bert425

^ yeah. .more likely, the weekend after Memorial Day. So looking at 1st weekend in June got the OK from the spouse to start planning, so he bought off on it.

Keep in mind, ZDT is way closer to San Antonio, than it is to Austin (it's in Seguin.. maybe 20 minutes for S.A. but about an hour or so from Austin) ZDT will not ever expand much bigger than it already is -- it's not an "Amusement Park" per se, yes, even tho they call it that on their website. it's an Amusement Center (and it used to be called that before they got the Roller Coaster). think of a way scaled down Fun Spot. https://www.zdtamusement.com/ which is *not* to say, it's not a hell of a lot of fun to visit.

to be fair, Astroworld closed not because it was losing money (it may have been, but that's not the main reason it closed). . the land was simply too valuable and greedy developers got involved. that's why it sucks to pass the space it was in these days and just see a grass field (that's used for overflow parking for Reliant Stadium/Astrodome complex across the Freeway (Loop 610), since the old Astroworld bridge over the Freeway is still there).

thanks for the info, folks! we're looking into perhaps a Memorial Day weekend visit to St. Louis (with at least 1 day at Six Flags). it seems to be a smaller park, so likely one full day will be enough .. .likely a Sunday. looking forwards to it, if this is where we end up going.

that is not correct. I live in "FAR" North West Austin (technically close to Leander), and it takes exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes from my driveway to Fiesta's parking lot. leaving from my friend's house, who lives near downtown, takes ~ 1 hour 10 minutes. . . usually closer to an hour. I go every few weeks. Fiesta Texas is my home park. those that don't live in Texas (which is a HUGE state) always think drives are "long". . . to us? a 3 1/2 hour drive to Kemah or Galveston Pleasure Pier is just a day trip. So an hour and a 1/2 to SFFT? that's nothing. (I telecommute to work 4 days a week, but on the one day I drive in? it's a 50 minute drive to my office in Buda. so what's an extra 40 minutes of driving?) same is true of California. . another large State. As Robb noted, folks drive that distance for the parks every day . Hell, people drive that far just to get to work some days I still remember the folks in Pennsyvania that were STUNNED when we flew into Pittsburgh and did a trip to Philly, stopping each day to go to a park (Kennywood, Knoebel's, Hersheypark, check into Philly hotel then back to Dorny next day). That's not a lot of driving to us. .but folks reacted like it was a treck thru the desert. Oh, and Austin does have Rail Service - but it only runs from Leander to the downtown Capital area.

that looks really great! I think the standout to me (without having seen it in person), is the building design. That capper appears to have lights in it, and is going to look incredible at night. and the full size Jessie out front? instant must stop photo op. nice work on the re-theme!

trying not to be harsh, but there's simply no way around this: You're being stupid. don't be stupid. why does San Antonio have a Six Flags and a Sea World? - because it's the 7th largest city in the USA (and the 2nd largest in Texas) - there are MASSIVE military bases located there, with a built in year round populace who often frequent the parks/Riverwalk/entertainment areas. There's a reason San Antonio is frequently referred to as "MC" (Military City) instead of "SA" -- the City is full of historical significance (Missions, including the Alamo, are UNESCO world site designated) -- the City hosted the Worlds Fair in 1968,and Hemisfair tower (Tower of the Americas) still stands there. that's just off the top of my head. learn about the City, before you make a sweeping stupid comment like the above https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio

No. reason why? Ignoring the fact that Austin, even tho the State Capitol, is mainly a College Town (with several big Colleges here that greatly increase the population - temporarily). . there are many options close by: San Antonio is 1:20 away (Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Sea World San Antonio) New Braunfels is 45 minutes away (Schlitterbahn) Seguin is 55 minutes away (ZDTs) Arlington (Dallas/Ft Worth) is ~3 1/2 hours away (Six Flags Over Texas) Katy is ~2 1/2 hours away (Katy Mills' Typhoon Texas waterpark) Houston is ~3 hours away (Grand Texas Theme Park when it opens, FunPlex (smaller rides, but rides) previously had Astroworld as an option) Galveston is 3 1/2 hours away (Pleasure Pier) Kemah is ~3:10 hours away (Kemah Boardwalk). Austin already has several smaller water parks (Volente Beach, Typhoon Texas (in Pflugerville). . not to mention Lake Travis), and a few "Entertainment complexes" including Pinballz - the Lakecreek location has Bumper Cars, Go Karts, Escape Rooms, Laser Tag, and several 4D "rides" they will never build a theme park here, even a smaller one. There are simply too many other, bigger, options close by. the closest we ever got was "kiddie acres" which survived for many years as just a place to hold birthday parties, before finally shutting down a couple of years ago.

thanks guys. so I guess we'd need to rent a car to get to Six Flags, which is fine (the gold pass gives us parking too). appreciate the info! might look into staying closer to SF, and driving into the city for the day. where is the airport?

so we're seriously eyeballing a trip to St. Louis in early June.. never been, and it seems that Six Flags St. Louis has a lot of mid-size "family" coasters and flats (that my spouse will actually ride). If we go, we're planning on staying close to the Arch (as we'd do that, and City Museum) on a Saturday, and then on Sunday go to Six Flags. so the question is: How close to the Arch area is SFStl, and how easy is it to get there from that area? not really familiar with the city at all. we'd likely have a Friday afternoon/evening free after checking in. . so what else fun is there to do in the city? any feedback is welcome! thanks, bert

an update? with ani-mules? YES! thanks Bill

that villains after hours sounds fantastic. yeah, it's not gonna be for everyone - but really, who DOESN'T love the villains more anyways?

kind of a given, but I'll say it out loud why I haven't posted in this thread. I neither understand, nor enjoy (in the least) this type of music. But to each their own. Glad you enjoy it, but it's not my cuppa. if I want to hear this, I'll pull out an old 45 and play it at 33rpm speed to get the same effect. (and can honestly say the only track that's really ever worked for me in this way, and used to hear it all the time at the clubs in Houston - typically as last song of the night post-2am) is Madonna "burning up") [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

for those not familiar with SFOT? Aquaman is *literally* across the main walkway from Justice League: Battle for Metropolis. so yeah. .it's a DC area. (the only thing out of place there is Pandemonium, as it is between JL/Aquaman, and the entrance to Gotham once one crosses the railroad tracks).

nice report Chuck! and the Parched Pig looks great.

Happy Birthday, Bill!!

the justification I heard for it (from a friend who works at DownTown Disney) was that it was due to security reasons. more specifically, that it's difficult to check for contraband among loose ice in a timely manner. . that with ice packs only, it's much easier to look into the coolers, and move the lines thru. he also said he believes (tho I didn't see that noted anywhere), that once thru the security gates and into the parks, one can go to several stores and ask for (purchase?), loose ice to then dump into the coolers. I guess that would KIND of make sense? similar to how one can't bring a liquid into TSA security gates, but can buy sodas/liquids within the airport. just sharing what I heard. .

Fad Gadget: Collapsing New People [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

ha! I've learned! saw you post this earlier, but didn't come to look at it until AFTER I've gorged myself with Sushi for dinner. . . so I could enjoy without getting hungry. great pics, and even things that don't "sound" great to me - boysenberry corn ??? - look delicious. loving the pics of the art too. . . that wood cut is amazing. thanks for the report

heya Liz. .good to see you back posting again! hope all is going well (and belated Happy Birthday). yep, the photo frames for the rides are on the website - I have them scan onto my card at each ride, and then the next day "download" the pics. once they are visible, the ride specific pics, have frame options (generic, no frame, six flags frame, character frames, and a themed to that specific ride frame). You can also add "Stickers" or "logos" to any picture before saving to your own computer. Wonder Woman and Bug's Rapids have just one option, but Iron Rattler, Goliath, and Roadrunner Express seem to have two I purchased the 2019 season photo pass, back in 2018 when they kept dropping the price. it was so cheap, it was nuts not to pick it up. . tho as we can all see, not all of the "professional" pics are what would be considered "Professional". but I did get my fave pic in years out of it during our mid Feb visit. . and with the ride pics I get every time? yeah, was a great deal. best pic we've gotten in years, courtesy of Six Flags Photo Pass

and they're using TPR's YouTube video of Kristen and friend riding, to show the ride in the story! I have cousins who live in Vegas, and she did tell me (since she knows how much I love coasters), that local news is saying the woman was a rider, and the coaster was in motion when she fell out. Apparently the woman was taken to the hospital in "serious" condition. . but that's all my cousin knew. googling didn't really turn up anything more recent than the other day tho.

two points to keep in mind tho: 1) SFFT is a year round park now. so they've been open since Jan - and yes, that means that ride refurbs have to happen while the park is open (that's why Gully Washer and the Train have been down -- tho both reopened early. . and why Hustler is in pieces). Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed at how much was up and operating. If Supes hadn't shat the bed on Sat, it would have been open too. No idea what was up with the Disc-O (Hurricane Force 5) tho. 2) SFFT is well known as a "show park". I think it's the premier show park in the SF chain. So it was a loss that they haven't been running shows thus far in 2019 (not after Christmas, even tho Holiday in the Park decorations were still up. . after 12/25 shows were down). Mardi Gras had live bands (on temporary stages), and parade, but no shows. So I'm glad to see some of the live shows are slowly coming back. As we hit April/May, and they begin to open daily, I fully expect they'll be using all 6 theaters (2 indoor full theaters (Zaragosa & Rockville), 3 outdoor (Los Festivales, Crackaxle, Kidzopolis), and 1 indoor (Sangerfest Hall) stages.. not counting the large outdoor they only use for special occastions/concerts (Diamond Lil's amphitheater))

even with multiple rides out (and Superman closed all day), it was still a great visit. they even have started putting in some of the live shows, before the "summer" daily openings. I stopped in Los Festivales to watch part of the 80's "icons" band. They were pretty good, tho for someone performing Madonna, I was surprised to hear a song that was from the 2000's ("Hung Up") since she was dressed as 80's "boy toy" Madonna. . but I guess as long as she stayed in character. . .LOL

May start talking about Roller Coasters (plural). . . hence 2

R.I.P. Ranking Roger. . way, way too young and he was just diagnosed in January (Brain Tumor, and Lung Cancer. . . double whammy). [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]