Gaza strip water park!

[FLIPDUDE]

I actually found out about this in June as someone brought a link to my attention, but I kind of forgot about it until now, because Duane Marden from RCDB emailed me some questions as a reply to my submitting the park to him. I thought I'll share it with you guys since it seems very few people have heard about this, and if I wasn't going to post about it, it was likely that nobody here would have even heard of this.

 

The hebrew website where I first read about this:

http://terrorw.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/park-khan-gaz/

 

An english article Israeli news website (though not the most trustowrthy one, as you might be able to tell from the phrasing of the article): http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NachrichtenHeute/tabid/178/nid/22827/language/en-US/Default.aspx

 

Basically the park was opened in this summer, after a previous water park (Named "Crazy Water Park", aimed at Gaza's few wealthy inhabitants (And which from a quick Google search looks like it was actually a rather beautiful place)) was burned to the ground by Islami extremists for letting men and women mix n' mingle, and for letting women smoke.

 

There are very few websites that write about this topic instead of just quoting the one I just linked you to, but most of them seem kind of heavy on right-wing propoganda so I'm not sure which facts to post here and which are just nonsense.

What I CAN tell you is that from the pictures, it is evident the park has 4 magor water slides,one smaller one, a small zoo, camel rides, a small train, a kiddie coaster, and a nicely sized although creepy looking ferris wheel.

 

Some chosen photos form the first link(and one from the second link):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing that seems to be praticularly interesting from the photos is that pretty much everyone is fully clothed even when in the pool! Probably to avoid a similar fate to "Crazy Water Park" which was burned down by Islami extremists.

 

Now, I am Israeli, and I do find it heart warming to see something like this pop up in the heart of all that's going on down there and bring some smiles to faces, and I would appreciate it if we kept the following discussion mostly amusement-park-enthusiast-based and try not to fall into the black hole that is discussions about politics.

[osm]

So I'm guessing there's a military base right next to it?

(sorry)

 

But I think it's great that this can exist in such an unstable and violent area. Hopefully we will see other facilities designed for fun and entertainment come to less prosperous places. That way, the rate of development and modernization can be increased. Of course, other things are more important than leisure, but it's still a nice thing for the people of Gaza.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

That's the most modesty I've ever seen in a swimming pool or water park not in the 1920s...

[Rollercoaster5000]

Hmm, heard about this in the Jewish Chronicle ( a paper for the Jewish community in the UK) during the Spring if I remember rightly. Appears to be a modest little park. And yes it is nice to see something like this amid what is happening in the region at the moment.

 

Such a shame that we don't hear about things like this outside the Jewish/Israeli media!

 

So I'm guessing there's a military base right next to it?

(sorry)

 

If you are referring to the Israel Defence Forces, then no there is not.

[FLIPDUDE]

^ I think he was joking.

 

And to be fair, Israeli media didn't really mention this either, at least not to a notable extent. I found out about it through someone posting about it in my Israeli coaster enthusiasts forum.

 

It's kind of amusing yet sad to me to think of all the within-driving-distance credits to me that I can't go to because of politics XP

[osm]

^^Yeah, I was referring to how Hamas is known for putting military bases in areas with large numbers of civilians nearby, especially children. I know I wasn't supposed to get into politics, but yeah.

[gisco]

I also found it interesting that it looked like people were fully clothed in the water. To bad there is a credit that most of us will never have a chance to ride.

[WFChris]

So in the 2nd picture, those three kids are all attempting to climb UP the slide, right? Looks like a fun place!

[FLIPDUDE]

^They probably are. It's pretty common in playground around here... Waterparks usually don't allow that, for obvious reasons, but if it's a smaller park, the employees are minimum wage, and/or the park is reasonably empty, you can usually end up seeing someone climbing the slide the wrong way.

 

I remember summer days at the local pool, they had two big water slides (Well, three, but one wasn't functional), one speed slide and one big slalom slide, and not only did we climb, walk, or just grind ourselves to a halt on that thing nonstop, but we also slid every possible way from easter sunday. We slid on our backs, on our stomachs, head first, you name it.

It was actually not even that uncommon for people to just give themselves a running start and jump off the start! Even when ride ops WERE present and doing their job!

 

Let me tell you... it might not be the epitome of safety requirements, but it was seven times the fun you'll ever have at any rigid lie-down-and-cross-your-arms-or-else! water park you'll find in the US... And I haven't really heard of anyone getting hurt from all that nonsense. I'm not saying nobody ever did, just saying that if it happened, I don't know about it.

 

Coming to think of it, the only time someone DID get hurt that I know of was when I tried to slide PROPERLY down the speed slide but I was a dumb little kid so I thought i'm also supposed to lean my head back and ended up banging it on the transitions. Not my proudest moment.