Every type of water slide
The ride families and the trade names manufacturers sell them under. Every page has a Ride Simulator you can play, plus the real slides of that type around the world.Some you ride on your tummy, some in a ring, some in a big raft. Tap one and press play!
Body slide
The simplest slide of all.The rider slides directly on the flume surface with nothing under them.
Speed slide
A really tall, really steep body slide.A steep, near-straight body slide, typically a 60-80° drop into a long flat run-out that stops the rider without a deep pool.
Kamikaze
An old-fashioned name for a fast, straight body slide with big dips.Generic name, from George Millay's 1979 Wet 'n Wild Orlando ride, for a fast body slide with one or more steep dips.
Trapdoor slide
You stand inside a glass box.The rider slides directly on the flume surface with nothing under them.
Looping slide (AquaLoop)
The only slide that goes upside down!A trapdoor launch into a ~17 m drop and then an inclined loop, tilted about 45° so gravity helps the rider through.
Tube slide
You sit in a big rubber ring and twist and turn down a curvy flume.One or two riders sit in an inflatable ring and follow an open or enclosed serpentine flume.
Constrictor
A tube slide wound up tight like a snake, with very sharp, steep turns that throw you high up the walls.A coiled tube slide with tight-radius, high-banked turns; sold open, enclosed or "sawtooth" (alternating).
Dark slide
A closed tunnel that is totally dark inside, so you never know which way the next turn goes!A fully closed flume, often black or opaque, so riders cannot see the route.
Mat racer
Up to eight friends race side by side, lying head-first on foam mats, bumping over little hills.Four to eight parallel lanes; riders lie head-first on foam mats and race over dips.
Racing tube slides
Two slides that look exactly the same, side by side.Two mirror-image flumes for side-by-side racing.
King Cobra
Two racing tubes shoot through a figure-eight, drop 8 metres and fly up a wall shaped like a cobra's head!A two-lane racing tube slide: a figure-eight, a 25 ft drop, then a half-pipe shaped like a striking cobra.
Family raft ride
The whole family squeezes into one giant raft and floats down a wide flume together.A wide open flume carrying four to six riders in a round raft.
Funnel slide (Tornado)
Your raft drops out of a tunnel into a giant funnel lying on its side, and swings back and forth like a pendulum before sliding out.A raft drops from a tunnel at about 45° into a giant funnel lying on its side and swings wall to wall before exiting the back.
Half-pipe (Boomerango)
You zoom down a drop, shoot UP a huge wall, stop for a second at the top… and slide back down backwards!The raft shoots down a drop, up a near-vertical wall, hangs for a moment, then slides back.
Bowl slide
You swirl into a giant bowl and spin round and round like water going down a plughole, then drop through the hole in the middle!The rider spirals into a round bowl, centrifugal force holds them high on the wall for several laps, then they drop through the centre hole.
Flying Saucer
A row of tilted dishes that fling your raft round super-fast corners, like a skier racing round flags.A run of tilted, dish-shaped elements that throw rafts through high-speed banked turns modelled on giant-slalom ski turns; founder Rick Hunter raced for Canada.
Water coaster (jets)
A slide that goes UP hills as well as down!A slide with uphill sections.
Water coaster (magnets)
A water coaster that uses invisible magnets under the flume to push the raft uphill.Linear induction motors in the flume create a travelling magnetic field that acts on conductive plates in the raft, inducing eddy currents that push it uphill with no water pressure.
Water coaster (conveyor)
A simpler water coaster: a moving rubber belt carries your raft up each hill, like the belt at a supermarket.Rubber conveyor belts lift rafts up each hill, like a log flume's lift.
SlideWheel
A giant wheel as tall as a house that slowly turns while you're inside it!A wide open flume carrying four to six riders in a round raft.
Game slide (Slideboarding)
A slide that is also a video game!The rider's board has coloured buttons; hit the matching colour as LED rings flash inside the tunnel and you score.
VR slide
You wear waterproof virtual-reality goggles and the boring tunnel turns into outer space or a dragon's cave!One or two riders sit in an inflatable ring and follow an open or enclosed serpentine flume.
Crazy river
A big fast river with rapids and pools where lots of people ride at the same time.A wide, fast flume with buffer pools where many tubers ride at once.
Lazy river
A slow, calm river that gently carries you around the park while you lie back and relax.A slow artificial river about a metre deep with a pumped current.
Wave pool
A huge pool where machines make real waves roll towards a sandy beach.The raft shoots down a drop, up a near-vertical wall, hangs for a moment, then slides back.
Surf simulator (FlowRider)
A thin sheet of super-fast water rushing up a soft hill.A 7-8 cm sheet of water pumped at speed up a padded, curved incline; riders use bodyboards or flowboards.
Splash pad
A flat playground with fountains, sprinklers and jets that squirt up from the ground.A wide open flume carrying four to six riders in a round raft.
Kids' slides & play towers
Little slides and climbing towers with a giant bucket on top that tips a huge SPLASH of water on everyone below.Scaled-down versions of the adult rides (ProSlide KIDZ, WhiteWater Mini Boomerango and Mini Blaster) and multi-level play towers with tipping buckets (WhiteWater AquaPlay and RainFortress).
Inflatable slide
A bouncy slide made of soft plastic and filled with air by a blower, like a bouncy castle.PVC or vinyl-coated nylon kept up by a blower.
Steel slide
Most slides are fibreglass, but some are made of shiny stainless steel, like a giant kitchen sink.Wiegand built its first water slide in 1982 from the stainless elements of its summer toboggan runs.