THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 26, 1994 TAG: 9406230164
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940626 LENGTH: KILL DEVIL HILLS
A chest-deep swimming pool.
{REST} ``This is my favorite day. You get all wet and go in all kinds of different directions. Circles, twists, curves - it's the greatest,'' the swimsuit-clad 10-year-old said, ending her slide with a splash.
``The first two are fun,'' her 8-year-old friend, Jesse Stewart, agreed. ``But the little blue one you just do on your butt's the best. It's so fast - like a roller coaster slide.''
Opened this month at the Diamond Shoals Family Fun Park, the Outer Banks' newest water slide is three rides in one. At $11.95 per person per day, it's an expensive outing for a family. But the expressions on the kids' sunburned faces are priceless as they shoot out of the slick, toboggan-like slides.
``She kept riding by here saying, `Let's go there.' So finally I had to give in,'' said April's grandpa, Bill Allen, vacationing from Richmond. ``This place is not cheap. But then again, they got staff and safety here. That's important. And she can only swim a little bit. So there were some real positive features.''
Set behind a baby wading pool with five-foot-high fountains in the center, the water slide contains three separate sloping tracks. The rides begin on a deck atop a lofty wooden tower. The 68-stair climb affords a panoramic view of Nags Head Woods, Jockey's Ridge, the Wright Brothers' Monument and the Atlantic Ocean. The effort makes sliders appreciate the quick, thrilling descent.
``I'm having a blast. But I wish there was an escalator or elevator or something quicker to get there,'' 13-year-old Misty Curtis remarked as she heaved an inflatable raft overhead and trudged up the putting green-carpeted wooden stairs. ``It's fine for a while to keep running up. But then you just gotta take a break.''
The quickest ride, lifeguard Keith Smith confirmed, is the Hurricane Body Slide - done without tube or raft. It takes about 10 seconds to slip down the royal blue watery spiral on your back. Falling through this tight, enclosed tube feels like Alice in Wonderland must have as she slid down the rabbit's hole. It's comforting to know a swimming pool rather than another world awaits at the tunnel's dark end.
To the left of the Hurricane is the Rip Tide Tube Slide. Wider and longer than its neighbor, designed to be used with an inner tube or two-person raft, it has tight turns and also is enclosed all around. Small children riding with parents seem to like this one best.
The Gulfstream Giant River Tube Slide is the longest and slowest slide at the park.
But this white winding route has a following all its own. Because it's the only open-topped slide, people can see the sunshine and watch the sights as they spin by.
There's also more time to catch rays - leaving fewer minutes on the stairs.
Certified guards are positioned at the top and bottom of each slide and alongside the heated pool - seven per shift. All have had training in life saving as well as waterpark safety. Life vests are available for small-sized sliders and non-swimmers.
``A lot of kids are scared of the waves or don't want to swim in the ocean,'' guard Smith, 20, said as he timed four adolescent boys in a double raft race down back-to-back slides. ``This gives them some place else to go for the day. It's something fun other than the beach.''
At the slides' ends, around one side of the swimming pool, a concrete patio offers parents lounge chairs and shade umbrellas for spectating. Parents are required to stay with children under 48 inches tall. Even non-sliding adults must pay $7.95 to watch.
Besides the surf slide, Diamond Shoals has batting cages, a grass mini-golf course, kiddie bumper boats, virtual reality batting practice and a snack bar. Inflatable tubes and rafts are included in the slide price. Lockers are available.
``It's much more fun than a regular slide because you get all wet and twisted up,'' April said, her freckled cheeks stretched into a wide grin. ``I've been here for hours - a long time today already. I think we might come back again Saturday.''
by CNB