This trip to Schlitterbahn will go down as probably the “most interesting.” Instead of flying into San Antonio or Dallas, we flew into Austin, which was about 45 minutes from the waterpark. We flew into the South Terminal in Austin, which looked like a private airport. They ended up opening the front and rear exits of the plane and we walked outside on the tarmac before heading inside. Due to traffic, Grant’s parents were a bit late so we Ubered to our hotel. His parents were there when we arrived and we quickly unloaded our belongings and speed off to dinner.
Grant had organized a dinner with family at his favorite Italian chain—Carrabba’s Italian Grill. Dinner was nice as it was great seeing everyone since I was unable to attend the wedding. Afterward, we parted ways with the parents and headed back to Clint and Jillian’s casa to hang out. We watched a few TV shows and conversed over Clint’s handmade old fashions.
The time difference is always a bit of a headache as it requires us to go to bed early and wake up early, which is a bit of a challenge for Grant. I take an Ambien and am out no matter what time of the day. Wendy and Dylan were running a bit late so we proceeded to walk around our hotel. Needless to say, there was nothing around our hotel within walking distance. It was fun watching the plastic bags catch the wind, but if that is the most exciting activity in the area you know you are in a dull space.
Eventually, we met up with Wendy and Dylan on the side of the road and we were off. A quick pit stop to Taco Cabana and then the ice-cold water was to commence. Upon entering, we found that purchasing tickets online were cheaper than in person. So we attempted to get the tickets online, but for whatever reason, none of our cards would work with their system. We went to a turn stall and purchased them in person without issue.
Upon entering the park, you walk through a gift shop. Having forgotten to bring a wetsuit shirt to avoid sunburn—we went crazy and bought shirts, towels, and also a waterproof phone case. I ended up buying a large instead of a medium for the shirt because these types of shirts run small. I should have bought an XXXL because I had to have Grant help me into the shirt.
Unlike prior years were the masterbaster watches required you to synchronize your watches with your group at a stand—this year's new and improved watches were an all-in-one where you could simply select the ride on your watch. I loved this feature because as soon as we were scanned in for our selected ride we simply choose our next ride at our convenience. The problem though is that Grant’s died along the way and we did have to “reactivate it.”
With the “fast pass,” all the rides waits were cut in half and we were jumping from one ride to the next. The oldest part of the park, which utilizes the river water-- we finished in record time. We then made our way to the newer side of the park and rode the main attractions over there. I will say it was nice cutting the line that people had been waiting hours for as it made us seem like VIPs.
However, our joy of cutting the line came back to hit us 3x fold. The lazy river, which is usually busy was beyond chaotic. Collecting the required tubes were near impossible and we had to catch people leaving to get them. We rode the river once and then Wendy and Dylan disappeared. We stopped multiple times to find them but to no avail. Grant and I finally got out to call them only to find that Grant’s iPhone X was not working. The screen had completely died and we were unable to make calls. The phone has an emergency or 911 call feature so we thought we had accidentally triggered this. So how we were able to answer the call without seeing who was on the line and it turned out it was Wendy dealing with her issues.
Wendy exited the lazy river because Dylan was not feeling well. He had a migraine that was causing him to emesis. Wendy brought him to the health station and just like a school nurse—they had bandaids and not much else. Grant and I quickly retreated to the health station where we caught Wendy wrangling the car. Wendy got Dylan into a hotel room, we grabbed dinner at Los Cucos and then we headed back to your hotel for an early morning flight back to SD.