World's longest water slide to open soon at Penang's Escape

GEORGE TOWN (Bernama): The world’s longest inner tube water slide in a theme park in Teluk Bahang is expected to open to the public by the second half of next month.

Penang Escape theme park founder and chief executive officer Sim Choo Kheng said on Wednesday (Sept 25) that the 1,111m-long water slide will be opened upon completion of Phase 3 of the theme park’s development.

Sim said the third phase, which focuses on gravity-play rides, would include the water slide, ski lift, hill rider and tubby racer.

"The total investment for this development phase is RM12mil, and the water slide alone is RM5mil, ” he told reporter.

Earlier, Sim received the Guinness World Records (GWR) certificate from GWR adjudicator Pete Fairbairn in recognition of the water slide being the world’s longest.

It is three times longer than the previous record holder in Germany (356m).

GWR verified the record for the water slide on Sept 6.

Sim said the record-breaking attempt was "completely unintentional” and the development was solely focused on creating longer and more enjoyable theme park rides.

"The main focus when coming up with the concept was to preserve the natural environment and have the visitors enjoy and love nature while having fun, ” he said.

He added that the physical installation of the water slide took eight months using only basic equipment, such as chain hoists and scaffolding, to keep damage of the forest to a bare minimum.

The water slide, with the highest point at 70m above ground, is composed of 488 sections and 326 side guards, and was joined together with 10,248 sets of nuts and bolts, as well as a 1.2km steel poles weighing at 66 tonnes. – Bernama