WATER COASTERS

The first water coaster opened in 1996 and paved the way for a whole range of water coasters in the following decades. Water coasters are characterised by gentle layout with big drops and, not surprisingly, big splashes! Some water coasters turn into log flume style trains once they hit the water, with the traditional coaster rails ending leaving the train floating in a trough. Other types of water coasters have fixed rails throughout the circuit.

E&F MILER INDUSTRIES WATER COASTER

E&F Miler Industries produced the first water coaster in 1996 at Enchanted Forest in Oregon, USA. This coaster is still running today, however unlike more modern water coasters, this one has the majority of it’s layout like a log flume. The boats run down water troughs just like any other log flume. It’s only at the end of this ride where there is a small lift hill and a drop that resemble a coaster. Then there’s only one turn left before the final main drop. In 2004 E&F Miler also built Dive To Atlantis at Mt Olympus Water & Theme Park in Wisconsin, USA. This coaster shut down in 2007, but it resembled the more classic roller coaster look. With one big lift hill, a small drop and then the final drop, Dive To Atlantis was only a short ride that would give guests a nice relief on hot summer days.

MACK RIDES WATER COASTER

Mack Rides Water Coasters are the most popular water coasters out there. The first installation was Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld Orlando in Florida, USA, in 1998. This coaster has an extensive theme, with a long pre-show section before the coaster completes the first (and biggest) drop. With a ‘secret’ coaster section at the end too, Journey to Atlantis has become the benchmark for water coasters.

Examples:

Skatteøen at Djurs Sommerland, Denmark
Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld San Diego, USA
Poseidon at Europa Park, Germany
Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld Orlando, USA

Mack developed another variation of their Water Coaster called PowerSplash, which first opened as Pulsar at Walibi Belgium in 2016. It’s basically a LSM Launch coaster with a U-shaped track featuring, a turntable loading platform, small airtime hill and Splash Track between the two vertical spikes. The Splash Track rapidly fills up with water during the third backwards spike ascent, allowing for a huge splash down after the final forwards drop.

INTAMIN WATER COASTER

Intamin designed their water coaster around the record breaking Pilgrims Plunge at Holiday World in Indiana, USA. The 135 feet (41m) tall shoot the chute attraction was the world’s tallest water ride when it opened in 2009, but was plagued with reliability issues and was removed in 2013.
The year before Pilgrims Plunge (renamed Giraffica) closed Intamin opened Divertical at Mirabilandia in Italy, which uses the same tilting elevator lift system but replaced the shoot the chutes trough with roller coaster track. They also made it 62 feet (19m) taller and added a splash track, two airtime hills and a 360° helix, with the splash down at the end of the ride.
In spite of the continuing reliability issues, Intamin has built several additional variations of Divertical that includes a shorter 141-148 foot (43-45m) lift hill drop and a 540° helix.

AQUA TRAX COASTER

The only other type of “water coaster” Intamin produced is the Aqua Trax model, which is an LSM launch coaster with a variety of water interactions and effects. Only one has been built thus far – Atlantis Adventure at Lotte World in South Korea.

PREMIER RIDES

Premier Rides calls their version of the Water Coaster a Liquid Coaster. The coaster train is replaced with a boat, but sits on rails as expected. The ride begins as a traditional roller coaster with a lift hill and a few turns and drops. Towards the end of the ride, the boat travels down a drop and into a large splash down, soaking all of the riders on board. Only one installation existed, Vonkaputous at Linnanmäki in Finland, which operated from 2001 through 2017.

Premier Rides also basically created a clone of the Setpoint model (below), but use an elevator lift instead of a traditional lift hill. Only one was manufactured, Slippery When Wet at Hard Rock Park in South Carolina, USA, which opened in 2008. Renamed to Soak’d when the park reopened the following year as Freestyle Music Park, the coaster was eventually sold to Asia Park in Vietnam following the park’s permanent closure at the end of the 2009 season.

SETPOINT

Although not technically considered true water coasters, Setpoint used the same basic design as their Pteranodon Flyers at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure in Florida, USA, to create a interactive water version of the ride. Flying Super Saturator opened in 2000 at Carowinds in the Carolinas with Roller Soaker at Hersheypark in Pennsylvania, USA, coming two years later. Both coasters featured interactivity with onlookers having the ability to shoot water at riders and riders able to splash water on anyone below. However both coasters suffered capacity issues as well as lengthy downtime and closed within a decade.

Examples:

Roller Soaker at Hersheypark, USA
Flying Super Saturator at Carowinds, USA

VEKOMA

Picking up where Setpoint left off, Vekoma created the Splash Party, a similar interactive version of the ride, which first opened in 2013 with Bandit Bomber at Yas Waterworld in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.