Staff Marketing Exec Discusses Technology, Expansion & Finding The Balance Of Fun
Water parks are an American pastime. The key is making them better but also more diverse. The Schlitterbahn family, who own a variety of water parks in places like Corpus Christi, Texas as well as their newest one in Kansas City, always tries to keep ahead of the game. At their Galveston water park, they add another facet to it in the form of a year round indoor water park which provides a new experience in the colder months. James McAlpine, head of marketing at Schlitterbahn Texas, sat down with The Buzz to give the lowdown on the fun and technology offered with this new expansion.
The Buzz: Can you talk about the angle of an indoor water park?
James McAlpine: It is definitely unique for us. Being in Texas too, it makes things really easy for us to maintain the heated area of our water park that is indoors. We have been voted 8 years in a row “Best Waterpark” and with a 70,000 square foot indoor waterpark, we have a lot to offer. We have over a dozen attractions. Each attraction is unique to each family or member of each party. If someone wants to be extreme, we have these awesome body slides which include ”Faust Und Furious” and “Rohr”. Those are in the indoor park. We also have something for the little ones with our play land area where they can be running around and have fun there. Of course, if Mom and Dad just want to relax and have a beverage or two, we do have our swim up bar which is definitely unique.
The Buzz: How does the geography of an indoor water park work in order to have everything always heated and moving?
JM: Let me first talk about the indoor technology of it. Everything’s convertable. In the summer, we can open up the roof and walls so there is more of a breeze and it’s not so hot in there. When they are closed, it has a greenhouse effect. So the sun outside will hit it and the temperature inside will rise. Of course, we do moderate it by having the heaters turned on as well but with that. [But they interact too]. Our speed slides...”Faust Und Furious” and “Rohr” …they are both in the outdoor portion of the par. [The rider] will get shot out at the bottom. Right next door is a structure where they can run inside and warm up. They can also run to the Westerfest swim up bar which is a heated pool where they can meet up with Mom & Dad and maybe get a snack.
The Buzz: But there is a balance inside with tube slides as well as the torrent.
JM: We definitely like family members who like to have that shared experience with others. So with the tube slides, we have four of them including Guada Loopy and Loopy Luge. You can start at the top of the slide and it spits you out at the indoor section of our Torrent Beach entrance which is where the Torrent River is. You can pretty much walk there from the Gauda Loopy & Loopy Luge. The Torrent is a pretty unique river compared to other lazy rivers you could say. It is definitely not lazy. We have a wave generator that emits out a wave every five or ten seconds which ripples through the entire indoor water park. And again, the entire indoor river is all enclosed…all warm…all heated.
The Buzz: It is also an easy day trip to Shlitterbahn from local campground or RV park…
JM: Here at Schlitterbahn, we are a family owned water park and we are always trying to help out because families are on a tight budget [especially when they are] traveling. So what we do offer is free parking so family RV owners can come right into our parking lots. We have free tubes. Family members can just come into the park, grab a tube and take it to an attraction of their choice. People also can bring in their own picnic baskets and coolers into the park. The only thing they can’t bring is alcoholic or glass items for safety reasons.
The Buzz: Technology is an integral part of improving this type of park.
JM: Our indoor water park is the first of its kind with the convertable technology. It is amazing how our water wizard Jeff Henry sees these things. Also another one of our unique attractions here at the park is the Boogie Bahn where pretty much an artificial wave is created…about six inches of water… being pushed through going about 30 miles an hour. Kids… mom and dads…anybody can ride the Boogie Bahn where they can surf this wave on a boogie board.
The Buzz: What makes this ride dynamic?
JM: It is an awesome attraction for the park for our indoor section. It is the ride of all rides. And why I say that is because it is the one ride in the park that you can definitely improve on. I mean how much more can you improve yourself going on a body slide or tube slide. But for this, first time riders…they can go jump on and wipe out. But most of them want to go back on there and prove to mom, dad, sibling…whatever…that they can do it better. We give boogie boards to each rider. They can surf it on drop knee which means you have one knee on the board and one foot up or you can lay on your belly or your stomach and surf it that way going left and right. What is unique with this attraction is that we have lots of competitions as well throughout the year with 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. It is just something fun to do at the waterpark.
The Buzz: You are also cognizant of the environment since you are year round.
JM: We’re big believers in that. We do develop new attractions and new areas by reducing, reusing and recycling. 90% of the water is recycled through our filtration system so it is definitely is a commitment which is very longstanding for us
The Buzz: What is the importance having opened the indoor water park specifically in Galveston?
JM: We opened up the park back in 2006 on Galveston Island and we were the 3rd water park from the Schlitterbahn family. They originally were from the Braunfels location then they opened up the second location in Corpus Christi. This is our 10th Anniversary. But there is so much to do on the Island. We just wanted it to be another awesome attraction for those who do come to the island. We are right down the road from Houston, the 4th largest city in the nation. A lot of family members who do come down…they make a weekend of it. You can check out the beach. You can check out the historical downtown strand. We just wanted to be a good fit and it seems like Galveston as community enjoys us as well.
Tim Wassberg
A graduate of New York University's Tisch School Of The Arts with degrees in Film/TV Production & Film Criticism, Tim has written for magazines such as Moviemaker, Moving Pictures, Conde Nast Traveler UK and Casino Player. He enjoys traveling and distinct craft beers among other things.
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