I have obtained site plans for what SeaWorld San Antonio is currently calling their 2023 project. According to the documents I have, SeaWorld San Antonio is planning to build a new, log flume-like, water ride on the site of their former (long defunct) Texas Splash Down log flume. This new attraction is slated to reuse much of the former ride's queue and station. In fact, the new layout even integrates entire sections of Texas Splash Down's original layout.
Here's the full site plan for SeaWorld San Antonio's 2023 addition:
At first, a new log flume sounds sorta boring, but hear my out—this thing is potentially VERY interesting.
Lets start with the second half of the layout (the portion from Building 989 back to the station (Building 990). There appears to be an Intamin flume elevator lift followed by a sizable drop which takes boats under the entrance and exit pathways (next to Building 990B). From there, there's a long, straight portion of flume (below Building 990C) before the final splashdown (above Building 993). I'm pretty sure this lengthy straight section will feature an airtime hill similar to the one found in the video below:
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
That finale sequence alone is pretty neat, but it's possible that the first half of the layout is actually the most interesting part.
If you look to the top right of Building 990, there's a portion of the layout in a narrow trough with some sort of conveyance method. At first glance, this looks like a pretty normal, run-of-the-mill log flume lift. That said, there are some serious oddities here. First off, there's no indication that this portion of the layout ever departs the trough it starts in. In fact, it it almost looks like the layout only gains altitude after the conveyance method ends (note the support footers).
Another oddity here is that, after the conveyance portion of the layout ends, there's a stretch of elevated flume that crosses a previous part of the layout and a service road. It seems to me like it would make sense to cross these elements at the highest point of this portion of the ride which, if the conveyance method was a lift, would be at the top of said lift. That said, in this case, the layout crosses both of these elements at the halfway point between the end of the odd trough portion with the conveyance method and the start of the splashdown—almost as if the elevated trough portion we see in the plans is an airtime hill like we saw earlier in the layout.
Putting those details together, it almost looks to me like this trough area could be some sort of launch leading into an airtime hill followed by a splashdown. I'll be the first to admit that this is a longshot as I don't think Intamin has ever built a launch on a flume ride like this before. That said, given the indicators above, I have to mention it as a real possibility. Is it more likely that this is just a lift over a ground-level trough followed by an awkward, very drawn-out drop? Possibly. That said, if I've learned anything from leaking SEAS feat. Intamin projects over the last few years, it's to always expect the unexpected. Imagine how marketable the first launched log flume would be? That sounds like something SEAS and Intamin would be all over...
Anyway, launch or not, a composite map of the project can be found below.
Here's the full site plan for SeaWorld San Antonio's 2023 addition:
At first, a new log flume sounds sorta boring, but hear my out—this thing is potentially VERY interesting.
Lets start with the second half of the layout (the portion from Building 989 back to the station (Building 990). There appears to be an Intamin flume elevator lift followed by a sizable drop which takes boats under the entrance and exit pathways (next to Building 990B). From there, there's a long, straight portion of flume (below Building 990C) before the final splashdown (above Building 993). I'm pretty sure this lengthy straight section will feature an airtime hill similar to the one found in the video below:
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
That finale sequence alone is pretty neat, but it's possible that the first half of the layout is actually the most interesting part.
If you look to the top right of Building 990, there's a portion of the layout in a narrow trough with some sort of conveyance method. At first glance, this looks like a pretty normal, run-of-the-mill log flume lift. That said, there are some serious oddities here. First off, there's no indication that this portion of the layout ever departs the trough it starts in. In fact, it it almost looks like the layout only gains altitude after the conveyance method ends (note the support footers).
Another oddity here is that, after the conveyance portion of the layout ends, there's a stretch of elevated flume that crosses a previous part of the layout and a service road. It seems to me like it would make sense to cross these elements at the highest point of this portion of the ride which, if the conveyance method was a lift, would be at the top of said lift. That said, in this case, the layout crosses both of these elements at the halfway point between the end of the odd trough portion with the conveyance method and the start of the splashdown—almost as if the elevated trough portion we see in the plans is an airtime hill like we saw earlier in the layout.
Putting those details together, it almost looks to me like this trough area could be some sort of launch leading into an airtime hill followed by a splashdown. I'll be the first to admit that this is a longshot as I don't think Intamin has ever built a launch on a flume ride like this before. That said, given the indicators above, I have to mention it as a real possibility. Is it more likely that this is just a lift over a ground-level trough followed by an awkward, very drawn-out drop? Possibly. That said, if I've learned anything from leaking SEAS feat. Intamin projects over the last few years, it's to always expect the unexpected. Imagine how marketable the first launched log flume would be? That sounds like something SEAS and Intamin would be all over...
Anyway, launch or not, a composite map of the project can be found below.
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