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Monday, December 15, 2014

What Waterpark Attractions Are Coming in 2015?!

As 2015 draws closer and closer, I thought it would be a good time to point out some of the most notable new attractions coming to the water park industry in 2015; namely those within the United States! These include...



1.) Slide Boarding Tech at Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas

 

You might remember a blog post made back in September about the new Slideboarding technology being released by WhiteWater West, and you may remember the time WhiteWater announced that the first installation would be going to the Wet 'n' Wild water park just outside of Las Vegas Nevada.


To reiterate what was mentioned, Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas will be gaining a new slide that will utilize a first of its kind gaming technology for riders to experience as they slide. Riders will board a raft that is decked-out with game controller buttons similar to what you would see on a game console controller (Play Station, Xbox, etc.), then as they maneuver down the flume, they interact with lights throughout the slide and press the correct buttons along the way to score points before coming to a splash into the pool.

To hear a better explanation from WhiteWater about the slide, you can jump to this video produced by Theme Park Review who visited the WhiteWater booth at the IAAPA trade show in Orlando, Florida.


To read more about the technology, click here to visit WhiteWater's page on Slide Boarding.





2.) Dive Bomber at Six Flags White Water

 

Photo Source

Less of a new attraction and more of an upgrade,  Six Flags White Water has opted to convert their 90-foot tall Cliffhanger freefall body slide (the tallest water slide in the park) into a drop capsule slide, and raise it to be over 100 feet tall (believed to be an extra 20 feet to bring it to 110 feet tall)!

Drop capsule body slides have become quite popular within the past few years, especially after the wave of aqualoop and superloop installations in the United States. So it comes to no surprise Six Flags would want to somehow implement a new drop capsule slide into one of their many chain water parks this year.

To learn more about the slide, click here visit the official Six Flags page made for Dive Bomber.



3.) Colossal Curl at Adventure Island

 

Photo Source

 

Earlier this year saw the opening of Colossal Curl at Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Virginia, which was a ProSlide brand family raft hybrid slide that featured two elements: a tornado funnel section, and a large half-pipe wall. One of Water Country USA's sister parks, Adventure Island in Tampa Bay, Florida, is looking to gain a slide just like it.

 Colossal Curl will be the park's tallest at 70 feet tall, featuring a 560 foot long flume featuring the same two elements from the version at Water Country USA. The location of this slide will replace the former Gulf Scream body speed slide, which had already been torn down to make way for this slide.


Be sure to follow Adventure Island on Twitter (@AdventureIsland) to keep updated on its progress!



4.) Camelback Resort and Aquatopia

 

This has to be the single biggest project coming in the new year, and is not receiving enough of the attention it deserves!

The project is the largest single-phase waterpark project ever conceived in the United States, and from what we can see, it definitely shows! Camelback Resort will be an all-inclusive resort that features rooms for overnight stays, skiing/snowboarding during the wintertime and other year-round and summer outdoor activities, a large family entertainment center, multiple restaurants, and most notably the huge indoor water park, Aquatopia!

Aquatopia is touted as being the largest indoor water park in the Northeast at 125,000 square feet once it opens. The water park will feature 7 pools and 13 very unique WhiteWater brand water slides. Many of those slides include the longest indoor uphill master blaster slide in the world, a 65 foot tall free-fall body slide and aqualoop slide, a first of its kind "Venus Slydetrap" hybrid family raft slide, bowl slides, Constrictor and AquaSphere slides, a family raft slide, multiple body slides, and a water playground with even more slides!


As of when this was written, the resort has made significant progress in putting together the larger portion of the building, including topping off the roof. Here is a progress video update uploaded to their YouTube channel.


This will surely be billed as a must-do destination for water park enthusiasts and skiiers/snowboarders to someday hit!

For more on Camelback Resort, click here to visit their official website.



5.) Wait, what?! An Actual Looping Water Slide?!

Yup. That's exactly what the folks at Avalanche water slides plan to sell to parks. In fact, they've already cooked up a working test model at their facility in Missouri just to test and see if it works.


The SkyCaliber slide will inevitably turn the entire water park industry on their heads in breaking many water slide norms. First of all, the slide features a capsule that riders are locked into before beginning their journey down the enclosed flume. Next, the slide features a, true to its definition, vertical drop at 90 degrees! Lastly, and most notably, the slide will feature a real vertical loop!

In an interview done by In The Loop Podcast, president of SkyTurtle Technologies Lance Fischer mentioned that there had been sales of this slide, so we can hopefully expect this to pop up somewhere next year. Where? Only time will tell!




Do you know of any interesting projects opening in 2015? Make sure to post it in the comment section below, or email me at marcus@waterslidedatabase.com!

(Any photographs or images used belong to their respective owners, and were borrowed from the source(s) linked.)

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