This is the world's tallest water slide. At 17 stories and 264 steps to the top, it is taller than both the Statue of Liberty and Niagara Falls.
This is what it looks like from a distance.
@MdellW @katieaprincess @russfischer @kateyrich I have seen it, and it is enormous.
It's located in the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas. The ride is called Verrückt, which is German for insane.
The slide's website asks: R U INSANE? And we're guessing you probably are if you want to ride the Verrückt.
People will go down the slide on four-person rafts. This is what happened when they first started testing the ride with sandbags.
Whoops!
Engineers found that rafts would come loose if there was less than 1000 lbs. on them. They have since restructured the ride for safety and added a net to prevent rafts from flying into the air. So uhh, that's kind of reassuring?
A video released last week shows the slide's engineers testing the first human ride. It is horrifying and mesmerizing.
Luckily it was much more successful than the original test, except this poor guy in front lost his hat.
They landed at the bottom in one piece... And (if you're crazy enough) it actually looks pretty fun.
There is still no date for when the slide will be open to the public, but the website says sometime in 2014.
Until then you can watch the video of the test and stare at this 17-story drop in fear.
