When Schlitterbahn Waterpark and Resort New Braunfels opened in August 1979, it was the first of its kind. It quickly led to a family legacy and a chain of five parks. After losing the Corpus Christi park to bankruptcy last year, the Henry family is now in the process of selling the New Braunfels park as well as the one in Galveston. Courtesy photo
Schlitterbahn Corpus Christi is no longer alone as a lost sibling of the founding company’s chain of water parks in Texas and Kansas. Schlitterbahn Waterpark and Resort New Braunfels and Schlitterbahn Waterpark Galveston are both being sold to Ohio-based Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. for $261 million.
The new owners also have the right to buy Schlitterbahn Waterpark Kansas City for $6 million.
The Henry family, which opened the first park in New Braunfels in 1979, plans to keep Schlitterbahn South Padre Island. It recently lost its Corpus Christi park, the newest in its lineup, in bankruptcy court. This season, the Corpus Christi property reopened under a new name as well as new ownership: Waves Resort Corpus Christi featuring Schlitterbahn Waterpark.
One of the largest regional amusement-resort operations in the world, Cedar Fair owns and operates 13 other parks nationwide, including Cedar Point in Ohio, Knott’s Berry Farm in California, and Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun in Kansas City. It reported an annual net revenue of $1.35 billion in 2018. The two Schlitterbahn parks in the purchase agreement reported an annual revenue of $68 million last year.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to bring these two award-winning Texas water parks into the Cedar Fair family,” said company CEO Richard Zimmerman in a media release. “These properties represent new markets for us with attractive demographics in the growing Central Texas region, and they align with our strategy to identify compelling opportunities to accelerate our growth and profitability."
The deal is dependent on regulatory and other approvals but is expected to close this summer.
The Kansas City park, which comes with a $190 million mortgage that presumably will have to be paid off in the event of a sale, has been dealing with the fallout over the death of a 10-year-old boy in August 2016. Caleb Schwab was riding the Verrückt attraction, the tallest waterslide in the world, according to Guinness World Records, when the raft in which he was riding went airborne. The park has yet to open to the public this season.
In a statement, the Henry family assured fans of the water parks that Cedar Fair would play fair with the popular summer properties.
“It’s important to know that Cedar Fair values Schlitterbahn’s character and branch promise,” reads the statement. “They have committed to not only keeping Schlitterbahn awesome but helping us grow.”
