Playtime in San Antonio means one thing: Texas-sized adventure! Regardless of whether you’re young or young at heart, big thrills await at world-class theme parks, water park resorts, caves, zoos, dude ranches and rodeos. Get ready to scream and squeal, splash and slide, laugh and cheer, run and gallop – and be surprised and delighted. Families on vacation, couples seeking a fun-filled getaway, or singles searching for adventure will discover exciting diversions all over the city.

Theme parks such as SeaWorld®San Antonio and Six Flags® Fiesta Texas combine thrilling rides with award-winning shows. TheSchlitterbahn Waterpark Resort reigns as one of the nation’s most popular water parks for good reason: 65 acres of wet fun for everyone in the family. Area dude ranches take you back to the days of the Wild Wild West with horseback rides through rolling countryside. And the world-famous San Antonio Zoo delights kids of all ages.

Get ready to come out and play the Texas-sized way!

Theme Parks & Water Resorts

Shamu and friends put on one of the most spectacular shows in Texas at SeaWorld® San Antonio, which celebrates its 20th birthday this year. Take a dip with a sea lion and come face-to-face with a beluga whale. Feed the friendly dolphins, witness sharks swimming in a coral reef, encounter penguins and flamingos, and gawk at the gators in Alligator Alley. Then take to the water yourself at Lost Lagoon water park.

With eight roller-coasters, award-winning shows, Looney Tunes characters and a free water park, Six Flags® Fiesta Texas delivers super-sized thrills and fun. It also celebrates the culture and history of Texas through four themed areas: a recreated Mexican town, German village, cowboy boom town and a small Texas community in the rock ‘n’ roll 1950s. In spring 2008 the park unveiled its ultimate inverted coaster, Goliath, which blasts through hairpin turns, vertical loops, corkscrews and a zero-gravity heartline spin. Groove to country-western, rock, pop and Latin music blockbuster shows, or enjoy water-soaked fun at White Water Bay in summer.

More big water adventure awaits at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, located on the banks of the Comal River about 30 miles north of town. Thrill-seekers get three miles of tubing adventures, 17 water slides, the world’s first surfing machine and three uphill water coaster “blasters.” Kids have seven of their own water playgrounds, and everyone can chill out at relaxing pools, lazy rivers, hot tubs and swim-up bars. Whatever your age, a watery wonder world awaits at Schlitterbahn – voted the “World’s Best Water Park” by the Golden Ticket Awards.

Zoos & Caves

There’s so much to see at the San Antonio Zoo and Aquarium, one of the nation’s largest zoos with more than 3,500 animals of 750 species. The zoo has won international acclaim for its conservation programs with the flamingo, white and black rhino, snow leopard, whooping crane and other species. Located in wooded Brackenridge Park, the zoo houses animals in natural-looking settings, such as a cave-like exhibit with underwater views of hippos and Nile crocodiles. The miniature train, nearby in the park, is a big hit with kids.

Take an African safari, Texas-style, at Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. You can view, photograph and feed zebras, giraffes and more than 500 animals from 40 species of native, exotic and endangered wildlife, right from the comfort of your vehicle. The ranch covers 400 acres of gorgeous Texas Hill Country and includes a learning center, petting zoo and gift shop.

The Texas Hill Country offers plenty of caves for underground exploration as well. One of the most spectacular is Natural Bridge Caverns, a vast limestone cavern carved millions of years ago by underground water. Travel through a half-mile of huge underground chambers decorated with formations like long “soda straw” stalactites, waves of “cave ribbon” and hanging “chandeliers.” Test your climbing skills on the manmade Watchtower while you’re hitched to a zip line. For even more thrills, special adventure tours guided by experienced staff members let you crawl, climb, hike, rappel and explore the caverns’ natural beauty for yourself.

Go underground and discover the nation’s only true example of an earthquake-formed cave at Wonder World Park. Visitors have toured this Balcones Fault Line for more than 100 years. In the topsy-turvy Anti Gravity House, everything is backwards – even water flows uphill!

Interactive Museums & Breathtaking Displays

Kids play to learn and adults learn to play at the San Antonio Children’s Museum, which offers three floors of activities for children ages 2 to 12. They can put on a hard hat and drive a kid-sized front-end loader, pretend to be pilots on an imaginary flight, zoom to the top of the museum’s Tower of the Americas in a kid-powered elevator, see how the human skeleton moves when you ride a bike, or explore a kid-friendly cave. This is one museum where kids are encouraged to touch everything!

The Witte Museum is another kid-friendly spot with exhibits to wow the whole family as well. Children can explore the lives of prehistoric creatures in Dino Hall and unravel the mysteries behind mummies, then learn about science while playing in the H-E-B Science Treehouse – a real two-story treehouse overlooking the San Antonio River. The permanent collection features fascinating exhibits about Texas’ wild creatures, while traveling exhibitions focus on a variety of topics throughout the year.

For more exotic collections, from a unique horn collection to cowboy memorabilia, visit the Buckhorn Saloon & Museum and the Texas Ranger Museum, which honors the history of this famous law enforcement agency. Then, encounter eye-popping exhibits and multi-sensory experiences at Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Louis Tussaud’s Plaza Wax Museum.

Get Texas-sized thrills without even leaving your seat at San Antonio’s IMAX® Theatre in Rivercenter Mall. With an eight-story-high screen, larger-than-life visuals and eye-dazzling special effects, you’ll be swept into the action of Hollywood movies, documentaries and special films such as “Alamo, The Price of Freedom,” which retells the state’s fierce battle for independence.

Marvel at the panoramic view of San Antonio from 750 feet on top of the Tower of the Americas, built for the 1968 World’s Fair. A glass elevator will take you up to the Flags Over Texas observatory, with heart-stopping views all the way. For even more adventure and spectacular views, enjoy San Antonio and the surrounding countryside from the air while aboard an Alamo Helicopter Tour or an Incredible Journeys Hot Air Balloon.

Dude Ranches

The town of Bandera, about an hour’s drive from San Antonio, calls itself the “Cowboy Capital of the World” for good reason. Dozens of dude ranches and hundreds of real cowboys and cowgirls call Bandera home. Many properties are working ranches that offer horseback riding, fishing, cookouts, hayrides and Western entertainment.

Tour a working longhorn cattle ranch at the LH7 Ranch, or take a wildlife tour through the 9,000-acre Flying A Ranch featuring exotic and native species. Many ranches and stables offer horseback tours by the hour or half-day trail rides in the scenic Hill Country. (The Bandera Texas Convention and Visitors Bureau has a full listing.) Rodeos are held at least twice weekly from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, but you can also catch cowboys practicing their roping skills at private arenas just about any time of the year.

A good example of a classic dude ranch is the Dixie Dude Ranch, which dates to 1937. Guests can explore 725 acres on horseback, stay overnight in cabins or a lodge, hike nature trails and enjoy an authentic ranch experience complete with a cowboy breakfast cooked outside.

Experience the Old West only 25 minutes from San Antonio at Enchanted Springs Ranch. This 86-acre working ranch has rugged, natural beauty, exotic animals and a Western town right out of the 1800s. Originally designed for Western movies, the town provides a hands-on experience of Texas heritage.

Caves

When Brian Vauter peers at the fantastic formations inside Natural Bridge Caverns, one of the state’s most spectacular natural wonders, the cave geologist sees miracles in the making.

“Natural Bridge Caverns is called a living cave because the cave formations are still being formed by dissolving rock,” he explains. The complex process that created the icicle-like stalactites on the ceiling and pillar-like stalagmites on the floor adds about an inch to the formations every 100 years. Visitors get to glimpse that living history literally in a new light. In March 2008 the caverns opened a new illumination tour that is one of Brian’s favorites.

“The new lighting we put in is really dramatic,” he says. “The interplay of light and darkness enhances the formations beautifully.” Brian, who has worked at Natural Bridge Caverns since 1986, loves San Antonio’s friendliness and communicates that when he occasionally leads tours himself. “We’re in the business of being friendly and giving everyone a good memory of their visit,” he says.