50 of The Most Thrilling Water Rides From Around The World
Waterparks and their massive water slides attract millions of visitors every year. The first waterpark opened in the late 1940s, and ever since, designers have been pushing the boundaries to make slides higher, longer, faster, and scarier.
The world's tallest water slides are instant attractions and huge money-makers for theme parks around the world. There are spiraling vortexes, speed slides, extremely tall slides, and even slides where you go through a shark or whale tank. Thrill seekers search for the best of the best, and here is a list of some of them.
Kali River Rapids
The Kali River Rapids is located at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park and was opened on March 18, 1999. The ride is a water raft that skims across an erupting geyser, floats below a canopy of lush vegetation, and is whisked along fast-moving rapids.
At one point, you will plummet down a dramatic twenty-foot slope, and you will for sure get wet. The ride is themed as a rafting expedition along the Chakranadi River.
Mammoth
Mammoth is a water coaster which is located at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, and was opened on May 11, 2012. It is a hydromagnetic ride that holds the Guinness World Record for the longest water coaster. It is seven stories tall and is a six-person raft ride that covers more than three acres of the park.
"It's powered with LIMs (linear induction motors), which is the same technology used for roller coasters and light rail transportation. These specially adapted LIMs are responsible for the Mammoth's incredibly fast and steep uphill and downhill sections." ----- Ruth McMahon.
Na'vi River Journey
The Na'vi River Journey is a ride located at Disney's World Animal Kingdom and was opened on May 27, 2017. This one is more of a thriller for children and is a boat ride through the landscape of the fictional land. It is a dark ride that is themed after the film Avatar.
The animatronic seen at the end of the ride is the most advanced animatronic ever created by Walt Disney. The boat passes by hexapedes, viperwolves, panopyra, woodsprites, and fan lizards. It also passes by a waterfall and goes through a cave.
Escape From Pompeii
Escape from Pompeii is a shoot-the-chutes water attraction which is located at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia and first opened on April 29, 1995. The attraction is based on the ancient city of Pompeii and guests ride on flat-bottom boats which travel through a canal of water.
There are special effects such as cracking wooden boards, swinging flickering lights, tumbling statues, and burning walls and ceilings. Finally, after traveling through a misty dark room, the boat goes down the five-story drop into the splash pool below.
Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls
Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls is located at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, and first opened on May 28, 1999. It is a log flume ride that features a seventy-five-foot drop that will soak all of the riders.
The ride is considered part water flume and part roller coaster, and it combines the fun of classic cartoons with edge-of-your-seat action. There are even "human-sized drying machines" at the end of the ride for a small fee.
Poseidon
Poseidon is a water roller coaster that is located at Europa Park in Rust, Baden Wurttemberg, Germany, and it first opened on July 12, 2000. There are eight riders per car that take an adventurous trip through Greek mythology.
The boat begins being pulled up on the tracks and then starts a rapid trip toward the world of the Greek god of the seas. The boat is pulled up another hill and shot down a steep slope into the Greek sea.
Jurassic Park River Adventure
Jurassic Park River Adventure is a water ride based on the film Jurassic Park. It is located at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, and it first opened on May 28, 1999.
The ride starts with the riders gliding along in the raft, and then they come face to face with a giant T. Rex. Before you know it, you are taking a pitch-black plunge down an eighty-five-foot drop. It is an iconic boat ride that uses more than one and a half million gallons of water.
Splash Mountain
Splash Mountain is a log flume ride at Disneyland and it first opened on July 17, 1989. The ride begins with a peaceful outdoor float-through, which leads to indoor dark ride segments.
The ride leads to a climactic steep drop into the water, dropping more than fifty feet. The ride is eleven minutes long, making it one of the longest rides at Magic Kingdom. The current version closed down in order to receive a new theme.
Mountain Slidewinder
Mountain Slidewinder is a water toboggan ride located at Dollywood in Tennessee. It is an action-packed water ride that combines great speed, nature, and water. The ride is built by going through the woods on a raft, but be prepared to get wet.
The raft gains more and more speed as it travels down the slide and through a tunnel. The raft then goes flying down a hill. Some refer to it as a Southern bobsled because you literally slide down the mountainside.
Diving Coaster
The Diving Coaster is a water roller coaster that is located at Cosmo World in Yokohama, Japan. The ride gives riders the feeling of diving straight into the ground. The coaster goes down a steep curving drop into the water.
When the car passes underground there are huge surges of water. It is a one-of-a-kind roller coaster because it actually brings riders underwater, making it one of the craziest roller coasters out there.
Aqualoop
The Aqualoop is a body waterslide located at the Ixtapan Parque Acuatico in Mexico. The drop allows the rider to gain a speed of sixty kilometers an hour, which allows them to make it around the almost-vertical loop.
The rider starts by standing on a trapdoor. "With the unique slide path, we had to optimize the shape of the loop to maximize the range of riders that could use it while making sure no one got stuck." ----- Bruce Bradley.
Aquaconda
The Aquaconda is the world's first dual slide-within-a-slide that is located at Aquaventure Waterpark in Dubai. They are enclosed tube slides that weave in and out of the framework of a flume-style ride.
Passengers can actually watch other riders on the other sections because the slides are made from translucent plastic. The slide is 9.2 meters wide and 25 meters tall, and it catapults riders at thirty-five kilometers per hour.
Behemoth Bowl
The Behemoth Bowl is a water slide located at Chimelong Water Park in Guangzhou, China, and it first opened in 2007. It revolutionized water slides with its water injection system, patented corkscrew exit, and central drop chute.
It is the largest bowl water ride in the world, and its eighteen-meter diameter allows passengers to speed around the perimeter. Riders circle the bowl several times and are quickly directed to the center of the bowl's exit, where the rider freefalls into the splash-down pool.
Tsunami Surge
The Tsunami Surge is the world's first hybrid zero-gravity slide that is located in Atlanta at Hurricane Harbor, Six Flags Over Georgia. The ride was opened in 2014 and features a five-story drop and a ride in a whirlpool bowl that spins around at three hundred and sixty degrees.
The bowl is forty feet wide and offers a "moment of zero gravity." The ride pumps three hundred thousand gallons of water per hour and replaced the Southern Star Amphitheater.
Insano
The Insano is one of the tallest water slides in the world and is located in Beach Park, Brazil. The water slide is the same height as a fourteen-story building and takes just four to five seconds to reach the ground.
The ride opened in 2012 and sends riders down an extreme freefall, with top speeds of about sixty-five miles per hour. It is described as one of the most extreme water slides on the planet, and the ride attracts daredevils from all over the world.
King Cobra
The King Cobra is a water slide at Maxx Royal Belek Golf & Spa in Turkey. The rider slides along the body of a cobra before sliding up the inside of its mouth at fifty-one kilometers per hour. It is a high-capacity ride with two double tubes and allows passengers to race each other.
"It's regarded as a game-changing waterslide. It has a strong visual impact and a unique spectator appeal, with integrated special effects, such as hissing sounds." ----- Sohret Pakis.
Super S Slide
The Super S Slide is a water slide located at Ocean World at Daemyung Resort Vivaldi Park in South Korea. It is one of the scariest water slides with banked twists and turns.
It has very tight corners and a six-meter-wide enclosed section that sends the rider flying up the sides. The slide also offers a great number of splashes and is meant for a group of people.
Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro is one of the world's tallest water slides and is located at Aldeia das Aguas Park Resort in Brazil. The ride is named after the famous mountain in Tanzania, Kilimanjaro is 49.9 meters tall.
The slide reaches speeds of nearly one hundred kilometers per hour and has a drop of one hundred and sixty-four feet. However, the rider has to first climb up two hundred and thirty-four steps.
Summit Plummet
The Summit Plummet is a ride located at Blizzard Beach at Disney World in Florida. It is one of the tallest and fastest freefall body slides and is open to the elements. Riders slide down twelve stories, down a one hundred and twenty-foot vertical drop.
They fly through a dark tunnel and splash into whitewater. The slide is modeled after a ski slope, with such a steep drop that you can't even see where you are going until you are halfway there.
Leap Of Faith
The Leap of Faith is an iconic slide located at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The slide sends riders down a thrilling sixty-foot, almost vertical drop. The best part of the slide is the clear acrylic tunnel where riders shoot through a lagoon filled with live sharks.
It is one of the most unusual water slides because it sends riders down the side of a faux ancient Mayan temple. There was even an incident in 2008 when a reef shark actually jumped from its enclosure and onto the waterslide. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Scorpion's Tail
The Scorpion's Tail is a roller coaster located at Noah's Ark Waterpark in Wisconsin and first opened in 2010. Riders are dropped fifty-five feet from a trap door, where they gain a speed of roughly thirty miles per hour.
The rider goes completely upside down and through a loop. It was the first loop-the-loop slide in the United States and is ten stories high. The ride is located at the Waterpark Capital of the World.
Cannonball
The Cannonball is a water slide located in Area 47 in Austria. The rider sits down, and a gigantic water jet shoots them into the air and lands them in the lake. It is a human cannon that looks like something straight out of a cartoon.
While you are sitting there, the tank fills up with water, the lights go green, and the rider pushes the button. The rider is catapulted off the slide and into the water below.
The Cyclone
The Cyclone is a water ride located at World Waterpark in Canada and first opened in 2011. The ride consists of three hundred and sixty-one feet of tubing. Riders experience the floor dropping out from under them and gain speeds of up to forty miles per hour.
It sends the rider catapulting through an almost-vertical loop and out of the tunnel with a massive splash. It is one of the most extreme water slides in Canada.
Jumeirah Sceirah
The Jumeirah Sceirah is a water slide located at Wild Wadi Waterpark in Dubai. The ride consists of two tandem slides that riders have to climb thirty-two meters to ride.
Two guests can ride at the same time, and they must cross their arms and legs. The floor beneath them opens, and the riders slide down the one-hundred-and-twenty-meter slide at eighty miles per hour. Riders reach the bottom in just a few seconds.
Tornado
The Tornado is a water slide that is located at Chimelong Water Park in China. It is a funnel-shaped slide where riders sit on four-seater floats and take off from a six-story high platform.
The riders are then dropped into a funnel and pulled out "as though being sucked into a tornado." While in the funnel, the rider oscillates from one side to the other until they exit into a splash pool.
Twister And Speedy
The Twister and Speedy is located at Sonnentherme Lutzmannsburg Thermal Spa in Austria. It includes two slides that both wrap around the spa's tall watch tower several times.
Speedy is the red slide and the faster of the two, but Twister, the yellow slide, is one of the longest slides in Europe. Twister is more than six hundred and sixty feet in length. If you tend to suffer from dizziness, you should probably avoid both slides.
Citta Del Mare
The Citta del Mare is located at the Cita del Mare Resort in Sicily and consists of three side-by-side slides. The slides take guests down a scenic cliff into three pools and then drops them into the Mediterranean Sea.
The slide is full of natural beauty and drops you into four different bodies of water. Once you land in the sea, you use the ladder to climb up and go down the slide again. In addition, on the way up to the slide, there are three small pools that you can swim across.
Tantrum Alley
Tantrum Alley is a raft water ride located at Wild Wadi Water Park in Dubai. Riders slide down two waterslides and three funnel drops, tumbling in all different directions through the slide's 'tornadoes' of water.
The rider circles round and round the eye of the storm in each funnel and finally splashes into the pool. The Tantrum Alley is one of the most popular in Dubai. It's popular because the twists and turns throw you all over the place, making it a breathtaking ride.
Wildebeest
The Wildebeest is located at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana. It is the second-longest water ride in the world, measuring one-third of a mile long.
It takes riders on a wild two-and-a-half-minute ride. The rider goes up a conveyor belt, down a four-story drop, through two underground tunnels, and around a helix. The rider will shoot out of various places at different times before the final splash.
L2
Th L2 is a water slide that is located at Worgler Wasserwelt Waterpark in Austria. It is the world's first double loop and is said to be one of the most extreme and intense water slides on the planet. The rider steps into a clear capsule and waits for the hatch to open.
When the hatch opens, the rider freefalls, gaining a speed of forty miles per hour. They are shot like a 'rocket launch' through two complete loops before being dropped into a pool of water.
Dolphin Plunge
The Dolphin Plunge is located at Aquatica at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. Riders splash, twist, and turn through more than three hundred and thirty feet of eye-catching translucent cutouts and rings.
Then the rider slides through a tank with a pod of white Commerson's Dolphins, which are known to sometimes race alongside riders as they zoom through the tank. The underwater habitat is also home to leopard sharks, sardines, and other cold-water fish.
Big Thunder
Big Thunder is an epic water slide located at Rapids Water Park in West Palm Beach, Florida. It is the perfect combination of thrill and relaxation, and the riders will feel like they are floating on a cloud.
The rider glides on a raft through a dark tunnel and then drops forty-five degrees into a funnel that shoots them back and forth until they reach extreme heights. The rider will even experience a brief moment of zero gravity. Some parts of the slide are dark, some are light, and others feature a blur of colors.
Poseidon's Revenge
Poseidon's Revenge is a looping water ride located at Aquaventure Water Park at Atlantis the Palm in Dubai. On the ride, riders are enclosed in capsules and will gain speeds up to thirty-seven miles per hour. There are two slides, and both are equipped with a timer so that when the riders get off the slide, they can see who won.
The rider begins standing on a clear trapdoor, which gives way to a one-hundred-and-one-foot drop. The rider is then turned upside down as they cascade through loops and turns. Atlantis said the ride is "the most frightening waterslide in the Middle East, and it's not for the faint-hearted."
Wild Vortex
The Wild Vortex is a water ride located at Wilderness at the Smokies in Tennessee. Riders begin standing on a trap door, and after the door opens, they drop thirty-nine feet straight down. The riders reach up to forty miles per hour and experience 2.5 g-forces.
The slide is sixty-six feet tall and is the only near-vertical, translucent, looping waterslide in the Southeast. "The Wild Vortex provides our guests with the opportunity to witness and experience one of the most extreme thrill rides in any water or amusement park in the country." ----- Steve Cruz.
Divertical
The Divertical is a water roller coaster located at Mirabilandia in Savio, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The ride combines the best of water slides and roller coasters. It is a steel water roller coaster that was first opened in 2012 and is one of the tallest water roller coasters in the world.
The riders are enclosed in cars and lifted up by an elevator system to one hundred and ninety-seven feet. The cars then speed down almost seventy miles per hour and make a huge splash in the pool below.
Corkscrew Cavern
The Corkscrew Cavern is a water slide located at Roaring Springs Waterpark in Idaho. It is an action-packed waterslide and is the largest looping waterslide in the Northwest.
Riders are in narrow thirty-two-inch tunnels that blast them thirty-eight feet per second through a three hundred and sixty-degree loop. Powerful G-forces glue the rider to the slide the entire way around the loop.
Shaka
The Shaka is a water ride located at Wet 'n' Wild in Oahu, Hawaii. The ride combines wet and dry and shoots riders backward, forwards, and even almost straight down.
The riders are in a tandem raft and can reach speeds of up to thirty-one miles per hour. The riders experience a zero-gravity sensation as they fly in forward and reverse motions. It is an extreme thrill experience.
Point Plummet
The Point Plummet is a water slide located at Cedar Point Shores in Ohio. It is a four-person slide that drops all riders at the exact same time down six stories after the floor falls out underneath them.
The slide is four hundred feet long and is filled with twists, curves, and turns. The riders start at the top of Point Plummet in one of the four aqua-drop slides and end in the splashdown at the bottom.
Cannonball Falls
Cannonball Falls is a water slide located at Mountain Creek Water Park in New Jersey. It is a three aqua-tube body slide, where you have the choice of which slide you take.
The blue tube is fully enclosed, the bright green slide is an open-air straight drop, and the green slide has airtime, as your body will barely touch the slide. All three slides snake around in gloriously long coils that allow riders to accumulate maximum velocity.
Honu
The Honu is a slide located at Universal Orlando's Volcano Bay in Florida. The slide takes the spirit of the myth and sends riders up two walls, through ocean mists, and down into two pools full of sparkling water.
It's based on the ancient Waturi people who rode the ocean waves on friendly sea turtles. It is a five-person raft that speeds through an open flume and sends riders vertically up two giant sloped walls before sliding back down.
X-Treme Faser
The X-Treme Faser is a water slide located at Galaxy-Erding Water Park in Germany. It is the only water slide that women cannot ride on due to officials deeming the ride "not suited to the female anatomy."
Several women reported genital injuries. It is sixty-seven meters long and can reach speeds of up to forty-five miles per hour. It is one of several extreme rides in the park.
Black Hole
The Black Hole is a slide located at Bad 1 in Germany. The slide reminds people of the boat scene in the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The rider begins in darkness and then goes through a tunnel with an ever-changing and dizzying array of colored LED lights.
The craziest part is the steady rainbow rings that turn into Tron-like bursts of blue and green lights until the riders see the actual light at the end of the tunnel.
MASSIV Monster Blaster
The MASSIV Monster Blaster is located at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Texas. It is twenty-one meters high and is one of the world's tallest water coasters. It is such a wild ride that it goes up four times, twists and turns, drops and splashes for about three hundred meters.
It finally ends with a triple-drop. The slide uses six powerful jets to push the riders up the hills, using unique Master Blaster technology invented by Jeff Henry.
Captain Spacemaker
Captain Spacemaker is a water slide located at Aqualandia Water Park in Venice, Italy. It is the tallest water slide in Europe and is the park's signature ride. The ride stands at one hundred and thirty-seven feet tall and takes three to four riders on rafts down a sixty-degree incline at sixty-two miles per hour.
The ride gives riders a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view with the option of three different computerized worlds: Dragons, Aliens, and Fantasy. The riders then splash into the pool below.
Space Tunnel
The Space Tunnel is a water slide located at Yali Castle Aqua Park in Turkey. This slide has such a wide tunnel that eventually throws you into a swimming pool. Some have even gotten stuck on the ride.
It offers an entire three-hundred-and-sixty-degree ride and turns your head upside down. The park features several water slides, but the Space Tunnel is the one for thrill seekers.
Brain Wash
The Brain Wash is a water ride that is located at Wet 'n' Wild Water Park in Florida. It is a crazy ride and one of the most famous in the park. The ride features a fifty-three-foot vertical drop in multi-person tubes. This slide allows you to listen to music while you take on the bowl slide.
It is a wide bowl, completely enclosed, and painted black and white. "We needed a program that could accurately represent the actual fixtures in this rather demanding and unusual environment, and was ideal." ----- Tony Hanson.
Skycalibre
The Skycalibre is a water slide located in Missouri that was created by Lance Fisher. He wanted to create a water slide that consists of three sections: the vertical free fall, the loop, and the extremely fast water slide.
The waterslide is ninety feet tall, with a vertical loop of thirty feet and a drop of forty-five feet. All of this action takes place while encapsulated within a bullet-shaped pod that spirals through the chute at fifty miles per hour.
Verruckt
The Verruckt is a water slide located at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kansas. It is one of the scariest attractions, with a height of one hundred and sixty-eight feet, and reaches a speed of sixty-five miles per hour.
It is taller than Niagara Falls and the Statue of Liberty. It subjects riders to 5 Gs and a one hundred and sixty-eight-foot free fall. It is so extreme that it even caused a death and had to be altered.
Cliffhanger
The Cliffhanger is a double water slide located at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Texas. Riders can choose between the insane seven-story plunge down the Cliffhanger.
Or you can twist through F5 Twister's intertwining tunnels and reach speeds of thirty-five miles per hour. The tunnels are even bedazzled with lights and fog for an extra thrill. It is a popular slide in Texas.