Catapult Falls. Launched log flume at Sea World San Antonio

Looks pretty fun and unique for sure.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/article/seaworld-san-ant...470058.php

That looks fun but a vertical lift? Didn’t they learn with JtA SWSD?

They went from a 45 degree ramp on these things to a 53 degree ramp. Man, that’s something.

Interesting that the advertisement used feet per second to state how fast the ride is. That isn't a unit that I come across very often. Miles per hour is probably the most common. I'll come across meters per second when doing math, but I can't remember the last time I came across a speed given in feet per second. Maybe feet per second is commonly used in elevator specifications?

For what its worth: 53 ft / sec = 36 mph

53 feet per second sounds more impressive than 36 mph. Marketing.

Why do parks keep buying Intamin rides? When will they learn?

I wonder if Intamin has figured out how to drain the water out of the boats yet?

I don't trust it. How far will riders be "catapulted" out of their boats the first time the ride fails? At least they will have some water to splash into.

What could go wrong?

Pilgrims Plunge + Perilous Plunge plus launching with water. Ugh. A normal log flume that safely works is a wonderful and still popular ride.

Chiapas has been working perfectly since 2014. Intamin knows how to do perfectly good water rides now and if you'd look outside the US, you'd see they've done amazing rides that are reliable.

I recently went to Efteling where the 2020 Mack dueling powered coasters were down due to track fatigue issues. Does that mean Mack is bad and parks should learn not to buy what is currently per feet the most expensive manufacturer right now? Every manufacturer has issues at one point or another.

Yeah, I mean it's easy to overlook Pilgrims Plunge and Shoot The Rapids. And Hydro. And Perilous Plunge.

Looks interesting ;)

I'm grateful we still have Logger's Run and Yankee Clipper (Aquaman) here at SF Great America. The land around them looks like crap, and they need some work - but they're still going as well as a big draw (when they are open, continual staffing issues). Sometimes basic stuff is good enough and doesn't need an upgrade (hi Knoebels).

I hope Intamin nails this and kicks off a log flume renaissance in the US.

Absimilliard:

Every manufacturer has issues at one point or another.

I think, with Intamin, we've been long past the "or another" for a few years.

Steep drops and break-neck speeds are simply not meant for water rides. Let the coasters handle that stuff. For a water ride, all I need you to do is get me wet and make me giggle.

Bakeman31092:

get me wet and make me giggle.

Teed it up for ya.

I just wonder how many of the cited superlatives are only even remotely true because of other recent Intamin water rides that didn't work out so well. I mean, Perilous Plunge was higher and steeper; Pilgrim's Plunge had a vertical lift and went faster...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Bakeman31092:

Steep drops and break-neck speeds are simply not meant for water rides. Let the coasters handle that stuff. For a water ride, all I need you to do is get me wet and make me giggle.

yea, unfortunately some of the images in that video brought back memories of ‘Verruckt’

At least this is partially on wheels and track of some sort

I just wonder how many of the cited superlatives are only even remotely true because of other recent Intamin water rides that didn't work out so well. I mean, Perilous Plunge was higher and steeper; Pilgrim's Plunge had a vertical lift and went faster...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Intamin classified Pilgrim's Plunge and Perilous Plunge as what we'd call Shoot the Chutes. Those were much taller and bigger than their 4, 6 and 8 passengers boats used on their flumes. Based on that, Catapult Falls share the record for the steepest drop on a flume with Chiapas at 53°, but Chiapas still has the tallest drop at 66 feet while Catapult Falls should be around 55 tall for the drop based on the vertical lift hill.

Other tall flumes: Log Jammer at SFMM featured a massive height differential of over 80 feet, with two drops at the end. The second drop was around 50 feet tall, something that Liseberg wanted when they visited the park. In 1973, Liseberg Arrow log flume opened featuring drops of 30 feet and 46 feet in quick successions.

Splash Mountain at DL and WDW are based on Hopkins flumes and feature 50 feet drops, along with the first "Coaster Drop" elements seen on a flume. Arrow had tried something similar with the Spillway Chute, but the fact it was simply the trough rising up lead to issues with water and most parks quickly removed that element. At the end, only Fuji-Q Highlands log flume (removed in 2007) and Kennywood's Log Jammer (removed in 2017) kept the Spillway Chute long term.

The Coaster Drop has the boat exiting the wet flume to travel briefly down a dry drop, followed by a rise and splashdown. Hopkins used it with great success on many flumes and Intamin as well, but with a much taller dry coaster hill.

Splash Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland is similar in idea to Splash Mountain at WDW, but has some major changes: the layout is mirrored, the station is all indoor in a large cave, slightly taller drop and it had lap bars from the start. It now features individual ratchering lap bars. While Hopkins was the subcontractor on the two others, Togo was the local company that worked with Hopkins on this ride.

There are are not as many companies that do log flumes today versus 30 years ago, as many parks view them as unmarketable. Beside Intamin, WhiteWater (who purchased the assets of Hopkins and now make modern Hopkins Rides), Interlink (british company that were Vekoma's partner who did the water calculation for the three Jurassic Park River Adventure for Universal), Hafema (German company who usually build rapids, they did the awful one at Colombus Zoo), Jinma (Golden Horse new trade name), Zamperla and other italian manufacturers are the ones who are left.

Ride Engineering Switzerland (ex ABC Rides people who left after Intamin fully absorbed the company) also create water rides such as Mystic River Falls at Silver Dollar City.

Absimilliard:

There are are not as many companies that do log flumes today versus 30 years ago, as many parks view them as unmarketable.

What’s funny is, I think many people consider log flumes old fashioned or outdated, but they are always popular rides at any them park I’ve ever been to.

most of them are pretty old I imagine.