Aqua Twist is a water-based

teacups Teacups, or spinning teacups, is a type of amusement ride characterized by teacup-shaped spinning vehicles atop a turntable-like floor, which may also spin. Design Typically, each set of six teacups has a center bearing mounted underneath, ...

ride located at La Ronde in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Designed by

Mack Rides Mack Rides GmbH & Co KG, also known simply as Mack Rides, is a German company that designs and constructs amusement rides, based in Waldkirch, Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Ge ...

, the Twist 'n' Splash model opened at La Ronde on June 1, 2013. The following season, two additional installations opened at

Six Flags St. Louis Six Flags St. Louis, originally known as Six Flags Over Mid-America, is an amusement park in Eureka, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Owned and operated by Six Flags, it has eight themed areas with attractions, dining, and live entertainment, ...

and

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (formerly known as Six Flags Marine World, Marine World, The New Marine World Theme Park, and Marine World Africa USA) is a 135-acre (55 ha) animal theme park located in Vallejo, California, off of Interstate 80 i ...

under the name Tsunami Soaker. Both were permanently removed in the early 2020s.

History

On August 30, 2012, La Ronde's owner

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It was formed on July 2, 2024, following a merger between longtime rivals Cedar Fair and the former Six Flags ...

announced that they would be adding ''Aqua Twist'' to the park in 2013. On June 1, 2013, the attraction officially opened to the public, making La Ronde the first amusement park in North America to install a ride of its kind. On June 28, 2013, Six Flags filed for a trademark with the

United States Patents and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

for the name Aqua Twist, leading to speculation that the company has plans for future installations at its other parks in the United States. On August 29, 2013, Six Flags officially announced the ride would be installed at

and

for the 2014 season under the name Tsunami Soaker. Tsunami Soaker at Six Flags St. Louis was the first to open in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on May 24, 2014, replacing the Powder Keg (also known as Hannibarrels) ride that had sat idle since 1997. A week later, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom open their new Tsunami Soaker on May 31, 2014, which is located at the former location of Wave Jumper located next to the wooden roller coaster,

Roar A roar is a type of animal vocalization that is loud, deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of ...

. In 2016, Six Flags renovated Roar at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and reopened it as

The Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, the character first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book ''Batman (comic book), Batman'' on ...

, which led to the re-theme of Tsunami Soaker to The Penguin Ride, themed after the

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

villain

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

to fit the theme of the area of where the ride is located.

Installations

Ride experience

Riders board one of the nine boats. Before the ride's operational cycle begins the floor under the boats get filled with water, resulting in the boats floating. Once the ride begins the boats rotate like a traditional

attraction from an amusement park. There are six

water gun A water gun (or water pistol, water blaster, or squirt gun) is a type of toy gun designed to shoot jets of water. Similar to water balloons, the primary purpose of the toy is to soak another person in a recreational game such as a water figh ...

s that are equipped onto the boats as a way to splash other riders and bystanders. The ride operates with nine boats that feature six seats each, resulting in 54 riders per cycle.

References

External links

Ride details on La Ronde's website

{{Batman amusement rides and stunt shows Amusement rides introduced in 2013 La Ronde (amusement park) Six Flags attractions Water rides Water rides manufactured by Mack Rides