Water rides are track-based rides that use water channels or bodies of water to provide entertainment and get riders wet. The ratings for these rides wildly vary from gentle attractions like the Boat Hire to intense experiences like the Water Slide. Despite all these rides having tracks to build (except for the Jet Skis), only the Water Coaster and Water Slide are capable of crashing from flying off the track or slamming into vehicles too fast. All other rides will not crash into other boats and explode no matter how fast they're going since G-forces are not recorded on them. This makes most water rides have the potential to get stats as good as a low-tier roller coaster while being far cheaper and somewhat easier to construct.
In RCT1, you can only research the Boat Hire and Raft Ride by having Gentle Rides checked in Research and Development. The rest of the water rides can only be researched under Thrill Rides. These attractions do not get its own section of research until RCT2.
Boat Hire[edit]
Cost: $205 upwards
Max Height: N/A
Max Track Slope: N/A
Special Pieces: N/A
Appearance: RollerCoaster Tycoon
One of two rides that require a body of water to be built on top, the Boat Hire is a wooden dock that has boats stationed for guests to row manually. Guide tracks are built along the water to help guests go along a linear path back to the dock. However, guide tracks are not required, and the ride can be built incomplete as long as the entrance and exit can be placed. The ride comes with several kinds of vehicles along with the default rowing boats: canoes, bumper boats, swans, and water tricycles. Notably, bumper boats are the fastest among the vehicles. Of all the water rides, this is the gentlest and cheapest to build.
If you decide to build without the guide track, make sure it's placed on a small body of water. Usually, guests will circle around the dock and go back, but sometimes they'll row around randomly and eventually go very far from the station. If they can't make their way back, they'll start to become unhappy for being in the ride for too long, so having a small pond instead of a large lake will ensure they don't get lost. If a guest still takes forever wandering, you may have to click on the close ride button twice to reset it.
Jet Skis[edit]
Cost: $205 upwards
Max Height: N/A
Max Track Slope: N/A
Special Pieces: N/A
Appearance: Loopy Landscapes
Just like the Boat Hire, the Jet Skis also have a dock that can only be built on water. Unlike the Boat Hire, the Jet Skis do not have any guide tracks. With that in mind, building on a small body of water is highly recommended as guests will get lost driving these vehicles along a huge lake, even if they "see" the dock right in front of them. Other than that, this ride provides far more excitement and a little more intensity and nausea than its similar counterpart and the jet skis go at a much quicker 13 mph (20 kmh), ensuring the riders will dock faster if the ride is built properly.
Log Flume[edit]
Cost: $1,320 upwards
Max Height: 39 ft (12 m)
Max Track Slope: 25°
Special Pieces: Reverser turntable, S-bends
Appearance: RollerCoaster Tycoon
The most classic of all the water rides, the Log Flume is a simple water channel track with log-shaped boats that hold 4 people at a time. It only has small turns, gentle slopes, and S-bends, so designs are usually very simple as all the ride needs are big drops to splash guests when they hit the bottom. A big thing to note is that boats go very slow when moving uphill on the rollers. Consequently, this makes the boats take a long while to finish a lap. It's recommended to space out when the boats leave by adjusting the minimum waiting time to ensure guests don't get impatient waiting in the queue. Other than that, it's a ride that's perfect for beginner builders as it's very hard to mess up and it's cheap to build.
As a side note, Corkscrew Follies adds a new special element: the reverser turntable. When a boat reaches this special piece, it's rotated 180 degrees, then resumes its journey. Going backwards has no effect on riders, but having the special piece will give a bonus to the ride's excitement rating. If a boat reaches the reverser turntable at 9 mph (14 kmh), it will just pass through the special piece.
Raft Ride[edit]
Cost: $900 upwards
Max Height: N/A
Max Track Slope: N/A
Special Pieces: S-bends
Appearance: Loopy Landscapes
One of three new water rides, the Raft Ride is a gentle water ride with four-person rafts that go at a steady 2 miles per hour (3 kilometers per hour). The tracks only have large turns and S-Bends and no way to raise or lower elevation, similar to the Cycle Railway. The only two important factors to make this ride enjoyable are track length and scenery. Putting a lot of scenery and even other rides along the track can greatly increase its excitement. A long station and a large amount of time between boats taking off are necessary for a steady throughput. Unfortunately, despite the boats having canopies, it is not considered an indoor ride.
River Rapids[edit]
Cost: $1,840 upwards
Max Height: 39 ft (12 m)
Max Track Slope: 25°
Special Pieces: Rapids, Waterfalls, Whirlpool
Appearance: RollerCoaster Tycoon
A water ride that emphasizes getting guests drenched above all else, the River Rapids has circular boats holding eight people rock and spin through a concrete water channel. This ride can be built compactly as it only has tiny 1-tile turns and special elements. The special pieces are the rapids that make the boat shake, the waterfalls that get guests wet, and the whirlpool that causes the boat to spin. The only effect these pieces have are a slight boost in all three stats, so use them as much as possible. Other than that, a good River Rapids needs to be long and have at least one drop to satisfy riders. One notable thing you can do is remove tiles of water, then build through the empty space to make it look like the ride is actually embedded in the water (ignore that the corners do not cover up the entire space).
River Ride[edit]
Cost: $1,260 upwards
Max Height: 68 ft (21 m)
Max Track Slope: 60°
Special Pieces: S-bends
Appearance: Corkscrew Follies
The River Ride is a more intense version of the Log Flume as it has steeper drops, larger turns, wider track, a higher support limit, and boats that hold 16 passengers to the Log Flume's 4. With the boats holding more guests, the throughput is very good, especially with a large station holding more boats at a time. On the downside, like the Log Flume, the climb up to the top is very slow. Increase the time when the boats leave to ensure guests go in an out at a steady pace. Most importantly, make sure the drop is huge and steep to ensure a good excitement rating; the more large drops it has, the more exciting and intense the ride will get.
Water Coaster[edit]
Cost: $1,640 upwards
Max Height: 78 ft (24 m)
Max Track Slope: 60°
Special Pieces: Banked turns, Banked helices, S-bends
Appearance: Loopy Landscapes
The only actual coaster in this section, a Water Coaster is a steel-tracked ride with special water pieces that the boat-shaped cars can run through. Essentially, it's a combination of a Steel Mini Roller Coaster and a River Ride. The water track can only be used on flat straight pieces or flat large turns, so it's recommended to place water track pieces just after a drop. It doesn't even have to be a long canal of water as long as the boats go through it with high speed. Keep in mind that the water track will also slow down the vehicles; the longer the canal, the more it slows down. You may need multiple chain lifts to accommodate for the sudden loss of speed.
With the highest max height and access to banked turns and helices, the Water Coaster is the most versatile of all water rides and rather cheap to make for a roller coaster. However, its guest throughput isn't the best as you only have large boats that have a capacity of six riders and they take up one station piece each. An elaborate Water Coaster will require a large station to keep guests entering and exiting the ride steadily.
Water Slide[edit]
Cost: $1,200 upwards
Max Height: 65 ft (20 m)
Special Pieces: S-bends
Max Track Slope: 60°
Appearance: RollerCoaster Tycoon
An attraction consisting of semi-circular and fully circular pieces for dinghies to ride through. Compared to coasters, a water slide is very cheap to build and has far less requirements, but guests will pay almost as much as roller coasters to get on; this makes Water Slides inexpensive moneymakers. However, dinghies can only carry two passengers at a time, meaning the lines for Water Slides will move very slowly. It's still a perfectly good ride as long as you keep the queue line reasonable and have at least one steep drop to give it great stats.
There are two important factors to consider when building a Water Slide: crashes and jams. Dinghies can actually fly off the track if they take a hill too fast. When reaching the crest of the hill, dinghies must not go faster than 31 mph (50 kmh) and when leaving it, the speed is 39 mph (63 kmh). For a gentle to steep slope, it's 25 mph (40 kmh) and for steep to gentle, it's 16 mph (27 kmh). However, the speed limit can be disregarded by using tunnel pieces. It's highly recommended to cover hills to keep the ride safe. Take note that tunnel pieces do not make Water Slides into rain-proof rides.
As for jams, the dinghies have a lot of friction and end up going incredibly slow at level pieces. This inevitably causes the next boat to bump into it and lose all its speed. Eventually, the ride will have every boat going very slow or even get stuck and guests will get irritated. This usually happens after a Safety Cut-Out breakdown. When it occurs, pause the game and reset the ride by clicking the close icon twice. This can be mitigated by either having one large lift hill or have all lift hills be followed with a large drop, but it's not guaranteed.