RiverRacers coming to Soak City in 2025

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

On 12/12/2024 at 11:02 AM, coastergoblin said:

Anyone else gonna miss Lookout Lagoon?

Something about that yellow pirate ship…it’s hard to put into words, but to me personally it had the same jaw dropping effect that could only be compared to seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time. As a kid I one day dreamed of setting sail and climbing on those masts, and dreamed of taking over the seven seas, plundering and pillaging for treasure and gold.
 

I will truly miss the racing exposed water slides attached to the ship, they were slick, fast, and WET, everything you could want in a slide and more. The interaction between you and the person next to you made it feel like The Racer, and I’m glad to see this specific slide of Lookout Lagoon set the blueprint for RiverRacers. The design team KNEW they had to honor the legacy of these yellow racing slides, and will it live up to the legacy? We will find out…

 

Now, you’re probably asking yourself, “well I think you’re forgetting something?” And for those weary eyed readers, you are correct. I’m talking about: the enclosed slide attached to the pirate ship in Loookout Lagoon. Oh, where to begin. See this attraction was like if you put FOF in the water park and cranked it up to 10. I remember opening day 97 rope dropping this attraction in my swim shirt and making a mad dash (walking, of course) to that specific slide in Lookout Lagoon. I remember standing on that deck looking into that black hole of mystery and intrigue, wondering what would happen when I send my body down that serpentine slide.

There I was, grasping the yellow fiberglass tube with both of my hands, feeling that cool chlorinated water against my feet, sending tingles down my spine, the rush of the water was deafening. A guard said “you can go.” And then I went. I remember that intial drop giving a slight hint of floater airtime and just being transported to another world, another time. The bright yellows of the slide disappeared into a black hole, I didn’t know which way was up or which was down, it was like a warm blanket of mystery and intrigued enveloped me, and let me know I would be okay.

This drop then turned into a 90 degree turn to the left, the laterals pushing me to the right, yet my body turned left, a sensation I have yet to experience on another slide. This lateral sensation quickly turned into a drop heading into the Lagoon. A subtle change in angle lead to the lagoon, or the pool as some may say, and SPLASH! A Great Wall of water overcame my body, and there I was, drenched. 
 

From there on, I knew I was in the right place, I was in Lookout Lagoon, while this may be a telling of my story from the first time I rode it on opening day 1997, that story remained the same each time I rode that enclosed slide up until 2024, it’s a shame the park didn’t do a send off, maybe sell pieces of the slide?

 

It just shows I come from a different time, when the park just put a little more care into the guest, now it’s all about shareholders. I wish RiverRacers well in its journey in continuing the story of Soak City, but for now, a large, Lookout Lagoon, sized hole in my heart will remain forever. Never forget the yellow enclosed slide.

I think I'm going to miss it too. While I don't remember my time going through it—and certainly not in the beautiful detail you were able to describe it in—I always appreciated seeing the character it had with the pirate ship and how fun it all looked. The renderings for Splash River Junction are very pretty, but I'm worried that the sense of adventure might be lost with the new slide structure that's replacing Lookout Lagoon. I'm looking forward to seeing the new additions and hope they can be wonderful experiences for those that use them.

[BB1]

On 12/12/2024 at 11:02 AM, coastergoblin said:

Anyone else gonna miss Lookout Lagoon?

Something about that yellow pirate ship…it’s hard to put into words, but to me personally it had the same jaw dropping effect that could only be compared to seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time. As a kid I one day dreamed of setting sail and climbing on those masts, and dreamed of taking over the seven seas, plundering and pillaging for treasure and gold.
 

I will truly miss the racing exposed water slides attached to the ship, they were slick, fast, and WET, everything you could want in a slide and more. The interaction between you and the person next to you made it feel like The Racer, and I’m glad to see this specific slide of Lookout Lagoon set the blueprint for RiverRacers. The design team KNEW they had to honor the legacy of these yellow racing slides, and will it live up to the legacy? We will find out…

 

Now, you’re probably asking yourself, “well I think you’re forgetting something?” And for those weary eyed readers, you are correct. I’m talking about: the enclosed slide attached to the pirate ship in Loookout Lagoon. Oh, where to begin. See this attraction was like if you put FOF in the water park and cranked it up to 10. I remember opening day 97 rope dropping this attraction in my swim shirt and making a mad dash (walking, of course) to that specific slide in Lookout Lagoon. I remember standing on that deck looking into that black hole of mystery and intrigue, wondering what would happen when I send my body down that serpentine slide.

There I was, grasping the yellow fiberglass tube with both of my hands, feeling that cool chlorinated water against my feet, sending tingles down my spine, the rush of the water was deafening. A guard said “you can go.” And then I went. I remember that intial drop giving a slight hint of floater airtime and just being transported to another world, another time. The bright yellows of the slide disappeared into a black hole, I didn’t know which way was up or which was down, it was like a warm blanket of mystery and intrigued enveloped me, and let me know I would be okay.

This drop then turned into a 90 degree turn to the left, the laterals pushing me to the right, yet my body turned left, a sensation I have yet to experience on another slide. This lateral sensation quickly turned into a drop heading into the Lagoon. A subtle change in angle lead to the lagoon, or the pool as some may say, and SPLASH! A Great Wall of water overcame my body, and there I was, drenched. 
 

From there on, I knew I was in the right place, I was in Lookout Lagoon, while this may be a telling of my story from the first time I rode it on opening day 1997, that story remained the same each time I rode that enclosed slide up until 2024, it’s a shame the park didn’t do a send off, maybe sell pieces of the slide?

 

It just shows I come from a different time, when the park just put a little more care into the guest, now it’s all about shareholders. I wish RiverRacers well in its journey in continuing the story of Soak City, but for now, a large, Lookout Lagoon, sized hole in my heart will remain forever. Never forget the yellow enclosed slide.

Okay so as someone who was extremely passionate about the removal and, in my opinion still, a downgrade in quality at the park, I get where you are coming from.  However, at the same time I even as a child never really gravitated to lookout. As an adult, as someone who worked that spot, I know there were challenges to continuing that space. It's extremely reminiscent of what we got from the 90's, but the park simply did not keep up with the structure. It honestly stuck out like a sore thumb, even in the Boomerang Bay era which it was never touched up so that whole structure has been sun bleached. Better yet, staffing and the scanning for that area led to more issues than anything else. Try moving your neck in a figure eight location for hours on end, it's definitely not pleasant. That being said, being an adult, I have not even touched those slides since a child which I did some research and after a quick refresher, you can't even ride these slides solo above 52" without a child accompanying you so I'm just going to leave that as is. 

In the long term I think this is a net positive if the park does some decent theming, which we may actually get. I've been begging for more TLC for the waterpark and I'm hoping that we get some shade added in. 

[gforce1994]

I am so excited and can’t wait for the record breaking RiverRacers attraction! Only a few months away!

[BeeastFarmer]

15 hours ago, gforce1994 said:

I am so excited and can’t wait for the record breaking RiverRacers attraction! Only a few months away!

What records is this attraction breaking?

[gforce1994]

57 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

What records is this attraction breaking?

To start off, it’s one of the fastest water coaster in the world and has one of the largest drops. It has the largest windowed launch riser of any launch coaster.

[Orion-XL200]

19 hours ago, gforce1994 said:

I am so excited and can’t wait for the record breaking RiverRacers attraction! Only a few months away!

 

4 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

What records is this attraction breaking?

The amount of tweets from a single user claiming it's a record breaking water coaster? 

[Diamondback_Is_King]

On 1/5/2025 at 4:48 PM, gforce1994 said:

To start off, it’s one of the fastest water coaster in the world and has one of the largest drops. It has the largest windowed launch riser of any launch coaster.

I did some research, and found that Cheetah Chase at Holiday World's Splashin Safari goes 20 mph fast and Kings Island says that River Racers will go 30 mph. Usually the speed is actually less than advertised at first because of weight distribution and all that. In regards to height of drop, I found that Wildebeest at Splashin Safari has a drop of 38 ft, while Kings Island says River Racers will have a 33 ft drop. In height, Wildebeest is 64 ft while River Racers is 48 ft. I couldn't find if any of Krakatau's stats at Volcano Bay, but it might break some records. In regards to how steep the drop is, I think River Racers is steepest.

 

However you put it, you can always say it breaks records:

"Tallest, Fastest, Steepest, Longest, Water Coaster in Ohio" (which is the only one is Ohio)

 

It doesn't really matter what records it breaks, as long as the slide is fun. Can't wait to get on it this summer!!!

[DonHelbig]

With RiverRacers debuting as Ohio's first and only dual-racing water coaster, along with seven new kids' water slides in the Riverside-themed Splash Junction play area, there's plenty for the PR and digital teams to leverage to build and sustain excitement.