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Days 2 & 3: Tourists in Arlington/Austin/San Antonio (No coaster content) We awoke on Day 2 of our adventure with no real plan for the day. We were just a few blocks from AT&T Stadium and my daughter asked if we could do a tour. As a Steelers fan, I had no real desire to tour this place. But my daughter wanted to go and when I looked up tours, it turned out that this was one of two days in December with field access for self-guided tours. The house that Jerry built Turns out it is a pretty amazing building. We got to go in the press room, players' and cheerleaders' locker rooms, and you could wander around the field and play catch. What I think of the Cowboys What my daughter thinks of the Cowboys After the tour we headed to Zilker Park in Austin. We wanted to swim in Barton Springs Pond. When we arrived and there were just a bunch of old men swimming around, my daughter decided she really didn't want to jump in. So we hiked a bit. There was apparently a festival of lights coming up that evening and the park was going to be nuts. We opted to head straight to San Antonio and skip out on a night in Austin. Traffic was horrendous in Austin at 2:30 in the afternoon. Maggie with the local flora We rolled into San Antonio with grumbling stomachs. I hadn't booked a room yet so I decided to check out our River Walk hotel that I had booked for Thursday night. I decided to splurge a bit more and got it for this night (Tuesday). There was a BBQ joint, Augie's, two blocks away. It was delicious and cheap. Augie's .99 combo. Hard to beat! We walked along the River Walk and had a lovely evening looking at all the lights. Our hotel was about 1 mile north of the main area of shops and restaurants and about 0.7 miles south of the Pearl district. Both were an easy stroll. Pearl District Day 3: Missions and such: We had breakfast at Pete's Tako House, also just a block or so from our hotel. The machacado con huevos was delicious. Machacado from Pete's Then we set out to visit the Alamo, Tower of the Americas and the other missions on the Mission Trail. We had planned to rent bicycles to ride the Mission Trail. Around 2:30 I realized we wouldn't have time for that, so we drove to three of the missions that afternoon. We made it back to the hotel for some rest before our nightly walk on the River Walk. We enjoyed being on the river so much, we stayed at the hotel three nights instead of one. I am a frugal traveler usually, almost never splurging on downtown hotels and always using street parking when I do. I actually paid for the parking as well. My daughter was a bit shocked by this, I think. And I tipped the valet. We stayed at the Wyndham Garden. I'm still using Wyndham Rewards and this was definitely a huge step up from the Days Inns and Super 8s (which can vary wildly in quality) Our hotel from across the River Walk I would have better photos but my Sony a3000 crapped out after the AT&T stadium tour.

Day 1: Six Flags Over Texas So our visit to Texas went really well last week. We broke up the 16 hour drive to Arlington with a stop in Memphis. Our first Texas stop was Whataburger. Technically we were in Arkansas, but Texas was across the street. We grabbed a decent enough room at a HoJo and we could see Titan from our room. They opened the gates a bit early and we proceeded towards New Texas Giant. When we got to the rope, the Six Flags employee said that we could get in ten minutes early if we had memberships. We boogied back to New Texas Giant and got in line to be front row for the first ride of the day. And there appeared to be mechanical difficulties, so the ride shut down before it could start. We went over to Titan and it was still testing. After announcing maybe five times that the next train would be the first of the day, we finally were able to get on. I really enjoyed this coaster. The uphill helix was cool. The MCBR was on so hard it was almost painful. My daughter declared this her second favorite coaster of the trip after Iron Rattler. After a quick trip to confirm that NTG was still down, we made our way around the park, hitting every coaster at least once. I loved Shockwave. I wish the old Arrow loopers could age like a Schwarzkopf. Mr. Freeze was also a lot of fun. After some reading I realized that we did the oldest and newest Arrow mine trains on this trip. Judge Roy Scream wasn't particularly bad, but did not warrant a re-ride. La Vibora was great. I love bobsled coasters. The park was dead and we never waited more than 5 minutes for anything. When the app finally updated and showed that New Texas Giant was running, we made a beeline for it. It was a ton of fun and we got a few laps in before ending the evening with a couple more rides on Titan. All in all, a great experience at a very nice park. Obligatory sign photo There are big balls in Texas The reason for the season Maggie approves of New Texas Giant

The MCBR on Steel Eel was working hard the day we were there. We still got decent airtime. The farther we sat to the back, the more violent the return to the seat was. They strangely let us ride twice without re-entering the queue, but made us exit and re-enter after every two rides, even though there was no one in line at the time. We had zero issues getting our passes, BTW.

Iron Rattler. What a great RMC!

Steel Eel was great! Nothing fancy maneuver-wise, but what a solid airtime coaster. After Iron Rattler ( the clear choice for best coaster this trip), my daughter liked Titan and Steel Eel the best. She is a hyper girl, I guess. Great White was good, but just another B&M invert. Wave Whatever was a one and done, but good on SWSA for having a family friendly launch coaster. I am now back in NC after a hell drive through Houston, Atlanta, and Charlotte. TR coming next week.

^The flats just aren't for us. We are enjoying the lights and are on the platform for our second Iron Rattler ride. Wow! Maybe my second favorite RMC. I have actually taken a few non-ride pictures, something I rarely do.

Just rode WW. Superman is not testing yet. App hasn't updated, is showing every thing as closed. Wind has died down a bit. Got WW x2. Then Roadrunner. Iron Rattler is testing now. In line. What a beautiful park.

We're out here in line. It's windy AF. Not sure any coasters will run but we will get the layout in case we have to come back tomorrow. I was supposed to have my daughter back in NC for church on Sunday. Her mother told her she could choose roller coasters or church given our circumstances. She chose roller coasters. My girl! We really want Wonder Woman, Iron Rattler, and Superman. If we get the clones, fine. If not, no big deal. Would probably only do BTR if we did a clone.

That's what I'm afraid of. Winds should die down this evening. We can come back to SWSA tomorrow at 1, but SFFT doesn't open until 5. That throws a monkey wrench in the travel plans if we can't ride coasters tonight. On the bright side, we've had two great days being tourists in San Antonio and my daughter already wants to come back.

Never mind. All coasters are closed at SWSA. Park is dead and winds are gusting 30+ mph. May have to add a day to this trip.

Any idea what kind of winds shut down the coasters here? Weather app says 21mph gusts, but it feels stronger than that. I'm more concerned about SFFT this evening. Hopefully the winds die down. BTW, after our first night in the hotel on the River Walk I cancelled our budget hotels in the burbs and splurged on the River Walk for two more nights. What a great town. Trip report coming next week.

^Thanks for the heads up, Bert. SFOT was only open 5-10 yesterday. We pretty much only ride coasters and are cool with skipping clones if time is short. I have ridden FoF at KD and KI, and The Joker's Jinx at SFA, so missing Poltergeist wouldn't be the end of the world (but I do love those Premier launchers). The SFFT website only lists Goliath as closed ATM. I have ridden three Batman clones including last night and we will be riding Great White Thursday as well. So this visit will be all about Wonder Woman, Iron Rattler, and Superman. And maybe a s'mores for the daughter.

Park was absolutely dead tonight. We walked on or had a one train wait for multiples on Titan, New Texas Giant, and Shockwave. I rode every coaster except the kiddie ones. Considering we also had dinner and had trouble finding things, we packed a lot in. I'll post a TR when I get home. We are doing touristy stuff tomorrow and Wednesday. SWSA and SFFT are on tap for Thursday. Maybe back to SFFT on Friday. Life is good.

Going to Texas in ten days. Going to knock out SFOT, SFFT, and SWSA. We might even hit Park at OWA on the way home. We may have to actually ride a Wild Mouse and some flats to make that one worth it.

^^My first two rides on LR were at night. I still have no clue what happened, other than awesomeness.

There is a Dollywood documentary of sorts streaming on Amazon if you are a Prime member: https://www.amazon.com/Dollywood-Bust-Phil-Grabsky/dp/B07BRYL2T8 The focus is on everything except rides. It's listed as 1999 so it pre-dates Tennessee Tornado. There is a brief on-ride clip from a log flume. It's not great, IMO, but you do get a glimpse of Dollywood 20 years ago.

1. Phoenix 2. Mindbender 3. The Beast 4. The Bat 5. Loch Ness Monster 6. Adventure Express 7. Magnum XL-200 8. Thunderhawk 9. Steel Force 10. The Riddler Revenge More love for Phoenix!

Fury 321 and Vortex of Pain (that one is accurate). Someone has too much time on their hands.

Thanks for the tip. I've already booked a room on the River Walk. Looking forward to adding Texas to my list of visited states.

My daughter is going to San Diego for spring break, so we are going to Texas next month to pick up our SW/BG passes so she can go to SWSD on that spring trip. We are going to do SFOT and SFFT as well. We are driving, so probably hitting OWA Foley and SFOG on the way back. We are taking 8 days to do this so we will probably have time for a little sightseeing as well (Alamo, River Walk, ???).

gofundme update: $1,351 in 8 months. At this rate he would reach $20M in ~9,862 years

Nice report! Have you guys ever been to the NC Zoo? I highly recommend it if you haven't. It's not far out of the way if traveling between KD/BGW and Carowinds. They currently have two continents represented: Africa and North America. Construction begins in 2020 on the Asia and Australia exhibits for a planned 2022 completion. There are polar bears. Right here in Greensboro, NC we also have a science center with a small zoo and aquarium that has tigers, maned wolves and red pandas. Just a few miles off I-85. http://www.greensboroscience.org/

Fury 325. Was lucky enough to get a few laps with very little wait. And one ride with plenty of room between the clamshell and my legs. I floated most of that lap.

Planned (* first time): Cedar Point Kings Island Carowinds Kings Dominion Busch Gardens Williamsburg Busch Gardens Tampa* Sea World Orlando* Six Flags Over Georgia Kennywood* Six Flags Fiesta Texas* Six Flags Over Texas* Sea World San Antonio* Waldameer* Darien Lake* Possibly: Worlds of Fun* Silver Dollar City* Six Flags St. Louis* SIx Flags Great America* Kentucky Kingdom* Holiday World* Fun Spot Kissimmee*

43 years ago today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evel_Knievel#Kings_Island_jump