A Looping Waterslide Actually Existed…But Not For Long

A true looping waterslide seems like a myth. A slide couldn’t possibly completely flip riders without injuring them or leaving them overcome by fear, right? Well, things were a little different in the ’80s at Action Park in New Jersey. The Concourse writes that the water park’s “Cannonball Loop” ride has been talked about like it’s an urban legend for years, but video surfaced a couple of years ago from a channel called My 1980’s Action Park Channel – Vernon, New Jersey that confirms the waterslide was, in fact, a reality.

The Concourse says the slide was present for a much longer amount of time than it was open. It only opened up for one summer in 1985 and was shut down due to numerous injuries cited by the New Jersey Carnival Amusement Ride Safety Advisory Board.

On the Theme Park Review message board, a poster claims to be one of the first people to ride the terrifying slide when he worked at Action Park. He said you couldn’t be wearing anything that could snag the sides of the slide, you had to fit the weight limit, and you needed to be hosed down with water before entering the pitch black slide.

“The speed was terrifying and I had no idea as to when I was going to hit the bottom. Well my speed kept on increasing then……WHAM! I HIT BOTTOM! Yup, you definately know when you are about to go thru the loop, because your head becomes the tail end of a whip and smashes into bottom of the loop. Your speed is soo great that you have no problem making it up the front side of the loop,” baclueless wrote.

In the video below starting around the 8:18 mark, you can see the looping waterslide in action via old videotape.