Wild Adventures has a very rare water rapids ride, Tasmanian River Rapids, made by German manufacturer HAFEMA. In fact it’s the only one of its type in North America and one of only two in the Western Hemisphere. On top of that, did you know that Wild Adventures Tasmanian River Rapids uses the same HAFEMA “Wild Raft Rides” system as Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure at Universal Studios Singapore? Even more surprising is that HAFEMA Wild Raft Ride with a Minions theme is coming to Universal Kids Resort in Frisco, Texas later this year! The ride experience itself of Wild Adventure’s Tasmanian River Rapids packs some surprises too, but we’ll put a spoiler warning before we get to them. There are of course other manufacturers and iterations of a river raft ride, but the version at Wild Adventures is installed at some major international parks including Phantasialand and Universal Studios Singapore. HAFEMA originally served as an Intamin supplier before becoming independent in 1990, hence any similarities you see with their rides and older Intamin river rapids rides.

In a traditional roller coaster the lift hill is the source of energy to power the train throughout the course. This is essentially the conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy. The lift hill builds anticipation for the ride to come and is also vital to making the more often written about aspects of a roller coaster possible. This article will be part trigonometry and part physics to help describe this overlooked part of one of the world’s best roller coasters.