Amusement Park News

Soaky Mountain Waterpark, located in Sevierville, Tenn. is getting wetter than ever for the 2025 season. The park is currently in the process of building Rafter's Rage, an exciting new water slide from manufacturer WhiteWater.

The ride is both tall and fast. Guests will board a six-seater raft that launches from approximately eight stories high and can hit a top speed of 19 miles per hour. The 825-foot-long slide is something special for the park, another adventurous first for the water park.


Park general manager Dave Andrews says he believes that Rafter's Rage should be a big hit for the park. He describes the new ride as unique among water slides, which typically feature steep drops and high banked turns. “Rafter's Rage will be different than most water slides with high banking turns and steep drops because instead it will feature four artfully crafted arcs that rafts will laterally accelerate over sideways,” he noted in a press release from the park.

“This thrilling drifting experience, a world's first for a water slide, will extend a rider's zero G feeling, making it an incredible attraction,” Andrews continued.

Rafter's Rage will “feature four artfully crafted arcs that rafts will laterally accelerate over sideways,” he says. The effect creates a true thrill, a “drifting experience.” Andrews notes that the slide is designed to make riders zero-G sensation last longer. He describes the ride as “an incredible attraction,” and the drifting experience “a world's first for a water slide.”

With completion expected by the start of the park's 2025 season next May, the ride will be placed adjacent to the park's Avalaunch water coaster and just behind the Black Bear Rapids Adventure River.
 
With the new ride set for next season, Soaky Mountain is continuing its commitment to create fresh, original water park experiences for its guests. This year, besides opening the innovative Edge dueling water coaster, the park offered live music throughout the summer, and provided new food truck dining options with cheesy, meaty Philly Nachos, and tropical snow cones for beating the summer heat.

Along with the one-of-a-kind rides the park prides itself in offering, the setting of the park itself is another strong draw for guests, offering modern park amenities in a serene mountain setting. Open from mid-May to Labor Day daily, and on weekends through September, the park first opened in June 2020. A bright new spot of fun during the height of the pandemic, Soaky Mountain just celebrated its fourth season in the Wilderness at the Smokies waterpark family of attractions. The park has already begun selling 2025 season passes starting at $99.99.



Among Soaky Mountain's current roster of attractions are two different water coasters, an adventure river, and a large-scale wave pool. Also on offer is an obstacle course, a relaxing flat-water pool, and cabanas. The FlowRider stationary wave simulator is another popular attraction, and also in the mix is the little kids' area at the 50-acre park. The new Rafter's Rage will be the latest of the park's three recent new additions. Dueling water coaster the Edge was new this season, with a three-story drop, kaleidoscopic colored tunnels, a series of uphill blasts, and a zero-G hump. The park's "Boomerango" attraction opened in 2022.

“Our Edge water coaster, which was the first of its kind in the world, has been such a hit we've decided to follow it up with Rafter's Rage, another first-of-its-kind attraction,” Andrews added.

Just across from Soaky Mountain's outdoor water park fun, the water park design, manufacturing, and construction company Aquatic Development Group has expanded at the Smokies Resort, which offers both indoor and outdoor water play areas. The new expansion opened just in time to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Wild WaterDome indoor park last December. That addition came close to doubling the Wild WaterDome's capacity.

ADG followed Wilderness at the Smokies dictate to take a highly creative approach in order to transform part of the park's indoor/outdoor pool area into a hot spa, with a large-scale activity pool that included a basketball hoop with three sides in the middle of the area, and additional seating. The resultant expansion brought over 500 extra seats for visitors, and additionally also brought in nine cabanas available to rent.

Aquatic Development Group also collaborated with Wilderness Development Corp. on Soaky Mountain itself, which when it opened in 2020, stood alone as the only new waterpark construction in North America that was completed and actually opened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ADG president Jim Dunn asserts that “We were thrilled for the opportunity to once again collaborate with Wilderness Resorts for…exciting and creative waterpark expansion. We love working with longtime clients who trust our ability to be innovative in design, while still meeting their needs.”