bert425

so the Ace event was all day at SeaWorld. . starting off with an early morning ERT on Texas Stingray and the two flats over there (a mini-Troika, and a mini pendulum). But check in was by 10:30am (park opening was 1pm). funny. . ~6 weeks ago, I hadn't been to this park in well over 25 years. This is now my 3rd time passing this sign since that time. 1st time I'm in "general parking". . .I parked by Sydney - who reminded me of Jabberjaw (and glad I paid attention. . finding my car after dinner to drop off the gift bag I had won in raffle (stuffed Shamu Toy, Coca-Cola scarf, and ornament) was a real . . . . adventure. but luckily I had the pic of Sydney to remind me where I parked! overcast, but not dark enough to trigger the lights - tho they would go on well before dark, as it stayed pretty overcast all day. ooo. . pretty. Aquatica towers over the main entrance area. when I upgraded my pass, they asked if I wanted "multi-park" so I could go in the summer. . but I'm just not a waterpark person. Still, it's impressive from the front gates area. oh, they have this big sign at the actual SW gate too. Hadn't noticed it on my prior visits, but since we were there so early, was easy to get a pic without so many in front of it. upon entering the park on our way back to Texas Stingray area for morning ERT, we passed all these cut out decorations by the lagoon. I knew they had Rudolf as a guest (and a priced character meal one could do with him), but I totally forgot that the island of Misfit Toys would be there too, if Rudolf was! Eeek!!!! so they've topped off Tidal Surge since my visit ~3 weeks ago. Wow.. the thing is really impressive in person now. it TOWERS over that part of the park. Only ~100 of us here for the event, so even with 1 train ops, still got multiple rides on Stingray during the morning ERT. (It's fun everywhere, but man, in the back seat this is an amazingly fun coaster) and I got to try out the test seat. Whee! our hour of ERT up, we headed back to the picnic area for Lunch - Hamburgers/hot dogs/chips, macaroni salad, & cookies. not sure how SW prepares their burger patties that makes them so good, but once again, this was an excellent burger patty! this is Paige, whom I ended up hanging around with most of the day at the event (and the mohawk just above me is Oren (and off to the left out of frame is Sean) whom we started talking to during lunch, and we also ended up hanging out with most of the day. at lunch we were able to sign up for "behind the scenes" tours if we wanted to.. so the four of us signed up for "Texas Stingray" & "Wave Breaker" - while Sean signed up for Tidal Surge Hardhat tour, and Batman (i mean Great White). "Behind the scenes" tour really meant we got to go to a restricted area and talk to the maintenance guys in the shed, and as them questions about the rides/trains. it was pretty cool, and we were able to get some "non-regular" pictures. and an answer as to why the coasters were 1 train ops - here's the other train for Texas Stingray, doing it's annual refurb. Not a whole lot of "extra" pieces available, but this was really the 1st time they'd taken a train apart since the ride is so new (per the Maintenance guy giving us the tour) but they do have an extra chain lift motor standing by just in case! some rally nice angles for pics from the behind the scenes: hidden behind the "secure" area. . and luckily not needed today! then we headed up the way to Wave Breaker, and into the Maintenance shed where we got an up close look at the Maintenance track for this launched coaster. Wave Breaker actually has 3 trains. but is running 1 train ops now: 1 train is in scheduled refurb maintenance, and 1 is being broken down to send to a sister SW park, as they're about to get a similar coaster (per the gentleman giving us the tour). these are the ones shipping off to another park. With a great view of the track & Steel Eel. Great White across the way - from the restricted area our tour guide offered (if we wanted) to go into the launch building - so of course we said yes: I chatted with this operator for a bit, and he was a great guy. I didn't realize they have cameras on every row during the pre-launch, and they look at every rider to make sure no cameras are coming out (he demonstrated how he can pick up the mic and shout out at certain riders to put away their phones). I didn't even notice anyone in the launch building on my prior rides! he's pretty well hidden. . LOL we also got to go outside along the 2nd launch and get some pretty cool pics from an angle most don't get to see: while waiting for Steel Eel's one train to come up the hill for a pic, I snapped a pic of Tidal Surge across the lagoon. here's Steel Eel! Sean had signed up for the Tidal Surge hard hat tour, but since we were at Wave Breaker, and the line was really short still, as the park had still opened, we convinced him to get in line with us to ride (which of course meant there was an issue, and we had to wait 20 minutes or so for it to cycle a few times before we got on it. we ended up getting a front row ride tho, so that was worth the wait: and then we rushed Sean over to the meet up point for the Tour (about 10 minutes late), while Oren, Paige, and myself headed to our first show of the day. to be continued with way more pics. . . .but here are two that Sean told me I could share from his Hard Hat tour, including a really interesting one of the compressors inside one of the "legs" to be continued. . .

^ that's a good deal tho. . and gives you access to all parks, and includes parking.

if you haven't yet seen this *amazing* ad by Norwegian Postal Service? sharing here. so well done, and beautiful

although I was just in San Antonio for Halloween at a Thrill Seekers United Event, I went back to San Antonio this past weekend for an ACE event at SeaWorld (the deal was just too good to pass up, since I'm an ACE member (joined for a year to ensure no issue at Coasterstock at Kings Island in July): Two meals, ERT on Stingray & two flats for hour before park opens, ERT on Steel Eel, Wave Breaker, Great White for an hour after park closes, and behind the scenes tours of the rides if so choose. plus get to see the opening weekend of the lights - with SWSA having the most lights up in Texas? so I went, and figured since staying the whole day, and I needed to activate my new Six Flags Fiesta Texas Platinum Season Pass, I'd stay over again (at a GREAT hotel this time with breakfast and checkout at noon). only problem was that SFFT didn't open until 2pm on Sunday - but they had also started their Holiday in the Park activities. . . .no issue tho? Groupon to the rescue (and a Noon opening) and I decided to go to the San Antonio Zoo for a few hours. so.. . trip report coming soon here, with TONS of pictures from SeaWorld San Antonio, San Antonio Zoo, and Six Flags Fiesta Texas. spoiler: I ended up upgrading my ticket to the SW event to a 2022 Season Pass (including parking!), and since I got the SFFT Platinum Pass now too? I suspect I'll be going to San Antonio a bit more often (as well as to other Six Flags parks since my Pass gets me into all of them - with the Dining Pass transferring with me to those other parks too). spoiler 2: of course, I rode the Carousels at all 3 places TR starting soonish here, hope y'all enjoy. SWSA: SA Zoo: SFFT:

Spent the weekend in San Antonio at SW, SFFT, and the zoo, and I'll be getting a trip report up in the next few days. but. . . a number of the track pieces for Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger have arrived at SFFT and are in the staging area in the parking lot - including what looks like the 1st and 2nd drop pieces (where the Dive Coaster holds before releasing). . so wanted to go ahead and share. as well as some "fresh" pics of the space where the coaster is going. enjoy!

GREAT pics. . and looks like y'all all had a fantastic time. Thanks for sharing. . it made me so happy to scroll thru these pics!

My 2022 platinum season pass given to me and activated at the front gate but then had to get into membership line anyways to get my drink cup

The wacky worm has been onsite for a while tho (pic of it from my trip to COTA for the kiss concert on page 1) the Texas wildcat is the coaster I originally started the thread about. The one that came from the British park

Titan is down because of a broken lift hill chain. .they have to wait for replacement part. Riddler is ALWAYS up and down. . it breaks a LOT but often comes back up rather quickly, so I'd go and just hope it's open. as long as Shockwave, NTAG, and Runaway Mountain are running? always worth a visit. . and even stuff like Pandemonium, Catwoman Whip, Mine Train, Gunslinger, and other flats are fun and worth the trip (not Judge Roy tho, unless you ride in the very front). go and have fun.

as I said on FB: we can ride a Paratrooper, an Enterprise, and a Bayurn Kurve elsewhere (hopefully at Knoebels within a year).. but the Kangaroo was/is the last of it's kind. so yeah. . I'll give them a cookie here. Even if it's clearly because they bowed to pressure/anger from Theme Park fans.

course. . she was done with him pretty quickly and pushed him off. . so more of a kiddie ride (under 20 seconds) I guess

that's really awesome. . can't wait to get a chance to go back and ride it. tho I will say, I love zoos too. . but even if they went the direction of more zoo? there was still plenty of "riding" during our visit. . . . at least over in the Lion area

this got lost in the mix today too! in addition to the new Coaster? COTAland is also getting a Skyblazer (!) https://www.usthrillrides.com/skyblazercota (honestly, a multi-seater skycoaster doesn't do much for me. . but maybe it will be an insanely fun experience?) this link has a video showing it off: https://www.usthrillrides.com/skyblazer

^ based on the "tunnel" in the animation? It's crossing the drive that goes behind some of the Grandstands/Entrance to the Concert Venue & Tower and connects the parking lots: in this image, I've highlighted COTA BLVD. . which I believe is the road it's crossing. the Green Arrow is pointing to Parking Lot B (the one I think is going away), and the green star is the main entrance to the amphitheater/tower - where the COTAland rides currently sit on either side.

that Hungry Hungry Hippos thing is so disturbing to watch. . LOL. . but I could *totally* see that showing up in Casinos in Vegas!

Remnants of the prior park's life. Before FunSpot took it over, that place was called Dixie Land Park/Fun Junction.

in Texas, we call that a "Frito Pie"

all it needs is a Carly Simon animatronic perched there singing

if I'm recalling .. it was load/unload 2 cars at a time, until fully loaded. . then cycled around. it was quite fun

TONS. it sits on a lot of unused land. . and if they wanted to (not that I would EVER want them to), they could pull out a massive Miniature Golf Course and make even more space. here's some pics of the park from when I was last there (in 2018) after FunSpot had recently taken the property over.

it really is strange that all the adult rides seem to be getting crammed together near the "entrance" for the concert venue. . . . while the kiddie rides are all crammed together on the other side behind the other grandstands. but I'm guessing that with this being created (and if my "read" of the animation is correct and parking lot "B" is going to be either gone, or really cut down size wise, they then have just created quite a bit of space to put all the rides together in one area. . and perhaps set up a "pay one price" vs "pay per ride". . guess we'll see. But I'm excited to see how this goes. and those not familiar? COTA is really close to the Austin Airport. . so an easy stop to make if flying in/out of town!

^ Goliath jumps the entrance to the Parking Lot. . so not really a "road" (tho from that animation, it looks like this is going onto space currently occupied by Parking Lot B - so really that "road" is still basically a parking lot drive that connects most of the lots on COTA property). but hey. . something they can use to advertise it

it's the F1 track just outside of Austin, Bill. they've been adding stuff all the time, but the reason not much activity on "COTAland" is they seem to be still trying to get the name to stick. . LOL (sorry, but it's a TERRIBLE name). the Circuit of the Americas Track website is the main site tho. . . and they update that pretty frequently, especially since adding the go kart tracks a few years ago, and the site is VERY popular for large concerts (not to mention F1 & NASCAR races): http://circuitoftheamericas.com/ (tho note on the main site, "COTAland" is still referred to as a "kiddie amusement park". I fully expect once the 1st big coaster opens, and they start building the 2nd big coaster, there will be a big push towards adults/teens to get them out to COTA to spend time there.

ah. . you're forgetting ZDT's "Switchback Railway" tho, in Seguin. that wooden shuttle coaster is absolutely worth a stop on that trip from Arlington to San Antonio

and just announced at IAPPA? COTALand is getting that unnamed Gerstlauer Infinity Shuttle coaster (1st in the USA). . .opening in late 2022. tho it's not "Unnamed" any more. . gonna be called "Palindrome" WOW. . so we're getting TWO coasters in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas, COTAland. https://www.facebook.com/RideEntertainment/videos/1570862509920887 and they've already uploaded the POV video to YouTube. . Palindrome! looks amazing!