Aerial Antics: SeaWorld San Antonio's Aquatica

Sea World San Antonio first opened their Lost Lagoon water park in 1993, and in 2011 it was announced that it would be expanded and rebranded in order to become a separate gate facility named Aquatica.

Here's the results of that transformation, with the original Lost Lagoon on top and the completed Aquatica below.  Some attractions were retained, including some slides, the lazy river, and wave pool.  Other sections of the park were totally razed with new additions taking up residence.  The park's facilities were also greatly improved, and a nice new entrance area was built as well.

The northern section of the park saw the addition of a large slide.  The slide complex up top was renamed to Tassie's Twisters and HooRoo Run, and in the "before" shot you can see that the bowl slides were not yet build.

The big green and blue slide that was added was the first of its kind in the U.S., and named Walhalla Wave. Rafts swirl around the slide then plummet into a steep drop and up into a giant curving wall - plenty of air-time to be found on this one!

This section of the park saw the most work, located adjacent to the wave pool, now known as Big Surf Shores.  The park's original family raft ride, from the Lost Lagoon days, was razed and in its spot an enormous set of activity and relaxation pools were built. 

On the right is Stingray Falls, the replacement family raft ride that takes guests down into an underwater grotto for a unique view of rays swimming in their habitat.  The ray pool is also available for guests not interested in the slide to interact with - this is SeaWorld after all!

It seems Aquatica Texas was a success this first season, so perhaps we'll have even more additions to check out sooner than later!

All images are from Google Earth.