We covered the dry side of Kentucky Kingdom in the last part of the review. In this part, I'd like to focus on Kentucky Kingdom's water park, Hurricane Bay. If you would like to hear about the overall view of Kentucky Kingdom in the first part, please click here.
Hurricane Bay is a water park that is connected to Kentucky Kingdom amusement park and is free with paid admission. It consists of multiple slide complexes and various standalone water slides ranging from easy beginner slides to many thrilling slides. Hurricane Bay was added to the park in 1992, opening with the original Big Surf Wave pool and later on added the water slide complex Mt Slide Hai.
The water park's original lineup, after its renaming to Splashwater Kingdom and before it's 4 year dormancy, included a basic slide complex with three inner-tube slides and a body slide, a ProSlide Tornado, a ProSlide Hydromagnetic water coaster, a water playground, a kids splash area, and a wave pool. When Kentucky Kingdom reopened for the 2014 season, the water park was put back to the original Hurricane Bay name and doubled in size with many brand new water slides added to the still-standing lineup.
Starting with the original areas of the water park, Mt. Slide Hai is a water slide complex that houses four average water slides, three of which are inner tube slides and the fourth being a body slide. Two of the slides, Voodoo Express (orange) and Forbidden Passage (yellow), are pitch black inner-tube slides which wind and bend left and right in tight turns and multiple sudden dips before spitting riders out into a pool at the end. Conquistador canyon is a green inner-tube water slide that winds and bends much like the previous two slides, but is an open-roof flume which consists of wider turns. The last slide is Vanishing Falls, and it is a dark blue body slide that starts with a downward curve to the right before making a very quick s-bend curve and an extra large dip before launching riders into the pool shared by the previous three slides.
Deluge is an exciting water coaster. While it doesn't match to the intensity (or length) of a water coaster such as Wildebeest at Holiday World, it still stands out as quite the crowd pleaser, and is a must-ride for anyone visiting the water park.
These were part of the original collection of slides and attractions along with the Castaway Creek lazy river, Big Surf wave pool, Splash Zone water playground, and Buccaneer Beach water playground. Following the park's 4-year dormancy, many new slides (all built by ProSlide) and new attractions were added to the lineup, and the water park was doubled in size! The new additions included two new speed slides, an inner-tube slide complex, and a family raft slide along with a new river and wave pool.
One thing guests to the water park will pick up on is that Wave Runner is also known to serve as an excellent chicken-out slide for the next water slide far above it.
Deep Water Dive is a 70 degree drop capsule free-fall body slide that starts at the top of the tower, about 121 feet off of the ground. That extra foot above Summit Plummet's height puts it as the tallest body slide in North America, and (to my understanding) the tallest drop-capsule slide in the world. After riders ascend the stairs to the top of the tower (and after catching their breath... yes, it is a long way up!), riders get great views of the nearby airport, downtown Louisville in the distance, Churchill Downs, Cardinal football stadium, and many other parts of the Louisville area.Riders step into a capsule, greeted by a female automated voice and heartbeats. After the capsule door shuts, another automated voice counts down from three, before the floor gives-way and the rider plummets through a wall of water and down the steep slope at very, very fast speeds. The slide gently levels out and riders come to a very smooth and spectacular stop in the shut-down lane, to where they then disembark.
View an updated POV of Deep Water Dive!
Among the new slides the park received includes the Wikiwiki Wai inner-tube slide complex, which includes three ProSlide specialty slides. The first on the far right is the Kilawaya, which is an enclosed "Explosion Flume" style slide that completes three tight helixes in opposing directions before dumping riders into the pool at the end. The Explosion Flume sections are similar to WhiteWater West's Constrictor slide, where the radius of the tunnel widens for each 360 degree helix.
All of these slides provide different experiences, though the favorite tends to be Calypso Run due to its slightly longer layout and the fact that the funnel sections can send a rider backwards.
The new Adventure River is similar to a lazy river, only instead of using inner-tubes riders use nearby pool noodles and floaters. The river flows around the expanded section of Hurricane Bay, and snakes its way directly under the park's two new speed slides Wave Runner and Deep Water Dive. Also the new Family Wave Lagoon is similar to the park's current wave pool, only it has smaller waves that can be enjoyed by smaller children thanks to the shallower water and smaller waves produced.
Almost similarly to the dry side of the park, there are some minor navigational issues when someone is trying to find your way to certain attractions. One good example is finding the entrance to Deluge, due to its location behind the wave pool and not having a completely clear route to it.
Hurricane Bay's new expanded form makes it something that must be experienced for any new visitors to the park. It's roughly half the size of the entire park on its own, and provides plenty of fun and thrilling slides for families and thrill seekers to enjoy. From the crowd-pleasers like Deluge and Tornado, to head-turners like Deep Water Dive, to family favorites like the Wikiwiki Wai slide, there's enough slides in the water park (combined with the rides in the dry section of the park) to make a visit to Kentucky Kingdom much more worth the price of admission.
Ratings for slides ridden (N/A= Unavailable):
Calypso Run: 8/10
Conquistador Canyon: 7/10
Deep Water Dive: 9/10
Deluge: 9.5/10
Forbidden Passage: 7/10
Kilawaya: 6/10
Mega Wedgie: 6.5/10
Plummet Summit: N/A
Tornado: N/A
Vanishing Falls: 7/10
Voodoo Express: 7/10
Waikiki Wipeout: 7/10
Wave Runner: 8/10
Overall Waterpark Rating: 8/10
Conquistador Canyon: 7/10
Deep Water Dive: 9/10
Deluge: 9.5/10
Forbidden Passage: 7/10
Kilawaya: 6/10
Mega Wedgie: 6.5/10
Plummet Summit: N/A
Tornado: N/A
Vanishing Falls: 7/10
Voodoo Express: 7/10
Waikiki Wipeout: 7/10
Wave Runner: 8/10
Overall Waterpark Rating: 8/10
Big Surf Wave pool and later on added the water slide complex Mt Slide Hai.pool service nj
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