Just 50 miles south of Austin is one of America’s favorite waterparks, Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. It’s August in Texas and there is really not a better way to beat the heat than spending a day in your swimsuit, floating on winding rivers and flying down waterslides. Our editor, Jamie Jett, made a trip down to the cute old town of New Braunfels to experience the park with her 8-year-old-son. Here is her recap…
My son and I had never been to Schlitterbahn, so we were pretty excited about our little excursion. I say “little” because it took less than an hour to get there, parking was a BREEZE (and FREE), and there was no line to get in. But Schlitterbahn is by no means a “little” experience.
It’s HUGE! It’s basically three waterparks in one – the “old”, or the West portion, and the East portion, which houses Blastenhoff and Surfenburg; two more areas with even more rides and rivers to float on. The East and West parks are not connected so free Trams take people back and forth all day.
You are allowed to bring in coolers with food, and non-alcoholic beverages (no glass containers), and there are plenty of picnic tables and chairs throughout all parts of the park. We had no trouble finding a spot to set up shop, and since it was just the two of us we had to leave it unattended. I’m happy to report that everything was just as we had left it, every time. There are lockers available for your valuables, or you can load up a Super Splash Cash card with a dollar value and use that for purchasing items in the park. You can redeem the unused value at the end of the day.
We spent the first part of our visit exploring the old portion of the park. Our first ride was the Congo River Expedition, which is a nice and easy tube float with a small chute at the end. The water was nice and cool, because it was actually water from the spring-fed Comal River. There are several tube rides that use water from the Comal. The Hillside Tube Chute, the River Tube Chute, the Tunnel Tube Chute and the Whitewater Tube Chute are all sourced from the river, making them a cold and fresh retreat.
After spending some time on the West side, we decided out with the old and in with the new. We were tempted by the pictures of the tall slides on the map, so it was off to the East side for us. We rode the Tram, after only waiting for about 2 minutes, and enjoyed a nice, SEATED, breezy ride to the other park.
