ahecht Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 From http://www.schlitterbahn.com/congoriver: New in 2009 - Congo River ExpeditionFamily-Thrill Adventure This summer guests are invited to float an ancient river filled with mystery! NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – Visiting families will be thrilled with the unveiling of Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort’s latest blockbuster sensation, the Congo River Expedition, a multi-sensory jungle adventure scheduled to open this summer. Deep in the heart of the rainforest guests discover an ancient river teeming with wild animals, restless natives, thundering waterfalls and a mysterious underground diamond mine. After crossing makeshift rope bridges, guests enter the Congo River Outpost gaining access to the exploration campsite. Towering over the encampment is a giant angry volcano on the edge of eruption. As the epicenter of the outpost begins to rumble warning of an eminent explosion, the volcano vents plumes of steam before blasting water more than 20 feet in the air! At the volcano’s base lies an enormous “lava-heated” hot tub offering explorers the last opportunity to relax prior to beginning their river expedition. The journey leads past the volcano where guests are greeted by the lead archeologist who warns about the unknown dangers of traveling the Congo River. Against his wishes, riders choose to float the uncharted waters of the river. As the voyage begins, riders float deeper into the jungle and are surrounded by an intensifying thunderstorm. The adventure continues as guests float at the will of the water’s current and encounter a variety of special effects and animatronic creatures including a mischievous monkey; angry, snapping crocodiles; a ferocious lion; a menacing, coiled python; a mammoth, trumpeting elephant and an agitated tribe of natives ready to attack without warning. The attraction finale takes unsuspecting riders down a 25-foot long waterfall and plunges them into an underground abandoned diamond mine on the verge of collapse. As the shaft begins to shake, sparking diamonds are revealed on the walls of the mine. Luckily, explorers float into the safety of sunlight narrowly escaping before the next collapse occurs. “We are thrilled to unveil the most elaborately themed attraction in our 30-year history on Memorial Day weekend,” explained Darren Hill, Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort’s general manager. “Not only do we feel that this is the most exciting new attraction to open this year in Texas, but we are also proud to premier our new family adventure as part of our 30th anniversary celebration.” The Congo River Expedition is a completely immersive adventure and guests of all ages are welcome to ride, but beware, certain aspects of the jungle may be too scary for younger children. Please visit www.schlitterbahn.com for more Congo River Expedition attraction and opening event information. Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort will open weekends beginning Saturday, April 25. Discounted season passes and park tickets are available at schlitterbahn.com. Day passes are $39.99 for general admission and $31.99 for children, ages 3 – 11 and seniors 55 years or older. Taxes are not included in the ticket prices. Parking is FREE! Operating hours, dates and attraction availability are subject to change. The 65-acre Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort features more than 40 family attractions and 238 overnight accommodations. Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort has been voted the world’s best waterpark for 11 consecutive years by the readers of Amusement Today industry magazine is ranked as the most popular summertime waterpark in the United States and has been rated the number one waterpark in the world by the Travel Channel.
ahecht Posted March 31, 2009 Author Posted March 31, 2009 Here is the animation for the attraction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nUERrLywoY&fmt=18 The embedded video isn't great quality, so I would suggest checking out the High Quality Video on YouTube
RCFreak Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 ^hahaha Watching that video reminds me of Disney's Jungle Cruise. but that's probably cause I'm a dork...
the ghost Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 How will this work? Unless their are like guards everywhere, what will stop people from touching the mechanical effects? or at least swim against the current? I work at a water park, and people who don't respect the rules are dicks, especially in the lazy river. This is an awesome concept, but it looks a little to ambitious, at least, based on the animation.
Kalepi_Konei Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 This is an awesome concept, but it looks a little to ambitious, at least, based on the animation. Yeah, I agree completely, I think it's an awesome concept but looks REALLY ambitious, and it'll probably come out looking cool, but I'm guessing that it'll be a "meh" kinda ride cuz' it's a lazy river, and I don't see how there going to pull of the rocks falling unless they do a water screen with the video of rocks falling, and maybe 1 real rock above you stop before it fell.
ahecht Posted March 31, 2009 Author Posted March 31, 2009 ^They did a water screen already on Dragon's Revenge, so my guess is that they'll use it again here.
Swimace Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 How will this work? Unless their are like guards everywhere, what will stop people from touching the mechanical effects? or at least swim against the current? It's a lazy river, the entire attraction is going to have to be under surveillance by lifeguards. Part of a lifeguard's responsibilities is to enforce their facility's rules, so yeah...
WildStangAlex Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 I work at a water park, and people who don't respect the rules are dicks, especially in the lazy river. Precisely. Nobody understands they need to stay in their tubes and not try to sink other guests.
SharkTums Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 According to the site this is a redo of one of the existing tube chutes at the old section of the park. In that case you'll be able to stop, flip over, keep going, whatever and no one will care or do anything. I was seriously amazed that no one died the day we were there. There were no rules, nothing enforced, it's quite the 'odd' water park. Did you also notice there is no height restriction yet the ride has a drop in it!?! Like another poster said, do we know which chute this is replacing?
TheRapidsNerd Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 You know these new "rapid river" lazy river things are growing on me. It'd be fun to try this as well as the ones at Holiday World and Aquatica. My heart still pangs for those Intamin style circle rafts though.
the ghost Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 How will this work? Unless their are like guards everywhere, what will stop people from touching the mechanical effects? or at least swim against the current? It's a lazy river, the entire attraction is going to have to be under surveillance by lifeguards. Part of a lifeguard's responsibilities is to enforce their facility's rules, so yeah... That's true, but won't that ruin the "experience" for guests? If they want to make this as cool as the concept the life guards will really make this seem cheesy. Like, on the jungle cruise, the skipper is in a costume an actual tour guide would wear and is in costume the entire time. At Wild Rivers(where I work) our life guards are wearing a white T shirt and red board shorts. From the concept art, unless the life guards wear a special uniform to keep the theme, that will make everything seem really lame. Also, I am sure lifeguards won't be everywhere, and I think some of the GP are stupid in general(pre teen boys on any lazy river, right WildStangAlex?) anyway, unless there is a life guard everywhere, someone will touch the mechanical effects,Especially if what Elissa said is true, every other park has the sense to keep theirs so they are pretty much impossible to touch. What is a member of the GP decides to stick his hands in the crocks mouth? That would still hurt even of it was fake. I would be surprised if this turns out nearly as cool as the concept are, and if they don't somehow get a lawsuit or something. The Of Course I am a bit of a pessimist, which is clear in the above post Ghost
SharkTums Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 ^On an attraction similar to this at Denver's Water World they have lifeguards stationed along the route, but you don't notice them because they're on the opposite side of something that you're looking at. Lifeguards can do their job without you even seeing them! Oh, and there's also CCTV as well!
the ghost Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 Yeah, but isn't the Denver thing not really a lazy river and more of a water slide? I am just speaking from experience from working at Wild Rivers, which, as you know, is pretty ghetto.
WildStangAlex Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 Oh, and there's also CCTV as well! You couldn't possibly lifeguard an attraction with CCTV, theres no way you would be able to respond in time.
PKI Jizzman Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 I'll make sure to get tons of coverage of this during the Texas Trip!
WildStangAlex Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 ^Good! I can't wait to see pictures of ALL of Schlitterbahn!
SharkTums Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 Oh, and there's also CCTV as well! You couldn't possibly lifeguard an attraction with CCTV, theres no way you would be able to respond in time. I'm not saying to Lifeguard with CCTV, but you put signs up about that and you can pick out people that destroy theming that way. If you read my whole post you'll see I mentioned having lifeguards in areas that they wouldn't be as noticiable to guests. This ride seems very similar to the Water World one, it was much more a lazy river with some slide elements which is pretty much what Schlitterbahn's tube chutes are!
cfc Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 Maybe they can dress all the lifeguards to look like Tarzan and Jane.
Goliath513 Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 Yeah, but isn't the Denver thing not really a lazy river and more of a water slide? I am just speaking from experience from working at Wild Rivers, which, as you know, is pretty ghetto. Denver's Waterworld has about 6 of these terrain rapids rides. One of them is a series of interconnected pools that you ride a standard innertube on. The other 5 you ride on a family size raft that has a bottom (holds 3-5 people all in the same spot). 3 of these are located as part of the River Country slide complex (which also has 4 fairly large standard fiberglass innertube slides), and are built into the hillside. One of them has a small underground portion. The other two are located on the other side of the park and are much larger. The most famous of these is the Voyage To the Center of the Earth, which is a very large, completely underground, family rafting ride. Imagine USH's Jurassic Park meets Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean in terms of theming - it's quite impressive. The ride has several long drops, and many flat sections where rafts tend to come to a stop for a while. It's always fun to see how long it can take for you to get down. The only downside of this ride is it is the most popular ride in the park and has extremely long lines (though operations on the ride have always been great). The other family rafting ride starts off just like the 3 terrain slides, but about halfway down you level out into a lazy river like area surrounded by Egyptian theming. You can't see this area from the path up the the top of the ride. From there, you go into a dark Pyramid, where inside you encounter more Disney quality theming (think Indiana Jones for this one), and after a while of floating around inside, you go down a long circular drop and exit the pyramid where you return to the outside portion that is just like the beginning. Many first time riders do not know the Egyptian section exists, despite it's name - Lost River of the Pharaohs. They also have a generic circular unthemed lazy river that goes around several bigger rides.
JFrombaugh Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 Looks pretty cool, up until the Dragon makeover of Dragon Blaster Schlitterbahn had very little theming, but this sounds like a really big theming project. And I think it's about time Texas got something new, and not a clone.
WildStangAlex Posted April 3, 2009 Posted April 3, 2009 Maybe they can dress all the lifeguards to look like Tarzan and Jane. YES! I would work there if they did that!
knottslover77 Posted May 24, 2009 Posted May 24, 2009 working at Wild Rivers, which, as you know, is pretty ghetto. Dude its in Irvine.
ahecht Posted May 24, 2009 Author Posted May 24, 2009 I'm having a heck of a time figuring out which chutes connect to which other chutes based on the map online at their website. Is there a better diagram somewhere? As far as I can tell, Raging River connects to the Tunnel Tube Chute, Cliffhanger Tube Chute (which later connects to Tunnel) and Congo River, and then Congo River connects to Comal Express Tube Chute, and then Comal Express Tube Chute connects to River Tube Chute. Is that even close? Are the connections I'm missing?
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