This summer is turning out to be a waterslide heaven for the world, with many locations either opening up new water parks, creating new water slides, or celebrating the smoothest water slide exit some individuals have ever seen.
All across both the United States and some parts of Europe, there has been a rising prominence of both physical water slides and even virtual ones.
That’s right, a virtual water slide has been opened up in the United Kingdom, London specifically, and inside of a clothing store no less.
The slide works by having the customer hop into an inflatable of their choice and put on a virtual-reality headset. They then go down a real slide inside the store, albeit a much smaller one, but thanks to the headset they are simultaneously transported to a massive and more intense computer program.
“The slide begins with you teetering over the top of the Topshop Oxford Street building before looping across the iconic Oxford Street in a white knuckle ride that feels very real,” InStyle UK reported.
But outside of the virtual world and overseas news, there was also an opening of a new water slide for thrill seekers back here at home — the new Universal Orlando Resort Krakatau Aqua Coaster.
After boarding Krakatau’s four-seat canoes, passengers experience the water slide’s 125-foot drop and zoom throughout the expansive volcano. This experience comes with pulsates of water by day and hosts colorful lava effects at night. Its plentiful drops give the passengers serious airtime but it mimics the motion of a roller coaster on land with the way it propels them back upwards.
It offers a really intense zero-gravity experience.
Bringing the water slide to the home has also become an apparent trend for those with the money and space to do so, with Angelina Jolie recently obtaining a 100-foot water slide for her pool to help her children have more fun in the summer sun. This may be out of the budget for most people, but bringing the water slide fun home doesn’t have to be limited to movie stars.
After all, the largest inflatable water slide in the world was a record 1,975 feet long. The ones rentable from a local store might not be that big, but they’ll surely provide a fun time for any home or party.