Flume Ride

Water Rides

The first log flume opened in 1963 at Six Flags Over Texas, built by Arrow Development and named El Aserradero. Boats shaped like hollowed logs floated along a water channel, climbed a lift hill on a conveyor, then dropped back into the trough. The formula worked immediately, and within a decade every major park wanted one.

What changed since then is mostly hidden from the riders. Modern pumps recirculate the water instead of drawing it continuously, channel joints are moulded to cut leakage, and magnetic or hydraulic brakes hold the boats at the top of the drop rather than relying on water pressure alone. These are the parts that decide whether a flume ride runs all season or spends August waiting for a technician.

Preston & Barbieri designs and builds its flume rides in Reggio Emilia, to EN 13814 standards. The layout is the variable we work on first: the channel can be routed around existing buildings, stacked on two levels, or kept compact for venues where a full circuit would not fit. Theming, boat design and the number of drops follow from there, along with the height of the final descent.

A water flume ride earns its place in a park for reasons that have nothing to do with thrill ratings. It runs in the heat when queues elsewhere empty out, it takes riders of almost any age, and the drop photograph sells itself at the exit booth. We supply the ride, the installation and the parts, and we keep supplying the parts decades later.