Make a Splash at 5 of the Coolest Water Parks

Even if you can’t get wet, these exciting ride videos can help you experience the thrill of visiting some of the nation’s best water parks.

WATER COUNTRY USA

Williamsburg, Virginia

Water Country USA is one of the highest-rated water parks in the U.S. It has dozens of tubes, racers, drop slides and play areas just waiting for you to jump into.

The new Cutback Water Coaster jet-propels you through a maze of slides, tubes, hills and saucers to a splashdown 850 feet away.

The Colossal Curl mega-slide delivers a unique mix of high-adrenaline fun. It kicks off with a monster funnel full of spins and splashes. Then it shoots you down its blue-and-yellow tunnels to rocket high above the park. You’ll end up 550 feet away from your starting point.

RAGING WATERS LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles, California

Your heart pounds as you stand on the starting deck. You face an open-air drop to a seven-story vertical slide. Do you dare take that next step? You’d better. Your friends are right behind you. You step forward and sit down, then free-fall at 26 feet per second. That’s the famous Bombs Away ride, scheduled to open this year.

It’s just one of 18 big attractions at Raging Waters Los Angeles. There are speed slides, a head-first Ragin’ Racer and Dr. Von Dark’s Tunnel of Terror (pitch-black 40-foot drop, anyone?). You can also test your skill and balance on the Lily Pads.

HURRICANE HARBOR

Agawam, Massachusetts

This 40-acre water park is bursting with big pools, lazy rivers and luge-type rides that drop you through a trapdoor into 257 feet of pipe.

Launch into the 40 mph Bonzai Pipelines, brave the Big Kahuna or body-slide down Hurricane Falls.

And who doesn’t want to ride in a Tornado? Climb seven stories up, board your raft and take off down a 132-foot tunnel. Next, drop into a 60-foot-wide funnel. Go full speed ahead as 5,000 gallons of water blast you up and around the walls to finish laughing in the landing pool. Then thrill to over a dozen other wild and wet adventures.

WATER WORLD

Denver, Colorado

Looking for an adrenaline rush? Try the Double Dare tandem racer, Mile-High Flyer water coaster or the Screamin’ Mimi — a dry slide into a pool-skimming finish. Water World has a thundering 33 attractions, with the most wide, natural-style whitewater river rides of any park.

You might even spot a roaring T. rex robot on the Voyage to the Center of the Earth.

Ride your own raft down twists and turns amid a wooded wonderland in the wide-tracked Eagle River. It’s a super-long trip above the park with lots of bank turns and surprises. The park also has standard slides, tube rides and the popular six-story Skyline Speed Slides.

HOLIDAY WORLD & SPLASHIN’ SAFARI

Santa Claus, Indiana

This is the Midwest’s go-to park for water fun.

The wet ’n’ wild Cheetah Chase is the world’s first “launched” water coaster — a liquid-powered toboggan that boosts you up a monster hill — then tosses you down again at 30 feet per second.

There are 19 wet attractions, from the 10-lane Jungle Racer slide to a huge Bahari Wave Pool. Brave the eight-story Zinga half-pipe ride or shoot the rapids in the fan-favorite Bakuli rafting adventure with its dizzying spiral finale.