Today Cedar Fair announced they have partnered into an agreement to purchase two Schlitterbahn water parks (New Braunfels and Galveston in Texas). They also have the option to purchase Schlitterbahn Kansas City.
While we see the Schlitterbahn Kansas City play as an option to shut down competition a half hour away from Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun and relocate attractions to other Cedar Fair parks, the New Braunfels and Galveston properties present a fantastic opportunity to enter into the growing Texas market.
So we were interested to see some of the interesting attractions Cedar Fair will now be able to enter into their portfolio from Schlitterbahn.
Schlitterbahn New Braunfels
The Schlitterbahn New Braunfels site is quite interesting, as it is two separate water parks. Schlitterbahn New Braunfels consists of two distinct sections separated by a few city blocks. A free tram service takes guests back and forth between the Blastenhoff and Surfenburg sections.
New Braunfels has been recognized as the ‘Best Water Park in the World’ for 21 straight years, which is an impressive accolade to acquire into the brand.
Schlitterbahn New Braunfels brings in 51 rivers, rides, slides, and chutes.
One of the more interesting attractions if Congo River Expedition. What looks like a normal lazy river turns into an intriguing rain forest encounter.
Schlitterbahn appears to be a pioneer in some really cool interactive water attractions, like Dragon’s Revenge.
The uphill water coaster includes interactive elements like challenging a Dragon.
Hillside Tube Chute is a unique high speed chute situated in a gorgeous landscaped area.
“This tube chute begins at the front of Schlitterbahn’s Castle then zigzags through a series of switchback curves. Next comes a series of rapids and a final downhill plunge before riders end their adventure in the Lagoon Pool.”
Raging River Tube Chute is the world’s longest tube chute! “A swirling 45-minute float from one end of the original section of the park to the other! Riders can float directly into the Congo River or the Tunnel Tube Chute. The Raging River Tube Chute is the longest inner tube ride at Schlitterbahn and, since it directly connects with other tube rides, is probably the longest in the world! The Raging River flows past the Schlitterbahn’s landmark Castle, between the Downhill Racer speed slides, underneath the Castle Entrance building and along the edge of a cliff overlooking the Comal River. Riders may decide to float off into the Congo River, continue onto the Tunnel Tube Chute, or exit the ride.”
You will find us taking a never ending float!
At 3,600 feet long, the Falls is a continuous rushing river that includes its own conveyor belt lift hill. What is also impressive throughout Schlitterbahn is the incredible landscaping and theme.
The purchase of Schlitterbahn New Braunfels also includes seven resort properties around the water parks.
Schlitterbahn Galveston
Located on the Gulf of Mexico, Schlitterbahn Galveston is a fascinating property sitting adjacent to an airport and existing Moody Gardens entertainment complex.
Schlitterbahn Galveston is home to both indoor and outdoor water parks. Schlitterbahn New Braunfels has four times the rides and attractions of any water park within 200 miles, and twice the number of attractions of any water park within 500 miles. Our naturally landscaped park with hundred-year-old oak, cedar, and cypress trees creates a completely different experience. The signature attraction is the world’s TALLEST water coaster, MASSIV Monster Blaster in the Blastenhoff area of the park. Massiv runs for 926 feet and offers a unique triple-drop ending in the landing pool.
Schlitterbahn Galveston just debuted their new Infinity Racers water slides in June 2019. “These out of this world pair of space-themed, racing head-first mat slides are a whopping eight stories tall and as long as three space stations. Built by WhiteWater West and Schlitterbahn, Infinity Racers delivers a fun, only one in the world, water slide experience. Both of the racing slides are nearly fully enclosed the entire time (except for the loading and splash zones) with multi-colored fiberglass that creates unique lighting effects inside each slide.”
Schlitterbahn Indoor Waterpark Galveston has been awarded the Golden Ticket for World’s Best Indoor Waterpark for the last eight years in a row. This part of the park is home to the Boogie Bahn surf ride, 4 tubing slides, a tidal wave river, three speed slides, two areas for kids, a heated pool with a swim-up refreshment bar, and a 100-foot-tall zip line ride
Interesting Schlitterbahn Operational Potential Changes
Cedar Fair has not acquired another park(s) since 2006 with the purchase of Paramount Parks, so this is an interesting time to see how this advances the company into a new market.
What is also of interest is the use of a virtual wait reservation system for select attractions called Blast Pass at Schlitterbahn parks. A wearable wristband allows guests to make reservations to ride several attractions without having to wait in line. The system comes with a premium, similar to Fast Lane, so we are interested to see if these could possibly be carried into existing Cedar Fair properties.
Currently Schlitterbahn parks offer free parking and they allow guests to bring in a picnic to the park. More than likely these benefits might go away for the 2020 season.
If you have visited one of the Schlitterbahn parks to acquired, what are you looking forward to with the acquisition?
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We REALLY REALLY hope the free parking and cooler into the park doesn’t go away. It is such a great benefit for families.
We’ve gone for many picnics there. And it’s just such a different environment than Cedar Point as an example. We’ve been annual passholders at each park over the years and both are tremendous!