While we are approaching the end of the busy summer 2024 season, it’s a great time to look back at some of the new creations that provided some of the best wild and wet fun worldwide and count down the best water park attractions of this year.
First, I will give an honorable mention to a unique class of waterslides that are always on the move. I’m talking about some impressive new waterslides added to cruise ships launching this year. This notable list includes the launch of the Utopia of the Seas in July, which features three impressive slides: Cyclone, Supercell and Typhoon. The Carnival Jubilee also launched this season, featuring a small collection of three waterslides and a small water play area for the kids.
See also: The top 18 water parks in the world
Lastly, and coming very soon in December, the Disney Treasure will offer the latest version of the AquaMouse water coaster slide with an all-new storyline called Curse of the Golden Egg.
However, outshining them all are the new slides built into the Category 6 waterpark on Royal Caribbean’s new Icon of the Seas, which had a delayed launch in January 2024. Royal Caribbean says this is the largest waterpark at sea.
Icon of the Seas is home to six major waterslide attractions: Storm Surge (which features a half-pipe style element that hangs over the edge of the ship), Hurricane Hunter (family raft slide), Pressure Drop (vertical drop body slide), two Storm Chasers mat-racing slides, and the Frightening Bolt, the tallest drop slide at sea. There is also a FlowRider surf simulator.
Now, onto the land-bound attractions.
The best new water park attractions 2024
1 Meryal Waterpark – Qatar
This amazing new water park concept in Qatar finally opened in 2024 after being under construction for the past several years. It is unlike anything you have ever seen before, stacking a large number of the park’s high profile slides from WhiteWater together into one massive structure out at the end of a man-made peninsula.
The iconic tower is called Rig 1938 and it stands an incredible 85 meters tall (278.87 feet). It is home to the current record holder for the tallest waterslide in the world, as well as the record of having the most slides (12) attached to a single tower.
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There are six different levels to explore on the Rig 1938 tower, each home to the launch point of two of the tower’s impressive 12-slide lineup. Several conveyor devices bring the rafts to the correct levels, and to help prevent guests from getting too tired to climb stairs to reach all 12 slides, three elevators have been smartly installed
If that wasn’t enough, the park has a complete ground-level water park built on the shoreline with a wide assortment of body slides, tube slides and rivers to float in.
This includes a rare Slide Wheel installation as well as a pair of amusement park-style rides: a spinning roller coaster and flume ride from Intamin that weave in and around this section of the park’s attractions. Sarner International was brought in to create a flagship immersive edutainment ride for the park that tells the story of Doha’s transformation, working with Interlink.
2 The Rise of Icarus at Mt. Olympus – Wisconsin, USA
Mt Olympus wanted to add the tallest waterslide in America to its water park for the 2024 season. Taking aim at the Daredevil’s Peak waterslide at Royal Caribbean’s private Perfect Day at CocoCay, the park decided it needed to go one size bigger and created The Rise of Icarus tower, in collaboration with WhiteWater and architecture firm Ramaker.
Standing 145 feet in the air, the massive tower features five body slides to choose from, but only those willing to climb to the top will experience “The Fall” to the bottom. Also new to the surrounding area is a new kid-sized slide area featuring eight mini slides and a new lounge space for everyone looking on.
3 Emerald Forest at Silverwood / Boulder Beach – Idaho, USA
The Boulder Beach water park attached to this theme park in Idaho creates a massive 4-acre expansion area called Emerald Forest this season, featuring a fun national park theme. The new expansion features new cabana areas for guests to relax in, new food and beverage options, the Salmon Run kids slide area (featuring eight slides), and standing over it all is Eagle Hunt.
Eagle Hunt is a pair of racing/dueling water coaster slides, each 925 feet in length, from ProSlide. It features three Saucer Turns and four Uphill Blasts along the way, making it the longest dueling waterslide in the United States.
4 Stingray at O’Gliss Waterpark – France
This massive new creation from Polin is supposed to be the largest waterslide in Europe. It features four different slides, all built into a massive structure resembling a giant Stingray. There is also a section with an enclosed themed queue leading up to the giant structure.
Unlike most other waterslides, virtually every inch of the Stingray structure is covered in a very intense design pattern to the point that it appears almost as if it is textured.
5 Tassie’s Underwater Twist at Aquatica Orlando – Florida, USA
While this isn’t entirely a brand new slide, the changes made to the park’s former CannonBowl style slides have changed the game here for the better.
When the park first opened, the pair of open-topped bowl slides were known as Tassie’s Twisters, but over the past year, tops were added to the bowls and an entire projection system was installed inside that digitally paints the dome and wall around the riders inside with realistic imagery that makes it look like they are underwater and surrounded by an assortment of sea life.
The effect on this WhiteWater ride is stunning, and I think this may be something we should start to see more of going forward.
6 Aquascope at Futuroscope – France
A new indoor water park has been created at Futuroscope in France, with three immersive indoor areas, 13 waterslides, and an outdoor area. It features several unique takes on the water park experience. Many of the attractions incorporate various lighting, audio, and special projection effects to create a unique atmosphere and disorient the sliders in unique new ways.
Universal Rocks worked on the rock scenery, and Moment Factory worked on the park’s immersive area.
7 Great Wolf Lodge – Florida, USA
With over 20 indoor water park resorts in North America, Great Wolf Lodge will open its latest resort in Naples, Florida, on 25 September 2024. The new $250 million lodge will feature about 500 suites and a 100,000 sq ft indoor-style water park, complete with many of the typical attractions that have made Great Wolf Lodge resorts so popular.
The location is interesting, however, as Naples is in the southern end of the state. This will make this a unique getaway experience for local Florida families wanting a little fun away from the more tourist-heavy locations like Miami, Orlando, or Tampa.
8 Playa Maya Water Park at OCT Happy Valley Beijing – China
With the help of ProSlide, OCT Happy Valley Beijing opened a huge expansion to its Playa Maya water park in June 2024, featuring a collection of six new slide experiences. These include a MammothBLAST Water Coaster, a pair of Tornado-style slides, a set of ProRACER slides, a high-thrill plunge slide that starts with a trap-door SkyBox plunge, and a TurboTWISTER slide, along with a new water fortress-style play structure.
9 Sam Son Water Park – Vietnam
An all-new water park opened in Vietnam on 30 June, featuring over 30 new water slides and experiences for guests to enjoy. The list of new attractions includes several from ProSlide, including the tallest TornaroWAVE 60 and BehemothBOWL 60 slides in Asia-Pacific.
10 Fins Up Water Park, Margaritaville at Lanier Islands – Georgia, USA
This lakeside resort’s small Fins Up waterpark added four new attractions this summer. The list includes Apocalypso (Georgia’s only water coaster slide), which is also a WhiteWater Blasterango slide that starts like a water coaster and ends with a dramatic plunge into a Boomerango-style wall element before sliding back into the final splashdown area.
Other new tube slides this season include the Serpentine Storm’s high-speed turns, Mango Mania’s enclosed illuminated tunnel and Dreamsicle Dive.
11 Kaleidoscope Kavern & Ridge Runner at Wilderness at the Smokies – Tennessee, USA
The popular water park resort in the Pigeon Forge area of Tennessee added a few new attractions that opened between the very end of December 2023 and Early 2024. This included the unique Kaleidoscope Kavern lazy river attraction, created in collaboration with Moment Factory, which surrounds the guests floating through an array of projection screens and images, giving off the illusion that they are inside a giant Kaleidoscope.
Nearby, the park opened the new Ridge Runner water coaster slide from WhiteWater with three uphill water blast sections. In addition, it opened Lookout Lagoon in the spring, a pool on the resort’s top floor with a transparent edge wall. While not a water attraction, the resort also opened the Rocky Top Glider, a new cloud coaster attraction from Extreme Engineering, near the end of 2023. Aquatic Development Group (ADG) played the role of design/builder for the Wilderness at the Smokies expansion.
12 Mega Mayhem at Rapids Water Park – Florida, USA
Though initially announced for the 2023 season, the new Mega Mayhem attraction from ProSlide was delayed until 2024. The park retired its classic Old Yellar slide to make way for Mega Mayhem, a pair of racing water coaster slides.
13 RipQurl Blaster at Six Flags America – Maryland, USA
Initially announced for the 2023 season, construction delays pushed this new waterslide addition back until 2024. Still, the new water coaster slide from WhiteWater was an unexpected surprise when first announced. It features three uphill water blasts, three big drops, and three AquaLucent effect turns along the 557-foot course, packing a lot of thrills into a very small footprint.
14 Palm Springs Surf Club – California, USA
While it took longer than expected, a former small water park in the Palm Springs desert was transformed into the new Palm Springs Surf Club attraction, featuring a cutting-edge new wave pool designed for surfing. Well… kind of. While the remaining sections of the water park opened over the summer days and nights for some fun, the park is still working out the last few kinks on the aforementioned cutting-edge wave pool.
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According to reports, it is now testing the latest technology revisions in the hopes of finally opening the park’s featured attraction
