Types of commercial water slide, explained

Slide names are inconsistent across the industry — one manufacturer's "tornado" is another's "funnel" is another's "cone". What matters is what the ride does, and what it demands of your plot. Here are the families we supply, with the numbers.

Funnel slides

A raft is launched into an enclosed flume, dropped into a wide open funnel, and swept up its walls before draining to the run-out. It is the shape parks put on billboards, and the one most often photographed by visitors.

• Large: 14.2 m platform, 18 m funnel, four riders per raft, 90 kW, 1,340 m² footprint
• Compact: 3 m platform, 9 m funnel, single rider, 30 kW, 150 m² footprint

The large unit is a full water park attraction. The compact version gives a smaller site the same recognisable silhouette without the tower or the civil works. See funnel slides.

Racing slides

Three to ten parallel lanes with a simultaneous start. Riders descend head-first on mats over a series of humps to a visible finish.

The commercial case is throughput. Because every lane launches together, capacity scales almost linearly with lane count — a ten-lane installation clears a queue faster than any other slide type on the same frontage. It also draws spectators, which changes how a park circulates. See the multi-lane racing slide.

Spiral slides

The workhorses. Flexible to route around an awkward plot, cheap to run at 7.5 kW, and able to share a tower with other flumes.

• Open spiral: 9 or 12 m platform, 86–105 m flume, 1,000 m² footprint
• Enclosed spiral: 9 or 12 m platform, 76–105 m flume, 880 m² footprint

The two descend almost identically but feel completely different — losing the sightline makes the enclosed version read as far faster than it is. Specifying both from one tower gives two attractions for barely more than one. See spiral slides.

Drop and high-speed slides

A near-vertical first section producing genuine freefall, then a long braking run-out.

• Vertical drop: 65–70 m flume, 420 m² footprint
• Variable slope: 70–75 m flume, 360 m² footprint

Both at 9 or 12 m platform height and 7.5 kW. Note the footprint: the tallest, fastest slide in the range takes less than a third of the area of a raft spiral. On a tight plot with generous height allowance, this is often the right answer. See the vertical drop slide.

Family wide slides

Wide, low, open chutes that several people descend abreast. Platform typically 1.5–3 m, 2.2 m wide, 14 m long, 11 kW, 100 m² footprint.

This is the slide that answers the question every resort asks: what can a four-year-old actually go on. Full sightlines for supervising parents, and no tower. See the family wide slide.

Combination slides

Two slides from one tower — for example an enclosed barrel running into a dark tunnel alongside an open sled that curves upward at the exit and projects the rider several metres across the water. 290 m² for both, 2 × 7.5 kW. The lowest cost per rider in the slide range. See the barrel and sled combination.

Footprints side by side

Add 25–40% to any published footprint for queue, exit, run-out and maintenance access. The space requirements guide explains what those clearances actually consist of.

Choosing between them

Work from your height allowance first. Below about 6 m the tower slides are out and you are looking at family slides, the compact funnel and play structures with integrated slides. Above 9 m, build one tower and hang several flumes from it.

If you would rather not work it out on paper, send the plot. Aqua Park Supply is a Dubai-based supplier of commercial water park equipment serving the UAE, GCC and African markets, and we will tell you what fits before either of us spends time on drawings. See the full water slide range or request a quote.