Friday, March 30, 2012

Photo of the Week #13

The featured photograph of this week is...


Body Slide at Atlantis Clarksville

About.com's "Best of Theme Parks 2011" Winners


It seems About.com has come up with winners for the theme park poll they ran on their website. The poll included polls for best new water park ride of 2011, which was The Falls at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, Texas.

Second place was 360 Rush at Spring Valley Beach in Blountsville, Alabama. Third place was the Constrictor at Wet n' Wild Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona.

Click here to visit the poll.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Regarding posts made to this blog

I do not plan to continue only making posts that seem like they're computer generated, like the Photos of the Week or News Block Posts. Those will still go on, but I'm also thinking of ways I can make more 'real' posts like this so I can bring a little variety to this blog.

The first trip report or review I make will probably be made around summer time when I am not busy with school. I plan to revisit Holiday World to ride Mammoth in early June, so you can expect that to come. Sorry that it's two months away, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end.

News Block #12

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Tallest Water Slides

I recently did some internet research to try to discover the truth in what is (or was) the tallest water slides on this planet. I think I have come to a conclusion on to what may be what, and this could clear the air for anyone confused.

Tallest freestanding water slide in the United States of America:

People around the world have heard of the infamous ProSlide plummet themed to a ski jump planted in the middle of Florida. Summit Plummet at Blizzard Beach water park within Disney World in Orlando, Florida currently has the record for the tallest and fastest water slide in the United States.
  • Drop Height: 120ft. -- 37 meters
  • Speed: roughly 55 mph -- 89 km/h


Tallest freestanding water slide in the world:

This slide just might live up to it's name. Insano at Beach Park waterpark in Brazil currently holds the record for the tallest freestanding water slide in the world.

  • Drop Height: 41 meters -- 135ft.
  • Speed: roughly 105 km/h -- 65 mph

This next one is where things get confusing...

World's highest drop on a water slide:

Kilimanjaro freefall slide has the highest drop height on a water slide... but, the structure holding up the platform for where the slide starts is on top of a hill, which means that the structure itself is not 50 meters tall; only the drop is. What I mean by freestanding is that the entire structure would not be getting any assistance from any other naturally raised ground surface under it.

The station is boosted via a hill, which allows the water slide to be safely extended further upwards. The slide itself digs into the side of a hill to extend the flume down far enough to claim the highest drop height.
  • Drop Height: 50 meters -- 164ft.
  • Speed: roughly 91 km/h -- 57 mph


Wednesday, March 14, 2012

News Block #9

Time for some more news I found.

[Video]Legoland Florida Waterpark Walkthrough

(youtube.com/yaytez)

Beach waterpark to close for 2012
(news.cincinnati.com)

Huron, South Dakota seeks names for water park
(ksfy.com)

Note: Most of my sources come from Amusement Today. A smaller fraction I find on my own. If there are any other news sources I could follow to hear of more information in the water park industry, please let me know. Thanks!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Photo of the Week #11

The featured photo of this week is...


100-Meter Splash at Six Flags White Water

We have surpassed 10 Photo of the Weeks!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Website Update: Water Park Pages Have More Photos

I recently updates the Aquatica page with an idea that I have been wanting to put to use on the website, which is to include separate water slide photos on the same page as the water park page. Doing so avoids users needing to navigate away from the page to see photos of a specific water slide they might be looking for or want to look at.


This is only a test. I don't know if it will work successfully with other pages, such as the Six Flags White Water page, which has a numerous amount of water slides and would probably cause the page to be extra-long.

To see the page, click here!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

New Poll:

A lot of coaster and water slide enthusiasts have been to Florida before, and chances are that you've been to one of Orlando's many spectacular water parks. The new poll is centered around those water parks in the Orlando area, and the question is:

What's your favorite Orlando water park?
*Sea World's Aquatica
*Disney's Blizzard Beach
*Disney's Typhoon Lagoon
*Wet n' Wild

I thought of adding CoCo Key resort, but I didn't due to it not being a standalone waterpark.

Make your selection on the right-side panel. Poll ends at 12:00am (EST) on March 31.