Action Park's Looping Waterslide...?

Believe it or not, I actually rode that slide -- it must have been the summer of 1994 or 1995 when a bunch of us from Splish Splash took a day trip to Action Park. Basically the ride was very painful and aggressive. If I remember correctly, you had to weigh a certain amount to ride and there was a scale to weigh each perspective rider. Before you dispatch down the flume, you were sprayed down with a hose, and than the attendant sprayed inside the flume to wet that down. I don’t remember the slide having a water supply like most traditional waterslides. Basically just the surface was wet from the garden hose. As you slid down the first drop, you really picked up speed. Once you hit the loop, you lose all perspective as to where in the loop you are, it just beat the hell out of your body, and wen't by real quick, and then all of a sudden you are lying in the splash pond. The loop was made up of multiple “straight” sections put together to form a loop. So it was very aggressive and bumpy. After it was all over, I remember saying to myself … “never again”.

I see people drwoning if the water is that violent...

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Hanging n' Banging said:
Believe it or not, I actually rode that slide -- it must have been the summer of 1994 or 1995 when a bunch of us from Splish Splash took a day trip to Action Park. Basically the ride was very painful and aggressive. If I remember correctly, you had to weigh a certain amount to ride and there was a scale to weigh each perspective rider. Before you dispatch down the flume, you were sprayed down with a hose, and than the attendant sprayed inside the flume to wet that down. I don’t remember the slide having a water supply like most traditional waterslides. Basically just the surface was wet from the garden hose. As you slid down the first drop, you really picked up speed. Once you hit the loop, you lose all perspective as to where in the loop you are, it just beat the hell out of your body, and wen't by real quick, and then all of a sudden you are lying in the splash pond. The loop was made up of multiple “straight” sections put together to form a loop. So it was very aggressive and bumpy. After it was all over, I remember saying to myself … “never again”.

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WOW that sounds AWFUL!

The next big water ride technology should include a cobra roll or a dive loop. That would be suweet!

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Hanging n' Banging said:
(...) Before you dispatch down the flume, you were sprayed down with a hose, and than the attendant sprayed inside the flume to wet that down. I don’t remember the slide having a water supply like most traditional waterslides. Basically just the surface was wet from the garden hose. (...)

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That's interesting - it means that you don't really have to make water flow upside-down for a loop like this with high pressure, all you need is to make the relevant tube walls misty enough for aquaplaning.
I wonder how they managed/will manage to prevent the top of the loop from drying out.

If that's true about the original Action Park's looping waterslide... then that sounds so ghetto. Almost homemade, if you will. Kind of like using a hose & a few taped-together garbage bags for a slip-n-slide.

The corkscrewed-like ones can work better since since at an angled inversion (like Mantis), the water can shoot better upwards, and you have a better chance of making it over since you're not going to be completely 180 (it just wouldn't be quite as fun... or dangerous).

manofthechurch - do you think before you post?

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ApolloAndy said:
manofthechurch - do you think before you post?

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Summer 1987, my first of two visits to Action Park. That slide was the first thing we really saw once we were in the park. It was closed of course and the rumors were flying around the park that day about it from everyone! The first slide I hit (after the alpine slide) was the Kamikaze (body slide with multiple drops, a staple at most water parks), the name said it all and that was the last "exciting" slide I did all day. I didn't brave the cliff jumping (IIRC that was about a 35 foot drop into the pool below) or tarzan swing or the infamous "Cannon Ball" slides but had a lot of fun on the inner tube slides that wove in and around the large 3 tiered pool complex. I wonder if that still exists? The next year the big hoopla was over their Colorado River ride, something to do with 4 man round boats (sound familiar to anyone?). The line was way too long for that so I never even got close. Enjoy! *** Edited 1/23/2008 4:27:16 AM UTC by jshorerzd***

The looping slide is now being tested by its future owners. If you look at the picture of the test-model and a rendering of the finished design, you will notice that it is more an inclined loop than a real inversion, but it looks mighty impressive and intriguing anyway.

The rider on the picture is the parks CEO and he is supposedly absolutely convinced of the success of the slide:
http://freizeitparkweb.de/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&forum=DCForumID74&om=346&omm=14&viewmode=

That drop going to the "loop" looks really steep.

It looks steep... but in all honesty, the way that it's setup... I wouldn't be a bit surprised if all it was, is that it travels along just a steep banked turn in the actual tunnel, with nothing over 90 degrees.

Because the loop is banked as much as it is, there is no way you're going to be completely vertical... not quite the concept that Action Park's loop was... but it's a step in the right direction, and will definately intimidate with its looks (keyword: looks).

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Hanging n' Banging said:
you were sprayed down with a hose, and than the attendant sprayed inside the flume to wet that down. I don’t remember the slide having a water supply like most traditional waterslides. Basically just the surface was wet from the garden hose. As you slid down the first drop, you really picked up speed. Once you hit the loop, you lose all perspective as to where in the loop you are, it just beat the hell out of your body, and wen't by real quick, and then all of a sudden you are lying in the splash pond. The loop was made up of multiple “straight” sections put together to form a loop. So it was very aggressive and bumpy. After it was all over, I remember saying to myself … “never again”.

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Thanks for the first hand account of the ride. I always wondered how they prevented the water from pooling in the bottom of the loop That sounds horrible and painful. I think I'd rather lose skin on the alpine slide.

^^ the article says the new slide pulled 8G even in the current tilted version before it was re-designed with new radii - I can't even imagine how hard the forces on the Action Park slide must have been, and then add to that the fact that the slide wasn't even smoothly curved but made from multiple straight elements.

I still wonder how the security procedures for the slide are going to work out... is someone going to be on staff always to get out stranded people from the bottom of the slide?
That bottom bit just spells out claustrophobia for me.

That new one looks like an overbanked turn, and it's possible you'd be moving so slowly that you wouldn't even get close to "overbanked". Seems like a step in the right direction... instead of a loop, you're creating the illusion of a loop/inversion.

This totally reminds me of my water slides on RCT where the rafts would jump the track on open tube but be perfectly fine with closed tube.

http://www.klarer.com/downloads/englisch/klarer_news_edition%2001.pdf

Check out the high-fly water jump, it looks sweet. Why hasn't one of those been built at an indoor waterpark in the states yet? Safety concerns?