The Ravine

The Ravine keeps getting better with more family fun.

Two new ProSlide rides take things up a notch

Brett Butterfield, Owner of The Ravine water park in Paso Robles California, knows his customers: “We cater to mostly families, not high thrill,” says Butterfield. “Every year we are trying to improve our park, and we were ready to take it up a notch.”

Taking two steps

And take it up they did. Taking their expansion one step at a time, Butterfield first added Quadzilla – a four-lane ProSlide ProRACER™ – in 2013. When he saw the immediate success of the ride and the payoff of careful expansion, Butterfield took the next step with the addition in 2016 of Thunder Run, a massive ProSlide TurboMAMMOTH™ raft ride.

“I was most excited about the racer,” exclaims Butterfield, “but as it turns out the MAMMOTH has been a wonderful ride for us.” And according to Butterfield, it’s not about the thrills: “It’s the cameraderie, mom, dad, kids, all looking at each other, experiencing it together, just seeing their faces tells me all I need to know.”

A bargain is not always a bargain

The Ravine’s journey may sound familiar to many park owners. “We didn’t know anything when we started off,” admits Butterfield. “We used a company out of Mexico for our slides, they were able to get us up and running and it was about 50% of the cost of everyone else.” But of course, you get what you pay for. “Well, the product we got, the support, the crazy manuals…it was about 50% of the value.”

2013 First ProSlide ride
50% Value increase

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Value, innovation, and relationships

When asked about the switch to ProSlide, there was no hesitation: “We went to a lot of conventions, spoke to our peers…probably the biggest selling point was I was able to go up to Roseville [Golfland Sunspash in Roseville, CA] and see these two slides. They have every kind of slide there and that operator told me without a doubt these were the two best rides they had.”

When selecting a vendor, the owners at The Ravine didn’t want to sign on with just anybody. ProSlide has a reputation of not only award-winning rides and innovations, but also world-class customer service and relationship management. That made a difference for The Ravine: “We are relationship people, and we have just straight up become friends with the folks at ProSlide, with Rick and Phil, and the family there.”

Rick Hunter, ProSlide’s President & CEO, couldn’t agree more: “Sure business is business,” nods Hunter, “but in our business it’s all about making great relationships, doing what you say you’ll do when you say you’ll do it, and just bringing your best effort every time. We’ve made great friends – lifelong friends like Brett – because we truly believe in working together with our customers to bring innovation, excitement and success to them and to their guests. We want them to succeed, and we do everything we can to make sure that happens.”

The bottom line

Everybody’s expansion story is different. For Brett Butterfield and The Ravine, it was about careful research and looking for the experience and innovation they needed to really make a difference with their largely family demographic.

“It’s hard to know what contributes,” confirms Butterfield, “but after adding these two slides I don’t feel there is a real weakness in our park. Those two slides were absolute winners for us.”

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