A water slide (also referred to as a flume, water chute, or hydroslide) is a type of Playground slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at or . Water slides differ in their riding method and therefore size. Some slides require riders to sit directly on the slide, or on a raft or tube designed to be used with the slide.
A typical water slide uses a pump system to pump water to the top which is then allowed to freely flow down its surface. The water reduces friction so sliders travel down the slide very quickly. Water slides run into a swimming pool (often called a plunge pool) or a long run-out chute.
Traditional water slides
Body slides
Body slides feature no mat or tube, instead having riders sit or lie directly on the surface of the slide. The simplest resemble wet
playground slide.
There are a variety of types of body slides including , speed slides, bowls and AquaLoops; the latter three are explained below.
Inline tube slides
Some slides are designed to be ridden with a tube which typically seats either 2 or 3 riders inline. Similar to a traditional body slide, these slides include many twists and turns and come in a variety of types including bowls, funnels and half-pipes.
Longest
The world's longest water slide was a temporary installation in
Waimauku, New Zealand, in February 2013. Constructed with a length of ,
of which functioned properly.
Its creators claimed the previous record holder had a length of ~.
The slide was to be moved to
Action Park in Vernon, New Jersey.
The "Waterslide" at Buena Vista Lodge in Costa Rica is a long water slide where the rider sits directly on the slide, with an inner-tube around their upper body for safety.[ Waterslide at Buena Vista Lodge , Costa Rica]
The longest multi-person water-coaster (see below) is the long Mammoth at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana.[ Mammoth at Holiday World, Santa Claus, Indiana]
The current longest water slide, "The Longest", is a permanent single-passenger tube waterslide located in Penang, Malaysia at the ESCAPE family theme park. Visitors access the attraction via a cable car system and ride down the slide for approximately 4 minutes whilst navigating through of scenic jungle.
21st century water slides
Looping water slides
The first known existence of a looping water slide was at
Action Park in Vernon Township, New Jersey in the mid-1980s, named Cannonball Loop. This slide featured a vertical loop but was repeatedly closed due to safety concerns.
[Austin, op. cit., 21.][Fergus, Tom; May 2006; "Another Action Park Employee Spills His Guts", in "The Reaction to Traction at Action Park"; Weird NJ, 29.][Braybrook, Steve; May 2006; "A Survivor from Action Park Writes In", in "The Reaction to Traction at Action Park"; Weird NJ, 29.] In the late 2000s, Austrian manufacturer
Aquarena developed the world's first safe looping water slide, known as the
AquaLoop. The company engineered a slide with an inclined loop rather than a standard vertical one.
The slide is currently licensed and distributed by Canadian water slide manufacturer
WhiteWater West.
There are nearly 20 AquaLoop installations around the world.
The first installation was in Slovenia in 2008.
The largest collections are located at Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast and Raging Waters Sydney in Australia, which both house 4 AquaLoops that opened in 2010 and 2013, respectively. Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast was also the first to install more than one AquaLoop at a single location.
The AquaLoop uses a trap-door to release riders down a near-vertical descent at a speed of up to . Riders experience 2.5
G-force in less than 2 seconds.
The whole ride is over within 7 seconds.
Bowl
A
bowl is a type of water slide where riders descend a steep drop into a round bowl. Under the effects of centrifugal force, the riders circle the outer area of the bowl before exiting down through the middle, often into a pool underneath but sometimes into an additional slide section.
This style of water slide comes in various styles and is manufactured by ProSlide,
WhiteWater West
and Waterfun Products.
The different variations can be ridden on a 4-person cloverleaf tube,
2 person inline tube,
single person tube
or as a body slide.
Family rafting
Family rafting water slides have the largest capacity of all the different types of tubing water slides averaging between 4 and 6 riders per dispatch. Riders hop in a circular raft and travel down long, twisted channels to the ground.
This type of water slide is manufactured by Australian Waterslides and Leisure,
ProSlide,
Waterfun Products
and WhiteWater West.
All of these companies manufacture open-air slides while ProSlide also manufactures an enclosed version.
Funnel
A
funnel water slide requires riders to sit in a 2 or 4 seater round tube. Riders drop from inside a tunnel out into the ride's main element shaped like a funnel on its side. Riders oscillate from one side to the other until they exit through the back of the funnel and into a splash pool. The most common type of funnel is the
ProSlide Tornado which is installed at almost 60 locations around the world dating back to 2003.
In 2010, WhiteWater West began developing a competing product known as the Abyss, utilizing a raft that holds up to six riders.
The Half-Pipe
Similar to a funnel, a
half-pipe features a slide in which riders oscillate back and forth. However, this style of ride doesn't feature any enclosed sections. On a Waterfun Product Sidewinder or Sidewinder Mini, riders oscillate several times before coming to a rest at the base of the slide. Riders then need to walk off the slide returning their tube to the next riders.
A variation of the half-pipe called a wall slide typically has a steep enclosed section that exits to a wider upward-rising section that the rider then slides back down the other direction to the end of the slide.
Multi-lane racer
A
multi-lane racer is a ride where between 4 and 8 riders dive head-first onto a mat and down a slide with several dips. As an additional component of this ride, some offer an additional enclosed helix at the top of the ride. ProSlide offer ProRacers,
Octopus Racers,
Kraken Racers
and Rally Racers,
while WhiteWater West have designed the Mat Racers
and Whizzards.
In 2016, WhiteWater West introduced the Mat Blaster, which combines the Whizzard model with elements of their MasterBlaster water coaster.
Australian Waterslides and Leisure have also manufactured a standard multi-lane racer.
Speed slide
A
speed slide is a type of body slide where riders are sent down steep, free-fall plunges to the ground. Almost all water slide manufacturers offer a variation of this type of slide. ProSlide & WhiteWater West both offer a speed slide with a trap door, the same trap door found on the AquaLoop.
Water coaster
A
water coaster is a water slide that emulates a
roller coaster by providing not only descents, but also ascents. There are three different ways water coasters operate: water jets,
,
and linear induction motors.
High-powered water jets power the first type of water coaster, generically known as “Master Blasters”. Originally manufactured by New Braunfels General Store (NBGS), the rights were sold in December 2006 to
WhiteWater West of Canada.
The first installations of this type of ride were Dragon Blaster and Family Blaster, installed in 1994, at
Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, Texas. The following month, a third Master Blaster opened at Adventure Bay in Houston, Texas.
This type of ride features over 70 installations worldwide.
The largest collection of Master Blasters is at Wild Wadi Water Park in
Dubai, where 9 of the park's 16 water slides utilize this technology, propelling riders to the top of a mountain.
In 2021, WhiteWater West opened their tallest Master Blaster, and tallest water coaster in the world,
Tsunami Surge at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Chicago.
The first conveyor belt was installed at Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio. Known as the Zip Coaster, the ride carries guests quickly uphill and over steep slides using high-speed conveyor belts.
The longest water coaster utilizing this magnetic system is Mammoth, at Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana.
Drop-Launch Capsule
A drop-launch capsule is a device that is placed at the start of a body slide. Riders step into a capsule, usually with a clear front. Once the capsule is closed, a hatch opens underneath the riders dropping them into a near-vertical portion of the slide. The feature is known by different names from various manufacturers. ProSlide calls it a SkyBox, WhiteWater West refers to it as an AquaDrop.
River stream slide
A river slide, also commonly referred to as "crazy river",
[ Crazy River _ AcquaticaPark][ Crazy River, Caneva water park, Lake Garda _ Jon JA Marshall _ Flickr] resembles a brook (small stream), and may feature buffer pools throughout the way down. Its mass sliding ability, meaning multiple people can safely slide simultaneously, clears its
queue area at a faster rate.
[ Aqualand Köln – zwei neue Rutschenattraktionen und ein Fake-Element im Kölner Erlebnisbad (Rutscherlebnis.de am 11. August 2016)][ Aqualand Köln eröffnet neue Wasserrutschen am 11. Juli 2016 _ Parkerlebnis (26. Juni 2016)]
Inflatable water slides
Inflatable water slides are typically made of a thick strong PVC or
Vinyl group and
nylon, and are inflated using a blower. The water slide is attached to a water hose in order to generate the supply of water. There are small-sized inflatable water slides for private house uses or larger inflatable water slides for school, picnic, corporate, or carnival style use.
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