Catapult Falls. Launched log flume at Sea World San Antonio

It’s all one big multi-year package.
(With lighting package.)

Touchdown:

I don’t know when it was done but for everytime I can remember the ride had not really floated until you reach the ground. It’s always banged around the track.

I agree. I rode this last year and there was nothing different about it from what I remember throughout the 80s and 90s. Back in the day, the main difference I remember between this log flume and Kenton's Cove was that Cove was elevated, and its boats actually floated rather than scooted down the course. Kings Mills always had faster flow and bumpier ride compared to KCKC.

RCMAC:
I always liked the stretch right before the final lift that ramped down to ground level then cruised along at a higher speed, but with not much water. Is it still there?

As of last year it was still there. I'll give this ride a whirl next visit and see if anything's changed.

I have to say, of all the flumes I've ridden, Raging Thunder Log Flume at LeSourdville Lake / Americana had the distinction of being the most fun and the most soaking I've ever gotten on a log flume. Alas, I think it was a 1 off - don't know of any other Barr Engineering Log Flumes out there...

I actually prefer to only get splashed on flumes. I like to be able to ride them in normal clothes. Soaking flumes lose a few points for me because of that, for my money my top 5 are:

1. Splash WDW
2. Timber Mtn Log Flume Knotts
3. Dudley IOA
4. Paul Bunyan Log Flume MOA
5. Splash DLR

After that there is a noticeable drop off in quality. Journey at Sea World, the trio of flumes in New Hampshire (they are all concrete troughs with a lengthy ride, and BGT’s flume in that next category.

I think my favorite is Daredevil Falls at Dollywood for the reasons you give. It’s pleasant, it’s scenic, the seating is comfortable, it’s continuous load, and in the right seat it’s a mere sprinkle to the face and knees. The drop is high, steep, and thrilling.
It’s a Hopkins and a ride supervisor was in the op position one day and we had a long talk about it. His opinion is that it was wearing out and there may not be too many years left for it.
Hold up. My actual favorite was Chiapas but I can’t get to that one. And it lost major points for the crappy station and load procedure. The logs were moving and the platform wasn’t. My old ass wound up doing the splits just trying to get in and it wasn’t pretty. So actually maybe my second favorite, lol.

What’s the difference between Splash WDW and DLR? As much as I’ve ridden both, I can’t seem to put a finger on what’s different. (See also Pirates, Small World, Peter Pan, and Thunder. I have finally gotten straight the differences in Jungle Cruise).

Splash WDW had two across seating, DLR was tradition single log flume seating.

Pirates WDW has one drop, DLR has a few - plus a significantly longer ride time, IIRC.

DLR Thunder was down for refurbishment when I visited, so I never got to ride that one. And I honestly don't remember Small World or Peter Pan from over there.

In addition to what’s mentioned above Splash WDW:

-Doesn’t get you soaked

-Isn’t janky as all heck with the logs constantly banging in the trough

-Has one more real drop after the bees (instead of two “rapid sections in the opening scene)

-Think the story is more clear

-Longer Ride

Pirates DL: Is superior in every way, two drops extended cave sequence (with the rum drinking skeleton, captain bed and treasure hoard) and has the armory scene and you ride the lift back up. Pirates is my favorite DL ride, WDW Pirates barely makes the top 5 at MK (Splash, HM, BTMRR, Pirates, Dwarfs)

BTMRR: Mirror images of each other, DL has a tunnel as opposed to the town of tumbleweed, outdoor vs indoor queue, and DL has the explosion scene on final lift

Small World: DL has the bigger facade, more figures, the Disney characters and most importantly actually becomes a must do ride for me every Nov and Dec when it becomes it’s a small world holiday (the dolls single Jingle Bells/Deck the Halls mostly with only a few bars of the other song after each chorus)

Pan: WDW has continuous loading and a better London scene, but DL has a better Neverland sequence with visits to skull rock and was upgraded with projections.

It’s crazy to think anyone would buy an Intamin water ride given what happened at CP on StR and Holiday World ripping Pilgrims Plunge out. I guess if the price comes in low enough maybe parks feel it’s worth it and if it opens late or doesn’t work oh well? Strange.

To be fair, it too Six Flags Over Texas 3+ years to get their Mack Aquaman coaster open this year. So if this flume opens next year, Sea World will still be ahead by comparison.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a stupid idea for a log flume? It removes the thing I like about log rides, which is that it is relaxing, then you have anticapation going up the lift, then you have the excitement of dropping dow the hill into a splash. (Not always in that order...)

Launching a boat is weird. First it is relaxing, then it hits a launch, which boats do not do in real life, then up and down a very small hill into a splash. I mean, it's probably still exciting, but themewise, it doesn't make sense. (shrug)

I think it sounds like fun. Yeah, it's missing some of the parts that make traditional log flumes fun, but it's not trying to be a log flume. The only similarity is that they both have boats and splashes.

Whether it works is another issue altogether. :)

RCMAC:

Nothing’s to say they must or will use Intamin. But let’s see. Hopkins? I’ll have to check but I’m not sure they still make rides. I seem to recall some weird acquisition involving Whitewater water rides. But they have quality flumes- we’d know the ones at Dollywood, Knoebels, and Holiday World the best. They also rebuilt Kings Island’s ancient log flume but that was back in the early 2000’s.
Speaking of Arrow, they’re out of course.
There’s Mack. They build great water rides including the Super Splash and Power Splash. I rode their traditional log ride at Europa and it was awesome. Kind of old, but it interacts with a powered Blauer Enzian and a walk-through cave.
And there’s Hafema, they still make flume rides but most of their installations are on the small side. I think they’re best known for their raft rides.
Anyway, hope springs eternal. We know Mr Clark doesn't write the checks, but it’s encouraging to know if someone at the park has their hopes on a log flume as well. I’ve said this a million times, but they should (and could) take Knott’s idea and run with it.

The current log flume manufacturers are as follow:

• WhiteWater, who acquired the Hopkins catalog around 2009/2010. After Hopkins went bankrupt in 2001, the catalog went from Reverchon in France to MVR. Now, WhiteWater is the owner and they have been active with it, spending a ton of money on R&D. They've so far built 3 flumes: Calaway Park (5 person boat, in line seating with a coaster drop and large drop at the end), Everland in South Korea (Super Flume with backward drop and large drop, interestingly both starting from the same tower on two different levels) and Volcano Adventure, which opened a few months ago in Vietnam (SuperFlume, with forward coaster drop and turntable at the top of the big lift to orient the boat toward the big drop). Out of those, Calaway Park was delayed by months and the Everland ride has an issue with too much water entering the boats; they've had to install splash shields on the side. In addition, WhiteWater is delivering replacement boats for 2 older Hopkins flumes (Warner Brothers Movie World Australia and Castle Park in California) and for a newer Interlink Superflume.
• Intamin: introduced a new generation of log flume in 2022 at FamilyPark in Austria. 4 rows, 2 across boats with individual lap bars and new belt drives for the station and other slow areas. The ride in Austria has had minor issues and is a great success so far. Catapult Falls is delayed, but I question SEAS construction schedule: you're introducing a prototype ride, but you're only allowing Intamin 2 months to test and troubleshoot the booster section? Meanwhile in Belgium, Intamin is building a prototype Rapids ride with a spring 2024 opening. The park there demolished the old family coaster and area which it's replacing last year and the ride is under contruction right now, with the goal of allowing Intamin 6+ months to test and troubleshoot the ride. Perhaps that would have been more prudent for Catapult Falls?
• Interlink supplies SuperFlume, the first american installation opened this year at Lost Island. They're basic, serviceable flumes with 3 rows, 2 across seating that has had major issues in Ireland at Emerald Park. Barely 5 years after opening the ride, the park has had to get WhiteWater to replace the boats and do major upgrades to keep the ride running.
• Zamperla has built two new flumes, at Luna Park NYC and Adventureland Iowa. Boats have 3 rows, 2 passengers per row and have stability issues and are not very comfortable. In addition, they offer kiddie flumes.
• Hafema does basic flumes in Europe, with slow elevators right now. They built the awful and flawed Flume at the Columbus Zoo that was recently put out of its misery.
• Soquet in France builds basic log flumes with capacity issues, due to the slow elevator used to bring the boats to the top of the big drop. They've also been delivering "Baby Flumes" to parks in France, which are basically kids flumes where the boat does 2 small 5 feet drops.
• Ride Engineering Switzerland (RES) who recently built Mystic River Falls offers flume rides, but no one has built one since their split from ABC Rides.
• Technical Park has recently built a decent flume in Italy.
• Reverchon is still active, building kiddie flumes with a 8 feet drop for Compagnie des Alpes at Parc Asterix and Jardin d'Acclimatation.
• Mack hasn’t built a flume since 2004 at Toverland, so they’re out of that market and are pushing smaller water coasters to parks. Nigloland installed the very expensive Krampus Expedition in 2021 in France and now, a second French park (Le Pal) is building another smaller water coaster in 2024. Fjord Explorer will be similar in size to Krampus Expedition.

Looking at how tight Cedar Fair is with WhiteWater, where they are nearly their sole supplier for water slides, it would not be a stretch to see new flumes from them at Carowinds, Cedar Point, etc.

I love a good log flume, there is nothing like them. My favorite log flume that I rode is at Holiday Park. I rode it back when it was Teufelsfässer, it's German for ''Devil's Barrels''. I was not expecting the surprise when it went backward, I had no idea it did that and it was amazing. I haven't rode it since it's transformation.

Absimilliard:

Zamperla has built two new flumes, at Luna Park NYC and Adventureland Iowa. Boats have 3 rows, 2 passengers per row and have stability issues and are not very comfortable. In addition, they offer kiddie flumes.

I can confirm the flume at Luna Park is not comfortable. You also get absolutely drenched, which I was not really expecting.

What are these stability issues you speak of? As I’ve stated before I don’t hear good things about Zamperla build quality so I’m curious what’s going on with those.

https://youtu.be/b7HSoZDbwTE

Look at the testing footage of the Zamperla flume at Luna Park. Notice how with just sand bags thrown in, the boats don't float in a level way? Compare that to a Hopkins Superflume, Intamin 8 person boat or your average Arrow/Hopkins standard boat where even if the passengers are not sitting in a balanced way, the boat doesn't float in a about to tip over way.

Absimilliard:

Interlink supplies SuperFlume, the first american installation opened this year at Lost Island. They're basic, serviceable flumes with 3 rows, 2 across seating that has had major issues in Ireland at Emerald Park. Barely 5 years after opening the ride, the park has had to get WhiteWater to replace the boats and do major upgrades to keep the ride running.

Wait, what?

My understanding was that Emerald Park bought new boats to increase capacity rather than because of any problems.

What I was told about the Emerald Park flume was that the technical issues were so severe they had to do massive upgrades, as well as the capacity issues you mention. With Interlink boats, the ride struggled to get 350-400 riders per hour and WhiteWater believe they can double that with their new equipment and boats.