With Nanjing drawing to the end of its rainy season, so the next opportunity to get soaked presents itself. This July, an iconic water ride named “FlyingSAUCER” has been opened for use in the newly-completed Nanjing Maya Beach Water Park.
Reported as being China’s first flying saucer water coaster, Nanjing’s alien resident is a product of ProSlide, a Canadian firm that has Disney on its list of clients.
The company was the first to integrate linear induction motors to a water slide and was responsible for the design of the world’s longest water coaster in Santa Claus, Indiana, USA, appropriately named the Mammoth. Opened in 2012, the water coaster is 537 metres long.
ProSlide CEO, Rick Hunter, was a member of the Canadian National Ski Team in the early 1970s and was inspired to reflect the speed and movement of ski competitions in his company’s waterslides.
The disc-shaped appearance is composed of a compound curved outer wall and a centre disk surface. The steep angle of the ride at this point creates an accelerated turning experience. With different tilt angles for different water parks, each experience is unique.
The installation in Nanjing combines both the FlyingSAUCER and the Mammoth family raft ride in a one off for China.
“Combining these two distinctive ProSlide rides will give guests the opportunity to feel like World Cup ski racers as they accelerate into a high-speed turn with their friends and family, making for an incredibly memorable experience”, said ProSlide Vice-President of Sales for the Asia-Pacific, Nik Paas, reports Blooloop.
Named the FlyingSAUCER on account of its shape and ability to accelerate thrill seekers to near warp-factor speeds, the slick design made its world debut at the Siam Park in the Canary Islands in 2015, under the name “Singha” and won the IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) Best New Waterslide Award.
To date, ProSlide’s FlyingSAUCER water coasters have been installed in more than 30 well-known water parks around the world, such as Hersheypark and Universal’s Volcano Bay in the USA, and Skara Sommarland in Sweden.
Officially opened on 2 July, Nanjing Maya Beach Water Park (南京玛雅海滩水公园) is located in Qixia District on the banks of the Yangtze River, approximately 3 kilometres east of Qixia Mountain.
