Avalaunch is the premier water slide at the fairly new Soaky Mountain Waterpark in Tennessee.
This ProSlide water coaster features the usual series of sharp drops and uphill ascents, but it
also was the first ride of its kind to feature a wall element, making for an exciting finale. All
of these aspects make it one of the world’s best water slides and I’ll explain why in this review.
Soaky Mountain Waterpark opened in 2020 in Sevierville, Tennessee, just down the road
from Pigeon Forge. The area already had a popular water park in Dollywood’s Splash Country, so Soaky
Mountain knew they needed to make a big splash. And they most certainly did. The park opened with
a loaded fleet of slides from ProSlide, but their signature attraction was undoubtedly Avalaunch.
This would be one of their water coasters, but this one would have two features differentiating
it from the genre. First, it was a terrain water slide. The course hugs the hillside, working
its way down as the ride progresses. Second, it would feature a massive wall element at the end.
This was a first for a water coaster. And it was a brilliant addition.
So many water slides have just one big drop and a boomerang element. So making this the exclamation
point at the end of a super long and thrilling slide was a dream come true for water slide fans.
Avalaunch is located towards the front of the park and it has a nice presence. You can see the
first few elements from the parking lot. Then the entire slide is located way up the hill,
making it visible from almost anywhere within the park. And the mutli-colored paint scheme really
pops. You have a bright yellow and green trough with some blue mixed in as well.
This slide only uses double tubes. You grab one at the bottom and lug it up a twisty path to the
start of the slide. You can either ride solo or in pairs, provided you meet the weight limit.
Each raft must have at least 150 pounds, but no
more than 400 pounds. And no individual rider can weigh more than 280 pounds.
I think the drops have a bit more oomph with more weight, but the ascents give a bit more
airtime with less weight. So it is a tradeoff. Either way, you’ll have a great ride though.
The park is very strict about enforcing the weight limits though. At the top, each rider is weighed
individually and then together. This procedure combined with the smaller rafts can cause the
line to move slower than other water coasters. Combined with the ride’s immense popularity,
I highly recommend starting with Avalaunch before it builds a wait. I visited on an unseasonably
cool Memorial Day weekend with fairly light crowds. Most slides were walk-ons, but this one
still pulled a half hour wait midday. I’ve heard this line can approach an hour on busier days.
This ride’s popularity led to the park actually installing a second
water coaster for the 2022 season in the Edge. This is a dueling water coaster.
While this ride is good too and offers a different experience with the racing element, Avalaunch is
still the better and more popular slide. One important thing to note is that the
water temperature on this slide is frigid, much more so than any other attraction at the park.
This water is not the least bit heated. I guess it ties in with the snow-inspired name.
This surely will feel good on a warm day, but if you visit on a day with temps in the 60s like we
did, it can deliver a nasty shock. Especially because of what happens on the ascents.
This is one of those water coasters using high powered water jets to blast you uphill.
It’s a similar method to something like Thunder Rapids at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Cheetah Chase
at Holiday World, or Rocket Rapids at Quassy. If you’ve ridden a ProSlide water coaster that does
this, you know that atop each hill, the water jets send a massive deluge over your head.
Once dispatched, you immediately hit two back-to-back turns. They’re slightly downhill,
giving you some solid speed before the first plunge. That first drop isn’t too large,
but it gives nice airtime. It’s a decent pop if you ride solo and an even stronger burst of air
if you’re in pairs and approach the weight max. You then blast uphill at a good clip. No airtime,
but you basically experience a flash flood at the top from the aforementioned water jets.
You then charge through back-to-back saucer turns, building even more speed.
Then comes a bunny hill. Your tube is launched uphill,
so you and your raft go airborne over the top for some sweet floater airtime.
And while you’re enjoying those negative Gs, you also get doused with even more water.
You then zip up another hill. You get some light floater airtime at the apex and then another
flood hits you. The rapid-pacing combined with all that water is a really disorienting experience.
You then head around another saucer turn, maintaining the speed.
Then you hit the one lull on the ride. You have a dip downwards followed by
another ascent. Neither maneuver offers any airtime, which is an outlier on this attraction.
But without fail, you will get soaked from the water jets at the top.
But don’t worry, Avalaunch has an amazing finale. You have this covered turn,
which shields what’s coming. You then head down a massive plunge into that unique wall element.
The drop is large and steep, leading to sustained floater airtime. It’s some of the best negative
Gs you can get on any water slide. And I love how the ride saves its best drop at the end so
you have something grand to look forward to. Then you have the big wall. You get some faint
weightlessness when you stall out, and then you quickly rotate 180 degrees on the way down.
I’m so glad this was appended onto a water coaster because it’s a neat way to end the attraction.
You then coast into the runoff trough, ending the experience.
So what would I rate Avalaunch? I would give this water coaster a 9.5 out of 10.
This is an exceptional slide. It does so much well. The pacing is phenomenal. This slide
never slows down between the repeated use of saucer turns and quick ascents.
And the constant barrages of water add an out-of-control sensation.
Then the forces are strong too. Multiple drops and ascents give nice floater airtime.
And the boomerango wall at the end is the chef’s kiss on top of the experience.
The only cons are that minor lull in the middle, which isn’t even all that bad for a water slide
to be honest, and the borderline uncomfortable water temperature. I was able to power through
the frigid temps for the world-class ride experience, but it was a deal-breaker for my wife.
So this part may vary by person. This is easily the best
water slide at Soaky Mountain. The question becomes just how good is this
compared to other water coasters. The only one I can absolutely say is better is Krakatau. See
my review for that one, but that one has one powerful drop after another. No other water
slide can match the quantity and quality of the airtime you can get on that Krakatau.
I would definitely take Avalaunch over River Rush at Dollywood’s Splash Country.
While River Rush does have 3 drops with really good airtime, all the other ascents and turns
cannot match the chaos that Avalaunch offers. This slide alone is worth the price of admission into
the park if you’re a big water slide fan. So those are my thoughts on Avalaunch at
Soaky Mountain Waterpark. I think this is one of the world’s best water slides,
but what do you think? Let me know down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d
appreciate it if you gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a
lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!