47-526: An AquaLoop is a type of body water slide where single riders are dropped down a near vertical slide and into an inclined loop . They are usually located in water parks . Austrian manufacturer Aquarena developed the world's first mass-produced fully inverted looping water slide, known as the AquaLoop. The slide is currently licensed and distributed by Canadian water slide manufacturer WhiteWater West . There are nearly 20 AquaLoop installations around
94-474: A blower . The water slide is attached to a water hose in order to generate the supply of water. There are small-sized inflatable water slides for private house uses or larger inflatable water slides for school, picnic, corporate, or carnival style use. Santa Claus, Indiana Santa Claus is a town in Spencer County, Indiana , United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population
141-405: A flume , water chute , or hydroslide ) is a type of slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at swimming pools or water parks . Water slides differ in their riding method and therefore size. Some slides require riders to sit directly on the slide, or on a raft or tube designed to be used with the slide. A typical water slide uses a pump system to pump water to the top which
188-488: A 2 or 4 seater round tube. Riders drop from inside a tunnel out into the ride's main element shaped like a funnel on its side. Riders oscillate from one side to the other until they exit through the back of the funnel and into a splash pool. The most common type of funnel is the ProSlide Tornado which is installed at almost 60 locations around the world dating back to 2003. In 2010, WhiteWater West began developing
235-452: A SkyBox, WhiteWater West refers to it as an AquaDrop. A river slide, also commonly referred to as "crazy river", resembles a brook (small stream) , and may feature buffer pools throughout the way down. Its mass sliding ability, meaning multiple people can safely slide simultaneously, clears its queue area at a faster rate. Inflatable water slides are typically made of a thick strong PVC or vinyl and nylon , and are inflated using
282-570: A body slide. Family rafting water slides have the largest capacity of all the different types of tubing water slides averaging between 4 and 6 riders per dispatch. Riders hop in a circular raft and travel down long, twisted 4.5-metre (15 ft) channels to the ground. This type of water slide is manufactured by Australian Waterslides and Leisure, ProSlide, Waterfun Products and WhiteWater West. All of these companies manufacture open-air slides while ProSlide also manufactures an enclosed version. A funnel water slide requires riders to sit in
329-507: A cable car system and ride down the slide for approximately 4 minutes whilst navigating through 1,111 metres (3,645 ft) of scenic jungle. The first known existence of a looping water slide was at Action Park in Vernon Township, New Jersey in the mid-1980s, named Cannonball Loop. This slide featured a vertical loop but was repeatedly closed due to safety concerns. In the late 2000s, Austrian manufacturer Aquarena developed
376-464: A competing product known as the Abyss, utilizing a raft that holds up to six riders. Similar to a funnel, a half-pipe features a slide in which riders oscillate back and forth. However, this style of ride doesn't feature any enclosed sections. On a Waterfun Product Sidewinder or Sidewinder Mini, riders oscillate several times before coming to a rest at the base of the slide. Riders then need to walk off
423-402: A household in the town was $ 60,388, and the median income for a family was $ 61,991. Males had a median income of $ 44,514 versus $ 24,050 for females. The per capita income for the town was $ 23,957. About 1.0% of families and 1.2% of the population were below the poverty line , including 1.3% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over. The Indiana Department of Transportation built
470-509: A length of 650 metres (2,130 ft), of which 550 metres (1,800 ft) functioned properly. Its creators claimed the previous record holder had a length of ~350 metres (1,150 ft). The slide is being moved to Action Park in Vernon, New Jersey . The "Waterslide" at Buena Vista Lodge in Costa Rica is a 400 metres (1,300 ft) long water slide where the rider sits directly on
517-470: A round bowl. Under the effects of centrifugal force , the riders circle the outer area of the bowl before exiting down through the middle, often into a pool underneath but sometimes into an additional slide section. This style of water slide comes in various styles and is manufactured by ProSlide, WhiteWater West and Waterfun Products. The different variations can be ridden on a 4-person cloverleaf tube, 2 person inline tube, single person tube or as
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#1732800965918564-452: A water park named Splashin' Safari was added to the park. Still owned and operated by the Koch family, it attracts more than one million visitors annually, and it is home to The Voyage , which has repeatedly been voted by coaster enthusiasts as the number one wooden roller coaster in the world. More recently the development of Christmas Lake Village as a gated community has more than doubled
611-656: Is Mammoth , at Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus , Indiana . This technology has been adapted to other ProSlide products, and is collectively known as the ProSlide HydroMAGNETIC. In 2010, ProSlide announced that they would be combining the family rafting and water coaster technologies to create a Hydromagnetic Mammoth. The first installation of this variation is aptly titled Mammoth , which premiered in 2012 at Splashin' Safari in Indiana. It replaced
658-558: Is a type of body slide where riders are sent down steep, free-fall plunges to the ground. Almost all water slide manufacturers offer a variation of this type of slide. ProSlide & WhiteWater West both offer a speed slide with a trap door, the same trap door found on the AquaLoop. A water coaster is a water slide that emulates a roller coaster by providing not only descents, but also ascents. There are three different ways water coasters operate: water jets , conveyor belts , and linear induction motors . High-powered water jets power
705-508: Is at Wild Wadi Water Park in Dubai , where 9 of the park's 16 water slides utilize this technology, propelling riders to the top of a mountain. In 2021, WhiteWater West opened their tallest Master Blaster, and tallest water coaster in the world, Tsunami Surge at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Chicago . The first conveyor belt was installed at Kalahari Resort in Sandusky , Ohio . Known as
752-408: Is over within 7 seconds. An AquaLoop is launched from a 17-metre (56 ft) platform. A single rider is loaded into a launch chamber where they stand with their hands across their chest. After a countdown, a trapdoor opens and the rider immediately drops 16 metres (52 ft) inside a near vertical slide. The rider accelerates to 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph) in just 2 seconds before entering
799-472: Is then allowed to freely flow down its surface. The water reduces friction so sliders travel down the slide very quickly. Water slides run into a swimming pool (often called a plunge pool) or a long run-out chute. Body slides feature no mat or tube, instead having riders sit or lie directly on the surface of the slide. The simplest resemble wet playground slides . There are a variety of types of body slides including flumes , speed slides, bowls and AquaLoops;
846-504: The Zip Coaster , the ride carries guests quickly uphill and over steep slides using high-speed conveyor belts. The third incarnation of the water coaster utilizes linear induction motors (LIM technology) and specially-designed rafts. The first installation to use LIM technology was Deluge, opening in 2006 at what was (at the time) Splash Kingdom at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom . The longest water coaster utilizing this magnetic system
893-545: The Christmas season. Many residents also live in Holiday Village, a subdivision on the north side of town. The community of Santa Claus was established in 1849. The story of how it received the name of Santa Claus has roots both in fact and legend. In January 1856, the town applied for a post office to be installed. They submitted their application under the name of Santa Fe. The application was returned to them with
940-426: The age of 18 living with them, 70.1% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 1.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 21.3% were non-families. 18.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age in
987-633: The creation of the town's first newspaper, The Santa Claus Town News , and the Santa Claus Chamber of Commerce. Harris' project caught the attention of a rival entrepreneur, Carl Barrett, the Chicago head of the Illinois Auto Club. Disliking what he called Harris' materialism, Barrett planned his own tourist attraction, Santa Claus Park. On December 25, 1935, Barrett dedicated a 22-foot (6.7 m) tall statue of Santa Claus that
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#17328009659181034-594: The first tourist attraction in Santa Claus, Indiana. Dedicated December 22, 1935 and sponsored by the Curtiss Candy Company , the red-brick Candy Castle is purported to be the first themed attraction in the United States. Another Santa Claus Town attraction, Toy Village, features a series of miniature fairytale buildings sponsored by prominent national toy manufacturers. Santa Claus Town led to
1081-723: The first type of water coaster, generically known as “Master Blasters”. Originally manufactured by New Braunfels General Store (NBGS), the rights were sold in December 2006 to WhiteWater West of Canada. The first installations of this type of ride were Dragon Blaster and Family Blaster, installed in 1994, at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, Texas . The following month, a third Master Blaster opened at Adventure Bay in Houston, Texas . This type of ride features over 70 installations worldwide. The largest collection of Master Blasters
1128-420: The influx of holiday mail and the staffing and logistical problems this caused. The growing volume of holiday mail became so substantial that it caught the attention of Robert Ripley in 1929, who featured the town's post office in his nationally syndicated Ripley's Believe It or Not! cartoon strip . The town's name also inspired Vincennes, Indiana entrepreneur Milt Harris to create Santa's Candy Castle ,
1175-530: The latter three are explained below. Some slides are designed to be ridden with a tube which typically seats either 2 or 3 riders inline. Similar to a traditional body slide, these slides include many twists and turns and come in a variety of types including bowls, funnels and half-pipes. The world's longest water slide was a temporary installation in Waimauku , New Zealand, in February 2013. Constructed with
1222-406: The loop element. This element is a variation of the traditional vertical loop because it lies on an angle of approximately 45°. This variation of a loop is called an inclined loop . The 165-metre (541 ft) slide is over within 7 seconds. The first known existence of a looping water slide was at Action Park in Vernon , USA, in the mid-1980s. Their water slide featured a vertical loop but
1269-549: The message, "Choose some name other than Santa Fe." The process of settling upon the name of Santa Claus has been lost to legend. There are many different versions of the story and there were other choices as well that the town did not settle upon. What is known is that in 1856, the name of Santa Claus was accepted by the Post Office Department. On June 25, 1895, as part of a nationwide standardization for place names (see United States Board of Geographic Names ),
1316-501: The ongoing story of "Too Many Santas." Over the years, both entrepreneurs' visions became neglected as the development of the town spread west due to land development by the Koch Family. On August 3, 1946, retired industrialist Louis J. Koch opened Santa Claus Land , which is claimed to be the world's first theme park . The park's name was changed to Holiday World in 1984. In 1993, it became Holiday World & Splashin' Safari when
1363-410: The park's Wildebeest as the longest water coaster in the world. A drop-launch capsule is a device that is placed at the start of a body slide. Riders step into a capsule, usually with a clear front. Once the capsule is closed, a hatch opens underneath the riders dropping them into a near-vertical portion of the slide. The feature is known by different names from various manufacturers. ProSlide calls it
1410-424: The population of Santa Claus. In 2005, a local development company purchased Santa's Candy Castle and other buildings that comprised Santa Claus Town and announced plans to restore and re-open them to the public, starting with Santa's Candy Castle on July 1, 2006. The 40-ton, 22-foot concrete Santa Claus statue was restored in 2011. And in 2012, a local historic church and the town's original post office were moved to
1457-400: The post office name was changed to the one word Santaclaus . The town's unique name went largely unnoticed until the late 1920s, when Postmaster James Martin began promoting the Santa Claus postmark. The name was changed back to Santa Claus on February 17, 1928. It was then that the Post Office Department decided there would never be another Santa Claus Post Office in the United States, due to
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1504-407: The site next to the large Santa Claus statue. According to the 2010 census, Santa Claus has a total area of 6.861 square miles (17.77 km ), of which 6.44 square miles (16.68 km ) (or 93.86%) is land and 0.421 square miles (1.09 km ) (or 6.14%) is water. As of the census of 2010, there were 2,481 people, 936 households, and 737 families residing in the town. The population density
1551-486: The slide returning their tube to the next riders. A variation of the half-pipe called a boomerang slide typically has a steep enclosed section that exits to a wider upward-rising section that the rider then slides back down the other direction to the end of the slide. A multi-lane racer is a ride where between 4 and 8 riders dive head-first onto a mat and down a slide with several dips. As an additional component of this ride, some offer an additional enclosed helix at
1598-511: The slide, with an inner-tube around their upper body for safety. The longest multi-person water-coaster (see below) is the 1,763 foot (537 m) long Mammoth at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana . The current longest water slide, "The Longest", is a permanent single-passenger tube waterslide located in Penang , Malaysia at the ESCAPE family theme park. Visitors access the attraction via
1645-586: The top of the ride. ProSlide offer ProRacers, Octopus Racers, Kraken Racers and Rally Racers, while WhiteWater West have designed the Mat Racers and Whizzards. In 2016, WhiteWater West introduced the Mat Blaster, which combines the Whizzard model with elements of their MasterBlaster water coaster. Australian Waterslides and Leisure have also manufactured a standard multi-lane racer. A speed slide
1692-558: The town was 39.8 years. 27.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.9% were from 25 to 44; 28.3% were from 45 to 64; and 15% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 47.9% male and 52.1% female. As of the census of 2000, there were 2,041 people, 732 households, and 620 families residing in the town. The population density was 393.8 inhabitants per square mile (152.0/km ). There were 818 housing units at an average density of 157.8 per square mile (60.9/km ). The racial makeup of
1739-488: The town was 99.22% White , 0.44% Asian , 0.20% from other races , and 0.15% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.69% of the population. There were 732 households, out of which 39.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 79.0% were married couples living together, 4.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.2% were non-families. 12.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.0% had someone living alone who
1786-744: The world's first safe looping water slide, known as the AquaLoop . The company engineered a slide with an inclined loop rather than a standard vertical one. The slide is currently licensed and distributed by Canadian water slide manufacturer WhiteWater West . There are nearly 20 AquaLoop installations around the world. The first installation was in Slovenia in 2008. The largest collections are located at Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast and Raging Waters Sydney in Australia, which both house 4 AquaLoops that opened in 2010 and 2013, respectively. Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast
1833-490: The world. Santa Claus has grown substantially since the 1990 census , which recorded 927 residents. A majority of Santa Claus residents live within the gated community of Christmas Lake Village, which was developed in the late 1960s. It consists of 2,500 acres (10 km ) developed around three lakes: Christmas Lake, Lake Holly, and Lake Noel. The street names in Christmas Lake Village are all named after
1880-407: The world. The first installation was at Terme 3000 water park, Slovenia in 2008. Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast was the first to install more than one AquaLoop at a single location. The AquaLoop uses a trap-door to release riders down a 17-metre (56 ft) near-vertical descent at a speed of up to 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph). Riders experience 2.5 Gs in less than 2 seconds. The whole ride
1927-400: Was 2,586 at the 2020 census . It is home to numerous Christmas themed attractions, including Holiday World & Splashin' Safari and Santa's Candy Castle . The town was established in 1854 and known as Santa Fe ( / f iː / ), but was unable to establish a post office as there was already another Santa Fe, Indiana . Several town meetings were held, during which the name Santa Claus
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1974-437: Was 385.2 inhabitants per square mile (148.7/km ). There were 1,044 housing units at an average density of 162.1 per square mile (62.6/km ). The racial makeup of the town was 98.1% White , 0.3% African American , 0.1% Native American , 0.5% Asian , 0.6% from other races , and 0.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.3% of the population. There were 936 households, of which 37.3% had children under
2021-448: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.05. In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.3% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.6 males. The median income for
2068-408: Was also the first to install more than one AquaLoop at a single location. The AquaLoop uses a trap-door to release riders down a 17-metre (56 ft) near-vertical descent at a speed of up to 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph). Riders experience 2.5 Gs in less than 2 seconds. The whole ride is over within 7 seconds. A bowl is a type of water slide where riders descend a steep drop into
2115-472: Was erected on the highest hill in town. The statue was promoted as being solid granite , although it was subsequently revealed to be concrete when cracks formed years later. Years of lawsuits between Harris and Barrett were costly distractions for the two entrepreneurs. The lawsuits centered around land ownership and went all the way to the Indiana Supreme Court. National news media covered
2162-456: Was repeatedly closed due to safety concerns. More recently, ProSlide developed the SuperLOOP which features a fast, downward spiralling helix after a trapdoor release. The first installation was The Wedgie at nearby WhiteWater World . It was marketed as a looping water slide despite riders never actually experiencing an inversion. Water slide A water slide (also referred to as
2209-539: Was selected. The town has the world's only post office to bear the name of the eponymous Christmas figure . Because of this popular name, the post office receives thousands of letters to Santa from all over the world each year. A group of volunteers known as Santa's Elves ensures each child receives a reply from Santa Claus; this tradition has been in existence since at least 1914. The post office also creates an annual Christmas hand-cancellation pictorial postmark for use during December, which also attracts mail from all over
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