Water World

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This article is about Water World, the water park. For the 1995 science fiction film, see Waterworld.

Water World is a water park that is part of the Hyland Hills Park and Recreation District and located in Federal Heights, Colorado, roughly 10 miles north of downtown Denver, Colorado. The park first opened in 1979 and is generally open from late May through Labor Day (early September).

The park occupies 64 acres (259,000 m²) and, as of the 2004 season, has 42 attractions including a multitude of water slides (three of them are almost vertical, making them the most popular), a "lazy river" (a circular artificial river with a slow moving current), a pitch black inflatable raft slide, inflatable tube rides, multi-passenger inflatable raft rides, and a water-themed fun house. The park has two wave pools which include Captain Jack's Wave Pool, and most notably the Thunder Bay wave pool, which shocks park guests with a single giant wall of water approximately every ten minutes.

The park's trademark attraction is a very unique raft water slide that takes place completly inside. It's called "Voyage to the Center of the Earth", and riders ride in small circular multi passenger inflatable rafts, and travel through an artificial cavern. It is themed to a newly discovered cave that reportedly has creatures from the prehistoric era still inhabiting it. It includes steep downward spirals, sudden drop offs, and various dinosaurs, including a T-rex encounter at the end of the ride. The ride is extremly unique for a water park attraction, in its extensive theming, and in that it can take in excess of 5 minutes to complete, making it one of the longest rides at any waterpark. Some footage of the ride can be viewed on the park's website.[1]

The park is in a 2006 list of the top 10 water parks in the United States, placed at number 7.[2]