The Hydro Flume was the second flume built in the
park. With the immense popularity (and long lines) of the Log Flume
in the inaugural season, the park quickly decided to add
this second flume for the 1975 season.
The first public mention of adding a second flume came with the
publication of the Souvenir Book in the summer of 1974, when on the back
page in the "Tomorrow" section, which described the park's future it
mentions plans to add "A second, more spectacular flume".
While the Hydro Flume promised to be the park's premier water ride, it
never quite lived up to expectations. Its secluded location
during the early years, and later its shortened operating season meant
it never drew nearly the same size crowds as the Log Flume, or later
Roaring Rapids and Splashwater Falls.
After years of neglect, the ride was given major rehabs in the 2005 and
2006 seasons, and was finally removed in the 2006-2007 off season as
part of the installation of Wiggles World.
PLEASE NOTE: Onride photos posted here were taken
before the park had placed
restrictions on onride photography. Please adhere to current park rules.
Construction
began on the Hydro Flume during the 1974-75 off season, and the ride
made its debut in summer of 1975.
The ride differed from its sister log flume in that it was slightly
taller, offering a longer, more thrilling drop.
Also, the Hydro Flume design utilized all the water pumped into the
flume trough in the final drop, where the Log Flume design had the water
bypass the drop, with a smaller pump supplying water that basically
provided the appearance of the logs floating down hill, while they
actually run completely on rollers. The Hydro Flume design
dispersed the water by spreading it out between two channels, allowing
the boats to roll down the drop safely on a thin sheet of water.
the double channel drop also helped increase ride capacity, allowing the
operation of more boats spaced closer together.
At the base of the drop, the boats also hit a speed hump, giving them an
extra pop of air time and creating larger splashes as they slowed in the
amassed water in the lower basin.
Like the Log Flume, the loading station was designed using a turntable
which kept the boats moving while allowing safe boarding and
disembarking. Other parks chose to install flumes that
required the log to stop for loading and unloading, while passengers had
to contend with a vehicle that bobbed up and down on the moving current,
creating safety concerns. The turntable allowed guests much more
time for boarding and disembarking, and allowed ride operators more time
to group riders and ensure higher capacity.
The ride queue was originally configured as two mirror image lines,
which only came together at the base of the stairs. Later
this configuration was replaced with new railings to form a single queue line.
The
divided entrance stairs were setup to help fill boats, with groups of
one or two on one side and groups of three or more on the other,
allowing the ride operators to easily and quickly fill empty seats.
Photos of the Hydro Flume
from the 1976 press kit
The shape of the
fronts of the flume boats helped create a larger splash down as they
bounced along the lower trough, ensuring a wetter ride which was much
appreciated on hot summer days!
In the years up until 1991, the Hydro Flume had a secluded location,
surrounded by the native forest which was carefully preserved around it
during construction. The only attraction sharing the area
until that point was the Great Train Ride, which meandered
through the woods, under the flume course until its removal after the 1980
season.
As part of an
effort to make rides safer in the spring of 1988, the Hydro Flume received
modifications which altered the ride's final drop for the rest of its
existence.
The speed hump at the base of the drop was removed, taking away one of
the most memorable and exiting parts of the ride.
Also modified was the drop itself, with the outer channel being
permanently closed off to boats. This helped alleviate the
problem of boats jamming at the top when they would occasionally get
caught in the gates that sent them down the two sides alternately.
Instead, a single gate was retrofit to the top, allowing the boats to be
safely separated.
The ride's popularity was already waning at this point, since Roaring
Rapids and Splashwater Falls both offered not just ways to get wet, but
get absolutely soaked. The diminished thrill of the ride
combined with its location in a remote corner caused many guests to
simply overlook it, until things changed drastically at the end of the
1990 season when construction began on the park's Adventure Rivers
section, where the Hydro Flume would become the centerpiece.
Hydro Flume
1991-1998
The Adventure Rivers Years: Irrawaddy Riptide
For the 1991
season, Hydro Flume received a cosmetic makeover and one of its half
dozen name changes as it transitioned to become the Irrawaddy Riptide,
named for a river in Asia.
The station structure received a new bright read canvas roof and the
entry stairs and boats received fresh, bright paint as well, giving the
ride an Asian theme, and a new lease on life.
In addition, a stairway was added allowing guest to pass over the
concrete trough as it meandered from the station to the lift hill.
The Adventure
Rivers makeover opened up new views, both of the ride and from the ride,
as new paths and new slide towers were added alongside, and inside the
course of the flume. The Asian Tower was nestled into the
coils of flume, and rose above the upper sections of the ride.
In its time as part of Adventure Rivers, the Hydro Flume experienced
renewed popularity and increased ridership.
Many riders took the flume for its panoramic views of the surrounding
attractions. Passing especially close to the Asian Tower
offered a new thrill for both flume and slide riders.
The Asian Slides required the placement of footers in the Hydro Flume
reservoir, which were left in place long after the slides had been
removed.
Hydro Flume
1999-2006
After Adventure Rivers
In 1999, the Adventure Rivers slide
complexes were removed, and the area around the flume was cleared to
make way for a new section, Looney Tunes Sea Port.
As part of the remake of the area, sections of the concrete trough were
re-aligned. The top three pictures on the right show the
construction process as first a concrete pad was laid, with rebar
inserted to strengthen the walls. Wooden forms were placed,
and the concrete walls were poured to match the existing trough
sections.
In addition, a second bridge was constructed to create a connection
between the two halves of Looney Tunes Seaport. This long
wooden bridge offered more stroller and wheelchair friendly access than
the previously constructed steps which were also left in place.
For a while, the upper sections of flume
were strung with rope lights.
Almost as often as the ride changed names, it also changed neighbors,
with rides like Batman The Ride, Skull Mountain and Nitro being added to
the surrounding area. Despite new additions around it, the
Hydro Flume continued to be treated as a second class ride, with shorter
and shorter operating seasons, and increasing neglect of cosmetic
maintenance each year.
For a time, Six Flags corporation struck a deal with the Dannon Water
Group, which resulted in parks nationwide renaming flume rides and other
water attractions with the names of the local Dannon Brands water.
The Hydro Flume received the name Poland Springs Plunge, as did one of
the slides in Hurricane Harbor.
After the ride sponsorship was dropped, the ride reverted back to the
Riptide name, and its sign was brought back out of mothballs.
To try and generate additional revenues as well as offering another way
to ensure riders got wet, coin operated sprayers were added to some of
the park's water rides, including Hydro Flume, which featured a bank of
them at the end of the drop. Spraying unsuspecting riders
became a spectator sport on the bridge on those days when the flume was
running.
Age and neglect really began to take their toll on
the Hydro flume, with the wooden stairs and the canvas coverings showing
it most of all. The area of the park between Skull Mountain
and the Hydro Flume was mostly deserted, with dead end paths and shops
which were rarely open even on the busiest days. The
pavement was a patchwork of colors and textures showing where elements
had been removed. With each passing season the area looked
like more and more of a ghost town, often confusing guests trying to get
into or out of Looney Tunes Sea Port with strollers.
Opening Date:
Late July 1975
Manufacturer:
Arrow Development Co.
Model:
Hydro Flume
Lift Height:
85 feet
Track Length:
1598 feet
Speed:
40 mph
Number of Boats:
36
Number of Guests per Boat:
4-5 guests
Hourly Capacity:
2000 guests per hour
Gallons of Water:
350,000 Gallons
Features:
Twin Chutes
Spillway Drops
Hydro Jumps
Rotary Station
Ride Cost:
$2.2 million
Names given to the ride:
1975--Hydro Flume/Hydra Flume
1976-1978--Moon Flume
1979-1980--Ride the Rapids
1981--Splash Down
1982-1989--Kodak’s Splash Down
1990--Splash Down
1991-1998--Irrawaddy Riptide
1999--Riptide
2000-2005--Poland Springs Plunge
2006--Riptide
Top left: Picture
from the 1979 park yearbook
Right: Panoramic Postcard of the Hydro Flume
Lower left: Postcard from the 1979 Postcard Foldout
Map images from 1975 (left)
and from 1977 (right)
Left: Photo from the
1978 Souvenir book
Right: Photo from the
1981 Souvenir Book
See the Hydro Flume
in action
At the start of the 2005 season, it looked like
the Hydro Flume finally got some much needed attention. The
operating chute of the drop was disassembled, and repairs were made to
the fiberglass trough. The steel track that the car wheels
ride on was replaced as well.
In addition, the service stairs on the drop were repaired and replaced
in sections, and the ride station and stairs received much needed paint
and repairs.
The fresh coat of white primer and eventual blue color gave the ride a
new look of prosperity.
The Hydro Flume still suffered a shortened operating season between
staffing issues and the closures in spring due to cool weather, and fall
due to Fright Fest.
In the spring of
2006, the flume underwent another rehab, this time with the station
turntable receiving new decking and other maintenance.
The ride spent much of the summer closed once again due to low staffing
and maintenance issues, finally closing for the season in August when a
boat jammed in the turntable.
The park's already strained budget meant the ride never ran again, and
over the 2006-2007 off season the flume was removed completely to make
way for the new Wiggles World section, with the rides turntable and
canopy becoming a stage for the new show.
The lower five aerial photos show the removal of the Hydro Flume during
the winter of 2007.
The process began with removal of the fiberglass trough, leaving the
steel skeleton in the top two pictures.
In the lower left and center pictures, the remainder of the steel
framework has been removed along with most of the concrete channel and
retention basin.
The photo in the lower right shows the new landscaping taking shape in
the former flume path, and the colorful new look to the former station
turntable with its new lease on life as the Wiggles World stage.
