Friday, June 14, 2013

Atlantis Clarksville Review (May 24, 2013)

Atlantis water park in Clarksville, Indiana is a fairly small water park on the other side of the Ohio River where the city of Louisville, Kentucky sits. There isn't a lot to expect from this park, but for local Louisvillians, it gives a good local water park for people to visit, and gives people a less distance to travel compared to the extra hour drive north-west to Holiday World Splashin' Safari.

Wildebeest Wildebeest Raft
Wildebeest Wildebeest Raft

My visit to the park started about an hour and a half before the official first day of opening on Friday of memorial weekend. Weather that morning was cold, with wind chills that blew at around high 60 degrees (fahrenheit). But I braved the temperature and did my morning POV shooting down the park's slides, with the off-ride footage recording and picture-taking later during my visit when more of the sun came out. Being the first day of opening this season, and the morning being very chilly, the turnout for the water park turned out to be very low, so most of my footage shot around the park had very little to no people in it.

The water park's main features are the Mount Olympus water slide structure, which houses the park's four main water slides, and the Tsunami Sea wave pool that has a maximum depth of 5 feet. Outside of those, there is King Neptune's Cove which is a kid splash area, two main concession stands, and plenty of loungers to relax in the sun or shade.

The Mount Olympus water slide complex has four WhiteWater West water slides spiraling and curving in and around each other before landing in the shared 3ft deep pool at the end. Sporting either white or aquatic blue color, this slide complex consists of two body slides and two inner tube slides, one of each type are enclosed while the others are open flume slides. The slides didn't have any specific names other than "Tube Slide" and "Body Slide," so I'll just refer to each by them being an open or enclosed flume.

The first slide to the right, once reaching the top of the tower, was the white open-flume tube slide. It consisted of multiple turns and a slight helix during the course, and had a pretty decent length to it. Very nice, and very easy for beginner sliders. Some single riders can find themselves losing control of their tube and end up facing the wrong direction if they're not careful!

The next slide from that to the left would the enclosed inner tube slide. A completely pitch black course the whole way down with a few sudden turns along the way. The experience for this slide is also pretty decent, but definitely a step up from the open flume inner tube slides due to the darkness factor.

The first of the body slides is the open flume body slide, which winds itself in figure eights and contains a few dips before coming into the pool at the end. Good, easy slide for those willing to go alone, and can provide a mild thrill for bigger sliders going down on their backs.

The last of the slides (but probably the first you'd see reaching the top of the tower staircase) is the enclosed body slide. Definitely the quickest in the park due to its steeper descent, and how most riders are forced to lay on their backs on the way down. The slide has some good speed to it, especially on the second helix. The biggest drawback for this slide, though, is that the second helix does seem to have some back scratching to it.


The water park as a whole doesn't really provide great "thrills" in my opinion, but it's definitely a good choice for visiting a local water park with young children or to spend a few hours with friends at, especially with the low $8 admission fee to enter. The park does have some very busy peak days, and you could end up waiting in lines for a fair amount of time too.

Overall, it's not really something to go out of your way for if you're a traveling visitor to the city of Louisville for a day or two, but if you would like some quick spins on some slides for a very reasonable price and do not have the time to drive an extra hour west to Holiday World's Splashin' Safari, then I would highly recommend giving this water park a try.

Body Slide (Closed Flume): 7/10
Body Slide (Open Flume): 6/10
Tube Slide (Closed Flume): 7/10
Tube Slide (Open Flume): 6/10

Overall Water Park Rating: 6/10

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