Slip-Sliding Away
Make a splash at these water parks.
Adventure Bay, Houston (13602 Beechnut, in southwest Houston; 281-530-5979). There are flashier water parks in Houston, but if you want to avoid the teen scene, give this family-friendly park in the Alief area a try. You'll still find thrilling rides like the Gulf Scream—a nearly vertical, 45-foot body slide—that will bring out your inner adolescent. Through May 26 and August 11 through September 16: open weekends. May 27 through August 10: open seven days. Call for hours; $18.99, senior citizens $5, children 42 inches tall and under $13.99, under age 4 free. Food and nonalcoholic beverages allowed.
FireWater Water Park, Amarillo (Interstate 40 at Whitaker, 806-342-3473 or 866-234-3473). This Panhandle attraction features a 45-foot tower with five fast corkscrew slides and an 11,000-square-foot wave pool. The Sidewinder, an enormous, half-pipe flume slide that lets you experience zero gravity, opens this season. Through May 26 and August 20 through September 3: open weekends. May 26 through August 19: open seven days. Call for hours; $11.95 (weekends $13.95), senior citizens $8.95, children 54 inches tall and under $9.95 (weekends $11.95), under age 3 free. No food or drink allowed but concessions available.
NRH2O Family Water Park, North Richland Hills (9001 Grapevine Highway, 817-427-6500). Midway between Fort Worth and Dallas, this municipal facility has raised the bar for city parks. With some twelve attractions, it boasts the world's tallest and longest uphill and downhill water coaster, the Green Extreme. Through August 12: open seven days. August 13 through September 9: open weekends. Call for hours; $13.45, children 47 inches tall and under $11.45, under age 3 free. Food and nonalcoholic beverages allowed.
Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, New Braunfels (305 W. Austin Street, 830-625-2351). It may have a funny-sounding name, but people in the amusement park business don't laugh when they hear "Schlitterbahn." The 65-acre complex is regarded as the leader in the genre for its natural setting, distinctive labyrinthlike layout, and cutting-edge water-ride technology, and it was recently voted the number one water park in the U.S. by the Travel Channel. Unlike, say, Las Vegas' Wet 'n Wild, where the commode-shaped Royal Flush ride sends visitors swirling down a giant bowl, Schlitterbahn doesn't owe its success to hype or silly gimmicks. Since it opened with four slides in 1979, the park, which uses water from the adjacent, spring-fed Comal River for some of its rides, has grown: slowly and with respect for the area's natural resources and existing architecture. Its new $13 million spin-off, Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark on South Padre Island, is scheduled to open this month. Through May 18 and August 20 through September 15: open weekends. May 19 through August 19: open seven days. Call for hours; $26.50, senior citizens $20.99, children 3 to 11 $21.95, under 3 free. Food and nonalcoholic beverages allowed.
Wet 'n' Wild Waterworld, Anthony (8804 S. Desert Boulevard, 20 miles northwest of downtown El Paso off Interstate 10; 915-886-2222). Real mountain ranges provide a natural backdrop for this 37-acre man-made oasis. You'll forget you're in the desert if you visit the new Amazon area, which includes a wave pool, cane-roofed cabanas, and a four-hundred-foot slide that sends you spinning and sliding through dark tunnels and waterfalls. Through May 19 and August 18 through September 3: open weekends and Labor Day. May 25 through August 12: open seven days. Call for hours; $17, children 4 to 12 $15, under 4 free. Food and nonalcoholic beverages allowed.
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