Holiday World, founded in 1946 by industrialist Lewis J. Koch, ran for decades as a “holiday” theme park, having areas for Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Fourth of July rides and activities. The facility expanded in 1993 to include a water park, Splashin’ Safari, made up of the Congo River and Crocodile Isle rides and AmaZOOM and Bamboo Chute waterslides. Since then, the park has more than doubled in size and includes 20 “high tech” water rides. The entire complex was voted the #1 water park in the United States by TripAdvisor in 2012.
Leading Water Ride Designers And Engineers: Proslide Technologies, Inc.
Proslide Technology Inc., a Canadian company and leader in the worldwide water ride industry, has been providing award-winning engineering and design innovations for three decades. The company’s motto is “Engineered Exhilaration” and its products include body/mat rides, speed slides, extreme thrill rides, family/group rides, hydro magnetic coasters, Kidz rides, Ride ‘n Spray Structures and tubing/rafting rides. Founder Richard R. Hunter has a background in alpine skiing and his team is made up of experienced designers and engineers who work on water ride design, fabrication, installation and operations.
Zinga
The Zinga, meaning “to move in a circular motion” in Swahili, is 78 feet or six stories tall. The funnel is 60 feet in diameter and is attached to a half-pipe water slide nine feet in diameter and 336 feet long. The ride involves four passenger “cloverleaf” inner tubes. The weight limit is 600 pounds total per inner tube and the splash pool is 18 inches deep. All Proslide products are made of fiberglass, plastic, rubber and wood with metal and concrete supports.
Mammoth HydroMagnetic Water Coaster
In 2012, Mammoth, the world’s longest water coaster, opened with six-passenger boats. Mammoth is 69-feet tall, about seven stories, and runs for 1,763 feet (1/3 mile). The highest drop is from 32 feet at a 45° angle. There are seven drops totaling 187 feet. The ride uses six linear induction motors (LIM), including the world’s longest LIM on a water-coaster. Weight limit is 1,050 pounds per six person boat. Round boats are also available and provide the extra thrill of backward motion. The start and highest point is accessible without strenuous stair climbing as Mammoth is built into the side of a hill. Total ride time is approximately three minutes.
Hyena Falls
In 2013, Hyena Falls was completed and includes four new in-the-dark water slides. The “wave” slide is five stories tall and the other three slides are for stories tall. Lengths are 349 feet, 327 feet, 302 feet, and 297 feet. The ride uses double and single inner tubes. The splash pool is 42 inches deep. The maximum combined weight limit is 400 pounds for two riders on a double inner tube and 250 pounds for single riders riding alone.
360 degree view of Hyena Falls design:
