SplashTown
Just South of The Woodlands

The Houston Water Park features several attractions including the Rip Qurl, the Tornado funnel tube ride, Thunder Run, the Texas Freefall (extreme side-by-side body slides), and the enclosed family tube ride Space Rapids.

Among SplashTown's more thrilling aquatic attractions are the 75-ft tall, 132-ft long Tornado tube ride, the five-story Texas Freefall, five stories of heart pounding, side by side free falling excitement and the most recent addition, the RipQurl, which launches two riders through a dark tunnel traveling up to 26 feet per second before accelerating around steep, arcing turns into the 40 foot bowl of the ride and ends in the pool below.

For those more inclined to keep their hair dry, the park offers plenty of more relaxing nature entertainment including a 500,000 gallon wave pool and the meandering Guadalupe River Adventure, a lazy river meandering through the park as well as a large wave pool. Children of all ages will enjoy the multiple aquatic activity areas including:

• Crocodile Isle
• Treehouse Island
• Leaky Pipes
• Thunder Run
• Space Rapids
• Zoom Flumes
• Shotgun Falls
• Big Spin at Wild Water Works
• The Blue Lagoon Activity Pool
  - features wet and wild interactive water elements

Location and Directions to SplashTown:

SplashTown is located at 21300 Interstate 45 in Spring, 77373, less than 15 minutes from The Woodlands and 30 minutes from downtown Houston.

From The Woodlands, Texas take IH-45 Southbound to exit 68 (Louetta Road), cross over the interstate and come up the north service road. The water park will be on the right, just past Rudy's BBQ.

From Houston, Texas take IH-45 Northbound, take Exit 70A (FM 2920-Tomball) in Spring, SplashTown is accessible from the north service road.

Some good news:
Splashtown has over 30 landscaped acres of theme pools and slides, including a 500,000 gallon wave pool, a lazy river, and a wild tree house. There are also special, shallow pools designed for pre-schoolers with animal shaped rafts and smaller slides (children should not be left unattended).

Some not-so-good news:
In addition to hefty entry fees, SplashTown charges for parking and high prices for food and drink. You are not allowed to bring your own into the park, it must be left in your vehicle. Be sure to bring plenty of sunblock and wear water shoes; despite the park being a non-smoking facility, some people toss lit cigarettes onto the walkways and the stairways leading up to the slides.

SplashTown
Spring Texas Hotels

Previous Attractions at SplashTown

• Hydra - A waterslide on the western part of the park. It had three difficulty levels and had a tri-head dragon sign. Today the dragons rest on the side of Guadalupe River Adventure. It had 3 slides: Screamicle: A free-fall cliff dive (54-degree drop, 66 feet tall, 223 linear feet long), Weaknesicle: A Speed Slide (66 feet tall, 320 linear feet long) and Longdropicus: 66 feet tall, 320 linear feet long). Built in 1985.
• Blue Beast - A one-person tube slide. It was accessible from the stairway to Texas Freefall.
• SoundWaves Amphitheatre: Replaced with Kids' Kountry and Leaky Pipes.
• Kids' Kountry - A kid's play area later replaced with Crocodile Isle.
• Rampage - Replaced with Thunder Run.

Hanna - Barbara Land was sold to private investors, who then built "SplashTown USA" in its place. The water park was sold again to Bryant Morris and then to Six Flags, who purchased the park in 1999. Six Flags eventually decided to re-brand the park as Six Flags SplashTown. Six Flags, which owned the Astroworld theme park in Houston until it's closure in October, 2005 held ownership of the water park until just prior to 2007 season. In 2007 the park was sold to PARC Management who continues to operate the park today.

Astroworld was a 75 acre amusement park located on the south side of Houston across Loop 610 from what is now known as Reliant Park and marketed as "AstroWorld: A Member of the Six Flags Family" so as to not be confused with "Six Flags Over Texas" located in Arlington, Texas.

Kings Entertainment Company also owned the Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland and Australia's Wonderland theme parks. PARC Management owns and operates both Zuma Fun Centers in Houston as well as various theme parks and amusement parks across the United States and Canada including the NASCAR SpeedParks in Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ontario, Canada.

Before it was a water park, the park was known as Hanna Barbera Land, a small amusement park for children built by Taft Broadcasting, which became Kings Entertainment Company when the park opened. The theme park was open for only two seasons in 1984 and 1985 before succumbing to a hard economy and minimal spending on concessions and souveniers.