Schlitterbahn - Friday, June 28, 2013

It's a waterpark, but Schlitterbahn *is* on the amusement parks page here, so I can post this, right? :-) Usually waterparks aren't as enjoyable for me, going solo....not today! I had a great time, even though I didn't stay the whole day, I had my fill and then some.

I started off the morning with Master Blaster, as the park's signature ride I knew its wait can get very lengthy. Still waited about an hour, but you get a decent breeze waiting in line, it's a bit windy at the top of Blastenhoff Tower. Heck of a ride, being blasted upwards and seeing nothing but water jets is pretty sweet. The concept's only improved since though....e.g. Wildebeest is better IMO.

Afterwards, my plan was pretty simple: lounge around, stay wet, and float in a bunch of rivers and tube chutes! So many rivers! I took 3 laps in the Torrent River. Lazy river + waves? GENIUS. Did 1 full lap through The Falls. Then I hopped on the tram for what I was looking forward to most: Original Schlitterbahn. (The park is divided into two sections -- separated by about a mile -- so they have free trams running between the two, basically nonstop, never had to wait for one.)

Worked my way back to Raging River....the water. The water! Oh man. So natural. So incredibly refreshing. The next 4-5 hours were almost a blur. I did nearly every tube chute in the Original section. I got stuck several times in little eddys and currents and even went backwards....no no no noo noooo! I didn't care, I was having a blast. Did I mention the cool, refreshing water? Highlights were the Raging River with its cool tunnel sections (low overhead!), and the Congo River Expedition where about half of the course travels through misty fog and such. Also, there's an elephant head whose trunk sprays water at you. Win. Even with temps again hitting 100 degrees, there was only one chute I had to wait more than 15 minutes for, and some chutes can last 15 minutes, or more!

By now it was around 5pm....and even with water shoes, I was getting some serious blisters. I wanted to do more stuff (Dragon's Revenge especially), but with over a week of traveling & parks still left, didn't want my feet to hurt like hell the rest of my trip.

Definitely lived up to the hype. The newer section (Blastenhoff and Surfenburg) feels like a standard waterpark, but certainly no slouch. The Original Schlitterbahn almost feels as if you've been invited to someone's lakeside house, and they happened to build some water slides. From reading, I know that's how the park started -- the fact that 30+ years later one can still feel that vibe, speaks volumes. Everything is intertwined beautifully.

I love water parks. We have a nice one here in Michigan at Michigan's Adventure. However, there was another water park called Pleasure Island that was more natural, and set on the edge of a lake. During it's run, it had one of the fastest body slides I have ever been on, called the Black Hole. It was basically a corkscrew slide, in which a portion of it was built under ground. From Drop to end, took 3 seconds. Really good ride.

They also had a really nice long lazy river, and those chute slides, where you sit on a plastic raft, drop 40 feet, and skip across the water. They also had one of those cable drop rides, where you fly down the wire, hanging by your hands via grip bar, and try to let go before you get to the end. I didn't let go the first time, and about did a triple flip head first into the water. Though one girl missed the wire completely and did a nose dive off the tower, and almost missed the water!! Yikes!!

I also liked the water park at Indiana beach. It packs a lot of craziness into it's slides, which were actually kind of scary compared to the ones at Michigan's Adventure. With only a few feet of pool to land in. Though I love thier river! It moves along really fast. My friend Dave and I loved that little water park. Though we thought the main pool was kind of dirty, and hurt your feet. Also thought they should have more slides, as the lines were kind of long. But, not horrible.

Went to the water park at Canadas Wonderland, and the one at Geauga Lake, but decided not to partake, as the lines were horrible, and did not want to wait. Will be checking out Soak City at Cedar Point, when I go there at the end of the month. Need to find out much their lockers are.

VTFanatic330 said:

I took 3 laps in the Torrent River. Lazy river + waves? GENIUS.

The Original Schlitterbahn almost feels as if you've been invited to someone's lakeside house, and they happened to build some water slides.

Torrent was my first "rapid river" - and is still the best of the breed.

Spring-fed waterpark is an unbelievably cool concept, and they executed it perfectly - right down to the theming!

This post had me thinking about other Michigan water parks that have bit the Bullet. Those would be Pleasure Island in Muskegon, and Splash water park in Kentwood, Michigan. (Grand Rapids Area)

According to sources I have found on the internet, both went out of business, because they could not compete with Michigan's Adventure. Well DUH!! It said that Pleasure Island went out of business in 1997. I went there a few times, and they were actually charging more for admission, then MA was. The only difference was, that there was no charge for parking. It's a no brainer, amusment park/water park combo, or smaller water park for higher admission? They sealed their doom by charging too much.

Splash water park was even smaller than Pleasure Island, though they boasted having the biggest wave pool in Michigan. MA then double did them, by adding the snake pit attraction, and two more wave pools, which gave MA three wave pools to Splash's one. Splash was also charging a higher admission than MA, I think at one point, Splash had many different admission options, that weren't cheap. They also had very few slides, so crowds were often to capacity.

It has been quite a while since their demise. The land the Pleasure Island sat on is now a sub division. Though when they sold the park to developers, the new owners said they would keep the water park open, only to demolish it right away and build homes on it. Splash has also been demolished. I think there is an Art Van furniture store there now, and a hotel.

How was the Falls? That ride was being built the last time I was there and looked amazing.

Schliterbahn is uncomparable to any other waterpark because of that old section, I wish I lived closer to it. Personally, my day usually becomes a cycle of Raging River, Hillside, Whitewater and then repeat. Thanks for the trip report.

The Falls was excellent. The river is pretty wide, and the balance between "lazy" vs. "rapids" sections is just right. There's several beach-style entrances/exits, or with the conveyor lift you can go round and round again. My only complaint would be, to do a full circuit you have to keep right at one of the forks....can get tricky to steer the tube!