WhiteWater's New Slideboarding to Debut at Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas in 2015

© WhiteWater

A new water park ride concept will make its world debut at Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas in 2015,  manufacturer WhiteWater has announced.

Slideboarding "is a waterslide that integrates gaming, skill, edge, and competitive sports into an experience that will define waterparks of the future.  It’s a waterslide that uses a state-of-the art ride vehicle with an S3 embedded game controller that when combined creates what we call a Slideboard. It uses a smart gaming system that knows who you are and tracks your progress/scores over your run down the waterslide as well as multiple runs thereafter. This system also posts the scores on the Scoreboards and on the home app and Slideboarding Website."

© WhiteWater

"Manning your slideboard, you get into riding position at the entry tub with the goal of mastering the targets with your quick gaming fingers gripping the cool looking game controller vehicle. You launch into an atmospheric light show with sensor-activated targets challenging you at every turn. Tap the right buttons on the controller with skill and agility as you go down the waterslide hitting the targets in an effort to score the highest points possible."

The slide will actually be able to adapt to riders as they move down the course, changing targets to be more difficult if it senses that an advanced slider is playing.  Slideboarding can be added to an existing 54" diameter tube/open water slide and can utilize one or two person slideboards.  It seems as though an existing slide at Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas will be transformed into a new Slideboarding attraction.

WhiteWater will show off their new attraction at the upcoming European and Orlando based IAAPA shows, and have plenty of additional information available on their website.

The Tornado Blows Into Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas

Already expanding after their first year of operations, Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas has announced a new Proslide Tornado slide for the 2014 season.  The ride will be named the Tornado, and will join the park's existing 25 slides and attractions.

Riders on the Tornado will be seated in four person rafts.  The ride starts as the Tornado "catapults riders from 36 feet in the air through a 110-foot tunnel before dropping them into the 45-foot-wide funnel where they spin back and forth through swirling water before plummeting into the eye of the storm."

The rafts will slide up the side of the Tornado's wall and give riders a treat in the form of zero gravity sensations.  The raft will continue through a series of oscillations on each side of the funnel, until they eventually descend through the exit shoot and into a splash pool.

The Tornado at another Wet 'n' Wild Park

“The Tornado is an exciting addition to Wet ‘n’ Wild Las Vegas for our guests who will have a new shared extreme slide experience, and for our park in adding a ‘must-have’ slide that’s become a favorite among water park attendees,” said Tim Fisher, CEO of Village Roadshow Theme Parks, one of the world’s leading water and theme park operators that is Wet ‘n’ Wild Las Vegas’ majority owner and oversees day-to-day operations.  “And we’re pleased to continue our great partnership with ProSlide Technology.  The company’s creativity in developing slides continues to innovate the water park industry.”

Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas will also feature additional improvements in 2014 such as more operating hours and days, additional parking and in-park shade, along with heated water in select attractions.  The Tornado will be ready for Memorial Day weekend.

It's a Splash: Wet 'n' Wild Opens in Las Vegas

The return of Wet 'n' Wild to Las Vegas came with much excitement when the park opened for the first time this past weekend.  So much excitement that the park actually had to turn guests away due to capacity issues!

The park opened on the 25th though the 27th for Gold Season Pass members only, on a first come first served basis.  The park was such a draw that they had to closed the gates until guests departed, making room for new ones to enter.

© Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas

The $50 million water park features a selection of rides and attractions - mild to wild.  The Rattler and Constrictor slides are newer designs from WhiteWater and have guests lined up at the park to try them out.  There's plenty more attractions to round out the offerings, like the mat racing Desert Racers, with a bright rainbow color scheme, the plunge of the steep Canyon Cliffs, or the Royal Flush Extreme (bowl slide) and Hoover Half Pipe which features a giant half pipe that rafts slide up.

There's also a large lazy river - the Colorado Cooler - and a wave pool named Red Rock Bay.  A large splash tower play area rounds out the offerings, aptly named Splash Island as it is located in the center of the lazy river.

The park will be open May 28th through June 2nd for all pass holders, and the general public starting June 3rd.  You can check out some additional aerial photos of the park from Vegas Helicam LLC at this link.

Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas Progress Check

I haven't been paying close attention to the construction of either of Las Vegas' new water parks, but Wet 'n' Wild has made quite a lot of progress lately.

© Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas

This aerial of the all-new water park shows off what has been done so far.  You can see the wave pool has been poured, and the lazy river is well under way.  Lots of footers for the slide towers are in place, and some of the admission and other facility buildings are standing.  They're making pretty quick work of things!

© Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas

And speaking of the slides that will populate the landscape of the water park, they've started to arrive in droves.  This colorful selection of slide pieces are patiently waiting to be hoisted into place.  Four different slide towers will each have multiple rides stemming from them, with slides that range from mild to wild.

© Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas

Fast forward to even more recent photos, and some of the slide towers are now standing.  The one above will be the starting point for Desert Racers - a multi-lane mat style racing slide - and Canyon Cliffs, which is a pair of steep dropping thrill slides.

The $50 million development has a planned Memorial Day grand opening, so we're sure to see plenty more of the park going up - and quick.  More info is available on the official Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas website.

Creating Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas

© Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas

Before the grounds of a new water park can be covered with colorful water slides, glistening pools, and a relaxing lazy river there's a lot of dirt that has to be moved.  Such is the case with Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas, which is making plenty of progress while digging in the dry Vegas dirt.  Seen above is a photo from a couple weeks ago that shows off just how far along the park is right now, and you can clearly make out some of the property's largest attractions.

© Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas

Fast forward to now, and the park has just completed the massive concrete pour needed to fill in the bottom of their wave pool.  With all the slide parts currently being fabricated and shipped to the park, the focus now is prepping the ground and getting the basics done before things go vertical.

The park has steadily been naming some of their new attractions, such as the Hoover Half Pipe, and the set of Zip, Zap, Zoom water slides.  The wave pool, which as at many parks will be one of the star attractions, is currently the subject of a naming contest.  The person who submits the winning entry will get a pack of prizes from the park, and some pretty cool bragging rights!

Wet 'n' Wild Coming Back to Las Vegas

The return of Wet'n'Wild to Las Vegas!  Many folks are quite pleased about the news, and even better the plan for the park is already well underway - to the point where the park is actually already being built.

Located in Summerlin, the water park will actually be a renamed and re-branded Splash Canyon water park, which was announced some time ago.  That park was slated to open this past Summer, but delays had it pegged for a 2013 opening.  Now re-branded as Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas, the park will be run by Village Roadshow, a large media brand out of Australia who owns and operates several theme and water parks.

The new park will cost $50 million to construct, and feature 25 different slides when it opens next Memorial Day.  Several of the slides are quite modern, including a Rattler and Constrictor, both from WhiteWater West.

Other attractions include a massive wave pool, lazy river, water play structure, and other towers including racing and high thrill plunge slides.  For a full preview, check out this flyover video that the park has released.

Village Roadshow also has water parks in Arizona and Hawaii.