The Biggest Splash in Amusements: Water Rides Team Spotlight
Team Spotlight
WhiteWater presents… the teams behind your most memorable water slides and attractions and those favourites yet to come. This month, we are shining the spotlight on our amusement park aficionados— the Water Rides Team.
What does the Water Rides Team do?
This tightknit Water Rides Team designs, engineers, and delivers exciting and thrilling water-based rides for the amusement market. Currently, there are seven different types of rides for sale. These attractions bring fun with water for guests in street clothes, but people do get splashed.
Bringing diverse industry backgrounds
Our Water Rides Team members bring valuable experience from a diverse mix of industries. Besides the attractions industry, the team has backgrounds in semiconductors, speed boats, aviation, hydrogen fuel cell engines, coaster manufacturing, and even submarines.
As diverse as they are, there is one thing they all agree on
There is nothing more fulfilling for the Water Rides Team than seeing the bright faces of guests laughing and enjoying a ride that was the result of the team’s hard work—from design to reality.
What’s next for the Water Rides Team?
Besides delivering new projects, the team is looking to support and upgrade even more existing water rides to extend their operating lives. For example, for the popular “Wild West Falls Adventure Ride” at Warner Bros. Movie World in Queensland, Australia, WhiteWater recently replaced its fleet of 14 vehicles and added new features, such as individual hydraulic lap bars to improve guest comfort and removable floorboards for easy maintenance access.
What are some of the most memorable projects for the team?
Spinning Rapids Ride at Haichang Ocean Park, Shanghai, China
Of the four Spinning Rapids Rides installed in China, the one at Haichang Ocean Park in Shanghai is the most massive in the world and the first with actual rapid rivers. It is a Brass Ring Award-winning ride that has both rough and calm river segments as well as four sections with slides.
Super Flume at Everland, Yongin, South Korea
Named “Thunder Falls,” this Super Flume ride inside Korea’s largest theme park has steep drops, a long trough, two turntables, and a backward drop. Our team members couldn’t get over the size and complexity of the ride and how everything fit together and worked in harmony to create an incredible ride experience.
Water Transportation System at Morgan’s Inspiration Island in San Antonio, Texas, USA
This Water Transportation System looks simple, yet it makes a world of difference for guests of varying mobile abilities. The Brass Ring Award-winning attraction has a special loading/off-loading layout that makes the ride not only wheelchair accessible but inclusive of everyone in the family because they can queue in the same line and ride in the same boat.
Spinning Rapids Ride at Desert Falls Water and Adventure Park, Abu Samra, Qatar
Opened in 2021, this Spinning Rapids Ride—the only one in the Middle East—is a culturally inclusive attraction inside a water park as it offers water slide fun without getting soaked. This means the entire family can enjoy the experience, no matter the dress. It is also the highest Spinning Rapids Ride in the world, starting at 32 meters.
Getting to know the Water Rides Team members:
