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RiverRacers Reviews


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I rode RiverRacers on Sunday! The water was cold but it was fun. I really enjoyed the first drop, which reminds me of the big drop on Tropical Plunge’s blue tube slide. The enclosed part looks cool. While the rest of the ride isn’t nearly as fast as the drop, I think it’s a nice successor for Pipeline Paradise and something a lot of people, including kids and families, will enjoy.

As for my own preferences, yes I would ride RiverRacers again in the future, but the aforementioned Tropical Plunge drop remains my favorite drop on a Soak City tube slide.

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Haven't ridden it yet but I would like to applaud the idea after thinking about it.  They could have put in a ride twice as long with 2 uphill pieces but that would have cut the ride wait time 75%.  On water slides you have to wait until the people ahead are out of the pool.  By haveing a shorter ride with two tubes at once they can put more people through per hour.   In my opinion KI doesn't need what other parks do to get people through the gates.  As has been said several times the waterpark is usually very crowded and that was without a water coaster.  By putting in a smaller ride and redoing a kids area and expanded shade/seating (and the upgrade of the boathouse drink stand) I think after seeing it this was a very well-thought out addition.

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2 minutes ago, robintodd said:

Haven't ridden it yet but I would like to applaud the idea after thinking about it.  They could have put in a ride twice as long with 2 uphill pieces but that would have cut the ride wait time 75%.  On water slides you have to wait until the people ahead are out of the pool.  By having a shorter ride with two tubes at once they can put more people through per hour.   In my opinion KI doesn't need what other parks do to get people through the gates.  As has been said several times the waterpark is usually very crowded and that was without a water coaster.  By putting in a smaller ride and redoing a kids area and expanded shade/seating (and the upgrade of the boathouse drink stand) I think after seeing it this was a very well-thought out addition.

They could have also done it like Holiday World and put in a continuous loading and lift belt.

 

1 hour ago, disco2000 said:

A little video clip I saw:

 

 

He got some great footage. I love his enthusiasm and excitement for the park rides, but please take the commentary with a grain of salt. I love the park too, but every addition or change at Kings Island is not the best in the whole industry. 

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6 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

They could have also done it like Holiday World and put in a continuous loading and lift belt.

Not sure how this would have sped up the line from what I was watching.  How fast the rafts make it up to the loading area is irrelivent.

Again.  Those on top can't go until those on the bottom have cleared the landing pool.  if it takes 60 seconds for 1 raft to do a longer 2 push slide and it takes 30 seconds to do a 1 push then 1 raft could go every 60 seconds off the longer one and 2 every 30 seconds off the shorter/dual one making 4 rafts every 60 seconds quadrupling the capacity.

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On 5/29/2025 at 3:00 PM, bengalsguy23 said:

Rode it this past week. Honestly not the best slide. The first drop and launch up the hill are fun but the turns afterwards go very slow. Thought we were going to valley at one point. 

This, I rode River Racers this past Saturday while attending Coasterstock and after the hill the ride was very slow. Regardless if I rode it solo or with a friend. In true KI fashion, we got the Diet Coke version of what is advertised on the coaster manufacturers own website:

https://www.whitewaterwest.com/en/blasters-slides/

 

IMG_4528.jpeg

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2 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

This, I rode River Racers this past Saturday while attending Coasterstock and after the hill the ride was very slow. Regardless if I rode it solo or with a friend. In true KI fashion, we got the Diet Coke version of what is advertised on the coaster manufacturers own website:

https://www.whitewaterwest.com/en/blasters-slides/

 

IMG_4528.jpeg

To be fair, going with this would've likely required the removal of Mondo Monsoon which I'm sure the park did not want to lose. 

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52 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

To be fair, going with this would've likely required the removal of Mondo Monsoon which I'm sure the park did not want to lose. 

I understand that but there is plenty of space behind Breakers Bay.
 

 

 

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59 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

To be fair, going with this would've likely required the removal of Mondo Monsoon which I'm sure the park did not want to lose. 

They could have put it somewhere else. They chose to go small. 

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39 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

They could have put it somewhere else. They chose to go small. 

Do you think the reason they went small was to save the money for all the other updates that Soak City needed this year?  The park did send out a survey last year after the announcement asking guests what else they would like added or changed to Soak City in the future, so I can see them going back to this area in a few years. 

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On 6/1/2025 at 8:03 PM, Orion-XL200 said:

Watching it in action today. 5 minute dispatches are rough for lines like it has. 

If they had went with a longer version the dispatch times would be even longer.  Soak City is one of the busiest areas of the park in the summer, it could be argued that this new addition won't affect attendance of an already crowded area at all.

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14 minutes ago, robintodd said:

If they had went with a longer version the dispatch times would be even longer.  Soak City is one of the busiest areas of the park in the summer, it could be argued that this new addition won't affect attendance of an already crowded area at all.

If they’d gone longer with a true water coaster, where you didn’t have to carry your raft up a flight of stairs, the capacity would be higher. Go to Holiday World and ride each of its three water coasters to compare.,

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23 hours ago, DonHelbig said:

If they’d gone longer with a true water coaster, where you didn’t have to carry your raft up a flight of stairs, the capacity would be higher. Go to Holiday World and ride each of its three water coasters to compare.,

Not sure how carrying your own raft makes the line faster.  Everytime I've seen the line I've never seen someone climbing all the way up at once without stopping for the line before getting to the top.  Also Tropical Plunge has tube slides that they have to carry up their own tube and I believe it's taller than River Racers.  

Again I don't believe that KI needs a "world class water coaster" to bring people to a water park that is so busy during peak season.  

I looked up some stats on chatgpt about how many people live withing a half our from a couple of parks and was actually surprised by the results:

Holiday World: appoximately 50,000 to 100,000 

Cedar Point: approximately 170,000

Kings Island: approximately 500,000 to 1 million.

This is the reason KI has such great attendance and why an increase of $20 on a gold pass happens there rather than CP.  In my opinion HW needs the big draws to get people to the park where KI doesn't have that problem. The more people, the more children which is why KI is more of a family park that the other two.   The more people that live near a park, the higher the attendance, the higher the attendance the more people have likes/dislikes about the park but at the same time the less need for large scale additions to "draw" people to it.  

Just my two cents.

 

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