KANSAS CITY, Kan. — After a few delays, officials at Schlitterbahn Waterpark said Tuesday that the world’s tallest water slide will open Thursday.
Opening of Verrückt (pronounced “FAH-ROOKT), was supposed to happen when the park opened in May, but was pushed back to June 5.
Then, when they realized June 5 was not possible, they delayed it and had a target date of June 29. That one didn’t occur either, nor was there a big debut over Independence Day weekend.
Verrückt, which means insane in German, is 17 stories tall. You have to climb 264 steps to reach the top.
In April, officials from Guinness World Records measured it and it came in at 168 feet, 7 inches. That beats the Kilimanjaro water slide in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which measures 163 feet 9 inches.
For those able to climb the steps and work up the courage, they’ll descend in a raft that will plummet down from the tower and speed across a five-story hill.
RELATED: Watch: FOX 4 anchors take a test ride on Schlitterbahn’s Verrückt
The slide’s development group originally noticed problems with the conveyor belt, which carries the 200 pound rafts up 168 feet for a record plunge.
They also made changes to the massive hill, disassembling it to make it less steep and determined only three riders should be on a raft instead of four, as was originally planned.
Additionally, riders must be at least 54 inches tall, must be at least 14-years old and the total weight on the raft must be less than 550 lbs.
FOX 4’s Matt Stewart spoke to one of Verrückt’s designers, John Schooley. He was the first to go down the slide during testing and is certain it is now safe.
“We built it, we’ve been building it for two years. We designed it. We tested it. We didn’t like what we saw. We tore two-thirds of it down and rebuilt it again in two or three weeks and we really like what we have now,” he said.
Schooley said they tested the ride over 100 times with sandbags, “representing various weights of people, various configurations of seating in the raft.”
He said they then conducted more than 100 live tests with lifeguards and staff and found no problems.
“Everybody loves it,” he said.
Kansas City, Kan. Mayor Mark Holland splashed down the slide early Wednesday morning and when asked about it, he said:
“Oh. It’s ridiculous. You have to think, ‘Why are we doing this?’ You cast common sense aside, but a great ride. I love rollercoasters and it’s every bit the thrill of a rollercoaster, and wow. Amazing. And you get soaking wet,” he said.
FOX 4’s Rob Collins, Loren Halifax and Nick Vasos are planned to be among the first to descend the Verruckt during media day on Wednesday. Tune to FOX 4 at Noon for their launch scheduled at 12:30 p.m. They anticipated it all morning Wednesday!
“That’s the worst part of the whole ride. The anticipation. Of course we’ve had months of anticipation as we’ve watched this be built. But obviously just excited about it, excited for our city, excited for all the visitors who are going to get to experience this,” Mayor Holland said.
Schlitterbahn is a family-owned and operated company based in New Braunfels, Texas. Schlitterbahn began its first park, Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, in 1979. Since then, Schlitterbahn has developed three waterparks located in Texas and one in Kansas City, Kan.
