Dinghy Slide

A Dinghy Slide is a water ride in RollerCoaster Tycoon, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, and RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. In RollerCoaster Tycoon, this ride is called a Water Slide.

Construction
Track is a semi-circular plastic channel with a small amount of water running along it. Boats slide along the track, assisted by the flow of water.

Constraints

 * Maximum track slope - 60°
 * Lift hill maximum slope - 25°
 * Maximum height above ground - 65 feet

Build menu only

 * Demon Drop

Scenarios

 * White Water Slide (White Water Park)
 * Death Slide (Fiasco Forest)
 * Falls of Terror (Megaworld Park)

Crashing off the track
Dinghy Slides consist of inflated rafts running along a half-pipe or full pipe with a small amount of water. Because the rafts do not attach to the "track," the rafts are able to fly off the ride and crash in certain circumstances. A raft can fly off the ride and crash: More precisely, boats will be able to leave the track and crash when they experience negative vertical G-forces of -1.0 or lower. Negative vertical Gs are generated when a ride begins going downhill and when a ride reaches the top of a hill, so these points are where boats are most likely to crash. Ensuring that the boats do not go below -1.0 vertical G when cresting hills can prevent most of these crashes.
 * When it transitions from flat to downward slopes, or gentle downward slopes to steep downward slopes, while traveling at a high rate of speed;
 * When it transitions from steep upward slopes to gentle upward slopes, or from gentle upward slopes to flat, while traveling at a high rate of speed, or;
 * When it transitions to a downward slope after a curve, if the boat is near the upper edge of the half-pipe at the end of the curve.

However, empty boats are lighter than boats that have guests in them, heavier boats gain more speed and keep their speed longer, and only empty boats are run when a slide is tested; all this taken together means that it is possible for boats to successfully complete a circuit while in testing, only to crash once guests board the ride.

Note that dinghy slides have the option to build each track piece (except lifts and station pieces) as either half- or fully-enclosed pipe; building fully-enclosed pipe prevents crashes due to excess speed when cresting hills, even in situations where the boat would otherwise leave the course and crash. However, fully-covered track pieces cost slightly more and lower excitement for the ride, so it is best to use covered pieces sparingly.

Stalling
Dinghy Slides are notorious for their high rate of friction, which makes boats prone to stalling mid-course. Boats are most likely to stall during or immediately after a safety cut-out or emergency stop breakdown. Stalling is usually caused by two or more boats running into each other (at low speed) at the bottom of a lift hill; when the lift re-starts at the end of the breakdown, the boats are lifted up together, only to bump into each other at the top of the lift and lose speed, which results in the boats stalling further along the ride when they run out of speed. If one or more boats stalls on the ride, that can eventually lead to crashes from boats colliding into one another. Stalled boats can be cleared from the ride by resetting the ride (selecting 'close ride,' and then 'close ride' again on the ride window); however, it is usually best to pause the game before resetting the ride, as resetting the ride while the game is un-paused ejects all guests waiting in the ride queue.

Trivia

 * In the RCT2 readme, a message says that the dinghy slide does not include water, even though it is located under water rides.