irondraggon

There was nothing wrong with it until they started trying to fix it. That's why the old saying goes "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" I rode it dozens of times when it was here in Houston, before they started trying to fix it. Yes, the accordian restraints were very uncomfortable on the shoulders, but that's mostly because I'm 6'4" and my knees were practically under my chin because there wasn't enough leg room either. But it really wasn't that bad, once you learned how to ride it. I only had one bad ride on it, and that was only because I got the very stupid idea to try and get some airtime on it. So I left a few inches of freedom between my shoulders and the accordians. Big mistake. By the time we got out of the double loops, the G's had slammed the accordians down on my soulders way farther than they would've been if I had ridden it like I usually did. So it was pure pain the rest of the way, and trying to make it better only made it worse. Perhaps Six Flags could learn alot from that last statement. "Trying to make it better only makes it worse!" This couldn't be more true for this ride. You don't try to fix a Schwarzkopf by trying to modify it. Because there's nothing wrong with it that needs fixing. It's like trying to modify a B&M. No one in their right mind would ever modify a B&M. And no one in their right mind should ever try to modify a Schwarzkopf either. Period. Anyhow, it's sad to see such a great ride get butchered to death because some greedy American corporation thinks that they can improve on it. It should've been sent back to Germany after it left Houston. God knows the Germans wanted it back. They never wanted it to leave. And now look what they have to endure. They have to watch one of their most beloved coasters die a slow horrible death at the hands of a bunch of ignorant Americans. Anton must be rolling in his grave. I hope he haunts those responsible for the mutilation of one of his finest masterpieces. Best first drop on any Schwarzkopf I've ever ridden. And I've ridden quite a few. P.S.: The back seat was the best on this ride, before they ruined it. Killer G's and intense speed. After the double loops it was nothing really out of the ordinary, except for the odd shape of the final loop, but the first three elements were some of the finest ever on any coaster. You just had to love the spiral double loops. I thought that the back-to-back double loops on Shockwave at SFOT ruled all, until I experienced those double spirals.

Anybody who didn't see this coming wasn't paying very much attention. Everybody knows the park has always been the black sheep of the Six Flags family ever since they bought it. So it was only a matter of time. I don't buy their bogus excuse that the parking situation is why they didn't do more for the park though. They didn't do more for it because they just didn't care about it. And besides that, the parking situation only became an issue recently this year, so how dare they use that as their excuse for not doing more for the park? That statement is really only their way of saying "HAHAHA... Screw you all!" to the people of Houston one last time. Yes, it's true that they did give us some very cool rides over the years, especially in recent years. But new rides were very few and far between, usually were actually used rides from other parks, and almost never were anything that broke any kind of record or was the first ever of its kind. So is it any wonder to anyone besides Six Flags corporate why AstroWorld never made as much money for them as they thought that it should? But perhaps the bigger question now is which Six Flags park will become the graveyard for all the other Six Flags parks to dump their unwanted old rides on, now that they can't use AstroWorld for that anymore? It certainly will be interesting to see who becomes the next bastard child. Anyhow, hopefully most of the best rides and coasters from SFAW will end up at SFFT. They have plenty of room for both, and they've been needing more coasters for several years now. Plus, it would also be alot cheaper to transport the majority of rides and coasters to San Antonio than it would be to transport them to any other city with a Six Flags park. As for SFNO, it's a real shame that hurricane Katrina flooded that park so badly recently. They had plenty of room for more rides and coasters too, and they've also needed more coasters for several years now. But now I have to agree that they are one of the most likely parks to get the axe from Six Flags corporate next. So close to home, and yet so far away... SFFT probably won't get Joker/Jester back from SFNO, but I do expect them to get Serial Thriller from SFAW, and put it where Joker used to be. They've been wanting an inverted to compete with the one at Sea World, but only an SLC or a B&M flyer could do that for them, unless they got a custom B&M inverted. But all Six Flags inverteds are Batman clones, like the one at Sea World, and where exactly is that B&M flyer with a Batman theme that SFFT has been rumored to be getting for several years now? I won't speculate on what other rides from SFAW might go where, but all the water rides should be destined for Splash Town. They should have plenty of room for them. Any leftovers will likely just be used for parts. Some of the scrapped rides could be relocated or used for parts too, but anyone familiar with Six Flags knows that scrapped rides typically spend the rest of their existence just sitting in a storage yard somewhere. XLR-8 is certain to be sent to the smelters for meltdown though. It's worth far more as recycled steel than anything else. Besides, what other park could pass off an old suspended coaster as a new ride? Only SFAW was clever enough to do that successfully, by mounting half its train cars in reverse. So you have to give SFAW credit for making the best of what little it had to work with. It may have been mostly a junkyard for abandoned rides that nobody else wanted, but they kept all of their tired old rides running more often than not, which is something that SFMM the corporate pet will never be able to say. And how ironic that those who call "the crown jewel" their home park are actually begging for hand-me-down flat rides from a park that never had any hope of ever having a collection of coasters the likes of which those poor flat ride beggars so quickly grow bored with. I'd feel sorry for them, but my home park is the one that's dying. RIP, SFAW. Now here's my list of the rides that I think will be relocated/sold/scrapped: Relocated Rides: Dungeon Drop Serial Thriller Viper SWAT Greezed Lightnin Batman the Escape Sold Rides: Mayan Mindbender Warp 2000 Gun Slinger Wagon Wheel Looping Starship Ultra Twister Scrapped Rides: Texas Cyclone Antique Taxis Go Karts Runaway Rickshaws Astroway XLR-8 Auctioned Rides: Dentzel Carousel 610 Limited RR * The 2 auctioned rides will provide a very nice bonus for Kiernan Burke!