Proslide Technology

ProSlide Technology, Inc. is a Canadian designer and manufacturer of water rides and water park resorts. They design and manufacture both traditional slides and innovative rides such as water coasters, funnel-shaped Tornado slides, and Bowl slides. ProSlide has received attention for being the first water slide manufacturer to build a water slide using linear induction motors and for designing the Mammoth watercoaster which was named the world's longest watercoaster by ''Guinness World Records'' in 2016. Since 1986, ProSlide has developed and designed water rides for water parks in over 40 countries around the world.

Models

Proslide makes a number of different model lines, some in different sizes. The ones in different sizes have names which are the name of the model, followed by a number, indicating the size. Their slide models are:
*Tornado-18, 24, 32, 45 & 60. This consists of a main funnel that riders enter on a raft. This is, as Rick Hunter (president & CEO) says, “a serpentine in run, then we have a funnel experience, then we have a serpentine out run.”
*TornadoWave-45, 60, double TornadoWave 60 & SwitchBack. This model has a raft go down a drop, and up into a large wall, where it falls back and continues along its course.
*Bowl-ProBowl 30, CannonBowl 30 & 40 & BehemothBowl 40 & 60. These have a large bowl which the riders spiral in, before they lose speed and fall into a hole in the middle. The ProBowl is a body slide, and riders exit the bowl through a flat hole in the bottom, where they fall into a deep pool. The Cannon and BehemothBowls are raft slides, so their holes are angled to the side, so the raft can only exit in one direction.
*FlyingSaucer-20, 30, 45 & 60. These consist of large slalom turns which have a large disk in the centre. The theory behind this is the disks will make riders look towards the exit, giving a more interesting experience.
*Water Coaster-HydroMagnetic Rocket, HydroMagnetic Mammoth, RocketBlast, Dueling RocketBlast, Launched Dueling RocketBlast & MammothBlast. These use a method to propel rafts up an incline, after they have either gone down a drop roughly the same height as the incline, or a flat launch section, as to build up speed, as the mechanism that propels the raft only maintains the speed when on an incline. The two methods for propelling the raft is either by using powerful jets that pump water at the raft, pushing it. These can be found on the slides that end with “Blast”, and currently, this is the only method to use a launch, on the Launched Duelling RocketBlast. The other method is found on the slides starting with “HydroMagnetic”, and as the name suggests, it uses magnets underneath the slide to propel magnets underneath the rafts. The magnets are arranged and programmed as “LIMs”, or Linear Induction Motors, like on some rollercoasters. The two main types of raft used are depending on the name of the type of slide. If it has “Rocket” in it, the rafts will have linear seating, with riders in front of each other and all facing forwards, but if it has “Mammoth” in it, then the rafts will be circular, with passengers facing each other.
*Speed Slide-SkyBox, SuperLoop, FreeFall, MultiBump & TurboMammoth. These are in a way faster and usually not as long versions of serpentine slides, and all but the TurboMammoth being body slides. The MultiBump and TurboMammoth usually have the same layout, except the TurboMammoth has round rafts, and the MultiBump, like all other speed slides, is a body slide. The SkyBox is a large box with a transparent trapdoor as the floor, and opens to drop guests into either a FreeFall or SuperLoop, which it can be combined with.
*Serpentine-Twister, Pipeline, Dueling Pipeline & Mammoth. These are what most people think of when they think of slides, as Serpentine slides just consist of one long tube.
*Racer-ProRacer, KrakenRacer, OctopusRacer & RallyRacer. These consist of sections of open slides beside each other, with helixes in between.
*PowerRiver-Similar to a Mammoth, however the slide is more similar to a standard rapids style ride.
*WaterKingdom:
**Kidz Rides-These are smaller versions of other slide models, with the name of slide it is based on coming after the word ‘Kidz’. These slides are:
***Twister
***Pipeline
***ProRacer
***OctopusRacer
***RallyRacer
***Wave-Smaller version of TornadoWave
***Bowl
***Tornado 12
**RideHouse
There are also Hybrid slides, which consist of more than one type of slide. For example, Kinnaree at Siam Park is a Hybrid slide of a Tornado 24 and a TornadoWave 60.

History

Corporate history

After being a member of Canada’s alpine skiing team from 1969 to 1974, Richard D. Hunter founded ProSlide Technology Inc. in 1986. In 1990, Hunter purchased Mont Cascades, a ski area and waterpark in Quebec. Mont Cascades has since served as a research and development area where Proslide tests new ride ideas.

In 2007, ProSlide purchased a 100-acre plot of land in Ottawa where it began development of the Alottawata waterpark. The park was expected to open in the summer of 2019 and would have served in part as a research and development center for the company. In August 2018, however, the park was put on indefinite hold. The land the company purchased for the waterpark was then sold by ProSlide in July 2023.

Attraction history

ProSlide debuted three types of water slides in 1987, Twisters, Kidz, and Plummets, which are all types of body flumes. The first Twisters opened at Mont Saint-Sauveur in Quebec and Adventure World Theme Park (now known as Six Flags America, United States; both parks opened 4 Twisters that year. Plummets consist of a vertical drop only, followed by a long, flat segment to help riders decelerate. The first Plummets opened at Aquapar Magog in Quebec and Six Flags America

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