TR: Schlittercon 2008 and Dragon's Revenge

[Rastuso]

First up, sorry no pics. I didn't feel like making separate trips in with my camera to take pics. We did get a walkthrough with the water off, but there really isn't much to take pics of that aren't already on the Schlitterbahn site.

 

We got to the park about 5:30 Saturday. It was mega hot, and we were ready to get wet. However, the event was first. First up was a dry tour of the ride. The ride wasn't running yet. It had had a media that morning I believe, and was surprisingly not open to the public on Memorial Day Saturday. I wouldn't be surprised if this was because Jeffrey Seibert wanted ACE to get some of the first rides. This guy is way too good to ACE.

 

THere be SPOILERS ahead......

 

The facade is a big castle archway with the logo on it, and the original theme music blaring. Most of the wet queue is gone, and this is maybe half of the space now in a queue that zig zags up to the themed load station. Two big sets of armor, and a big dragon's skull are there.

 

We had dinner before riding, so it was back down to the picnic area for a crawdad boil with very mild crawdads, boiled shrimp, pulled beef sandwiches, and chicken kabobs. All very good, but the chicken disappeared quickly. THe lines were total chaos, since folks lined up in the wrong way, and the drinks were tough to get to. When you did get the drinks, they were in plastic Schlitterbahn half yards. The tables had free castle chotchkis on them too. They said the ride was about 10 minutes away, so I headed up. My son is not too hip on Schlitterbahn rides after his White Water Tube Chute flips last year, so he sat out. I ended up on the 3rd raft out, since most folks were still in ACEr mode and were eating.

 

The start section is shrouded in mist. Now, I figured this was working fine for our late day rides, but was surprised to find that the mist did still shroud the ride during the day. You immediately go into the mist and are in it until you hit the first tunnel. You hit a few more, and then a big theme tunnel. FIrst, there is a dragon and flame design done in LEDs on the side of the slide, then lots of dragon eyes everywhere, then you hit the vertigo tunnel with dragon designs on it. OUt of that tunnel into some more uphill sections. Then into the main tunnel. A long straight tunnel playing music and a water curtain covering the slide with the projected dragon head breathing fire at you. This looked GREAT. Very well done. After that you hit another mist area and hit the big drop. I was surprised they kept this splashdown, since it requires someone man it all the time. I really like the ride, and headed back up since there was still no wait. I ended up getting a second ride with the line not even down to the water, about 10 minutes. After that ride the tubes were all gone, and the queue was now down at the end, waiting for tubes, so I figured this was at least 30 minutes now. SO, I headed down to find my family and get some lazy river time until the park closed. Yes, the park was still open, and they were constantly telling patrons you had to be in ACE to ride. VERY few parks would do this. I mean, this is the first new ride at the 'bahn in many years, and it was reserved for ACE during one of the busiest days of the year. Again, Jeff Seibert is way too good to ACE. He even showed us the sign that is going up on the facade saying that Dragon's Revenge is dedicated to ACE!

 

The whole ride was repainted, and the the castle walls were everywhere. SOme folks were saying it looked tacky since it was all plywood. I think it looked fine. We'll see how it holds up to a few summers of constant wetness. I'm sure it will be a crowd pleaser. I heard the queue area was pretty much full yesterday, waiting to get tubes to go up to the castle. I'd guess that's about 2 hours.

 

After that, the event included a hottub viewing of Rollercoaster, but we headed to our hotel. Well, after a quick stop at Freddy's custard. Kick ass!

 

The next morning included first ride on Master Blaster and breakfast. I decided to skip it since first ride with 150 people is only good if you are in front of the line. When I did get there to find out about wristbands for the day, there was still a HUGE amount of breakfast left. Eggs, bacon, sausage, tortillas. Enough for at least 100 people. I hope it didn't go to waste. I finally got my wristband and headed to the old park. It's tough to get down to the river walkway where the tubes are, so I hit the speed slides as a short cut of sorts. Damn! that cold river water sure was a wakeup call. It wasn't too hot, probably only 80 so far, and of course most of the old park is covered in trees, and the river water was probably about 60. I saw a guy I noticed from the event grab something off the fence in front of me. I missed out on the scavenger hunt instructions. Apparently, they had placed large and small Dragon's Revenge signs EVERYWHERE. I even heard a girl say she got one at the factory during the tour. THe small ones were worth 1 point, the large ones, like this guy got, 5 points. It was pretty big, and would have been a pain to carry around all day. The winning team had like 30 points, way more than anyone else. I don't know what the prize was.

 

I then hit the tube chutes. FIrst up was the White Water, the site of my son's flips that ended up in a waterslide fear that really sucks right now, but he seems to be realizing he should be getting over it. This ride was great as usual, the best tube chute anywhere. Next was the Hillside. Splashing folks in line was extra evil today since it still wasn't very hot and the water was still very cold. I then decided to hit the Raging River and take it to the very end. This starts out at the far end, behind the castle. It meanders through some other rides, under the entrance walkway, all the way down to the kiddie area. You can then choose to get off at the lazy river, or take the next chute that can either take you to the Comal River, or through the resort area, which I chose. You then end up on a slide that drops you into the river. You then ride the river down to a small whitewater tube chute that drops you into a small pool of river water at the end. This dropped me off close to may car, which I had planned, so I got in and went back to the hotel to relax until evening festivities.

 

We all went back around 4:30 and did some TOrrent River in a sea of humanity. It was packed. Not Japanese wavepool packed, but close. Soon enough, it was dinner time. It took a bit to find the pavilion way back behind the park. Dinner consisted of BBQ brisket and chicken. Decent food. One table collapsed and almost started a fire with the Sterno. I went and told them they should get a fire extinguisher out of the wall, but it locked like it was a break glass type that probably would have alarmed, and they were hesitant to do it. Luckily, the fruit salad ice water put out the fire. This was the second fire at Schlitterbahn that day. The turkey leg stand had what looked like a total destruction fire that closed off the main path to the blaster tower. IT was covered in tarps, and you had to go the back way that is usually staff only, to get to the main tower. I found this out after waiting, and talking to someone about the fire. BUt, before that, back to dinner.

 

THey had a presentation, Schlitterbahn gave I think $1000 bucks to the mythical museum, and they raffled off what seemed to be pirated copies of the pop-up version of Rollercoaster that they showed the night before. WHere were the the REC copywrite nazis when you need them. THey gave the scavenger hunt prize, and talked about the night time river float to come. There was also an ice cream bar set up with all the fixins. My son of course got a scoop with 20 cherries on it. I heard something about T-shirts. Apparently they were handed out that morning, and the sizes weren't distributed properly, so many ACErs got Large shirts, which , well you know. It fits me, but I don't like wearing shirts tight. WHich sucks, because it's a cool shirt with the DR logo on it and it says "I was among the first to ride". I may eBay a couple of them. This was the only real bad snafu of the event. I mean, I didn't pay for the shirt, but I'd really like it my size. I'd guess about 10 people there were size L.

 

 

We headed back to the park for EPT on everything, except to my son's dismay, the kids area. I got two Master Blaster rides in about 30 minutes, and it was getting quite windy and borderline cold up there in line, so I hit the Torrent River. It was actually running with no waves, so we got my son to ride too. Well, after one lap, as we were approaching the wave machine, it started up and my son freaked, but we were past the point of no return. We got him in the tube and he did enjoy the trip around. We took a few more, and then EPT was over.

 

We skipped the late night river ride. IT was WAY too cold to be getting in the river, and some hot tub time and snacks. Hey, we had already got MORE than enough out of our $25 admission. Schlittercon is without a doubt the best deal out there for an event. Two days admission, although the first day wasn't really clear, and would have been on a horridly crowded Saturday, three good meals, a T-shirt, freebies, ERT on rides that usually have huge lines, and probably more free food at the hot tub time. Usually I'm on vacation during it, but an extension of the school year put a nix on that, so I"ll probably go every year from now on.

 

Schlitterbahn and Jeff Seibert put on one hell of an event, and pretty much insured my return next year, hopefully with a son without a waterslide fear anymore.

 

Rastus O'Ginga

[GuruGuys]

Well told, Rastuso. Schlittercon was a blast. The River Float was not too cold for, and the free sky coaster ride was also a nice perk. I managed 5 rides on Master Blaster before the line backed up during ERT, then I rode Wolf instead.

 

I'd never ridden Master Blaster or Dragon Blaster (Revenge) but having now rode both I kinda like Dragon's Revenge better. The theming is really cool, getting splashed and wet while waiting in line makes it go by faster, the projected Dragon head on the stream of water was very well executed and the final drop has a pretty aggressive splashdown.

 

-GG

[mike robinson]

Can't add much except to say this is by far my favorite event of the year. I am so glad that it has become an annual event. (It has been every other year up until now)

 

It is pretty evident that Schlitterbahn loves ACE as they treat us so well. From the discounts on the rooms during a weekend that they have 100% occupancy to all the free beverages made available, first rides on Dragon's Revenge and a VERY affordable event price, I can't think of any other event I have been to that I have had so much fun.

 

Dragon's Revenge is as good as everyone says. Maybe better if possible. The dragon effect at the end of the ride is incredible.

 

Add in a sizable donation to the museum fund and dedicating Dragon's Revenge to ACE just proves the commitment Schlitterbahn makes to make coaster enthusiasts happy.

 

Schlittercon just gets better and better.

 

See ya next year at the Bahn! I hope to make another trip this summer as I hear the Tube Chutes calling my name. Whitewater has to be one of the most exciting tube rides in the country. (Followed by the Hillside Tube Chute, Cliffhanger Tube Chute and Raging River Tube chute.) I really love the tube chutes on the older side of the park!

[DBru]

Great TR! Your Dragon Blaster description was great, and now I really want to get out to Schlitterbahn to ride it!

 

Glad you had fun.