A Fun Day At Schlitterbahn Waterpark on South Padre Island
On a cold 43 degree windy drizzly day, during our vacation to South Padre Island after Christmas, we were sitting in the RV wishing we were on a warm island in the Caribbean, my daughter suggested we go to
! What in the world was she thinking? When she said it was indoors, all seven of us rushed to get our bathing suits on and we were out the door within 5 minutes. One would have thought that we had been cooped up too long in the RV and any activity sounded great! We were staying in a campsite and cabin at South Padre Island KOA which is one of Texas Outside's Top Rated Texas RV Parks and it's just across the street and a short 3 blocks from Schlitterbahn. After getting our wrist bands and parking our gear under a propane heater, we shed a couple layers of clothes and timidly walked towards the lazy river anticipating lots of shivering. Of course the adults held back and sent the 3 kids in first - all of whom said it was nice and warm. Sure!
Well, it was much warmer than it was outside and actually felt pretty good. So we all grabbed a mixture of single and double tubes and took off. Wow, this is the fastest lazy river I've ever experienced and included some ocean sized waves and rapids. Fun! Fun! Fun! After several laps, some with tubes and some without, I was starting to get dizzy and waterlogged which typically means it's time to head to the bar for a Margarita or Pina Colada - both of which were very good as I sipped them reclining in a lounge chair under the propane heater waving to the grand kids as they completed several more laps.
I was shocked when they finally got out of the lazy river, rushed over and said "let's do the water slides!" They pulled me out of the lounge chair and we spent the next 40 minutes going down the slides - Blackbeard's Twister and Lafitte's Cyclone. I'm proud to say that on 3 of the 5 trips down the dual slides, I won the race against all three grand kids - seems extra weight helps. Both slides take you through several twists, turns, and drops before you end up in a pool of water.
While the thrill seekers were enjoying the slides, our 3 year old granddaughter was having a blast at the Pirates Cove which included a pirates ship, small slides, a yellow submarine, and raining mushrooms, all in a large shallow wading pool.
From the Pirates Cove and water slides we went outside (it was still drizzling, the wind was blowing, and the temperature was in the low 40's) and quickly jumped into what we thought was going to be a large hot tub. Turns out that Palapa Swim-Up is heated, but not hot tub hot! But it did have a swim up bar where I was stupid enough to order a frozen Margarita!
After that I needed to head back inside and stand under the heaters for several minutes to thaw out. Meanwhile the granddaughter took several laps on the Grand Carousel - a classic 1950's style carousel. The two boys had a blast in the Mega Blast which is three levels of air propelled cannons that shoot soft foam balls. When I finally thawed out and walked in to try and find the boys, I was blasted from all sides but quickly recovered, ran from cannon to cannon on all three levels and started firing back. I thought I was doing well until both boys surprised me and nailed me from both sides with foam balls! Since I was out classed, I headed to the bar for another Margarita and then to Loblolly Grill for a burger and a small gift at the gift shop to pay off my humiliating defeat at Mega Blast.
All too soon it was time to dry off, get dressed, and make a mad dash through the rain to the cars! We all had a fun time at Schlitterbahn.
In addition to the indoor waterpark, Schlitterbahn in South Padre Island has a huge outdoor waterpark (see this map) with lots of rides and attractions, a good restaurant (Shrimp Haus), access to the beach and the warm Gulf of Mexico water, a resort with ocean view and beach front rooms, several dining options, a swimming pool, and more.
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