Water coasters Where thrills meet splashes
I love roller coasters for many reasons: the wind in my face, the thrilling plunges downhill and back up, the sharp turns, that feeling of weightlessness and the tingle in my stomach as I dive. But during a season that can feel like one long heat wave, one thing would make riding a coaster even better: a nice big splash.
The only problem is that usually you have to choose. You can take a mind-bending coaster. Or you can take a water ride, which may give you dips, turns and showers but won’t provide the up-and-down rush of being on a track.
Enter the water coaster. These coasters — which have been increasingly cropping up at water parks around the world — combine the hills of a roller coaster with the splashy fun of a water slide. Although it may not seem like it, creating such a ride is a feat of engineering that requires a good deal of technology. Some of the coasters use blasts of water pressure to shoot rafts uphill in a seemingly gravity-defying feat. Others use linear induction motors, or LIM, to propel rafts uphill in a way that looks like magic. They also incorporate tunnels, lights, water walls and giant drops. And over the years, the rides have gotten taller, faster and longer.
Here is a guide to distinct water coasters that may appeal to slide lovers and roller coaster enthusiasts alike.
Master Blaster
Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, Texas. Climb 65 feet to the top of Blastenhoff Tower, hop in a raft and plunge three stories.
Schlitterbahn, a giant water park that sits along the Comal River, became home to the first water coaster after it installed a surfing ride that sprays a wide stream of water that riders can maneuver. The mechanics of that ride led its makers to wonder: If we focused the water pressure into a thinner stream, could it push a raft uphill? It could. Hence the first water coaster, Dragon Blaster, was born in 1994. That ride, since renamed Dragon’s Revenge, is still in operation.
But the real star of the park came a couple of years later. Schlitterbahn decided to dream bigger and created a much larger water coaster, the Master Blaster. I rode it for the first time a year after it opened, and it changed my thinking on what a water slide could be.
After getting comfortable in a two-person raft, riders first face a steep drop down a large hill. But blasts of water pressure immediately push you back up into a curved tunnel that has a blue glow thanks to a bit of illumination from the sun. Then comes a drop that dips farther down than the one where you began, followed by another uphill blast.
These are air-time-inducing, coaster-style drops, but you definitely don’t want to put your hands in the air for them. The ride is seatbelt-free, so you will need to keep a firm grip. A netting over the drops and uphill portions adds extra protection. You’ll want it. This experience doesn’t let up until you make your final splash at the bottom.
Since opening Master Blaster, Schlitterbahn has given Texans and others many ways to beat the heat, opening three other parks in that state, along with one in Kansas City, Kan. The park in Galveston has Massiv, the world’s tallest water coaster, at 81 feet.
Mammoth
Splashin’ Safari, Santa Claus, Ind. A raft takes you on a record-set- ting long ride uphill.
Tucked away in the back of this southern Indiana park is one of the most impressive water coasters in the country. This red, yellow and blue behemoth of a ride lives up to its name and uses a round six-person raft to generate its thrills.
You board the raft on a conveyor belt that takes riders up a lift hill, which feels very much like a roller coaster. It takes a lot of science to create this kind of fun. The ride uses LIM technology, developed for water coasters by the manufacturing company Proslide, to hoist its giant raft uphill. A motor creates a magnetic field under the surface of the slide that interacts with a metal plate mounted on the bottom of the raft. When they meet, it sends the raft shooting up.
The first drop is into a tunnel that rounds a curve and lets out onto a downhill slope. Then the LIM kicks in, zipping the raft up another tunnel. The suspended uphill sections of the ride give you the sense that something impossible is happening. After all, you’re in a giant raft with five other people. You shouldn’t be able to go uphill. And yet you do, for several seconds. The experience is enhanced all the more by the fact that you’re facing the other riders and can see their disbelief as well.
Mammoth holds the record for the world’s longest water coaster, but its length isn’t nearly as impressive as its inventiveness. Its labyrinthine track keeps the thrills coming. And the technology does, too. The park also lays claim to the second longest water coaster, the Wildebeest, which sits next to Mammoth.
Krakatau Aqua Coaster
Universal’s Volcano Bay in Orlando, Fla. Shoot uphill directly into a volcano.
When one Universal water park closes, another opens. So Wet ‘n Wild, which powered down its slides in December, has been replaced by Volcano Bay. The park has the kind of elaborate theming and attention to detail that the company used for its blockbuster Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And the signature volcano in the center of the park is a wonder to behold. From the front, it’s a gorgeous structure with a cascading waterfall. In the back, it’s carved open to reveal a colorful group of slides, including a breathtaking aqua coaster experience that is a thrill from the moment you take your seat in the canoe-style raft.
A conveyor belt moves your raft to the edge, then sends you down and rushing back up into the heart of the volcano. Like Mammoth, this ride uses LIM technology, but goes faster, allowing for more air time and a speedier trip uphill.
Translucent tunnels give one segment a bright glow, and green tunnels create an almost neon sheen on others. But you’re not entirely inside, and there is a good mix of outdoor and enclosed elements. Instead of netting above, high walls with windows provide a secure feel. Yet there are plenty of heady moments, with the seven intense, rapid uphill climbs providing vistas of the other slides around the ride and throughout the park.
The raft for this ride seats four people in a row. And having the route go through and around the volcanic rock gives the ride a unique look and layout compared with other water coasters. The best moment on this one is its ending: a steep downhill dive and back uphill into a dynamic splash.