainment — which had operated it since 2002 — closed up in September 2023, citing post-pandemic attendance decline. Sacramento-based California Dreamin' Entertainment stepped in, won city council approval in early 2024, pledged $6 million in renovations, and reopened the park on July 4, 2024 as CaliBunga. That turned out to be approximately one summer. Now Lakeside Partners is the third proposer in three years, and the first without a move-in date.

The city is pitching this as progress. "The City is encouraged by the future potential opportunity to reimagine Lake Cunningham Regional Park with a state-of-the-art water park, expanded aquatic amenities, and innovative interactive play areas," reads a city statement. Mayor Matt Mahan added that the goal is to "build an aquatic destination worthy of the next generation." Worth noting: no number is attached to any of that yet.

For East San Jose families who've counted on this park as a heat-escape since the Reagan years, the news lands during the first real heat stretch of summer.

What's still open at Lake Cunningham: The surrounding regional park — including the Action Sports Park and picnic areas — is open and the city says additional programming may be added to fill the summer gap.

Nearest alternative: San Jose city pools begin recreational swim on June 15, running weekdays 2:30–4:30pm and Saturdays 1:30–4:30pm. Mountain View's Rengstorff Pool is already open ($5 adults, $4 kids). For something with more splash-park energy, keep an eye on the Lake Cunningham park site — the city says community-focused events are being planned for the grounds this summer.