25 Waterslides Around the World: Record Drops, Loops and Water Coasters

Waterslide design has come a long way from a curved chute into a pool. Today's rides start with trap-door capsules, loop riders almost upside down, shoot them through shark-filled aquariums and use magnetic motors to push rafts uphill. These 25 waterslides and water parks, from the Bahamas to South Korea, show the range: record-breaking drops, slides launched from a jumbo jet, a ski-jump in Florida and one famous ride that is now gone for good.

Record drops and free-fall slides

1. Leap of Faith, Atlantis Aquaventure, Bahamas

At Atlantis on Paradise Island, Leap of Faith begins with an almost vertical drop from the top of the resort's Mayan Temple and ends in a clear acrylic tunnel through a lagoon full of marine life. The temple also hosts the Serpent Slide, a five-storey corkscrew through its core, and the twin racing Challenger slides. Riders must be at least 48 inches (122 cm) tall.

2. Master Blaster water coasters, Dubai

Master Blaster rides, built by the Canadian manufacturer WhiteWater West, use powerful water jets to push rafts uphill as well as down, turning a slide into a water roller coaster.

3. Wings and Waves, McMinnville, Oregon

The most unusual starting platform on the list: a retired Boeing 747-100 mounted on the roof of the Wings and Waves indoor waterpark, 62 feet (19 metres) above the splash pool. Four big slides start inside the aircraft. The park opened on 6 June 2011 beside the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, home of Howard Hughes's giant Spruce Goose flying boat.

4. Siam Park, Tenerife

Opened on 15 September 2008 in Costa Adeje, Siam Park is themed throughout as a Thai kingdom and was opened by Thailand's Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Its signature ride, the Tower of Power, is a 28-metre transparent free-fall slide that reaches 80 km/h and finishes in a tunnel through an aquarium of rays and fish. The Wave Palace produces waves up to 3.3 metres high, and Tripadvisor users voted Siam Park the world's best waterpark every year from 2014 to 2022.

5. Verrückt, Schlitterbahn Kansas City (closed)

Verrückt ("insane" in German) opened on 10 July 2014 as the world's tallest water slide, with a starting point 51.38 metres (168 ft 7 in) up, taller than Niagara Falls, and rafts reaching 105 km/h. In August 2016 a 10-year-old boy, Caleb Schwab, was killed on the ride. Verrückt never reopened; demolition began in November 2018, and the whole park closed and was later demolished.

6. Summit Plummet, Disney's Blizzard Beach, Florida

Blizzard Beach opened in 1995 with a playful back story: a freak snowstorm created Florida's first ski resort, which promptly melted into a water park. Summit Plummet drops from a 120-foot (36.6 m) "ski jump" tower at speeds up to 60 mph (97 km/h), and a chairlift with skis under the seats carries guests up Mount Gushmore.

Indoor parks and looping slides

7. World Waterpark, West Edmonton Mall, Alberta

Opened in 1986 inside West Edmonton Mall, World Waterpark covers about 20,000 square metres under a roof that keeps the air at around 31 °C even in an Alberta winter. Its Blue Thunder wave pool holds 12.5 million litres. Read more in our West Edmonton Mall guide or on the mall's website.

8. Bulletbowl, Water Cube, Beijing

After the 2008 Olympics, Beijing's Water Cube aquatics centre was partly turned into a water park of about 12,000 square metres, which opened on 8 August 2010, the second anniversary of the Games. The building was later converted again, into the "Ice Cube" curling venue of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The Bulletbowl sends riders down a steep tube into a large bowl, a very different path from a straight drop.

9. Insano, Beach Park, Brazil

Built in 1997 at Beach Park on Porto das Dunas beach in Aquiraz, about 15 minutes from Fortaleza, Insano stands 135 feet (41 m) tall and held the Guinness title of world's tallest water slide for years, until Kilimanjaro at Aldeia das Águas near Rio de Janeiro overtook it.

10. Scorpion's Tail, Noah's Ark, Wisconsin

Noah's Ark in Lake Delton, near Wisconsin Dells, bills itself as America's largest waterpark. Scorpion's Tail, opened in 2010, is a WhiteWater West AquaLoop: riders stand in a capsule, the floor drops away, and they plunge into an almost inverted loop. It was the first upside-down looping body slide in America.

11. Area 47, Tyrol, Austria

Area 47 opened on 21 May 2010 at the entrance to the Ötztal valley, beside the Inn at Haiming in the Austrian Tyrol, and takes its name from the 47th parallel. Its Water Area covers about 20,000 square metres of slides, a water ramp and a blob catapult, alongside a wakeboard lake, cliff diving, rafting, canyoning and climbing.

12. Head-first racer, China

A multi-lane mat racer in which riders lie head-first on mats and race side by side down parallel lanes.

13. Cyclone, World Waterpark, Canada

Back at West Edmonton Mall, the purple-and-pink Cyclone opened in 2011. Built by WhiteWater West, it starts 25.3 metres (83 ft) up, like its neighbours Twister and Sky Screamer Extreme, among the tallest slides in the park.

Raft rides, funnels and water coasters

14. Big Thunder, Rapids Water Park, Florida

A family raft ride at Rapids Water Park in Florida in which groups ride a shared raft into a giant funnel.

15. Jumeirah Sceirah, Wild Wadi, Dubai

Wild Wadi opened in 1998 next to the Burj Al Arab. Jumeirah Sceirah, a free-fall slide with a trap-door start, rises 33 metres (108 ft) and reaches 80 km/h (50 mph), making it the tallest and fastest of its kind outside the Americas.

16. Giant Slide, China

A raft slide with an open, rising section in which riders swoop up a steep wall before sliding back down.

17. Ho Tay Water Park, Hanoi, Vietnam

Named after Hồ Tây, Hanoi's West Lake, this park offers slides and pools as relief from the city's hot, humid summers.

18. Twister and Speedy, Sonnentherme Lutzmannsburg, Austria

This Austrian thermal spa pairs a long, enclosed twisting slide with a short, fast speed slide.

19. Epic Plunge, Norwegian Epic

A waterslide at sea: the Epic Plunge on the cruise ship Norwegian Epic, built at Saint-Nazaire in France and in service since 2010, sends riders down a tube into a large bowl before dropping them out. It was billed as the only tube-and-bowl slide at sea.

20. Città del Mare, Sicily, Italy

A seaside resort near Palermo where a run of slides descends towards the coast.

21. King Cobra, New Jersey

A snake-themed slide whose coloured, coiled shape mimics a giant cobra.

22. Summit Tower, Calypso Park, Canada

A single tower from which several slides start at different heights, giving riders a choice of intensity.

23. Tantrum Alley, Wild Wadi, Dubai

A newer Wild Wadi ride that sends a raft through three tornado-shaped funnels in a row, the first slide of its kind in the region.

24. Wildebeest, Holiday World, Indiana

At Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, Wildebeest opened in 2010 as the world's longest water coaster at 1,710 feet (520 m). Built by ProSlide, it was among the first water coasters to use linear induction motors to pull rafts uphill. Its sister ride, Mammoth, took the record in 2012 at 1,763 feet.

25. AquaLoop, South Korea

The final entry is another WhiteWater West AquaLoop, a trap-door capsule launch into a near-vertical loop, at the Caribbean Bay water park of the Everland resort.

Tips for a day at a water park

• Check height and age rules: many big drops have a minimum height of around 48 inches (122 cm); Siam Park's Tower of Power asks for 1.49 metres.
• Arrive at opening: queues for the headline slides grow fast by late morning.
• Mix thrill and calm: plan a lazy river or wave pool between big rides so the whole group enjoys the day.
• Follow the rider position rules: lying flat with crossed ankles and arms is what keeps a fast body slide safe.

For other rides, watch the Royal Flush waterslide-video retrospective or read our Fury 325 guide.

Related reading

• Royal Flush in Waco: A Waterslide Film Built Around the Launch
• 10 Remarkable Hotel Pools: Design, Setting and the Details That Matter
• Santorini: Choosing a Base and Understanding the Island
• Top 10 Natural Pools
• San Alfonso del Mar, Chile: The Lagoon Beside the Pacific
• David Pagan Butler’s Natural Swimming Ponds: Garden and Water Together
• West Edmonton Mall guide
• Fury 325 guide

Sources