Concrete/Hillside Waterslides

My favorite type of Waterslide is the old fashioned concrete trough on a hillside type, and its close cousin the Fiberglass trough on a hillside. Nothin like nearly flipping your little rubber raft over when you hit those under-engineered curves that just baaarely go high enough to keep you from flying out. Of course, this is also why these things are now often defunct. They were surely maintenance and insurance nightmares, and they have largely been supplanted by the 'modern' waterpark.
It's hard to find info on these things, even the few that are still open, so I wanted to try compiling a list of operating and defunct hillside waterslides. Help me!

The only one I can think of offhand that's still operating is at the Waterfun park on Hilton Head, SC. IIRC it's the fiberglass type and is partially supported by a man made hill.

I vaguely recall one in Pigeon Forge, TN. Can anyone back me up on this? Any chance it's still operating?

As for defunct, I loved the one in Nags Head, NC. It was on the main drag on a man-made dune.

Also there was one in the middle of Oak Brook, IL, right on Roosevelt Rd near Oakbrook Mall. The Trough is still there, you can see it from the road once the leaves fall, if you know what to look for.

The one in Pigion Forge was awesome and scary. It sat on the hillside just before exiting Pigion Forge toward Gatlinburg. I noticed the Hill is Ivy Covered now.

One thing, If you came off your mat, You were in for some serious pain.

Chuck

If I am not mistaken both Noah's Ark in Wisconsin Dells still has theirs. Also I vaguely remember Schlitterbahn having them in a video I saw of that waterpark. I have not been there so I cant confirm this.

Come to Six Flags America and ride the Deerpark Plunge. They're four slides that match exactly what you're looking for-even though they're not on a hillside-which is why they have height and weight limitations on some of the slides. They go all the way back to Wild World days, so they are definitely old school and made by Proslide to boot. My friend wiped out on one of those slides last year and injured himself due to one of those under-engineered curves. When I was at Hurricane Harbor the other day, I noticed an innertube lying at the bottom of one of the turns of the one slide. I don't even want to know how it got there.

Dover Lake near Cleveland. If you know how to ride 'em right, you can get some serious speed!

They also have inner tube raging rivers that go down some large (and somewhat dangerous) hills into splashdown pools. It can be very difficult to stay on your tube when you hit some of the pools. Very fun!

Serious Pain indeed! There is a water park in either Myrtle/Surfside that had/has one of these. There were three concrete slides. Not too sure if it is still open, but I think it is. IIRC, it is on the southern most part of Ocean BLVD., there is a water/go-cart park right there, but I could be mistaken, it may be down closer to Surfside.

Someone from the area may be able to confirm this, but I know there were some there, we went quite a few times as a kid.

Man I need to get down there soon...

The Schlitterbahn hillside chutes are all tube chutes. The four original waterslides were taken out a few years ago. They don't have any concrete waterslides.

If anyone is familiar with the St. Louis area, there is a small park actually in Illinois that has a few of hillside slides. The whole park is built on the side of a VERY steep hill that is actually part of the river bluffs. I am pretty sure that they at least have two fiberglass and two concrete hillside slides.

I rode those slides at SFA back when they were "Raindow Slides" or something at Wild World. When I visited "Adventure World" the year they added Skull Mountain I seem to recall they would only operate one of the 4 at a time, and they weren't open when I went to FrightFest, so I don't remember much about how good they were. I do remember they were the only thing at Wild World that I really enjoyed, though, as this was the year before they added Wild One, and the rides sectionw as LAME.

Thanks for the confirmation on the existence of the Pigeon Forge one, Chuck. I just found out that Ogle's Waterpark is now closed, too, so I guess Dolly has muscled everyone else out of the market. Shame.

I've also done the one at Noah's Ark that you're talking about, Beast. Sadly, it was pretty lame. I noticed on the map before going that it was a hillside slide and was all pumped about it.

Another 'lame' one is the Atomic Breakers at Water Country USA. As a little kid this concrete tube slide (pool/chute/pool/chute/pool/chute) was my absolute fave thing at the park. Now, though, there's usually lifeguards at every chute pushing you down the slide, and if there's not then you just float around forever b/c the current's not strong enough anymore to keep you going. It's depressing to ride this now (It was never the same after they added Amazon/whatever it's called now, anyway)

I just looked up Dover Lake (http://www.doverlake.com/slides.html) and this is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. I'd rather go there than Geauga's new waterpark, nice though it may be. I'll have to put it on my list!

While we're on the subject, did anyone here ever go to Action Park in NJ before it got castrated? Tell me ALL about it. I saw an ad for it once as a kid and just about peed my pants, but never made it there b4 it closed and reopened as 'Mountain Park' or whatever it's called now, minus all the really sweet scary slides.

Coastermatt, more details please! Sounds awesome!

They are stil at Wheeling Park in Wheeling West Virginia. About an hour west of Pittsburgh off of I-70.

Those slides are good times, And they have a mongo sized pool, a aviary, and a huge picnic pavillion, which was an open air dance hall when Wheeling Park had amusement long ago.

Nice place, and it was cheap.

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ThemeDesigner said:
While we're on the subject, did anyone here ever go to Action Park in NJ before it got castrated? Tell me ALL about it. I saw an ad for it once as a kid and just about peed my pants, but never made it there b4 it closed and reopened as 'Mountain Park' or whatever it's called now, minus all the really sweet scary slides.

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I have been to Action Park, before the transformation into Mountain Creek. It was a strange park, not very safe. And I believe they are the only water park that ever had a looping water slide. I never saw anyone ride it, but it was there. The park still has the concrete slides built into the hillside, which I believe are tube slides. The park also has the tarzan swing and other unique water slides.

I found a satellit image of the one that used to be in Nags Head... maybe it wasn't as fun as I thought it was!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Nags+Head,+NC&ll=35.985761,-75.646137&spn=0.007167,0.006266&t=k&hl=en

Dover Lake, however....

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Dover+Lake&ll=41.283960,-81.557586&sll=41.499444,-81.695556&spn=0.007167,0.006266&sspn=.114670,.100250&t=k&hl=en

That looks AWESOME. Looks like they have at least 7 Hillside Slide of various types. I am so there!

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ThemeDesigner said:
I just looked up Dover Lake (http://www.doverlake.com/slides.html) and this is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. I'd rather go there than Geauga's new waterpark, nice though it may be. I'll have to put it on my list!

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I do miss that place. If you go, the best slides are 5, 6, and 7 (the slides don't have names, just numbers). The trick to attaining high speed is to pull up the front of the mat and lean IN to the turns. This keeps you from sliding up the sides on the curves, but man oh man do you fly. There were times I could feel the wind in my hair. My WET hair. My dad got really good at it to the point he would end up skipping across the splash down pool.

Of the two tube rides, the one at the very top of the hill (take the chairlift if you want) is the best. The other, smaller one is kind of lame.

I believe this is the place Coastermatt was talking about:

http://www.ragingrivers.com/

I remember getting torn to shreds at a few waterparks on those concrete slides.

One was on the Jersey Shore, near Seaside Heights. No idea of the name or even if it's still around.

Another one was on MD's Eastern Shore, just north of Ocean City. Ouchy! And to think I coulda gone to Trimper's or Jolly Roger's instead...:(

If you really ENJOY that kind of pain, might I suggest Silver Springs' adjacent waterpark, Wild Waters...they still have a couple concrete slides (as of 2 years ago, anyway)...and the seams on their fiberglass slides were enough to make you think you're being keel-hauled.

Finally, if you want to really have FUN, without the pain OR the chlorine, you simply MUST get to Schlitterbahn. There's simply no equal.

If you havent yet, go to Schlitterbahn there old section (by the castle) is chaulk full of these types of rides, and the slides themselves are huge.

Anybody from the Bay Area remember Oakwood Lake Resurt in Manteca? They used to have a really fun concrete slide.

They also had a cool attraction that allowed you to waterski without a boat. There was an aerial cable over the lake that was in continuous motion. They would launch a little bogey with a water ski rop attached. The bogey would attach to the wire and you'd be off.

I think there was a real problem when people let go. The ski robes would still be running around the course...dangerous!

Also note that the slides at Dover Lake are not concrete, but they are built into the hill. The tube rides however, are concrete. But, they're fairly wide, so you don't (usually) get banged up.

They also have a couple speed slides, wave pool, and free batting cages. There is also a picnic area a no extra charge; they're one of the few places that will actually let you bring in a cooler full of food and soda. At least they did a couple years ago anyway.