Sign up for our Newsletter

I asked the manager of Splish Splash, Mike Bengtson, what’s the most intense ride in the park. Without hesitation, he pointed to the new 983-foot-long multi-colored steel and plastic water roller coaster rising from the back of the park.

“This is the biggest ride we’ve done,” he said as bluegrass music played outside the ride. “Absolutely.”

Bootlegger’s Run, the newest attraction at Splish Splash in Riverhead, will open tomorrow (Saturday June 1), becoming the first magnetically-powered water roller coaster in New York.

Up to four riders get into toboggan-like cars that act like inner tubes during the ride’s drops, but shoot up the three hills of the coaster using magnetic devices called linear induction motors.

splish splash water coaster

The motors use magnets to catch metal lining at the bottom of the cars and activate one by one to keep the rider’s momentum going.

The result? You rarely, if ever, slow down.

“You actually feel like you’re going faster uphill than you are going downhill,” Bengtson said.

The multi-million dollar ride is the most expensive in the park’s history and is among the tallest attraction in the park, topping out at 47 feet. And since the ride sends up a new tube every 20 to 30 seconds, guests won’t have to wait long to try Bootlegger’s Run, he said.

“We kind of said to ourselves, ‘let’s go big,'” Bengtson said. “That first drop is awesome.”

X
X