The Kids First Trip to Schlitterbahn

Schlitterbahn is fun for kids of all ages, but it’s certainly is better when your kids have learned to love the water. Crosby has been a waterbug for several years, but Carlyn is just now getting used to not just being in the water, but getting it in her face, etc. But we didn’t have any other family plans for the 4th of July, so we thought that we would give it a shot.

I got discounted tickets through work, and we invited Kaitlyn and Chad to go with us, which was a real luxury for us, as they really helped out with the kids. They also got there well ahead of us so we had a prime picnic table spot waiting for us when we got there. As it was, we still got there about 30 minutes before the park opened, so after getting settled, we had to wait a few before the rides opened.

Once things did open, we grabbed tubes and hiked up to the entrance for the one of the big tube slides. Kaitlyn and Chad went down. Then Crosby went. Then Korey got in. Then it was Carlyn’s turn. And she started freaking out! We did get her in, but she was not happy. I got in behind her and we started.

There were two drops at the top so Korey went down, then Carlyn, then I did. Then Korey went again, but Carlyn was still really screaming. At that point, one of the supervisors came over and asked if we wanted help getting out. As much as I myself wanted to go, I knew getting out was the right thing to do so that’s what we did. And I’m not sure that it was really much of a question at that point. She and I walked down to where the end was and met everyone else at the bottom.

Carlyn went over to Korey and we tried to calm her down as we went up to the Cliffhanger, but as we got up there, it was clear that it was not going to work. This time Korey stayed behind, so I went down with the rest of the crew. After going down it, I could totally see how it could be scary. That being said, Crosby loved it!

After that we walked over to one of the body slide rides, and the four of us walked up with again next to no wait. Kaitlyn and Chad raced and then so did Crosby and I. He surprisingly handled me winning quite well, but immediately wanted to go again. Since there was no wait, he and I did it again right away.

After that, we could see that there was still virtually no wait at the first ride that I didn’t get to go on, so the four of us tried that again — and it was a lot of fun. Schlitterbahn does a great job with their water rides!

About that time we found Korey and Carlyn, and we decided to do a kid swap. She was still not all about any of the rides, so I took her down to the lagoon to splash around for a bit. I had her riding on the tube and was trying to get her used to bouncing around and getting splashed a bit. Overall, that was going well, but there were certainly times when she said, “Daddy, stop splashing me!” I also managed to get her underneath a little waterfall a bit and played it off — “Oh no, Carlyn, don’t push me into the waterfall!” She was laughing like crazy and was definitely getting more used to the water.

About that time, she said she was getting hungry, so we went up and grabbed some snacks. She munched on a yogurt stick (of course) and some chips as I ate one of my sandwiches. After we still didn’t find the rest of the gang, so we went back to the lagoon pool to play some more. She still thought pushing away from me was hilarious, so I’d chase after her and we’d do it again.

After a little while, I figured that we would go look for them a bit and also see what else was around. We walked up to the Hillside ride and from there it looked like it was much slower than some of the others. We talked quite a bit about how that was a slow ride, and so I had Carlyn convinced that it would be ok to try that one.

As we were walking down to the bottom, I saw there were some kiddie slides so we went and played there for a bit. She loved it! Just like the slide at home, she’d go flying down, then run around, climb up and do it again. Eventually, we got to “2 more times” and then I told her it was time to go down the slow ride. And she said ok.

The lines had definitely grown by that point, but she was actually really good while waiting there in line. We even made a few friends along the way, but eventually we did get to the top. And then she started saying she didn’t want to go again. But now after we waited about 40 minutes for the slow ride — you better believe we were going.

I got in and then she got in behind me, but she was trying to convince the lifeguard to pull her out. He asked her for a high five, and then shoved us down. This ride really was a bit slower, so while you could tell she was still a bit scared, we were holding on to each other, and she at least was no longer screaming.

And about halfway down, the other half of the crew saw us and was cheering us along. And by the time we got to the bottom, despite litterally shaking with fear she “wanted to go again.”

We caught back up with them, and said that we were going to all start sticking together for the next rides. We walked over to the other side of the park to check out that area and decided to ride the Congo. It was definitely a bit cheesy, but still fun. And Carlyn made it through again despite a big waterfall at the end, so we were doing well. Things were definitely a lot better when we could stick together.

It was starting to get a bit later, so we then decided to catch the resort shuttle over to the other park, Blastenhoff. We were dropped off at the end, and after fighting to get enough tubes, we were able to start riding the Falls — billed as the world’s longest water ride.

There’s no doubt that it’s long and it is also a lot of fun. The six of us all stuck together as much as we could, but it again was quite the luxury to have Kaitlyn and Chad along to help keep an eye on everyone. Carlyn was still a bit scared, but she was doing really well at this point. The entire day, Crosby had been his normal fish self and was absolutely loving it. I just love hearing him laugh as we’d go racing down the way.

After going up the big tube escalator, we made the full first loop which had to take close to half an hour. We thought Carlyn was ready to get out after the first loop, but as we actually started to do so, she decided she wanted to go again. We all were having fun and we already had tubes, so we all said, “Why not?”

By the second time through, I was really starting to feel the sun. It was peak UV time in the middle of the afternoon, and I could really start to feel it on my skin and it also looked like the kids were starting to get some sun too, so I insisted we get out.

Unfortunately, we didn’t bring our sunblock, so we were originally going to go back to the other park — which was really not ideal. But then Chad got bold, and suggested that we just borrow some from some of the people over there. And fortunately, we found someone that couldn’t say no, and we were able to stay where we were.

We wanted to ride some of the other rides, so we walked up to one of the main towers to wait for one of those. It was about that point, that I looked out and saw that there were some dark clouds on the horizon. And then I saw a big crack of lightning. I pulled out my phone — thank you Samsung for waterproof phones — and looked at the radar. It was ugly. With the line that was still ahead of us, I suggested that we not use our limited time left waiting in line and go play in the wave pool.

We started walking down and then were joined by a slew of other people. Apparently the park operators saw the lightning as well, and rightfully so, shut down all the rides — as lightning and water don’t mix.

Judging by the radar, we knew it was going to be ugly for awhile, so we decided that we should head back towards out stuff. Unfortunately, hundreds of other people were trying to do the same thing, so the line for the shuttle was ridiculous. Given that we knew the resort shuttle was right down the street, we went that route.

And despite getting some flak from one of the other people waiting, and the bus driving questioning our lack of wristbands, we were able to get on the bus. Only then we proceeded to sit in traffic for another 10 minutes in the parking lot, but at least we were headed in the right direction.

If there was a downside, the new sunblock we got started getting in Carlyn’s eyes — apparently from my shoulders, so she was not happy — and Korey was not happy. By the time we got back it was pouring down rain, but at least we had our swimsuits on! Kaitlyn and Chad decided to head out, but we stuck around for a bit to let some of the traffic die down and to eat some snacks.

We could see the end of the storm, but could also tell that it would be drizzling for a bit, and while Crosby would have been fine with it, the chances of Carlyn wanting to go more (and wait at least another hour — maybe more with the lightning delay) was not ideal. I’m sure if we would have stayed that we could have had no waits whatsoever, but that wasn’t the responsible thing to do, so we packed up and went on home.

Getting her riding was definitely an accomplishment, and while I would have loved for the rain to hold off and for us to be able to stay longer, we all still had a lot of fun. They weren’t quite Disney tired, but both crashed for a good part of the way home. I’m sure we’ll definitely be doing more water parks in the future!