To the disgust of my child, I am no fan of water rides--not talking "water park" here, I pretty much totally hate those--just water rides in general-- (no matter how hard I try, I simply can't figure out the whole walking around with a wet as% bit--please note, I am also not into walking around in a bathing suit (!)...I mean, what is the preferred procedure? do you do ride them at the beginning so you "have a chance to dry off"? pay for a walk-in dryer thingy? ride them at the end so you don't have to walk around miserably for very long? bring a change of clothes and pay for a locker? can you manage to stuff everyone's clothes into a small locker? are you supposed to bring extra shoes too? I know! I'll spend $200 and get an outfit made of quick-dry "technical" fabrics!)....but "Shoot the Rapids" is at least more interesting than most of its genre. I know they are good rides for families...well, actually, they are good for KIDS, not necessarily parents...
Actually, the only water ride in recent memory that I have enjoyed at all is the Popeye river raft thing at IOA. (And, unfortunately, I have been on every river raft ride in every theme park that I have visited that has one
) 1.) they have a covered thing in the middle of the raft to keep belongings dry, 2.) the loading platform is moving so the loading and unloading is faster, and 3.) it's got better "rapids" and "waterfalls" than most of those things, and lots of theming that keeps it vaguely interesting. Vaguely.
P.S. Edited to say- I am a little annoyed by the "hillbilly" banjo music--that should be OURS!! or maybe Kings Dominion...but Ohio? Maybe I'm missing something. Did they do the hillbilly/moonshine thing up there? I'm not researching it.
