Schlitterbahn Waterpark (TR : 7/25 - 7/26)

Every year, my family and I take a trip to New Braunfels, TX (we are from Flower Mound, TX in the DFW metroplex).

This is the nation's best waterpark, plain and simply. According to the Golden Ticket awards and the Travel Channel, this is the number one waterpark to visit on a hot day. We spent a day and a half at the park.

PROS:

-Excellent customer service

-Free parking

-Best selection of relaxing rides and thrilling rides

-Master Blaster

-Great scenary/location

-Great capacity on most rides

-Best lazy river ever (Torrent River)

-Huge place

-Great exercise to walk the park

CONS:

-Too much junk food

-Overpriced food

-Too many crowds

RIDE RATINGS:

HILLSIDE TUBE CHUTE: My favorite slide in the park. Great drops, fun interaction with people in line, terrific first half, and great lifeguards to make the fun even better. 10/10

WHITE WATER TUBE CHUTE: A very thrilling and very fun tub chute with many great drops, but given the constant long line, it is far too short. Still, it is one of the three best tube chutes in the park. 7/10

CLIFFHANGER TUBE CHUTE: A few fun drops, but too often do you get stuck in whirlpool pockets that always hinder my fun on the ride. Nice finale, however. 6/10

RAGING RIVER TUBE CHUTE: One of the best in the park. If you don't force your way through the chute, this ride easily comes out to be 30-45 minutes long, which equates to the average wait for this ride. Great fun, and fun finish in the Comal River. Can get overly-crowded on some days. 8/10

SODE STRAWS BODY SLIDES: Fun, quick twister speed slide (does that make sense?), but it hurts my back too much for many re-rides. If there is NO wait, it is worth a ride. 5/10

DOUBLE LOOP BODY SLIDES: There is always a nice line for this, but if you can generate the speed while going down it, it is very much worth it. I nearly flipped over onto my stomach multiple times on this sucker. That's a good slide in my book. 8/10

TORRENT RIVER: Basically, this is a lazy river if it mated with a wave pool. I love this part of the newer Schlitterbachn areas. If you need to waste an hour or two at the park without having to get in any lines, this is a pitch perfect solution. 9/10

MASTER BLASTER: The "best waterpark ride in the nation" according to Golden Ticket. I very much like this ride, and I almost love it, but given the 2.5-3 hour line every time I go to the park, I don't find it worth it multiple times. Still, if this is your first time at the park or have never been on it, get in line and ride it. 8/10

WOLFPACK: One of the better family raft rides. Line isn't too bad, and the ride itself is almost on par with the one at Blizzard Beach. Not too thrilling, but fun. 7/10

BLACK KNIGHT: I like this one because of some nice turns after select drops, but the ride could use some more pressure from the water jets. I prefer the one at Hurricane Harbor in Arlington, TX, but this is still a nice ride. 7/10

DRAGON BLASTER: A smaller version of Master Blaster, but with a better location and a great final drop. Thrills are lacking, yet the queue line in the middle of the ride and falling water is the best line in the park. 7/10

FAMILY BLASTER: My favorite family raft ride is the shortest I've been on, but after three nice drops and a hard turn, the water jets blast you up and get you soaked. 8/10

SKYCOASTER: Costs an arm and a leg, but the thrill are great and the view is even better. 9/10

DOWNHILL RACER: 4 person racer on alpine sleds, similar to ones found out many Hurricane Harbors and Blizzard Beach. However, this one encourages airtime, and that makes it one of my favorite water rides. 9/10

The park is a blast to go to, and to get everything done, it requires just over a day at the park. I love this place.

9.5/10 (Park Rating)

Most of the rides aren't perfect, but it is made up for with the scenary, friendly employees, free parking, and the best selection of water rides at any waterpark I've ever been to.

About the cons:

1) What does it matter if there is too much junk food. They're not forcing you to buy it.

2) Every amusement park has overpriced food

3) That's a good thing, not a bad thing. And it has always been that way.

I know that Schlitterbahn has always been crowded, and you can't blame them. For being mid summer in Texas, where tempatures can reach over a 100 degrees, a waterpark is always the best choice for a family.

I ussualy spend most of the day in the lazy river/wavepool or spend alot of time at the older parks, where the lines are ussualy less.

1. I didn't buy their junk food. I bought an ear of roasted corn instead. I wish that they would at least have one area that offers something grilled instead of fried.

2. So every amusement park has that as a con.

3. Crowds suck for the customer, but are great for the business, I understand.

Does every park have overpriced food? Sure, this is true for most parks but many of us make it a point to mention the exceptions. The Kennywood Entertainment parks (KW, LC, Sandcastle, Idlewild), Holiday World, Knoebels, and some of the smaller parks are among these examples.

Of course, in Texas, most people don't expect reasonably priced food in parks because of the traditional dominance of Six Flags, the standard bearer when it comes to keeping food prices high in parks.

Sorry about the crowd, Ive gone there on weekdays in the summer and as long as I did Master then Dragon first thing in the morning not experience a line longer then 30 mins.

I should mention that, while the crowds were abundant, the staff there did an excellent job managing them.

Mmmm that lazy river wave pool combo sounds great. Good to hear about some waterparks here, I love em.

I have to agree, at first I thought Schltterbahn's food was overpriced at first glance until I remembered they allow coolers and picnics, then I said "thats about right" to myself.

Where do you stay when you go? I cannot wait to make a trip back to Schlitterbahn. I love that place (and I don really care about water parks)! I think Master Blaster is a bit over-rated...but that older section with all the tube rides is heaven.

We stay at multiple places when we go each year. One year, we stayed at the Roadway Inn. Bad decision. Another year, we stayed at the Holiday Inn. It was decent. This year, it was the Executive Suites. About on par with Holiday Inn. The Schlitterbahn Resort is great because it is right on the property, but it is no better than the other hotels in the area.

New Braunfels is in dire need of a good Marriott Courtyard.

TY

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Jeffrey R Smith said:Where do you stay when you go? I cannot wait to make a trip back to Schlitterbahn. I love that place (and I don really care about water parks)! I think Master Blaster is a bit over-rated...but that older section with all the tube rides is heaven.

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*stands and applauds*

Personally, I liked Dragon Blaster quite a bit, nice MIX of slow and fast sections....and the tube rides? Totally, completely, OFF the hook. Place was quite busy when we were there, and the ONLY waits we had were for the Blaster rides...

I :)

I'm with you guys. The tube chutes are, undoubtedly, the best waterpark attractions ever.

^Couldnt agree more heres my standard day:
1. Master Blaster
2. Dragon Blaster
3. Blastenhoff River
4. Lunch
5. Raging River
6. White Water
7. Hillsider
8. Repeat steps 5-7 until closing

Great Tr. I haven't been to Schlitterbahn since 1998. The only ride I got to ride was Master Blaster. iIt was my favorite ride until I discovered the Halfpipe slide at Volente Beach in Austin. The tube chutes at South Padre Island are just typical tube slides; are the ones at New Braunfuls really that good? Another thing, nobody has mentioned the Comal Express or the Tunnel Tube Chute. Those are the two I would really want to do.

The Tunnel Tube Chute is a continuation of Raging River. If you follow the other tubers to the Comal River, then you will be on it. It's a fun little area that brings you through (newly renovated) tunnels with mythological creatures of the water.

Comal Express is awful. The first minute of the ride is decent, but after the first main drop, there is nothing but slow straight paths full of algae.

Someday I will get back to Schlitterbahn and experience the other side of the park which everyone raves about. When we visited, only Blastenhoff was open because it was in May. I guess that was good in one way because I had never been on any Master Blaster slides. While I only got to ride Master Blaster once, I actually thought Dragon Blaster was the better ride. Just make sure your trunks are tied real tight:) I still remember passing that "2hr. wait from here" sign on Master Blaster and thinking to myself "You've got to be kidding me."

Do people seriously wait three hours for a water slide? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I get impatient waiting more than 10 minutes for a water slide. It just doesn't seem like you should have to wait so long for something so simple.

Is Schlitterbahn open all winter?

Is the capacity for Master Blaster that bad or its just that popular? When I was at SFNE, Typhoon (Proslide Rocket had a fast line and on a busy day, didn't have more than a 45-60 minutes line.

Master Blaster is heavily advertised as "the best waterpark attraction ever created", so the popularity is the highest of any waterpark attraction ever created. On top of that, the capacity isn't that great, and unlike a roller coaster, there is nothing to increase the capacity without sacraficing the safety.