With one month to go before the ride is due to open to the public, work continues on Colossal Curl, the newest attraction at Water Country USA.
Part of the 552.5-foot slide is already visible from Route 199, where some of its blue- and yellow-striped tunnel can be seen above the treeline splitting the park from the road. The ride is situated at the front of the waterpark, with its twisting tunnels, 40-foot wave and 1,400 square foot funnel pressed up against the parking lot for guests to see as they wait to enter the park.
Water Country Vice President Jeff Thomas said Tuesday that until Colossal Curl, the park was missing a “true family thrill ride.” The new ride features a long stairwell that brings guests high above the park, rendering much of the park as well as the nearby Marquis at Williamsburg visible. From there, they board a four-person raft shaped like a cloverleaf and proceed into the ride.
The ride features a 24-foot funnel that will swish the riders from left to right as they head through it. The raft will then proceed out of the funnel and into the sunlight for a moment before entering another enclosed tube and plummeting down a drop to the 40-foot-tall, nearly vertical wall called the wave. The raft will go to near the top of the wave, where riders will experience a weightless sensation. The raft is then deposited in a shallow pool where riders deboard.
Thomas said the combination of the funnel and wave elements is a first for the park — and for North America.
“Colossal Curl is Water Country USA’s first family thrill water ride,” Thomas said in a news release. “With its funnel and wave elements, I am confident Colossal Curl will be a pinnacle attraction for guests visiting the Williamsburg area.”
Park President Carl Lum said the new ride, the first since Vanish Point in 2011, is one of the most expensive in the park’s history.
The new ride is billed as a family thrill attraction, setting some records and firsts for the park. The ride is the first with a scale at the top of the attraction where guests will stand and a colored light will shine: green means the group falls beneath the maximum weight — 700 pounds — while red means the group will need to be split into two of the cloverleaf-shaped rafts.
Another first is a new style of boarding area — Thomas’ idea, according to Director of Design and Engineering Suzy Cheely — that will allow up to three rafts to be queued in the starting area at once, something park officials hope will reduce the waiting time for the ride. A raft is expected to be launched every 15 to 20 seconds. Thomas said he expects there to be about 600 guests per hour moving through the ride once it opens.
“We’re expecting a lot of people to ride it,” he said. The ride is expected to last for about 55 seconds. A minimum of two people are required per raft, though park officials would like to see four riders on each one.
Water Country opens May 17, though Colossal Curl won’t be ready until May 23.
Related Coverage:
