Bob Byers first opened Lake Dolores Waterpark in 1962 and operated it until being forced to close because of financial and legal issues in the 1980s. The park reopened in 1998 as Rock-a-Hoola, boasting what owners claimed was the world's largest family raft ride.

Lake Dolores Waterpark, located in the Mojave Desert, closed primarily due to a combination of financial instability and legal liabilities. After several rebranding attempts as "Rock-A-Hoola" and "Discovery Waterpark," the park struggled with dwindling attendance in its remote location. A pivotal blow occurred in 1999 when a park employee was paralyzed in a slide accident and subsequently awarded a $4.4 million settlement in 2004. This massive financial burden, coupled with a failure to secure affordable liability insurance and a series of bankruptcies among the various ownership groups, led to its permanent closure in 2004. Since then, the site has become a famous "ghost park," frequently used by professional skateboarders and filmmakers, though the harsh desert environment and constant vandalism have left the original slides and structures in a state of irreversible decay.