Photo TR: Schlitterbahn Galveston

[Rastuso]

TR: Schlitterbahn Galveston 8/5/11

 

We hadn’t been to the Galveston Island Schlitterbahn for quite a few years. We went right after they opened for a Winterfest that included a pretty chilly ERT session on the indoor rides. We then returned later that year for an ACE day at the then unfinished Schlitterbahn that had the inside section, and then the lazy river, two blaster slides, and the two family raft rides.

 

Since then, they have completed the aquaveyors, the long tube chute rapids section, and the slide tower that has two high speed slides and two intertwined slides. I believe these slides were moved from Wet N Wild in Orlando. THere is still some empty room, and they need some more slides, bad. I don't understand why they haven't installed a signature big blaster ride.

 

We were also at this park for Winterfest this year, which sadly didn’t include any riding, and only a bit of hot tub time. But, we did dine in the lazy river, which was cool. Plus, we all got free tickets to any Schlitterbahn park, which we used today. I forgot you had to call ahead 2 days to get the first rides on the blaster slides, so we didn’t get to do that. We woke up, and pretty much headed right out. I had a frozen Frappucino from Starbucks in the fridge. They have a great deal going that if you get a coffee in the morning, you can get a Grande cold drink for $2 in the afternoon. And a Frappucino is over $5.

 

Anyhoo, the drive is about 90 minutes, and we missed rush hour thankfully. We pulled into a fairly empty lot, but a steady stream of folks were arriving. It took a bit to get our free tickets, since the worker hadn’t seen one of the cards before. We got in about 10 minutes after open, got some tubes, and headed up to the Dragon Blaster, which still had no wait essentially, so we didn’t miss out on anything. These two blaster slides are simple, with just two uphill sections each, and they dump you to the lazy river.

 

We decided to get out and go to the large family tube ride, which also had very little wait. However, by the time we rode it, all of these rides now had pretty long lines. We then got in the lazy river, and headed to the aquaveyor. This is new since our last riding visit, and I was anxious to see how the tube chute was. Surprisingly, this was a VERY fun ride. It was quite similar to the very excellent rapids sections I rode during my visit to Aquaventure Dubai, just a little less crazy. The lift was less than half the height, and the rapids sections were about half the drop, so they were fun, just not crazy like in Dubai. Still, a VERY fun ride. We did want to get out and ride the new slides, so we took the beach exit. We had to take off our shirts and watershoes for the speed slides.

 

There were no waits at all, but only one of two was running for both slides. I got the feeling this was because of it being Friday, not because the slides were down. Only one aquaveyor was running too, plus a ton of food/drink stands were closed. By the time we left, all the slides had pretty long waits, and the food stands had VERY long lines. Poor operations, Schlitterbahn, sorry!

 

We first went down the intertwined slides, that were fun, but short . We then went to the top for the speed slide drop slides. I had my camera with me, and surprisingly the attendant said I could video my slide ride.It turned out well, as you can see below.

 

 

One BIG issue with this park is flow. This slide tower is in the back corner, and only accessible via a long one way path. You can take the tube chute like we did, but you really can’t get back in there, because there are no tubes available, and you can’t ride that section without them. So, we had to walk back, across the bridge, to the original section to find tubes to get back in the river, and back to the now very crowded aquaveyor. The line was crazy packed from where it left the river. I walked up and luckily got the last two single tubes. On the end of the aquaveyor, I realized that you could walk up some stairs and get in the top of the rapids river, bypassing the entire wait. So, after our second ride through, we took the stairs for a third trip. This section is a TON of fun, and hopefully The Falls has is very similar to this at the original park.

 

 

We then took the river into the inside section, and the torrent river, which was packed. My son flipped on a particular crazy wave, which put him in a crabby mood. We rode the river back outside, and were going to do the other tall slide tower, but it had a line almost down to the ground, and as my son said, they probably were only running one of the two twisty slides, so we bailed.

 

My opinion on this park hasn’t changed much. It is nothing compared to the New Braunfels park, but it does cater more to tourists than locals, so it doesn’t have to rely on repeat visitors as much. I can only imagine how long the lines are on Saturdays, as it was 1 pm, and the park was borderline miserable crowded, with long waits for everything. I did notice a few other stands opened. But, while my son spent some time in the new, small wave pool, I notice all the stands were closed, even though that was the main reason they added the pool, was to give guests another area to eat and relax. I noticed that about ¾ of all the parking lots were full, and folks were still walking in. It wasn’t going to be fun there that afternoon with the crowds and heat.

 

So, we headed to the to the beach. I’ve lived in Houston for 12 years, almost to the day, and decide it’s finally time to visit the beach in the Summer. Surprisingly, there weren’t many folks there. There is about a mile long stretch of parking spots along the seawall, and damn near all of them were empty. We parked, and went down the stairs, across the large rocks at the bottom, and onto the beach, which was pretty clean, and not very crowded. I was also surprised at how shallow the water was. There was one section that was especially shallow that let us go pretty far out, and still only be about waist deep. The waves aren’t that great in the Gulf, but we still had fun watching the pelicans diving for fish, and some fish jumping out of the water. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many bikini clad babes. My son had a lot of fun, and we headed back to the car to change.

 

On the way home, we were going to Kemah. My son didn’t feel like riding the Bullet, and I was a bit uneasy, since it still seems to be pretty brutal. We rode it opening night for the epic rain rides, and I don’t’ want to tarnish those really. So, we stopped at T-bone Toms, as seen on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. This was a pretty big place, and excellent as advertised. We started with the amazing Armadillo Eggs, which are brisket stuffed jalapenos that are deep fried. Add a little BBQ sauce, and you have perfection. My son then had bacon burger that was covered in bacon. I had the beef stir fry that was made with tenderloin. There was a lot more on the menu that looked great, so hopefully we can go back some time.

 

Of course, we ended up right in the middle of rush hour traffic, so we bailed to a movie at the huge AMC 30 cinema that was supposed to have been upgraded. However, our theater was small, and had an old film projector for Cowboys and Aliens. My first film viewing in many years, and hopefully my last for a while, perhaps ever. The movie was decent, and very violent/gory for PG-13.

 

All in all, it was a great father son day.

The first drop of the day

The two big family raft rides are on this fairly short tower.

POV.

THe splash pool for the family raft ride. The other one is straight down a series of drops.

The aquaveyor

The rapids section, a little tamer than Aquaventure, but still loads of fun.

THe newest slide tower, from Wet n Wild, I believe.

The indoor section, and the other tall slide tower

A rapids section from above

The boy taking the plunge

Yeah, the line to the aquaveyor has gotten a little worse.

chaos ensues as everyone has to get on just one

Another POV of the Whitewater river

Yeah, you've outgrown those, I believe.

A great day.

Galveston Beach. Pretty much deserted, even though it's August, and about 100 heat index.

The amazing Armadillo eggs

The secret stairs.

Edited August 16, 2011 by Rastuso

[jedimaster1227]

The newest slide tower, from Wet n Wild, I believe.

 

Wet n' Wild did get ride of a complex just like this not too long ago when they were preparing to build Brainwash, so I'm guessing you're right. I was wondering where those slides would end up!