Most Thrilling Slides at Orlando’s Water Parks

With warm temperatures throughout most of the year in Florida, there’s no better spot for cooling off than at the water parks in Orlando. You’ll find every kind of water slide, wave pool or lazy river at these parks, all of which have incredible theming and offer a great family day out.

For those that love the thrills, Orlando’s water parks offer some of the most thrilling water slides in the country. We’ve listed some of the top water slides below, helping you decide which water park to visit on your villa holiday in Orlando.

Free Fall Body Slides

Summit Plummet at Blizzard Beach (Disney World)

As you arrive at Blizzard Beach at Disney World, this drop slide can’t be missed; looks like a very tall and crazy ski jump. Plunge 120ft almost straight down on one of the tallest, fastest free fall body slides.

If you’re not quite ready for the sheer drop of Summit Plummet, you can start your training on Slush Gusher, which is a smaller version of the water slide at 90ft tall and also features less of a drop.

Ihu’s Breakaway Falls at Aquatica (SeaWorld)

Ihu's Breakaway Falls was the first trap-door drop slide to be built in Orlando and is the steepest multi-drop tower of its kind in the area. Once you’ve climbed to the top choose from one of three clear ‘breakaway boxes’, where you will face the other riders - not knowing who will drop first. There’s a fourth, open-air water slide, which is the steepest of the four. Each of the slides offers a wild ride, but are you brave enough to ride each one?

Aquatica Orlando has recently been named as Best Outdoor Water Park in the USA for 2021, voted for by USA TODAY readers, so it’s no surprise one of the rides from this park is on the list of thrilling slides.

Ko’okiri Body Plunge at Volcano Bay (Universal Orlando)

Take the plunge from the top of the volcano with a nearly vertical drop. This water slide at Volcano Bay is 125ft high and features a 70-degree fall through a drop door.

Kala & Tai Nui Serpentine Body Slides at Volcano Bay (Universal Orlando)

These water slides are a longer version of the Ko’okiri Body Plunge, with the green Tai Nui slide often known as the most intense ride in the park! It features two slides one green (Tai Nui) and one blue (Kala), which drop simultaneously down clear, intertwining tubes from within the Volcano.

Live Streaming at Island H20 Live!

Live Streaming is one of the biggest thrills at Island H20 water park, with its 360-degree loop and 326ft of heart-rending fun. This slide provides thrills for a lifetime, as it is also a video-embedded water slide, so you can take home a video recording of your extraordinary experience.

Vertical Wall Thrills

Karekare Curl at Aquatica (SeaWorld)

The vertical wave wall on Karekare Curl offers plenty of thrills with its gravity-defying sensation of weightlessness.

On this ride you have to ride as two, so partner up or make a new friend. An advantage to being in a heavier duo, is the more you weigh, the higher you will go up the wall! Riders sit beside each other, which offers more chance of spinning around and providing ultimate thrills.

Hashtag Heights at Island H20 Live!

At 494ft in length this is a water slide that is full of excitement, which you get to experience with up to 5 other riders. This raft ride takes you to new heights where you feel weightless for a moment in time. After a big drop, riders are thrown up a large incline, called the boomerang, before heading into the splash zone.

Water Coaster Slides

Crush 'n' Gusher at Typhoon Lagoon (Disney World)

This water slide is one of the park’s signature attractions, which transports riders down sudden drops and snaking around sharp turns through a mixture of darkened and open sections. Your raft is propelled by powerful water jets, giving you more speed through this wild ride. Crush ’n’ Gusher offers three different chutes to choose from called Pineapple Plunger, Coconut Crusher or Banana Blaster, so there are triple the thrills at Typhoon Lagoon at Disney World.

Krakatau Aqua Coaster at Volcano Bay (Universal Orlando)

Hop onto a 4 person canoe for a water coaster adventure around Volcano Bay. Krakatau sends riders through dark twists and turns through the Volcano, launching uphill, as well as shooting downhill, before being sent plunging through a waterfall.

Linear induction motors are used on this water slide to propel the canoes up hill quickly, which is the same technology that many roller coasters use for their launches including Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios.

Follow Me Falls at Island H20 Live!

Follow Me Falls is one of the most exciting attractions at the park, as it is not just a water coaster, but also features a vertical wall for double the thrills. This is a ride for two people and begins with a fast, steep drop, until you slide over water jets shooting riders back up a hill and flowing around to another drop to be launched up a vertical wall, where you will experience a moment of weightlessness.

Family Raft Adventures

Honu of the Honu ika Moana at Volcano Bay (Universal Orlando)

Take a ride on the wild side with this twisting, turning, multi-passenger raft ride. Honu takes you speeding through an open flume and up two massive walls, similar to that on Karekare Curl at Aquatica.

Puihi Round Raft Rides at Volcano Bay (Universal Orlando)

This is one of the more unique slides at Volcano Bay and isn’t for the faint hearted. It’s a multi-person rafting adventure which careens through a dark, winding cavern. Suddenly, you feel the stomach-flipping thrill of zero-gravity hang time as you explode out into the far side of an immense funnel, then splash your way to safety at the bottom.

Ray Rush at Aquatica (SeaWorld)

There are three ways to slide on this rafting adventure, the only attraction of its kind in Florida. The ride begins with water jets launching the raft at a rate of 33ft per second through an enclosed tube, before swirling you into an enormous sphere, spinning you around the walls. The water then glides you towards another drop into the final section; an open-air halfpipe shaped like the curved wings of a manta ray.

In Orlando you’ll not only find thrills at the theme parks, but at the water parks too, as well as the added bonus of cooling off in the Florida heat. All of these slides are located at water parks in Orlando, which are only around 20 - 30 minutes from our villas in Kissimmee and Davenport.

Image credits: Universal Orlando Resort, Walt Disney World, SeaWorld Parks and Sunset Walk (Island H20 Live)