As you travel down the water slide, pound on one of many padded triggers along the walls. These triggers are responsible for switching the track ahead, sending you down a different path.

Update [Mar 11 2007]: Originally titled "Turnout Water Slide." I have renamed this in the hopes that my idea will be judged on its absurdity and not on some obscure UK homonym not found in Webster's, the American Heritage, WordNet, or the Oxford English Dictionaries. I apologize if I have offended anyone.
-- spiraliii, Mar 11 2007

May I enlighten you to the UK euphemism of "Having a Turnout"?. I'm not sure I would like to combine the two!.
-- gnomethang, Mar 11 2007


Could you enlighten me, [gnomet]? I've never come across it as an expression, except in the context of elections or other events ("They had a 59% turnout at the polls"). For what is it a euphemism?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 11 2007


'Having a Turnout' is a euphemism for having a crap.
-- gnomethang, Mar 11 2007


I've seen some waterslides that'd make me have a crap, so what's the problem? Just outfit riders with Depends and let them have at the turnouts!
-- Canuck, Mar 11 2007


//Having a Turnout' is a euphemism for having a crap.// Well, one learns something every day.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 11 2007


Yes, this is a much less crappy idea.
-- shapu, Mar 12 2007


I would pay to shoot down one of these.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 12 2007


'scuse me - back in a mo. I've just gotta go choose me a path.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 12 2007


Sounds suspenseful. Who knows where you'll turn up! +
-- Machiavelli, Mar 12 2007


I love slides but don't know what to do after the third or fourth time. This would allow lots of variation.

Could link slides so that your switch affects other sliders. Make a competitive sport out of it.
-- TheLightsAreOnBut, Mar 12 2007


How about just a chute that splits left and right with no moving parts? Build it sort of level, so folks aren't going too fast, and make the channel divider start gradually. Riders can then push off the side wall to pick their path.
-- baconbrain, Mar 12 2007


You'd also have to be careful that riders cannot accidently switch from the novice slide to The Terminator Drop Of Doom or you'll have a bunch of five-year-olds crapping themselves.

MaxwellB, choose wisely, grasshopper.

Machiavelli, if the gates caused a spatial displacement you could start down a water slide in California and end up in Malaysia. Quite the hike back to where you left your towel!

bacon, people who have difficulty making decisions would constantly be jamming up the ride, screaming in excruciating pain.
-- Canuck, Mar 12 2007


Some splits could take the form of holes in the floor of the pipe -- travel fast enough and you'll clear the hole but more slowly if you want to try the new path.
-- phundug, Mar 12 2007


Gotta agree with the Masked Canadian on this one, [BB].

//a chute that splits left and right// sounds like a recipe for testicular cleavage. Or whatever the equally unappetising female version may be.

But [spiraliii]... (+) And I don't care how it works. It sound like a whole chute-load of fun.
-- m_Al_com, Mar 13 2007


I think [Bacon]'s idea would work - you have to imagine the channel divider rising very gradually, perhaps over about 20 metres of slide. There should also be a hard-to-get-to slide which ends up on a conveyer belt which takes you back to the top again.
-- hippo, Mar 13 2007


so, like the Panama Canal then?

+ here's a bun cuz I learned somthing new, too.
-- xandram, Mar 13 2007


Thanks, [hippo], that's what I meant, and what I assumed people would assume. It might be good to run a jet of water down the divider, counter to the main flow, just to keep it lubed and to push people aside.

Alternately, and as well, send people into the switching area and blast them to the desired side with jets of water. Look up "fluid logic" if you want some control tips.

I would very much like to ride a waterslide that offered a choice of paths, but I don't see anything in the original idea as to how to switch the track. Mechanical junctions are complicated and dangerous, but that's what seems to be proposed here. [ ]
-- baconbrain, Mar 13 2007


You could have intermediate pools with one or more entrances and at least two exits. Sometimes chance decides which way you go, sometimes you get lucky and can push off the wall or walk on the bottom of the intermediate pool or something.

I used to work as a lifeguard in a waterslide park and we had a slide that had intermediate pools, but only one entrance and exit for each. You rode a rubber ring down it so the intermediate pools were like bumper-cars, but these wouldn't be necessary in the multi-exit embodiment.

bun for the fun
-- blackbeltpatentattorney, Mar 13 2007


"the channel divider start gradually"

See, when I read that I read it as "very sharp". Gradually rising from the floor makes much more sense.
-- GutPunchLullabies, Mar 13 2007


Great idea! I propose computer & sensor directed jets of water just before the junctions, along the path - the water & rider flow could be easily directed according to his hastily but clearly set options. Talking about pros - by using controlled jets one can also achieve acceleration by activating forward directed jets along the track.
-- sweet, Mar 13 2007


Ohohoho... oho... oho... what a legend you are!!!
-- crash, Jul 17 2010



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