wiegand.maelzer, a leading German waterslide and attraction provider, is celebrating the success of the first SlideWheel installation at Chimelong.
The ground breaking new waterslide was opened to the public on 1 April 2018.The SlideWheel is the world´s first rotating waterslide.The innovative design was inspired by the suggestion of an8-year-old Swiss boy.
wiegand.maelzer developed a number of concepts before coming up with the final design which is "a beautiful symmetric star like shape of a tube with the brilliant advantage of both start and exit being located in the same horizontal axis".
A full-scale prototype was built in the company's facility in Germany before delivery to the first customer: Chimelong Waterpark in Guangzhou China. After four months of installations and commissioning on site, the water ride opened on time and has proved to be a popular addition to the waterpark.
The SlideWheel experience is unique. Riders site in a circular four-person raft and experience zero gravity and a loss of orientation as the slide turns over five swinging sections. The wheel rotates twice each minute and the slide length is 140m with the back and forth motion creating a ride length of 260-300m.
The ride capacity is one raft every30 seconds (480p/h), with the ride lasting 90 seconds inside the SlideWheel followed by 20 seconds of a long Big River ride to the landing pool.
The SlideWheel is also fitted with 80 LED washers and 620 LED dots to provide a spectacular night time light show.
Three more SlideWheel installations are planned in 2019; two in China and one in Poland.
