Schlitterbahn Waterpark Galveston — Attraction in Galveston

This has to be the worst experience I have ever had at a water park in my life! We planned a trip to Galveston for my daughter's 10th birthday and we planned to spend one of our days here. We bought tickets and paid for a cabana. We were excited when we got there because there weren't a ton of people there and we hoped that meant short lines on the rides. Jokes on us because we never even got to ride 1 ride. The experience started poorly because after we managed to find our cabana the first thing we saw was someone from another cabana stealing our safe. After I said something he put it back but really???? One of the points of having a cabana is we can rest assured that our things are safe. It also looked like someone had spilled their meal and drink all over our table and no one cleaned it up. How hard is it to wipe a table off? Our server seemed nice but she told us if we wanted food we would have to call her on her personal cell phone to order. I thought that was strange and inappropriate. It's also another reason to buy the cabana. We have someone who can bring us what we need so we don't have to stand in the heat and wait for it. We decided to walk to a food place because the kids were hungry and just bring it back. I spent over $100 on food and drinks and we waited. And waited. I sent everyone back to the cabana because the sun was out and it was so hot. After 45 minutes of me waiting, we went to the pick up window and asked about our food but no one had any idea where or even what it was. It didn't help that we were given no receipt or order number. The girl at the front taking orders was just like I don't know. So I finally marched all the way to the front to guest services and explained all this stuff to the people up there. The woman at the front told me they could refund the cabana but we would have to leave it. Before I was even able to make that decision they called a food service manager over to tell her what had happened and she said she would meet me at the cabana. They also forced me to speak to the security guard about the safe and then wait around for another security person who was also supposed to meet me at our cabana. So at this point we had been there for about an hour and a half and I have spent the whole time waiting. The kids were going to try and go in the lazy river but no one had said anything about signing a release when we walked in the park and we were told it was on the website. No one thought hey might want to say this to people as they come in? So anyways, no one has eaten or gotten on any ride and I'm still waiting for these people to show up. I finally got up and went to the food place and asked for the food manager I had been talking to and the people in the little food hit acted like they didn't know who the manager was. About 5 minutes later a man comes out of the food hut and wants to know what happened. So I explain everything to him and he tells me he's going to get the food done. It's now 3pm. I asked for a refund instead. He goes to work on that and tries telling me there's no record of any order with our server. Which of course there isn't because we walked over to the window and ordered it ourselves. He tries finding the order by the last 4 on our card and finds it. He agrees to refund everything except our drinks which were $40. He has to get help from another manager and ends up having to shut the whole system down and everyone waiting for food is just stuck there. Finally, after another 30 minutes of waiting he gets it done. I'm still waiting on that refund though so I'm guessing it wasn't done correctly. At this point my kids are just wanting to leave the park entirely. We walk to guest services and I speak to the same woman i spoke to an hour before. I told her we were leaving the park entirely after not getting to do a single thing and she says they can refund the cabana but not the tickets. So after spending over $400 for a cabana and tickets we got half back. So I'll never be coming back and I'll make sure I tell everyone I know to never go...

I am here right now. My family was excited about coming today and we even made the mistake of buying season tickets. It began getting frustrating before we even got in the gate today. It opened at 11am and we were here 20 minutes early. There was a long line which is fine but there were no clear instructions what was going on with the line. One guard was instructing most people that the line was for everyone but the line had a huge gap in it when crossing the street so many people thought that was just for the school buses of people. Once the line did begin moving there were hundreds of people allowed to form another line and cut hundreds of others. We rescued a point where the line split but there were no instructions what the different lines were for. Apparently one was for coolers but a lot people didn’t have coolers in that mine. I went through a metal detector and got beeped so I had to enter another line and wait….just to go through another metal detector. Somehow that one didn’t beep me so I did not have to go through the 3rd metal detector. Such chaos and no instructions. Once we got in the park we met at a locker and had to reapply sunscreen already since the line was so long. Finally after an hour of the park being open we were able to get in the water at the lazy river. We were able to enjoy half a lap before a guard was kicking everyone out because you either needed a life jacket or a wristband if you’re over 18. Those people were told to go to guest services for the wristband. By this time it’s like 12:15 and I’m frustrated. I go to guest services and after waiting in line I was told that was not the correct place. At that point I asked for a refund because this was not fun and the park is terribly run. I haven’t mentioned this yet but by this time we noticed almost all the big slides are closed even though I tried to find ride closures online before buying tickets. All that it said online was that Friday was a spring preview day with limited slides open but Saturday (today) was supposed to be fully open. So we go and wait in another line and get our bracelets. Since there are limited rides open the lines are long so we get back in the lazy river. After that for a little bit my oldest daughter and I went and did the banzai slide. I wasn’t to impressed with that but whatever. While my oldest and I were doing this, my wife and 2yo stayed in the lazy river. When the 2yo wanted out my wife went to get out at a marked exit. For some reason a worker was telling people they couldn’t exit there. My 2yo was fussing and my told the guard she was not getting back in the lazy river. The guard didn’t not have an explanation except that their supervisor said she can’t exit there. My wife exited after talking to the guard some more but not sure what that was about. My oldest then wanted to do surfing ride. So why she did that my wife, 2yo, and I sat at the bar next to it to wait. There we couldn’t get a drink because our 2yo couldn’t stay at the bar. Mind you there are children in line for a ride 10ft behind us and kids all around, just not allowed to sit with their parents for a moment to get a drink. I completely regret buying tickets to this park. Instead of enjoying this park I’ve been typing this review for 20 minutes and having more fun doing this. Schlitterbahn needs to do a better job communicating and organizing. I would not recommend based off my...

We visited Schlitterbahn Galveston on a Wednesday afternoon, arriving around 1:30 PM. Unfortunately, the experience was disappointing from the start. Upon arrival, we learned that six rides and all of the torrent features were closed. When I asked why so many attractions were down, the staff member at the entrance simply said, “I don’t know,” and seemed completely uninterested in helping. This park doesn’t have many rides so to have six rides down as well as the torrent feature rides is a big deal. The bag check staff were equally unwelcoming—rude and short with us for no reason. Honestly, it feels like everybody here hates their job. Seriously, go get a new job if you hate it here that bad. People come here to have a good time and the last thing they need is a bunch of attitude from unhappy employees. Even accessing the lazy river was frustrating. We were told we had to wear life jackets. If we refused we couldn’t enter without first signing a waiver at the front desk—with a physical ID in hand. That whole process took nearly 30 minutes and was poorly explained. The water parks always have the wave pool and the wave maker in the lazy river portion. Why are we signing waivers or having to wear lifejackets? Nobody really knew.

We had also purchased season passes with fast pass access for the year, only to be told that fast passes aren’t valid at this location because it’s not a “legacy park” under the new Cedar Fair ownership. That wasn’t disclosed during purchase, which felt misleading.

To be honest, I don’t think this park should even be considered a true Schlitterbahn. My family has been going to Schlitterbahn for over 30 years—regularly visiting New Braunfels and even the Port Aransas location before it closed. Those are Schlitterbahns. Those feel like Schlitterbahn parks. This one doesn’t. Cedar Fair, the new owners, are honestly ruining the parks, and it’s really sad to see what’s happening to a brand that has meant so much to so many families over the years.

The only positive part of the visit was our interaction with Cat and Savannah at the welcome desk. They were friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable—true bright spots in an otherwise frustrating day. These girls deserve recognition because this is what you should encounter when visiting a Schlitterbahn park. These parks are not cheap and to spend your money to be treated poorly and dismissed is not OK.

Aside from the lazy river (which was the only operational feature we could access), most of the park was a mess. Areas were blocked off, rides were down, and the lazy river itself was filthy. The water felt thick and slimy. I wore water shoes, and even those slipped on the tile due to the slime buildup. After just 90 minutes, we decided to leave. On our way out, we grabbed some Dippin’ Dots—and were once again met with poor customer service from an employee who clearly didn’t want to be there.

Overall, this park needs a complete overhaul: better management, better customer service, and major improvements in cleanliness. Despite living in Houston, I’ll be taking my family to New Braunfels moving forward. Schlitterbahn Galveston just...