AquaLoop

AquaLoop
Four AquaLoops at Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast in Australia.
General statistics
Type	Water slide
Designer	WhiteWater West, AQUARENA
Height	17 m (56 ft)
Drop	16 m (52 ft)
Length	88.4 m (290 ft)
Speed	60 km/h (37 mph)
Duration	7 seconds
Installations	20+
Restrictions	Riders must be at least 120 cm (3 ft 11 in) in height and weigh between 45 kg (99 lb) and 130 kg (290 lb) to ride.[1]

An AquaLoop is a type of body water slide where single riders are dropped down a near vertical slide and into an inclined loop. They are usually located in water parks.

History

Austrian manufacturer Aquarena developed the world's first mass-produced fully inverted looping water slide, known as the AquaLoop.^[2] The slide is currently licensed and distributed by Canadian water slide manufacturer WhiteWater West.^[3] There are nearly 20 AquaLoop installations around the world.^[4] The first installation was at Terme 3000 water park, Slovenia in 2008.^[5] Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast was the first to install more than one AquaLoop at a single location.^[6][7][8] The AquaLoop uses a trap-door to release riders down a 17-metre (56 ft) near-vertical decent at a speed of up to 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph). Riders experience 2.5 Gs in less than 2 seconds.^[9] The whole ride is over within 7 seconds.^[10]

Ride

An AquaLoop is launched from a 17-metre (56 ft) platform. A single rider is loaded into a launch chamber where they stand with their hands across their chest. After a countdown, a trapdoor opens and the rider immediately drops 16 metres (52 ft) inside a near vertical slide. The rider accelerates to 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph) in just 2 seconds before entering the loop element. This element is a variation of the traditional vertical loop because it lies on an angle of approximately 45°. This variation of a loop is called an inclined loop. The 88.4-metre (290 ft) slide is over within 7 seconds.^[10][11]

Installations

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

AquaLoop at Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast

Name	Water park	Location	Number of slides	Opened
360Rush	Wet'n'Wild Sydney	Prospect, New South Wales, Australia	4 slides	12 December 2013	[12]
Climax	Waterbom Park	Bali, Indonesia	1 slide	2010
AquaLoop	Paradise Island Water Park	Chengdu, China	1 slide	28 June 2013
AquaLoop	Beijing Watercube Water Park	Beijing, China	1 slide	8 August 2010	[13][14]
Mambo	Blue Bayou and Dixie Landin'	Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA	4 slides	2012	[15]
Aqualoop	Calypso Park	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada	2 slides	24 June 2011	[16]
AquaLoop	Caribbean Bay	Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea	4 slides	17 June 2011	[17]
AquaLoop	El Rollo	Tlaquiltenango, Morelos, Mexico	1 slide	2014	[18]
El abismo	Parque Acuático Ixtapan	Ixtapan de la Sal, State of Mexico, Mexico	1 slide	2010	[19]
La Chute	Jay Peak Resort	Jay, Vermont, USA	1 slide	25 November 2011	[4]
Aqualoop	Jolly Roger Amusement Park	Ocean City, Maryland, USA	1 slide	2012
Aqualoop	Terme 3000	Moravske Toplice, Slovenia	1 slide	May 2008	[20]
AquaLoop	Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast	Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia	4 slides	18 September 2010	[21]
AquaLoop	Camping Le Pommier	Villeneuve-de-Berg, Ardeche, France	1 slide	June 2013	[22]
AquaLooping	Aqua Magis	Plettenberg, Germany	1 slide	19 September 2008	[23]
Climax	Waterbom Park	Kuta, Bali, Indonesia	1 slide	2011
Cyclone	World Waterpark	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada	1 slide	12 August 2011
Goop Loop	Cartoon Network Amazone Waterpark	Pattaya, Thailand	1 slide	3 October 2014	[24]
L2	Wave	Wörgl, Austria	1 slide with double loop	March 2010	[25][26]
Liwa Loop	Yas Waterworld	Abu Dhabi	1 slide	Unknown
Looping-Rutsche	Aqualand	Köln, Germany	1 slide	11 April 2009	[27]
Lunar Loop	Wilderness Territory	Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA	1 slide	June 2012
Scorpion's Tail	Noah's Ark Water Park	Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA	1 slide	29 May 2010	[4]
Booster Loop	Aquaparc	Le Bouveret, Valais, Switzerland	1 slide	8 May 2010	[28]
Unknown	Therme Amadé	Altenmarkt, Austria	1 slide	August 2011	[29]
Pegasus II	Kristall Palm Beach	Stein, Germany	1 slide with double loop	12 December 2012	[30]
Hurricane Loop	Miramar	Weinheim, Germany	1 slide with double loop	July 2012	[31]
Skyron Rocket	Odissea 2000	Rossano, Italy	1 slide	June 2014	[32]

Similar water slides

The first known existence of a looping water slide was at Action Park in Vernon, New Jersey in the mid-1980s. Their water slide featured a vertical loop but was repeatedly closed due to safety concerns.^[33][34][35]

More recently, ProSlide developed the SuperLOOP which features a fast, downward spiralling helix after a trapdoor release.^[36] The first installation was The Wedgie at WhiteWater World.^[37] It was marketed as a looping water slide despite riders never actually experiencing an inversion.^[38]

References

1. "AquaLoop - Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast". MyFun. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
2. "AquaLOOP". Aquarena. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
3. "AquaLoop". WhiteWater West. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
4. MacDonald, Brady (22 November 2009). "Water parks vie to open first U.S. looping water slide". LA Times. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
5. "Aqualoop". Aquarena. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
6. "WhiteWater launches Dueling AquaLoops". WhiteWater West. 29 June 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
7. "Fun the theme for school holidays". Gold Coast Bulletin. 16 September 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
8. Ardern, Lucy; Westthorp, Tanya (30 December 2009). "Gold Coast theme parks in ride war". Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
9. "New attractions for Coast theme parks". Gold Coast Bulletin. 14 July 2010. Archived from the original on 5 November 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
10. Stojceska, Milena (17 September 2010). "Wet'n'Wild's new AquaLoop set to thrill". Gold Coast Bulletin. Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
11. WhiteWater West (12 January 2010). "AquaLoop". YouTube. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
12. "360Rush (Wet'n'Wild Sydney)". Parkz. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
13. Farrar, Lara. "Beijing's Water Cube now has slides, rides, a wave pool and spa". CNNGO. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
14. "Attractions - AquaLoop". Beijing Watercube Waterpark. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
15. "Weltweit erste Aqualoop Loopingrutsche".
16. Levine, Arthur. "Calypso Waterpark". About.com. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
17. "아쿠아 루프 오픈기념 1,000명에게 쏜다!". Samsung Everland. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
18. "El Rollo Aqualoop".
19. "El abismo".
20. "Weltweit erste Aqualoop Loopingrutsche" (PDF). Retrieved 29 February 2012.
21. "AquaLoop (Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast)". Parkz. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
22. "Aqua Park - Aqua Breeze". Retrieved 26 August 2013.
23. "AquaMagis Plettenberg - Looping-Wasser-Rutsche". AquaMagis. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
24. "Goop In This Gravity-defying Water Rollercoaster Thailand". Retrieved March 2016.
25. "L2 - die Doppel-Looping Rutsche". Retrieved 29 February 2012.
26. ""L2" - The World's First Double-Loop Water Slide" (PDF). Retrieved 29 February 2012.
27. "Aqualand in Köln mit Loopingrutsche". Retrieved 29 February 2012.
28. "L'Aquaparc du Bouveret inaugure le Booster Loop le 8 mai 2010". Retrieved 1 October 2012.
29. "THERME AMADÉ - Water Slides". Retrieved 29 February 2012.
30. "Kristall Palm Beach in Stein - Doppel-Looping Rutsche". Retrieved 28 December 2012.
31. "Rutschvergnügen - Miramar".
32. "Acqua Park Odissea 2000 - Skyron Rocket".
33. Austin, op. cit., 21.
34. Fergus, Tom; May 2006; "Another Action Park Employee Spills His Guts", in "The Reaction to Traction at Action Park"; Weird NJ, 29.
35. Braybrook, Steve; May 2006; "A Survivor from Action Park Writes In", in "The Reaction to Traction at Action Park"; Weird NJ, 29.
36. "SuperLOOP". ProSlide. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
37. "SuperLOOP - Installations". ProSlide. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
38. WhiteWater World (7 April 2010). "THE WEDGIE WATER SLIDE". Commercial. YouTube. Retrieved 30 December 2010.

External links

• Official website