A fun four lane 40ft waterslide for all the family.


Location:

Then – Fantasy Reef

Now – Neptune’s Kingdom


Official Thorpe Park Description:

From the 1991 park map “NEW attraction this year – ‘Depth Charge’, the first four lane waterslide in the UK situated in a newly themed area – ‘FANTASY REEF’.”

From the 1992 park map “Depth Charge by name – explosive by nature!! It’s one of the most breathtaking slides in Europe. In an inflatable raft you’ll plummet down over 40 feet into a water splash below – with the emphasis strongly on splash!”

From the 1995 park map “Take a deep breath, take the plunge on an inflatable raft down a 40 foot waterslide.”

From the 1997 Thorpe Park website “A ride unique to Thorpe Park and the centre piece of Fantasy Reef. Hurtle down a 40 ft water chute in inflatable rafts into the wet water splash below.”

From the 2010 THORPE PARK website “Make Depth Charge, THORPE PARK’s four-lane super slide, your first stop for the day and race your mates to decide who is the ruler of the sea.” “Take the 40-foot plunge on your yellow inflatable and brace yourself for the wet look!”


The Ride:

Depth Charge opened in 1991, in a new park area called Fantasy Reef (now Neptune’s Kingdom) and was well themed to fit in with this area including a large orange submarine sat on top of the ride’s launching area. The ride was manufactured by NV Aquatic from Belgium and was heavily advertised as the big new attraction for 1991.

Depth Charge is a large four lane water slide that you can race your friends down riding in yellow inflatable rafts/ dinghies.

The queue line for the ride is on a series of metal stairs that zigzag upwards in between the supports holding up the ride station. When you reach the top of the queue line there are four loading areas that each have bright yellow inflatable rafts in them. The rafts can sit up to two people with either two children or one adult and a child in them. However riders over a certain height have to sit one to each raft.

Once all the riders are ready to go, the ride operator then raises the loading areas so they tilt forward and send the rafts racing to the bottom. Then there are two small bumps and an On-Ride Photo on your way back to the ground. On your decent you will get sprayed by the water travelling down the slide with you.

The speed of your raft seems to depend on the weight of the riders and on which lane you are sitting in, as some seem to launch quicker than others.

If you have a heavy... raft you will skid for longer on the landing area at the bottom of the slide. Some rafts can sometimes send their riders skidding all the way in to the safety barriers at the end of the landing area.



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