Rare giant slide, but a pretty poor one though. This one looks great, but it doesnt seem to be waxed well and therefore my sack traveled very slow down the straightaways and even came to a complete stop at a point. The drops at least were nice and steep on this one.

Slides were always one of my favorite carnival attractions as a kid. While they’re a simple concept, the rush and speed they provide were simply incredible and absolutely blew away any other playground slide I used to enjoy. Typically carnivals are the exclusive carriers of these kid-friendly giant slides, but some small to medium-sized amusement parks still carry these slides to this very day, and Dutch Wonderland is one of them. Unfortunately though, Dutch Wonderland removed this classic giant slide in favor of a newer, modern slide, which is a shame since this old giant slide was a nice change of pace from the norm.

Sporting a sleek and vibrant American paint job, this giant slide simply was much larger and better looking than the other carnival slides I was accustomed to. Just the added height and sheer size of the slide really made this attraction much more appealing and dominating at the same time. Also, because of the park’s younger audience, this actually had one of the park’s longest waits at a cool five minutes. But the main reason for this wait is due to the park’s operating policy. Instead of utilizing all of the slides many lanes, I have only seen three of the lanes on the right side used. Thankfully, the park was deserted, but on busier days this policy could cause some pretty lengthy waits.

After grabbing a worn-down sack and climbing the long staircase, I laid out my mat and anxiously awaited my ride. As usual, I highly recommend pushing off to begin since it really helps build up a good deal of speed from the get go. Like the other carnival slides I am accustomed too, the Giant Slide consisted of 3 simple plunges on the way down. However, on this one the drops were a good deal larger and a lot steeper, leading to a much more thrilling ride experience. Following each drop was a straightaway where unfortunately the sacks lost a ton of speed, and in fact on some of my rides, I came to a dead halt and had to manually propel myself to the next drop. This may not seem like a big problem, but it sapped a good deal of thrill from the slide and made some of my rides quite uncomfortable due to the slide baking in the steaming, hot sun. Ouch!

The Giant Slide simply is one of the best slides I’ve come across at an amusement park thanks to the added height and steeper drops. However, it’s certainly not without some flaws, namely in the lack of speed on the straight-aways. I don’t know if all giant slides like this have this issue, but if constant speed was maintained throughout, this could have provided one heck of a good thrill. It’s unfortunate that the park removed this rare slide in favor of the more pedestrian style, carnival slide, but it was definitely one of the park’s better attractions while it operated.