BELLE ISLE (WXYZ) — Belle Isle's Giant Slide is back open today and new riders say they are making new memories while old riders are remembering old memories.
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“It was really fun,” said 12-year-old Melvin Jones. “It could been a little more slippier because I got stuck halfway down.”
Riding down the giant slide will forever be a bumpy ride. But it doesn’t mean that folks aren’t enjoying the ride down.
Detroit comedian Tiffany Barber says she used to ride the giant slide when she was younger. She said today's ride brought back some memories.
“I remember it being a little more dangerous than it is now,” said Barber.
Dangerous, is a lot of what comes to mind when remembering the wild scene two years ago.
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The slide was waxed then and people were practically going airborne. The giant slide closed down then because of safety concerns.
But Barber says the new ride is much better than before.
Detroit’s City Council President, Mary Sheffield brought her interns out to try the ride.
“I’m just glad I didn’t fall off,” one of the interns said.
Thomas Bisset supervised riders as they went down the slide. He says the only complaint today is from some who say the ride isn't fast enough.
“We have a couple of people complain it is a little slower than they want it to be,” said Bisset, Supervisor of Belle Isle Park. ”But slow is safe and we have had no injuries.”
And that, my friends, was my selling point to try out the new slide.
I’ll just say--slow or not-- you definitely need to catch your breath when you get off.
