Slide words
The words you hear at the top of the tower and in the pump room.Words that slide builders and lifeguards use.
Flume
The long channel you slide down. It's the slide's "track".The channel the rider travels in. ASTM F2376 lists it alongside the water-circulation system, start platform, supports, vehicles and termination system as the core parts of a slide.
Dispatch
When the lifeguard at the top says GO. Only one rider at a time!The platform or shallow pool where an attendant releases each rider once the slide is clear. Waterfun Products patented "Flash Flood", which stores water in the start tub for a harder launch.
Run-out
The long flat bit at the bottom of a speed slide that slows you down.The long flat bit at the bottom of a speed slide that slows you down.
Splash pool
The pool you land in at the end. Also called a catch pool or plunge pool.The pool at the flume exit. Insano's is 1.70 m deep. A "zero-entry" exit uses a beach-style ramp instead.
Conveyor
A moving belt that carries tubes back up to the top, or lifts rafts up a hill.A belt that returns tubes and rafts to the tower, or lifts them up hills on a conveyor water coaster.
Pump room
A hidden room full of huge pumps that push water to the top of every slide, then clean it and send it round again.Pumps, filters and chlorination. Slide water is recirculated from the catch pool back to the top; big raft rides and Blasters need far more flow than a body slide's 20-60 m³/h.
Fibreglass
What most slides are made of: glass threads mixed with a kind of plastic glue. Light, strong and smooth.What most slides are made of: glass threads mixed with a kind of plastic glue. Light, strong and smooth.
Gelcoat
The shiny, colourful skin on a fibreglass slide. It's the part you actually slide on.The pigmented, UV-resistant resin skin sprayed into the mould first. It becomes the slick riding surface and the colour you see.
Blaster
A water jet that pushes you uphill on a water coaster.Industry shorthand for a water-jet uphill section, after the Master Blaster.
Throughput
How many people can ride in an hour. A racer: hundreds. A tall speed slide: about 180.Riders per hour. A Wiegand Kamikaze dispatches about 180; a SlideWheel about 480; a six-lane mat racer far more.
Tower height vs slide height
The tower is the building with the stairs. The slide height is how far you actually fall. Record-keepers only count the slide!The tower is the structure; slide height is the vertical fall from the start. Guinness measures the latter. Meryal's Icon Tower is 85 m; its record slide 76.3 m.
Lifeguard
The person in red who watches the pool and tells you when it's safe to go.The person in red who watches the pool and tells you when it's safe to go.
Raft
A big round inflatable boat for 4-6 people.A big round inflatable boat for 4-6 people.
Tube
A rubber ring for one or two people.A rubber ring for one or two people.
Mat
A foam mat you lie on head-first on a racer.A foam mat you lie on head-first on a racer.
SBNO
"Standing But Not Operating": a slide that is still there but closed.Standing but not operating. Enthusiast term for a closed ride still in place, e.g. Deluge at Kentucky Kingdom since 2021.