Water, Water Everywhere

Perhaps White Water ought to market itself as kid-tested, dad-approved.

"My kids want to be there every day I'm not at work," says Cory Roebuck, the Branson, Mo., theme park's director of operations. "So that's where we are."

Roebuck, who moved to Missouri from San Francisco four years ago, has an 8-year-old, a 4-year-old and an 18-month old.

"My youngest daughter loves the Lazy River and the wave pool," he says with a smile. "She's 41/2, and those are her rides."

The baby, he says, enjoys Splashaway Cay, "an interactive, 20,000-square-foot island adventure featuring water slides, aqua-shooters, exciting splash geysers, elevated walkways and a 150-foot long escape slide," the website describes, which Roebuck says is "really just about splashing and getting wet."

And the 8-year-old can try the thrill rides like Kalani Towers, a 300-foot-long drop slide, and KaPau Plummet, new this summer at a cost of $1.7 million.

Martha Hoy Bohner, longtime publicist for Herschend Family Entertainment, describes KaPau Plummet as "a game-changing water slide designed to be the biggest thrill in White Water history." It's a drop-floor AquaLaunch slide atop a four-story tower with a near-vertical 70-degree plunge and two-story rider free fall through two 240-foot dueling slides, followed by a spiraling loop. KaPau Plummet was named in the Los Angeles Times' list of "Top 14 New Water Slides for 2014" and NBCnews.com and Today.com's list of "10 New Water Slides You've Gotta Ride."

"You get a nice view of Branson at the top," Roebuck says with a chuckle. "But once you climb inside that capsule, it's just a matter of seconds to get back down to the bottom! It's kind of like getting eaten by a wave when you're surfing."

Water parks have been "one upping each other, trying to have the biggest, baddest, meanest rides," he says, "and our guests wanted that thrill element. But we approached it as adding something for everyone. You only have to be 48 inches tall to ride, so that's about age 6, and you have to weigh under 300 pounds."

Plus, he says, the ride can accommodate about 360 people an hour, making it accessible to all of the park's guests.

"Of course, if you're pasty white like me," Roebuck adds jokingly, "we also have Night Water, when we're open until 10 p.m. So you can come in after the sun sets, the temperatures are a little bit cooler, and you don't have to worry about sunburns."

All of White Water's 13 acres of rides, slides and attractions are a different experience at night, he says. Guests can see the lights of the Branson strip from the top of Kalani Towers before plunging 75 feet in the dark or take a twilight float trip on the 800-foot Aloha River at Hula Hula Bay. Besides, he adds, "KaPau Plummet is an unbelievable thrill during the day, and it's going to be jaw-dropping awesome at night."

Night Water -- which is four or five seasons old, Roebuck says -- is also popular for the Friday night Dive-In Movies and, new this year, Saturday night fireworks.

"I think it's such a neat experience to sit back and watch fireworks with your feet dipped in the water," Roebuck says. "It just feels like summer."