Families all over South Florida are packing up their cars with towels, sunscreen, swimsuits and coolers full of beverages and snacks, then trekking to Orlando or Tampa ? sometimes even booking a hotel ? to spend the unbearably hot days of summer zooming down slippery slides, screaming through dark tunnels while clinging to cautionary yellow rafts, and drifting to sleep on lazy rivers only to be awakened by a refreshing cascade of freezing water.
Sure, you could spend a couple hours in the car playing ?Punch Buggy? with your 5-year-old; or, you could make the short trip to Rapids Water Park right here in West Palm Beach. Located on Military Trail between 45th Street and Blue Heron Boulevard, the 30-acre park is speckled with winding slides that tower over everything, along with sun- and water-drenched patrons excitedly waiting in line for their chance to fly through twists and turns then plummet into a pool of water.
?What many people don?t realize about the Rapids is that we are comparable to other major waterparks in Orlando,? said Tina Hatcher, CEO of 3i Advertising. ?In fact, we have more slides than Wet ?n Wild does ? 35 to be exact.?
The newest attraction ? the Rapids Racer ? boasts six twisting, turning, braiding slides that send you cruising and dipping through dark tubes on your belly before releasing you into the sunlight and immediately plunging you to the bottom.
?It?s a ride that nearly everyone can enjoy,? explained Tom Lumbra, the owner and builder of Rapids Water Park. ?You grab a mat ? get down on your belly and go. My 8-year-old granddaughter did it with no problems, and I?m 65, and it was just as fun for me as it was for her.?
The ride was manufactured by Pro-Slide, a company based in Canada that also builds slides for Wet ?n Wild as well as Disney parks. It was a little more than a year ago that Lumbra decided the park needed a new attraction, something different and unlike anything currently featured at the Rapids.
?We opened on Memorial Day weekend in 1979 and our original slide ? Old Yellar ? is still operational,? he said.
Lumbra explained that at the time of its installation, Old Yellar was only the third fiberglass waterslide in the United States. More than thirty years later, this attraction?s four 1,600-foot flumes ? some even turning a full 360? ? are still thrilling park guests.
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Source: http://www.pbglifestyle.com/pbg-lifestyle-current-cover-stories/health-fitness-ragin-rapids/
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