Perilous Plunge was a

shoot-the-Chutes Shoot the Chute is an amusement ride consisting of a flat-bottomed boat that slides down a ramp or inside a flume into a lagoon. Unlike a log flume or super flume, which generally seats up to eight passengers, a modern-day Shoot the Chute ride ge ...

style attraction located at

Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park located in Buena Park, California, owned and operated by Cedar Fair. In 2015, it was the twelfth-most-visited theme park in North America and averages approximately 4 million visitors per year. It features 40 ...

Buena Park Buena Park (''Buena'', Spanish for "Good") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census its population was 84,034. It is the location of several tourist attractions, namely Knott's Berry Farm. It is about 12 m ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The ride opened on September 15, 2000, and closed on September 3, 2012.

History

On August 12, 1999, Knott's Berry Farm announced that they would be adding Perilous Plunge. It would be the world's tallest water ride, surpassing Tidal Force at

Hersheypark Hersheypark (known as Hershey Park until 1970) is a family theme park located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about east of Harrisburg, and west of Philadelphia. The park was founded in 1906 by Milton S. Hershey as a leisure park for the employees of ...

. The ride would be located in the Boardwalk section. Construction of Perilous Plunge began in November 1999 when a construction wall was erected from Hammerhead to Coasters Diner and the entrance to

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning ...

. During the construction progress, the walkway was moved closer to the coaster. Perilous Plunge would also replace the HeadAche ride. Perilous Plunge was originally planned to open in July 2000, but the opening was delayed due to technical issues. The new attraction had required an extensive amount of tweaks, which forced the park to push back the opening. On September 15, 2000, Perilous Plunge officially opened to guests. On August 13, 2012, Knott's Berry Farm announced that Perilous Plunge would be closing for good on September 3, 2012, in order to make way for a new attraction. The ride has been replaced by three new rides: Coast Rider, Surfside Gliders and Pacific Scrambler, which all opened in 2013.

Ride experience

The attraction was based on the pleasure piers of the past along Southern California's famed beaches such as

Huntington Beach Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...

. 24-passenger boats were towed to a height of where a brief U-turn was taken before a world record water chute into a 650,000-gallon "splashdown" lagoon.

Records

Perilous Plunge made its debut as the tallest and steepest water-based amusement park attraction in the world. Its drop was . It was the first water-based amusement park ride in the world to utilize an adjustable electromagnetic braking system to control the volume of the splash.

Changes

Perilous Plunge opened with a harbor-themed blue-and-white color scheme and with three 24-passenger boats, with passengers held in place by lap bars and individual seat belts. However, after a September 2001 incident in which a guest fell out of the boat during the descent and was killed, the boats were retrofitted with four-point harnesses. Shortly after the incident the ride received a more vibrant color scheme consisting of a green and blue track with lavender-gray supports. After a period of time, Knott's received two new boats with over-the-shoulder restraints. These new boats were drastically different in design and thus created a much smaller splash than the first set of boats. In addition, newer designs caused problems with the lift chain. Stress fractures appeared in the lift chain shortly after the arrival of the new boats. The ride was shut down, and a new chain was ordered. This time, the lift chain snapped (though the anti-rollback device prevented the boat from reversing down the lift hill). Finally, the problem was diagnosed and a new chain was ordered.

References

External links