More images. Video.
Shatters?!?!? Yikes
I saw this the other day - good to know the passengers were incorrect when they were yelling about someone falling out of the slide. I wonder how bad the lacerations were … but also I don’t want to know. 
What I really want to know is how did this happen, and could it happen at Disney / Universal? I went on a very similar slide on the Disney Wonder. They have drop slides at Volcano Bay as well. Is the acrylic glass prone to this kind of damage?
Definitely a good question. Plus, I believe this is a new ship!
Apparently so!
I think I’m this case the issue is a matter of force being exerted on this panel. Since it is almost a free fall for that first part of the drop, the amount of force exerted on that panel as the rider changes direction is significantly higher than if it was just their weight. I suspect the designers of this didn’t adequately take this into account when specifying the thickness/resilience of that panel. I think they are going to need to replace that panel with a stronger material… probably something that isn’t transparent.
Another factor likely at play is temperature variations. If you have this heating up in the sun, then they turn on the water, which will be significantly colder, you are causing expansion and contraction over and over which some materials cannot tolerate as well as others.