Take a ride on Disney’s AquaDuck

The most talked-about feature of the new Disney Dream cruise ship is the unique AquaDuck water coaster, but so far it has been a closely-guarded secret. I saw it on Monday, along with a handful of other cruise writers, but we were not allowed to take pictures, and all anyone else has seen so far are the long-distance shots taken from the quayside at the shipyard.
Now Disney have released a video of their crew on the first test runs. They are wearing wetsuits because the ship is currently in Germany and it is almost winter. No protection, other than swimming shorts, will be needed when the ship is sailing from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas.
The 765-ft long ride begins 160-ft above sea level at the funnel. Two riders at a time – and they must be over 48 inches in height – sit in an inflatable plastic dinghy as the clear plastic tube takes them 13-ft out over the side of the ship. If they’re brave enough, they can look straight down at the sea before the master blaster technology (jets of water to you and me) sends them hurtling through the ship’s second funnel, and onwards to splashdown.
For comparison (below) here’s a computer simulation of the ride which Disney prepared earlier