Talk:Water slide/Archive 1

Archive 1

Historical and technological origins of water slide

Slides, together with Seesaws, Swings and Sandboxes, make up the four S's of the playground. Their origin is obscure--while seesaws and swings date back to at least the 16th century, the slide is quite a new invention, perhaps even as late as the 1870s:

1. When and in what context do water slides first appear?
2. What is the first pictorial or textual evidence for the practice of sliding on a wet incline?
3. Did slides as we know them in playgrounds and amusement parks originate in snow slides or water slides, in hot or cold climates?

These questions are interesting from the point of view of the relation between technology and pleasure--the tendency to find amusement in mechanical instruments that put the subject into abrupt motion. I will appreciate any contribution towards solving the mystery of the water slide. -14:58, 20 June 2006 User:Umbo (Talk | contribs)

Loosely, I think it orginated in the US in somewhere paste the 1950s, nearby to rivers, such as Wisconsin Dells, where people would tube with tractor tire tubes. That's how Schlitterbahn, New Braunfels, Texas originated:

Schlitterbahn (History): the Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort in New Braunfels, Texas, originally opened in 1979 with four water slides, is built along the cool spring-fed waters of the Comal River. Bob and Billye Henry purchased 40 acres (16 hectares) on the Comal River called Landa Resort in the early 1970s. They slowly added the water recreation that is now known as Schlitterbahn West. In 1991, the Henrys bought another 25 acre (10 ha) piece of property known as Camp Warnecke and transformed it into Schlitterbahn East.

I'm guessing other parks evolved similar to this one. --Sadi Carnot 15:57, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

AquaLoop the first?

Maybe it was the first SAFE, well designed loop, but I always felt that the first looping water slide wasn't theirs to claim. Action Park in Vernon, NJ, had one - built in the mid 80s by GAR, the company that owned the park at the time, operated in 1985 for a month, and then again at random intervals until one last time in 1995, one year before the park's doors closed for the last time.

Action Park's Looping Water Slide

Travelsonic (talk) 02:13, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

That's interesting. Any source that I have read or included in the section state that there were no other attempts prior. I'm probably going change the start of that section a bit to mention it. Thanks for bringing this up. Themeparkgc  Talk  05:35, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Looking at the AquaLoop, maybe it is just me, but it looks like more of a steep bank angle instead of something that actually takes you upside down. Now if only they did something like a corkscrew - minus the G-force issue of Action Park's Cannonball Loop, with the thrill of going upside-down. Travelsonic (talk) 18:47, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

The AquaLoop features an inclined loop rather than a traditional vertical loop. Both are counted as inversions. Themeparkgc  Talk  23:26, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Ascending water slide

I have just heard about a slide around Dubai where people don't have to climb first. The slide starts at altitude zero, moves the person up with water in small intervals, reaches the top of the slide, then descending like a classic water slide. Can't find any reference. Anyone else heard of this? If yes please edit the article, thanks! Nicolas1981 (talk) 06:04, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

You would be referring to the water coasters possibly at Wild Wadi Water Park. A section about them is already in the article. Themeparkgc  Talk  22:08, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Needs much work

This is article needs far more research and expansion. For one thing, the current water slides began in the early 80's in a building craze that rivals coasters. The first ones were so popular that many paid for themselves in one single summer when it would take 20 minutes of standing in line just to go down once. Another bit of missing information is about mats - these early slides all featured foam, inch thick mats you rode the slid on. RoyBatty42 (talk) 15:32, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Commercial bias

This article is not written for a general audience. There is too much detail about the achievements of specific companies and what companies manufacture each type of water slide. The sources are primarily corporate literature and they are cited in a rather haphazard way with a lot of duplication. There is confusing terminology that seems to be industry-specific. The division of the article into "traditional" water slides and "21st century" water slides is quite artificial and seems intended to tout the latter category and to make "traditional" water slides seem obsolete.

The article needs significant editing or a total re-write so that it does not resemble advertising material. The focus needs to be on water slides today, not on the possibilities of future projects, and not on the biggest and best water slides.

Roches (talk) 00:26, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Regarding multi-lane racer slides

Is it worth mentioning that the infamous Action Park in Vernon, NJ had one that was not prefabricated by anyone, built in the early 1980s - before prefabbing this stuff became widespread - that still sees plenty of use today [well, after a 7-year period of being closed from 2005-2012]? I know I am mentioning this park a lot, but the place REALLY was a pioneer for a lot of the rides we see mass-produced today, in spite of all the safety issues present back then.

http://www.alternativecontrolct.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/surfhill.jpg

Travelsonic (talk) 15:07, 23 July 2013 (UTC)