A longtime amusement park, memory maker, and Pensacola landmark is disappearing. Demolition crews are tearing down the rides, slides, and arcades that are sprawled across nearly 20 acres at the site of the former Sam’s Fun City and Splash City Adventures just north of Pensacola’s Car City.
According to the Escambia County Property Appraiser’s website, Destiny Worship Center, based in Miramar Beach, purchased the property at 6709 Pensacola Blvd. in March 2026, for $2.75 million.
In December 2025, the church also purchased the AMC Classic movie theatre next door at 6595 N. “W” St. for $6 million.
Messages to Destiny Worship Center were not immediately returned and there’s no word yet on the church’s plans for the properties, but the movie theater remains open.
The amusement and water park was operating as Splash City Adventures for several years until it closed permanently at the end of the 2025 season with no plans to reopen.
Before the owners of Splash City Adventures bought it in 2022, the park was known as Sam’s Fun City for 22 years.
Many people remember the park as a popular, family-friendly entertainment complex for children of all ages before it was shuttered last year.
Demolition Pros began razing the buildings and structures on the property on Aug. 18 and say it will take about three months to clear it all.
“We promised them a good flat slate for them to start doing whatever they want to do,” said partner Ron Strobo.
Fourteen acres of the 20-acre property are under concrete. All of it will go — plus 400,000 square feet of concrete and asphalt, two 20,000-square-foot metal buildings and steel structure, the lazy river, the wave pool, as well as all the slides and the treated wood pilings holding them up.
The train ride and bumper car pavilion are already gone.
Ron Strobo’s son and business partner, Brandon, remembers visiting Sam’s Fun City as a kid.
“This used to be the spot back in the day,” Brandon said. “I probably had two or three birthday parties, would come here with my cousins. I remember when they first opened the water park, and it was such a big deal. They had a wave pool and all the slides. We have a lot of good memories here, and I know a lot of people are sad to see it go, but I think it was time for something to be done.”
The property had fallen into disrepair, becoming a site for homeless campers and a target for looters.
The Strobos said they are still having to clear campers and looters from the property. The company has taken measures to barricade and secure the site.
“Over the last three weeks, every time we came out here, homeless people were asleep in one of the buildings,” Ron Strobo said. “We’ve got it barricaded off now, and we still got a call last night at 10:30 that people were on site, and they’re probably just trying to get stuff. We’ve locked all the fences and everything for safety and to keep people out,” Ron said.
Demolition Pros, run by the Strobos and their business partner Michael Huffner, has offices in Panama City Beach and Pensacola. They say this undertaking is their largest project to date.
About 10 employees are currently working on-site, with three crews rotating to handle this and other simultaneous residential and commercial projects.
The process involves continuous tear-down, loading, and hauling to prevent debris accumulation, but the Strobos say approximately 80% of the total debris, which is primarily concrete and metal, is recyclable.
They’re posting videos of the park’s demolition and other projects on their social media including their business accounts on Instagram and Facebook. They have an aerial drone view of the amusement park before they started tearing it down as well as videos of the progress along the way.
If Destiny Worship Center builds a church at the site, it will be the organization’s seventh church campus, with other locations in Destin, Freeport, Panama City Beach, Crestview, Fort Walton Beach and Navarre.
The church also owns a portion of the Pensacola Square Shopping Center at 6235 N. Davis Highway. It was purchased for $7 million in 2024.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Remember Sam’s Fun City in Pensacola? It’s being demolished. Here’s why
Reporting by Mollye Barrows, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mollye Barrows, Pensacola News Journal | USA TODAY Network
