What’s Inside a Water Elevator?

There’s something on the island of Maui I bet you never knew existed- a water elevator. It’s the only one of its kind in the whole world, and we are here to tell you all about it.

The Grand Wailea Resort in Maui, Hawaii has an awesome pool area that my family loves, and I’m sure yours will too. There are a series of pools on different levels connected by a series of waterslides. You will also find a scuba pool, Rope Bridge, a Tarzan swing, a lazy river, and some Jacuzzis.

In the pool at the lowest level, you will see a very thick steel door with a giant lever on the front- that is the famous water elevator. The original owner of the resort had it built in 1991 for his disabled son who was paralyzed. He wanted a way for his son to be able to get from the lower part of the water park to the top level.

Once the door is shut, the area where the elevator is will start to flood with water, and as it floods the platform floats above the water, slowly ascending to the top. It took about 1 minute and 40 seconds to get to the top. There is no mechanical system to this elevator, it’s all just water and a giant floating platform.

After the elevator reaches the top, they raise a small wall that blocks the water in the elevator from the top level of the pool. Then the water in the elevator starts to drain, and spurts out of a volcano in the lower level pool. Fun fact: just the water elevator alone takes 16 thousand gallons of water.

Go watch the rest of our video to see what the waterslides at the Grand Wailea resort are like.