Photo TR: Schlittercon 2011

[Rastuso]

Schlittercon 2011

 

This report is a bit late since I followed this trip with our big summer coaster trip. Schlittercon has become an automatic thing every year. For the first few years of Schliettercon, I resisted, mostly on weather and crowd concerns. Memorial Day weekend is obviously a huge crowd period for a waterpark. But it can be mild, in the 80s, which can make the Comal River water used in the old Schlitterbahn extremely cold to be splashing around in. A few years ago, when The River Expedition opened, it was really too cold to enjoy. This year, it was plenty hot, but still pretty dry, so overall quite good weather.

 

We left around noon on Saturday, with our pooch, who had been combed A LOT the days previous to prevent the car from looking like the one from Dumb and Dumber by the end of the trip. Traffic was not bad at all. I still don’t understand the HOV rules for the Katy freeway, and I got in it for a bit, but wasn’t sure if it was free for carpools all the time, or just rush hour. We’ll see if I get a ticket in the mail. Hope not.

 

Our first stop was Buc-ee’s for a liquid break. It was crazy busy as usual. We tried their advertised Root Beer with sugar. It is in their soda stations, and was so-so.

 

We head out towards Lockhart. I thought it was weird we didn’t cross the RR tracks, and once I saw the Interstate again, I realized we weren’t on the way to Lockhart. We head back to Luling, see that we drove damn near right past City Market, but didn’t see it. However, this is just a marker now, better BBQ is to be had. We get to Smitty’s and join a short line in the hot room. Part of the appeal is dealing with the blazing post oak fire and the smoke smell in the butcher room. I order some pork chop, which they were out of, some lean shoulder, ribs, and of course their amazing sausage. I’m not a sausage fan, and hate the fatty stuff you get in a store. But Smitty’s is sublime. Fresh made, snappy natural casing, and just delicious. My son has realized the awesomeness that is “burnt end”, so I have to share with him now. We had a few big chunks on the shoulder. Perfection. The ribs were pretty good, but they are the one thing that does need a sauce, imho.

 

A guy was selling banana bread in the parking lot. I was going ot get my wife a loaf, but at $5 for a small loaf, from who knows where, I passed. We gathered up the trimmings for Zelda, who woofs it down, and head to New Braunfels.

 

We go ahead and check into our La Quinta first (a must if you have a dog with you, no charges, even in their newer properties), and change into swim gear.

 

Schlittercon was a bit different this year, since the construction going on at the picnic pavilion area. The first meet was by the Christmas Shoppe, in an employee restaurant area. There was food, pork chops I believe, but I was stuffed. We missed the official registration time, and they had packed up the tickets, but we got our shirts, which are a nice light color, and have the Tubenbach logo on them.

 

We head down to the kick-off, which was held on “Schlitterbahn Island”, a small island near the end of the world’s longest tube chute. It was made up like a wedding, even though we were there for a changing of the guard for ACE Southcentral. Well, no we were also there for a wedding of Mike and Dawn Robinson. Mike had “re-proposed” to her a few years ago, after a rough patch in the road, and Jeff Seibert made their marriage Schlitterbahn approved, and neither one knew it was coming. I had been talking to them at dinner, and they had no idea. Also, Jason Knutson took over from David Lipnicki. So, the “stand up!” joke is no more. I think it will be replaced with “speak up!” as Jason is on the quiet side.

 

I get our wristbands from the ever-bubbly Angela, and we all head over to Surfenburg for ERT. The entrance is totally redone. There is a big souvenir shop, a small pool with a bar, and the brand new treehouses right at the entrance. There looks to be a big drop in the new lazy river right at the turnaround area. It ties into Surfenburg well. It does NOT tie into Blastenhoff well, with an entrance way behind the torrent river, and one near the footers of the sky coaster, only accessible outside the park. This makes me believe that soon, the area behind Blastenhoff will become expansion area, with some new slides, and the resort parking lot will be toast. I’m not sure what they are going to about parking. They lost a good bit this year already.

 

Since the line for Dragon’s Revenge was short, even with the park still open, my son and I ride a few times. Alas, he has hit the point where he wants to ride alone, not with dad. This was a bit of a hard pill to swallow, but my little dude is growing up. I took video of DR with my underwater camera, which has pretty much decided it is video only, no audio, which sucks. But, it was a cheap underwater camera. We took three short wait rides, and decided to hit the lazy river. However, the lifeguards were kicking everyone out, saying it was closed, even thought it was on our ERT list, and has been in the past. This stunk, as the DR line was longer. I understand that it takes a lot of life guards to run, but it basically made DR the only ride for ERT, since Family Blaster is no more, which I wasn’t aware of until taking a close look at construction photos the day before the event. They had a contest on the Boogie Bahn, and the line was pretty long. So, we just sat around until hot tub party 1, which was in the hot tub by the arcade in the old section.

 

 

Of course, there was food. Nachos, great popcorn, candy bars, and drinks of all kinds. They had a trivia contest which ended up being a kids trivia contest, and folks started giving the answers to them, so the “winner” was a bit suspect. My son was a runner up and got a hat the next day. We headed back to the hotel to get some rest before the early start the next day, and the bacon buffet.

 

We arrived at Blastenhoff on time, and got in the long bacon line. Jeffrey Seibert was touting the massive amount of bacon available. We also learned the new treasure hunt rules, and started scoping out the medallions. Again, they tried to not start the hunt until the park was open, even though you could access a lot of them already. I saw some folks taking them well before the time and the treasure hunt girl judge didn’t seem to want to say anything, but eventually did take them. We ended up getting quite a few in Surfenburg and Blastenoff, but didn’t go to the old park immediately. So the other serious hunter, who we beat in the two new parks, won, since his mother went to the old park at open to get them there. That’s the issue with the hunt. If you are going to try and win, but have to not ride anything. One family I was talking to asked me about it, since they didn’t see a single medallion anywhere. Besides me and my son and the other family, there were only about 10 medallions out of 50 gotten by others.

 

We also got 2 Master Blaster rides during ERT. We shared the ERT with resort guests, but there seemed to be very few non-ACErs riding.

 

After hunting, we did head over to the old section, scoring an awesome parking space that folks must have thought wasn’t a public space. I went for a tube to ride the awesome Whitewater Tube Chute, while the family looked for some medallions, and swam in the river pool. The Whitewater was crazy as ever. We all decided to ride the long Raging River tube chute down and go to the snack time in Shotzy’s play area. We had chips, cookies, and drinks, and my son made a deal with our treasure hunt rival to guarantee us both a prize.

 

One HUGE change in operations that I noticed was that they were putting lots of space between tubes this year. Used to, it was basically a free for all to get in the chutes. This year, they were spacing everyone out by damn near 30 seconds. So, you couldn't really float down the chutes as a group. I don't know where this idea came from, but it sucked balls. What's the point? My family didn't get together on teh Raging River chute until almost the very end.

 

The park was pretty crowded, so we headed back to the hotel to rest before returning to Surfenburg for dinner, which was meat on a stick, grilled chicken (no breasts), and other fixins. It was so-so. I think Schlitterbahn tries VERY hard to have themed meals with different food, but I heard quite a few folks talking about it being of mediocre quality.

 

Then they gave out prizes for the contests. We scored a beach towel and bag for the treasure hunt. We then headed back to the old park for the night-time festivities. First up was a glow-float down the Hillside tube chute. Totally in the dark, except for the glow bracelets and necklaces. And free beer for the ride!! I was surprised they did this, since it was on park property, not in the river as in earlier years. They had a few folks with flashlights watching. I was expecting MASSIVE shrinkage as we got in the water, but it was really less shocking than during the day. I guess since the ambient air was much cooler, the water wasn’t so much different. I love the locker room section of this tube chute, tons of fun! Those making the journey got a prize of bikini-clad Schlitterbahn employees pointing them to the hot tub.

 

 

The dessert offerings didn’t match up to the awesomeness of previous years, but it’s always nice to relax in the pool, listen to live kettle band music, and have some snacks.

 

Once again, the event was incredible. It did seem to be on a smaller budget this year, but that was probably due to Schlitterbahn hosting a few more events around con. And, the price of the event is less than a day entry, so ANYTHING you get is gravy! I still think Schlittercon is the best ACE even around, value and fun wise.

It's time for the best waterpark in the world!

They moved all the resort rooms over here during construction. I doubt this stays a parking lot much longer.

The new treehouses under construction.

The waves get a bit crazy in the awesome torrent river.

Dragon's Revenge ERT

Master Blaster

THey had a few glow sticks for us

What's going on here. I need some light.

Oh, that's what's going on.

TUbing at night. Not quite as good a night putting.

The kettle drum band.

Goodbye Schlittercon, it's been another great year.

Edited August 12, 2011 by Rastuso

[PAL]

Schlitterbahn knows how to throw a fantastic party. For the price they could serve stale popcorn and warm, flat soda. It's still a steal. I've got nothing but a warm, fuzzy feeling and plenty of gratitude for the park's Texas sized hospitality. I'll go far out of my way for a return visit.

[Rastuso]

Here's a POV of Master Blaster, taken by my son at dusk:

 

 

-RO