Turbo Slide

Ihu’s Breakaway Adventure

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Aquatica San Antonio

Since I was relatively quickly done with the main park SeaWorld San Antonio, I went to the neighboring water park Aquatica San Antonio in the afternoon to bridge the time until the One Ocean show. Luckily, the combined entrance ticket was a bit cheaper than the regular entrance ticket for SeaWorld alone and the park was one of the few water parks in Texas that was actually open at Easter.

As early as in the entrance area of the park, opened in 2012, one notices that the atmosphere here is completely different from that of the park next door. Everything is colourful, beautifully designed and much more immersive. Right in front of one, the whole skyline spreads out and one straight gets the desire to climb one or the other slide tower and slide down one of the numerous slides.

Stingray Falls

Passing a big pool where numerous stingrays swim around, we immediately get to the first highlight of the park: Stingray Falls. The family raft slide offers a rather long slide over numerous curves and several smaller jumps, but is otherwise quite mild. After the obligatory passage through a flush of water and a water curtain, one then finds oneself in a small cave that is partly covered with acrylic glass. Here you have about 30s time to watch the rays above you before you reach the end of the slide. Thanks to this feature, Stingray Falls is a unique attraction and therefore you should definitely slide it once, although in my opinion the tunnel should be much longer.

Ihu’s Breakaway Falls

Just behind Stingray Falls are the three turbo slides of Ihu’s Breakaway Falls. While the blue and orange tubes have a drop start, the green tube offers a classic entrance followed by a very steep descent before it turns into a curve dominated slide, as with the other tubes. As always with very high water slides, the tension increases with every vertical meter. Here in the Aquatica San Antonio even the use of swimming trunks that are too tight is prohibited, you would probably be too fast. At some point you reach the top and are spoilt for choice between the three lanes.

While both drop start lanes immediately change into a left turn and can show a longer straight after a short right bend, the green slide starts unbelievably fast into the action with a quite high drop. This is followed by a powerful downward helix, which changes into another high drop at the final. Meanwhile, the other two lanes also start their final spurt and after another pressure-packed left turn elegantly leads you into the exit.

The three lanes of Ihu’s Breakaway Falls are all really good slides, with the green lane definitely being the wildest of the three. If you like turbo slides, you’ll get your money’s worth here, because Texas highest water slide is really nothing for wimps and/or water park newbies and therefore a real test of courage!

Loggerhead Lane

After so much adrenaline it is worth taking a look at the Lazy River Loggerhead Lane. On the beautifully arranged Lazy River with its numerous water effects one can drift wonderfully before suddenly finding oneself in an aviary and watching numerous tropical birds. What a wonderful fun!

Kiwi Curl and Woohoo Falls

Close by is the entrance to the Kiwi Curl and Woohoo Falls slides, with the two tire slides of Woohoo Falls being replaced by the blackhole body slides Tonga Twister in 2020. Kiwi Curl are two classic bodyslides with multiple turns and drops, while Woohoo Falls has a very wide open tube slide and a black hole. Both slides are quite easy to ride.

Big Surf Shores, Tassie’s Twisters and Hooroo Run

Past the wave pool Big Surf Shores we go to the double tube slides Tassie’s Twisters and Hooroo Run. While Tassie’s Twisters are two classic bowl slides, at the ends of which you can do a few laps in a funnel before continuing on to the final pool, Hooroo Run is characterized by its descents and dark passages. Here the red track is only serpentine, while the purple track features additional helices.

Walkabout Waters and Taumata Racer

Once across the game structure Walkabout Waters, where we refresh ourselves a little with the water from the huge overturning bucket, we go to the mat slide Taumata Racer. This six-lane slide not only has a huge capacity, but also offers a good opportunity to race against family and friends. The Taumata Racer is by no means a classic mat slide, because before the big shot starts, you first increase your speed in a powerful helix. Splendid!

Walhalla Wave

Now let’s get to the last big slide in the park and my personal highlight: Walhalla Wave. As I was travelling alone and a group of three happened to need another person to slide, I was quickly able to take a seat in one of the boats that hold up to four people.  After a small slide in airy heights, a tight helix is added immediately before the big drop into the Tornado Wave is initiated. In this wave, one rushes rapidly upwards before drifting sideways and racing down. After two fast swings along the walls of the slide, you are slowed down slowly before you dive into a tunnel and are led leisurely to the end of the slide.

The Walhalla Wave is an absolutely magnificent slide, which for me also serves as a symbol for Aquatica San Antonio.

Pictures

Conclusion

I was quite happy to have bought the combi-ticket, otherwise I would probably have been rather disappointed when leaving San Antonio. So the water park Aquatica San Antonio was my highlight of the day and one of the best water parks I have visited so far. There are some really good slides available and also the design of the park is very sublime, so I highly recommend a visit. Combining it with the main park right next door is also a good idea, as this way one can experience a lot of things throughout the day.

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Aquatica San Antonio / Texas Round-Up Day 4

The Turbo Slides of Poole

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Splashdown Poole

Water Park:Splashdown Poole (since 1990)
Address:Tower Park
BH12 4NY Poole
splashdownwaterparks.co.uk/poole/
Operated by:Lemur Leisure Ltd.

Splashdown PooleClose to the English coastal town of Bournemouth, in the Leisure Centre Tower Park near Poole is the Splashdown Poole water park. As one of the first attractions of the leisure centre built in 1989, the water park opened its doors in 1990 with a total of seven slides. Eight years later the Outside Screamer Tower with its three PPK Promoplast slides, for which the park is known in the slide community, was opened. More slides were added in 2002 and 2012. So far, no slide has left Splashdown Poole Water Park; however, there have been changes, more about this later.

By entering the bath, one is immediately surprised by its 90s charm. As one is right at the cash desk, it can happen that one has to wait in front of the bath even a little longer. At least that’s what happened in our group, when the chip bracelets refused to be activated and the poor cashier even went to the station of the unoccupied cash desk. Here we waited about 10 minutes before the bracelets could be handed over to us. In the changing area – which unfortunately has to be entered with street shoes, whereby one stands inevitably in a rather dirty broth – another little problem awaited us; because the lockers are unfortunately not opened with the bracelet but by key and require a pound coin as deposit. Actually, this is not a problem, but who really has coin money with him in a country where almost everything can be paid cashless? Thus, back to the cash desk and change some money. Shortly afterwards the fun could start.

Black Thunder and Baron’s Revenge

Once you enter the pool, you are immediately at the stairs to the Black Thunder black hole slide and the Baron’s Revenge turbo slide, as well as the Mississippi Drifter tyre slide. The Black Hole slide is interesting because it is only in summer a stand-alone slide and is used without tyres; in winter it is the second part of the Mississippi Drifter. There was always a long queue here right from the start, which is why I did not test it. The situation was completely different on the Baron’s Revenge slide, which drops a good five metres to the ground in a steep turn on just nine sliding metres. This is extremely steep and despite the plump run-out it is highly brilliant.

Mississippi Drifter and Grand Canyon

One level higher you will find the access to the Crazy River Slide Mississippi Drifter, in which you move from basin to basin over several shots, before following the Grand Canyon to the outside, where you immediately fly off the tire. In the outdoor area of the Splashdown Poole water park you can now let yourself drift under the English sun, although this summer it rarely got warmer than 25°C before another slide follows. In a dark helix you quickly increase your speed. Towards the end of this section several water curtains are waiting for the slider and you get a bit out of balance, which makes it quite difficult to stay on the ring in the landing pool. A marvellous fun! A further drop later follows the transition to the inner area and immediately the end of this rather funny slide.

Red River Roller and Zambezi Drop

On the right-hand side of the pool, as seen from the entrance from the changing room area, are the stairways to the other slides in the indoor area. The back stairs are reserved for the three body slides Red River Roller, Zambezi Drop and Colorado Coaster. While the Colorado Coaster always had people queuing up, the other slides always had a very fast turn. While the Red River Roller is rather tame and can’t show any highlights, the Turbo Slide Zambezi Drop convinces after the first very leisurely turns by the constantly tighter turning steep curve towards the end of the slide, where you better shouldn’t underestimate the G-forces.

Colorado Coaster

Even the rather leisurely looking Colorado Coaster is a big deal. After the first few shallow metres of track, in which several left and right turns alternate, a nice drop awaits you, after which the following turn is completed with a lot of rocking. Shortly afterwards, a brilliant final awaits you with a thoroughly pronounced double drop, which releases you from the slide with a broad grin.

Dragon’s Lair

The front staircase in Splashdown Poole leads you to the Space Bowl Infinity, as well as to the largest slide in the pool, the Dragon’s Lair. Past the children’s area of the pool, the path leads you to another staircase, at the end of which is the entrance to Dragon’s Lair. This staircase used to be much larger and the access to the water slide was correspondingly higher. Over a longer straight line, one increases constantly in speed on the slide before a rather high shot pulls one down. This is followed by several curves and narrow curve changes that consistently slow you down before you reach the end of the slide. Unfortunately, the long slide ride, especially thanks to the quality of the joints on it, is not really convincing. For the height of the layout, the ride is simply too slow and hardly gets going at all; a comparison to the original layout of the slide would be interesting in this case.

Infinity

After I had tried my first funnel slide with plunging exit in the Joyful Waterpark of the Japanese amusement park Nagashima Spa Land, the tension regarding Infinity was much less, but the anticipation for the ride was much greater. The local funnel is completely enclosed and features different light and sound effects, which are played at the user’s choice. Nevertheless, the urge to repeat rides, away from the already long waiting times, was extremely limited, because you could feel every single joint in the funnel. Due to the plop run-out and the resulting drop manoeuvres, the slide is still a lot of fun and can be recommended; without it, however, it would have been just one slide.

Screamer Tower

Now let’s get to the outdoor area of Splashdown Poole, where we already got lost on the Mississippi Drifter and the Outdoor Screamer Tower with its three PPK Promoplast slides. These three slides were originally located at the Centre 2000 in Southampton before they were moved to Poole after the closure of the Leisure Centre. By taking advantage of the hillside location, however, the slide tower looks as if it had been intended from the outset. A steel staircase takes you up quickly with cold feet, where the entrances of the two tire slides Tennessee Twister and Louisiana Leap, as well as the two turbo slides The Screamer and Velocity are waiting.

Tennessee Twister and Louisiana Leap

The two parallel tyre slides Tennessee Twister and Louisiana Leap are the first of these. With a small jumpstart you quickly build up speed and then slide along the curves of a horizontal figure eight. On the second diagonally running track, another jump awaits the slide, whereupon the final right-hand bend follows in a sweeping manner. Over a final shot, you are then released into the run-out pool, where you more or less elegantly separate from your tire. In fact, both slides are unexpectedly leisurely and offer quite nice airtime moments, but nothing more.

The Screamer

The green turbo slide The Screamer, which also came from PPK Promoplast, is also unexpectedly leisurely on its way. Fans of the former Grüner Hai slide of the Miramar Weinheim might be disappointed to find only a rather solid turbo slide here, due to the missing bend in the slide’s course and the absurdly wild swinging section afterwards. There is absolutely no reason to complain, as the slide fits perfectly into the large turbo slide portfolio of the Splashdown Poole Water Park.

Velocity

The highlight of the tower, however, is the Velocity turbo slide built in 2012. Compared to its PPK sibling, this slide really does have a bend in its appearance, in fact, it has a double bend. The slide starts with a very steep shot, which shortly after turns into a more leisurely ascent. Mercilessly a short left bend follows, whereupon the landing pool is reached and first of all a gush of water is carried out of the slide. What an awesome slide! Velocity does what it promises and so you rush down this short slide in a speed rush.

Conclusion Splashdown Poole

Splashdown Poole is a solid water park, but its interior has clearly aged. The water slides stand out from the crowd for the most part and, except for the joints of individual slides, are absolutely convincing. We ourselves were lucky to have passed by at a favourable time, as the pool became more and more crowded towards the end of our visit. But as it is the case in every water park, the question is if one wants to wait so long for a slide, specially as the entrance fee is comparatively high; at least compared to the German pools. A visit is worthwhile in any case and can be perfectly combined with a visit to the picturesque city of Bournemouth.

 

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Splashdown Poole

A crowded Waterpark

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Joyful Waterpark

When you learn about Nagashima Spa Land, you inevitably come across the Joyful Waterpark or Jumbo Ocean Water Pool and its immense number of water slides. With the construction of the Boomerang Twist water slide in 2013 at the latest, the park is also internationally known and should therefore not be left out; but more on that later.

The water park is open from the end of June to mid-September. Entrance is via the theme park and accordingly requires a ticket for both parks; an offer with a free pass for the rides and both entrances is quite affordable. As the park is very popular in summer temperatures, a visit during the week is recommended; the capacities are available but are not always fully used even on busier days.

No wonder, that my visit to Joyful Waterpark had the longest waiting times of the entire tour. Even worse when, on your first visit to the theme park two days earlier, there were virtually no waiting times at all in the entire resort. But hey, you learn from your mistakes and with a bit of bad luck you immediately commit another, more fatal one; you should not underestimate the sun in Japan and so I trained mercilessly for being an Englishman.

But before I distract you too much with the existing boundary conditions of the visit, let’s rather go straight into the Joyful Waterpark. To the right is the huge changing hall, to the left the covered children’s area and the showers. The Japanese visitors now make themselves at home on the car park style terraces and we turn our attention to the first slides, or sliders as they are called here.

UFO Slider

The two UFO sliders are the first, although only one of the two Space Bowl slides was in operation. You quickly pick up speed via a short steep curve before shooting into the funnel and then doing lap after lap, under the enthusiastic gaze of the Japanese, before eventually plummeting into the water pool.  While most visitors only managed two laps, people were always amazed when someone spent three or more laps in the funnel. In fact, it’s not that difficult if you stick to the recommended sliding position. After more than five rounds, however, I too fell through the middle at some point and landed quite ungently in the pool. It was great fun, and as a bodyslide with a deliberately unintentional landing, it gives you much more adrealine than comparable tube slides with their continuing slide out of the funnel.

Water Tubes

Across a bridge over Lazy River located in the front of the park, where the future swimmers were just doing warm-up exercises with the lifeguards, we go to the three Water Tubes. This slide complex consists of two bodyslides, each with a downward helix, and a very, very, very steep turbo slide. Waiting times were quite long due to the alternating operation of the two types of slides, which had a negative effect especially on the only operated helix tube. The slide is quite fast and very wild due to the plummeting exit. But the highlight of this slide complex is the steeply sloping slide in the middle, where you lose contact with the slide surface without mercy and thus experience a large part of the slide time in the air. Of course, the splashdown at the end of the slide is all the more brutal, but the airtime here is clearly unparalleled and rewards the slider, even with somewhat longer waiting times.

Spiral Slider

Passing the large water play area Japaaaan, we are now drawn to the Spiral Sliders, five open bodyslides of older design – including two for children and three for adults. All of them feature a multitude of helices and jumps. And they are quite something! Here, you swing quickly up the channel, constantly get splashes of water in your face and take off in the jumps. The finish of the slides is flawless, which makes the slide experience even better. It is therefore a little strange that the Spiral Slider is described as a beginner’s ride to the Tornado Sliders. If the waiting time wasn’t also relatively long, you wouldn’t get me off here so quickly. In this sense, I had a great time.

Onsen

Right next door is a small pool that is supplied with water from the nearby onsen, so even the non-nude can experience an onsen. Those who are more into action, however, can let off steam in one of the two non-swimmer pools in this corner of the water park. There is also a larger paddling pool here.

Free Fall Slider

Past the large wave pool, which interestingly (like the two lazy rivers) is cleared from time to time – probably to prevent the bathers from exhausting themselves – we now head towards the three kamikaze slides called Free Fall Slider. Interestingly, only the two highest slides were in operation, which at first glance seemed logical, but I would have preferred to take the middle slide on the way there. I don’t really like kamikaze slides and this one also uses a rectangular slide profile, which is already not an advantage on other slides of this kind. But when it finally went over the edge and the adrealine rush set in, all worries were forgotten. The water descent was also quite gentle, so I have no choice but to say: this Kamikaze slide rocks and it rocks hard.

Surf Hill and Wild River

Opposite is a double ride consisting of the Surf Hill and Wild River slides. Surf Hill is a mat slide where, in a very classic way, you race against several other sliders over a number of hills. Directly behind it starts Wild River, two crazy river rides with a rather boring course that is, however, really convincing. Here, the course descends steadily over several wild drops and obstacles before the terrific finale is introduced parallel to the mat slide. This is an unexpected surprise, especially in comparison to the visually impressive ride in The Boon water park of Hirakata Park, which was just okay.

Big One

The second Lazy River starts its round right next door. While the front of the two current channels is open and has no other highlights, the rear one is largely located under the Big One family raft slide and thus offers a rather unusual perspective.

The double Family Raft slide Big One is the second largest ride in the Joyful Waterpark and unfortunately does not live up to its name. The curves are all rather shallow; you hardly rock up and there are also none of the extremely strange moments of proximity between the passengers. There is an extremely large drop in the middle, but that doesn’t make the slide any better. However, since there is capacity, the waiting time is still manageable.

Tornado Slider

Unlike the significant slide tower Tornado Slider, where half of all slides were closed and none of the bodyslides were operating. While it was still easy to get rings in the early morning, the tower’s entire queue was filled by the afternoon at the latest. This consists of a large number of open and closed slides, most of them with using tubes. It is hardly possible to reproduce a single slide in words, due to the structure itself, and so you slide down a multitude of helices and jumps.

However, since I only tested one slide here, I can’t give a detailed overall experience of the big slide tower. However, I have to say that the slide I tested, the Black Hole tube slide, was rather average. So, all in all, nothing bad, but of course I can’t say whether the other slides are better or worse. I would have liked to test them all, especially the extremely fast-looking turbo tubes.

Boomerang Twist

Let’s move on to the largest ride in the Joyful Waterpark, the aforementioned Boomerang Twist. Consisting of the elements Family Boomerango and Manta, this giant from WhiteWater West offers a quite extraordinary slide experience; which is partly due to the extremely compact construction of the ride.

The ride in the round boats begins at about the height of the block brake of the Steel Dragon roller coaster. You leave the station via a short dip and immediately tackle a combination of curves at a lofty height. After a 180° turn and a longer, steadily descending straight, you plunge down a rather steep incline. In the valley that follows, you cross a large surge of water, but it doesn’t seem to slow the boat down in any way. As if possessed by madness, you race up the Boomerango and reach a considerable height. Back in the valley, you dash along a gently ascent before you cross the crest and throw yourself towards the ground once more. Actually, it’ s only the boat that wants to do this, your body is still too sluggish for that and prefers to spend some time in the air. In the following Manta element, you swing back and forth a few times and are continuously kept happy by the water sloshing into it. After this, you dive into a short tunnel, make another turn and are then carried back to the ending position by the current.

The Boomerang Twist is the best water slide I have experienced so far. The ride is extremely fun and simply overwhelming due to the elements used. Especially the passage between the two main elements, which is able to maintain the adrealine rush absolutely skilfully, is absolutely top class and makes many other water slides look old. I would go so far as to say that this slide is the best attraction in Nagashima and every amusement park fan should and must have experienced it.

Pictures Joyful Waterpark

Conclusion Joyful Waterpark

But for that, you have to be prepared to spend your time on more than just a large roller coaster from the manufacturer Morgan and, if necessary, to be very willing to suffer a little longer waiting times and many closed water slides. Joyful Waterpark is a very cool water park that I would have loved to experience empty. The chance was there, I just didn’t take it – but as I said at the beginning of this report, you learn from your mistakes. So next time I will go straight to the water park, because a visit here is definitely worthwhile and should be planned when visiting the resort.

 

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Joyful Waterpark / Titanic Max Day 7 to 9