WhiteWater West

WhiteWater West
Private
Industry Manufacturing
Founded 1980 (1980)
Founder Geoff Chutter[1]
Headquarters Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
Area served
 Worldwide
Products Water slides, interactive play areas, lazy rivers, wave pools, FlowRider
Services Park planning, engineering, manufacturing, service
Number of employees
 550 (2012)[1]
Divisions Hopkins Rides
Prime Interactives
Website www.whitewaterwest.com

WhiteWater West is a manufacturing company based in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 1980 and manufactures a variety of products for water parks including water slides and water play areas. The company also owns Hopkins Rides and Prime Interactives which manufacture water rides for amusement parks and dry play areas, respectively.

History

In 1980, WhiteWater West was established by Geoff Chutter, a former accountant. The company's first project was the WhiteWater Waterslide and Recreation Complex in Penticton, Canada.

In 1982, WhiteWater West acquired WhiteWater Composites. This was followed by the merger with Brookside Engineering in 1985 and Barr & Wray in 1987.

In 2002, WhiteWater acquired Prime Play (now Prime Interactives).[2] Ten years later, in August 2012, WhiteWater West announced the acquisition of Hopkins Rides. The company will continue to operate as Hopkins Rides.[3]

As of 2012, WhiteWater West has completed between 4,000 and 5,000 projects worldwide, currently averaging about 250 per year.[1] Some notable installations include:

Commercial structure

WhiteWater West consists of a water slide and water park product manufacturing arm, with three divisions which manufacture water rides and dry play areas for amusement parks, respectively. The company also has licenses with other companies to market and sell products under the WhiteWater West banner.

Prime Interactives is a division of WhiteWater West which began in 1993.[6] The division began by manufacturing a variety of soft play areas.[6] Prime Play also manufactures former WhiteWater West-branded products including the Spinning Rapids Ride and water coaster.[7][8] The division handles sales of products manufactured by Ropes Courses, Inc., such as ropes courses and zip-lines, in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.[6][9]

Hopkins Rides is WhiteWater West's latest acquisition. The company began in 1962 as a manufacturer of ski lifts before moving into log flumes, water rides, steel roller coasters and ropes courses.[10] Since filing for bankruptcy in 2001, the company simplified its product offering, reverting to solely water ride manufacturing.[11][12]

WhiteWater West currently licenses the AquaLoop looping water slide from Aquarena as well as the FlowRider sheet wave attraction from Wave Loch.[13]

In 2012, Whitewater West acquired the technology for the FlowRider and FlowBarrel sheet wave simulated surfing rides from Wave Loch, its inventor. Previously Whitewater had been the Licensee for worldwide sales of the technology. Aquatic Development Group will continue to market the FlowRider in the U.S.A. and eastern Canada, and Wave Loch will focus on its surf pool and Wave House technologies.[14]

Products

AquaLoop at Wet'n'Wild Water World (WhiteWater West AquaLoop)

Water slides

  • Abyss – a funnel water slide where riders drop from inside a tunnel out into the ride's main element shaped like a funnel on its side. Riders oscillate from one side to the other until they exit through the back of the funnel and into a splash pool.
  • AquaLoop – a looping water slide where riders are released from a trap-door and plummet 17 metres (56 ft) down a near-vertical descent at speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph). Riders experience 2.5 Gs in less than 2 seconds.[15] The whole ride is over within 7 seconds.[16] This product is licensed from Aquarena.
  • Master Blaster – a water coaster where the slide mimics a roller coaster by providing not only descents, but ascents as well. Current WhiteWater West Blasters use water jets to propel riders, however, the company is working on variation which utilises linear induction motors.[1] The Master Blaster features riders in an inline tube.
  • Body Slides – several variations exist in addition to the AquaLoop and Space Bowl mentioned separately. These include open-air Freefalls, enclosed AquaTubes, Speed Slides with several bumps and traditional flumes. AquaLaunch chambers, which feature a trap-door release, can be added to some variations.
  • Boomerangos – a type of half-pipe water slide where riders are sent down a steep drop and up a steep hill on the other side, before sliding backwards down another path to the end of the slide. The standard Boomerango caters for riders in two-person inline tubes while the Family Boomerango caters for riders in larger circular rafts.
  • Bowls – a bowl water slide where riders descend a steep drop into a round bowl which they then circle before exiting the ride. The company manufactures their bowls in a variety of sizes to account for four-person rafts, two-person inline tubes and body slides.
  • Kids' Slides – a variety of smaller slides specifically designed for children and water play areas.
  • Mat Racers – a multi-lane racer water slide where riders dive head-first onto a mat and down a slide with dips and/or enclosed sections.
  • Rafting – a family rafting water slide where riders hop in a circular raft and travel down wide channel to the ground. Some versions feature enclosed sections or different elements. Megatube is a recent innovation by WhiteWater West which allows a smaller water slide to travel through the inside of a larger raft slide. Different versions feature different sized tunnels and elements throughout their slide layout.
  • Tubing – an inner tube water slide where riders board a raft generally seating up to 3 people. The raft then navigates an open or enclosed flume before ceasing in a splash down pool or a runout chute.

Other attractions

  • AquaCourse – a variation on WhiteWater West's subsidiary Prime Play's ropes courses. This attraction is a ropes course which is coupled with water cannons and other water elements to make it more suited to water park installations.
  • AquaPlay – play areas specifically designed for children. They feature a large amount of interactive water elements such as cannons, tipping buckets and waterfalls. These are coupled with a collection of water slides for children.
  • AquaSpray – the individual interactive elements that make up an AquaCourse or AquaPlay area. These include cannons, tipping buckets and waterfalls.
  • AquaTune – a collection of musical instruments where guests can cover holes to manipulate the sound output.
  • FlowRider – a collection of sheet wave simulated surfing attractions invented by Wave Loch and acquired by WhiteWater West in 2012. Includes FlowRider, FlowBarrel, FlowCurl, Wave-in-a-Box and WaveOz.[13][17]
  • Lazy rivers – consists of a shallow pool that flows similarly to a river. Some variations could include waves similar to that found in wave pools.
  • Wave pools – a swimming pool in which there are artificially generated waves.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Luke, Paul (12 August 2012). "White water world". The Province. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "WhiteWater West celebrates 30 years of success in the waterpark industry" (PDF). Interpark. August–September 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  3. ↑ "WhiteWater acquires Hopkins". Park World Magazine: 6. September 2012.
  4. ↑ Coy, Jeff (19 July 2010). "Waterslides, aqua parks - cruise lines compete for families". Global Travel Industry News. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  5. ↑ Sim, Nick (9 September 2010). "Preview: Storm Surge, Thorpe Park's new Spinning Rapids ride for 2011". Theme Park Tourist. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 "Company Profile". Prime Play. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "Spinning Rapids® Ride". Primeplay.com. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  8. ↑ "Water Coaster™". Primeplay.com. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Developing Custom Challenge Courses". Ropes Courses, Inc. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  10. ↑ Slade, Gary (November 1989), "O.D. Hopkins Enjoys Past, Anticipates Bright Future", Inside Track: 2–3
  11. ↑ "O. D. Hopkins Building on the Block". Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  12. ↑ "Hopkins Amusement Park Rides". Hopkins Rides. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  13. 1 2 Whittaker, Beth (9 February 2009). "WhiteWater/Wave Lock in new agreement". Interpark. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  14. ↑ "WhiteWater acquires FlowRider". Amusement Today. 2014-03-07. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  15. ↑ "New attractions for Coast theme parks". Gold Coast Bulletin. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  16. ↑ Stojceska, Milena (17 September 2010). "Wet'n'Wild's new AquaLoop set to thrill". Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  17. ↑ "WhiteWater acquires FlowRider". Amusement Today. 2014-03-07. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
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