Congo Rapids (formerly Roaring Rapids) is a

river rapids ride A river rapids ride (or river rafting ride) is an amusement ride that simulates whitewater rafting. History The river rapids ride concept was proposed by Bill Crandall (general manager of AstroWorld in Houston) and developed by Intamin. AstroW ...

operating at Six Flags Great Adventure in

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New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States. The ride's name is inspired by the

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

located in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

History

Six Flags Astroworld Six Flags AstroWorld, also known simply as AstroWorld, was a seasonally operated amusement park in Houston, Texas. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park was situated between Kirby Drive and Fannin Street, directly south of Interstate 610 (Te ...

and Intamin partnered in 1979 to build the world's first river rapids ride in 1980 called '' Thunder River''. The popularity of Thunder River caused the start of the construction of another rapids ride, ''Roaring Rapids'', at ''Six Flags Great Adventure'' in 1980. It was modeled after the kayak slalom course that was built in West Germany for the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

. It was constructed in place of one of the park's first attractions, ''The Great Train Ride''. After construction, it made its public debut at the park on June 16, 1981. After its debut, ''Roaring Rapids'' at Great Adventure received major modifications to get guests wetter with a safer ride experience. In 1991, Roaring Rapids received a new name, ''Congo Rapids'', with the new theme area ''Adventure Rivers''. Today, the river rapids is located in ''The Pine Barrens'', along with

Nitro Nitro may refer to: Chemistry *Nitrogen, a chemical element and a gas except at very low temperatures, with which many compounds are formed: **Nitro compound, an organic compound containing one or more nitro functional groups, -NO2 **Nitroalkene, ...

Jersey Devil Coaster The Jersey Devil Coaster is a single-rail roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. The roller coaster was built by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC). It is themed to the Jersey Devil, a mythical creat ...

and a kids area: ''Jr. Thrill Seekers''. Congo Rapids operates from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.

Ride

Once the twelve riders strap themselves into one of the twelve boats, the boat leaves the station to a canyon-themed, man-made river. During the ride, there are different objects in the water that disrupt the flow of the water creating rapids in the attraction. Also, the ride features waterfalls at the end of the course of the ride as another way to get riders completely soaked. Once riders go through the course of the ride, the boat will reach to one of the lifts to take the boats back to the station. ''Congo Rapids'' features dual loading stations, where boats can be loaded twice as fast than one loading station.

Incidents

On July 15, 2012, a goose was trapped in the conveyor belt of the ride and would not fly away despite the attempts of the ride's staff; the staff decided to let the ride proceed, thus killing the goose. A goose endangerment protection organization requested that the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...

(USDA) investigate the incident. A Six Flags spokeswoman defended the staff's decision to not endanger passengers' lives by saving the goose, as evacuating the passengers would have involved flushing the rafts into the ride's reservoir and having the riders exit the raft by a rope climb.

Primary sources

*Great Adventure History
''Roaring Rapids''
full of information and facts of Congo Rapids

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Congo Rapids Water rides Water rides manufactured by Intamin Six Flags attractions Six Flags Great Adventure Amusement rides introduced in 1981 River rapids rides 1981 establishments in New Jersey

History

Ride

Incidents

See also

Primary sources

References