Daytona Lagoon water park opens two new water slides

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood celebrated the grand opening of two new water slides at the Daytona Lagoon water park on Friday.

Sheriff Chitwood was one of the first people to ride the two new attractions. 

“It’s a blast,” he said after riding Kraken’s Revenge. 

The water slide rises over 50 feet tall and is a four-lane, racing slide that takes riders through tunnels lit up with translucent light strips.

The ride is replacing Kraken’s Quest, which was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017. 

The skylight rings used to create the tunnel effect are the first of its kind for Central Florida.

The Shaka Halfpipe is a 50-foot tall water slide that operates like a pendulum. 

Daytona Lagoon General Manager Tyler Currie said it is the only type of slide in Florida where a rider goes back and forth in the same flume.  

“It’s like a giant half pipe,” Currie said. “Pretty much you start at the top and you really can’t even see over the edge, and you end up dropping down into a tunnel from a 50-foot tower. You drop down into the flume and you oscillate back and forth about three to four times.”

Daytona Lagoon spent nearly $1.5 million on the two new water slides and improvements to the park, which includes a new wave machine that produces waves double in size than the previous wave machine.

The new attractions are open daily at Daytona Lagoon and riders only have to be 42 inches tall to ride them.