Water Rides
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Rapid success A
lthough designed and developed by Intamin over 30 years ago, the idea for the rapids ride came from Bill Crandall, who was at that time general manager of AstroWorld in Houston, Texas. The idea came to his mind while he was watching the white water rafting at the 1976 Olympic Games. He thought it would nice to feature a ride reproducing the sensation of the wild water rafting sport in an amusement park environment. He then approached Intamin with his idea and subsequently the rapids ride was designed and constructed by the Swiss firm, and finally went into operation at AstroWorld in 1980.
As one might imagine, there were several technical and operational challenges to be overcome with that first ride. The water flow needed to be powerful enough to recreate the white water experience, but the passengers couldn’t be completely soaked when returning to the station. The request for high capacity resulted in the use of round boats. They then had to be designed to be large enough to accommodate the desired number of passengers and at the same time stable enough to avoid flipping over. Inwards-facing seating was the solution, which had a very nice side effect: high interactivity among the passengers.
The design of the station to allow for quick entry and exit was not an easy task either, but this was solved with a rotating platform. Another challenge was the free floating of the boats, the bumping of the boats into each other (which was actually a desired feature) and the possibility of a boat jam within the channel or in front of the lift/station. All of these factors had to be considered, and passenger safety was the highest priority.
Intamin’s first ever rapids ride, at Astroworld in Houston, Texas
That first rapids ride at Astroworld (which was closed by Six Flags in 2005) featured 12-passenger boats. Intamin went on to developed 6, 8 and 9-seater versions too, the latter being the most popular among park operators since they are the most efficientin terms of capacity and channel width. With over 80 rides now built and installed all over the world, the rapids has become one of the linchpins of Intamin’s water ride portfolio.
A Hafema rapids ride at Toverland in the Netherlands CHIMELONG
OCEAN KINGDOM
the awesome new park making waves in China
plusICE AGE ARCTIC ADVENTURE
Indonesia’s coolest new attraction next month in
Mack’s Twist ‘n’ Splash, seen here at Etnaland, Sicily, is one of the new generation of interactive water rides
MAY 2014 35
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