Get wet, go wild

Beijing's National Aquatics Stadium, the bubble-wrapped cuboid conjured for the 2008 Olympic Games has turned into a water park occupying half its space. Photo provided to China Daily

Evergreen Wings & Waves Water Park

Four of six waterslides pour out of a real Boeing 747.

A nearly full-sized replica of a helicopter drops a payload of tons of water from a tipping bucket. The chopper soaks swimmers in 80 other ways, including four waterslides, interactive jets and, of course, mounted water guns.

Wings & Waves is run by the adjacent Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, and claims to be the US' only educational water park. It's housed in a kids' museum, educating half-pints about "the power of water".

Eleven slides built into a cliff in Sicily spit you into the Mediterranean. These swish across three tiers punctuated by three pools. That's not to mention five other pools and a diving center, training kids as young as 8.

The ride is as scenic as it is thrilling.

Bad 1 Water Park

This is where you're slurped through a black hole.

The warp-speed journey is designed to bend space and time at this indoor park in Bremerhaven, Germany. The waterslide's LED simulation is probably the closest earthlings can get to spiraling through wormhole.

Imagine if Stephen Hawking and Lisa Frank co-designed a waterslide. (On acid.)

Indeed, Bad 1 is a good one.

Buena Vista Lodge & Adventure

Get leather "diapers" for this extreme slide that slithers through a rainforest. If not just for literally saving your rear, the cowhide undies make a fashion statement.

That statement seems to be: Oh! Crap, this slide is so extreme, I need a leather diaper.