What a ride!
"The Tornado," Hawaiian Waters' new attraction, will make your head spin
Star-Bulletin staff
Brace yourself for "The Tornado"!
FAMILY FUN DAY
Place: Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park, 91-400 Farrington Highway in Kapolei
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday
Admission: $34.99 (plus tax) general and $24.99 children 3 to 11, with military, senior and group discount rates
Call: 674-9283 or visit hawaiianwaters.com
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Australia's largest entertainment company, Village Roadshow Limited, has purchased the popular family water park in Kapolei, and the first addition to the water rides will feature an exhilarating rush down a 130-foot tunnel.
Jerry Pupillo, president of Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park, calls "The Tornado" "one of the biggest and best rides in the industry. The sheer size of it is amazing." Four people ride together in a tube raft and they hurtle down a tunnel, then splash back and forth along a long vertical plume. Centrifugal force keeps the riders in place as they funnel through the eye of the storm before descending to calm waters below.
The ride will be introduced Sunday at the park as part of a special summer family fun day.
Another new attraction will be a "Dive-In Movie" screen erected at the park's wave pool. Every Friday from June 27 to Aug. 29, a second-run movie will be screened in the evening. Sunday night will be a special screening of "The Spiderwick Chronicles," to kick off the series.
"This year, we're shooting for, conservatively, 350,000 attendance," Pupillo said. "The summer is the busiest time for us, with everyone out of school and a bump in numbers in the family tourist trade." (Pupillo estimates visitors will be 70 percent kamaaina and 30 percent visitor.)
With a portion of the day's proceeds to be given to the YMCA of Honolulu, Pupillo says that Family Fun Day "should be a great day, launching our new ride and 'dive-in' movies. It makes for a good opportunity to get together and work with the community, like the YMCA."