Raging Rapids at Holiday World has been in operation since 1990. This is the park’s River Rapids Ride. Raging Rapids was a decent try to modernize this ride experience. We think they mostly missed the mark. Still, if you have a big group looking to cool off this might still do the trick.
Raging Rapids Rider Experience
Raging Rapids can be ridden by anyone who is 36 inches as long as they are accompanied by an adult. Each boat will fit up to 8 people. A seatbelt will keep you safe while going down the rapids.
Once the attendant has checked all are safe, they will release your boat into the rapids. First up is a tunnel section which is kept really cool. You get some decent speed going in the tunnel. Out into the sunlight, your boat makes a right turn into some small rapids. Then the boat will go to the left in a themed part of the ride. Your boat will travel through what looks like an old west town. Anyone not wet yet is about to be. Here there is a bunch of water cannons to get you. If that doesn’t work then your boat will go under a stream. Basically, no one leaves completely dry.
From there the ride is mostly over. Once your boat is back into the station wait for the ride op to let you know it is safe to unbuckle. Now you are able to exit the ride safely.
Raging Rapids: The Good
The boats do pick up a decent amount of speed in parts. When this was built in 1990 that would have been pretty new to this type of ride. Yet it is the old west town finale that is our favorite. While this section didn’t save it from being a ride we were disappointed in, it did salvage some of it.
The Bad
The River Rapids Rides are a staple of theme parks. We feel that this one is stuck in the middle. Before you had rides like Thunder River at Six Flags St. Louis. Which had bigger boats but doesn’t go very fast and never takes any tight turns but has really big waves. Then you have much later rides like Mystic River Falls at Silver Dollar City. Which has these smaller boats but feels out of control with great speed and big waves. Raging Rapids is somewhere in the middle of those two. To be blunt, in the boring middle of those two. It never builds up great speed, spin, or waves.
The single seating we are also not happy with. You want to at least sit together. Especially when you come with kids. Possibly this was done to make sure that weight got more evenly distributed across the boat. Whatever the reason we are not a fan of it.
Final Verdict
With Raging Rapids, Holiday World was trying to make a modern River Rapids Ride. We feel instead they just made a boring one. However, it isn’t like you will have a bad time. But we think that just like with Frightful Falls that Holiday World struck out on their water rides. Because of these reasons, Raging Rapids gets a 4 out of 10.
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