Coastercowboy

it was his knees. .when he sat in the train (again, you sit with your legs straddling the "hump" which is the rail of the coaster), his knees prevented the harness from clicking shut safely, so he could not ride. due to the design of the train, you can't do the "cross your ankles" thing to get one's knees lower (as he did on Poltergeist). I saw other tall folks riding Wonder Woman, so it could just be that the body type he has, his knees just hit perfectly in that spot. that's why I said the ride REALLY needs a test seat. --> as noted under the pics, I did not see ONE walk of shame due to weight. some really large folks were riding with no issue, the seats are very accommodating to larger guests -- but super awkward to get into It appears a test seat is being installed this week. Looks like we will have one for the grand opening this weekend!

Great report, as always Bert. Glad you enjoyed WW. We missed it by a week. We will be heading back down in June or July to get some rides. Did you happen to notice if Road Runner Express was running? It was down two weeks ago and someone else mentioned it was not running last weekend either.

The wife and kids went to Hurricane Harbor today for their preview day and since I am out on waterparks, I decided to spend a few hours at SFOT. A quick report and some thoughts. The park was not busy at all. The longest wait was about 20 minutes for Sky Screamer and Giant. Quite a few walk-ons. Overall ride ops weren't bad, EXCEPT Texas Giant. The dispatches were not good. Each ride should have been 5-10 minutes (most could have been no wait with better ops) at the absolute most...The station workers took so long to check restraints and spent more time talking to each other than anything else. I go to have fun and it takes a lot to annoy me at parks, but every single time through the station was the same thing. OK, rant over. New Texas Giant - 7 rides - Longest wait about 10 minutes. Man, I just love this thing the more I ride it! Definitely top 10. Titan - 1 ride - Walk-on. Once is enough each trip. Love the drop and the one airtime hill, but leaves me wanting more. Shockwave - 2 rides - both walk-ons. A really underrated coaster. Mine Ride- 1 ride - walk-on. Rough and jerky but still a classic. Runaway Mountain - 1 ride - 10 minute wait. Fun indoor excitement. Batman - 1 ride - 5 minute wait - short, fun and intense as always. Sky Screamer - 1 ride - 20 minute wait. Always like the big swing. Justice League - 4 rides- all basically walk-ons thanks to the single rider line. Always fun and still can't get above 300,000...One day Also tried out the new Cheesesteak and Tots place. It wasn't too bad at all. The food lines were no more than 10-15 minutes. The concrete is done on HQ and it looks like the base of the ride is being installed, from what I could see from Sky Screamer. I don't think it will take all that long, now that is going vertical. All in all, a fun day, although would have preferred not to do it alone. Visited Fiesta and ZDT last weekend for the first time. I hope to get a photo trip report up sometime this week.

The cars definitely do not spin. They rotate slowly. If they spun like I was originally thinking they would, when it was announced, I wouldn't have made it without getting off sick. The ride is different every time. We had the good fortune to get the front seat on both of our rides and they were entirely different. On the first launch, we launched sideways first ride. The second ride we launched just about straight backward. The inversions were totally different as well. One of my favorite things about this coaster is it will be new and different every time.

The family and I went to Silver Dollar City for the first time over the weekend and we came away very impressed. We went Friday and Saturday. Friday the park was not busy at all, due to a chance of rain. We had either walk-ons or very little wait for just about everything except Time Traveler. Saturday was very busy (as we expected) but we were still able to do everything we wanted to do. Some thoughts from the trip; Overall - We thought the condition of the park and the theming were terrific. The park was really clean and well cared for. Being early spring we feel we didn't get the full effect without all of the vegetation and trees in bloom but we still thought it was great. Can't wait to return in late spring or summer to check it out, hopefully next year. Food - We all agreed the food was excellent. The skillets were unique and worth the $. The cinnamon bread....OMG...everything I have heard is true! My wife and I polished off the whole loaf...well the kids had a little, but had to fight us for it! Service - Most everyone we came into contact was really friendly, engaging and helpful. A huge difference from most other parks we have been to. Rides - Great selection overall. Truly something for everyone. Some highlights; Outlaw Run - Wow! What a great, fun intense coaster. The drop was crazy! Really outstanding air time as well. The zero G rolls were a perfect way to end a fabulous coaster. Moved into my Top 5 overall. 10/10 Wildfire - Really fun, solid ride, as expected. Really smooth for a almost 20 year old ride. No head banging at all, which is always a huge plus. Great location and views added to the experience. Can't go wrong with a B&M, at least I haven't yet. 8/10 Powder Keg - Good ride. Liked the launch and was fun overall. One thing I didn't care for were the seats. They were not comfortable to me at all. 7/10 Thunderation - Really good mine train. Probably the best I have been on. Nice layout and really good speed, especially for a MT. The ride was also pretty smooth, except there were a couple spots on the second helix right before the lift hill that were pretty rough. 7/10 Fire in the Hole. Really fun little ride. The unexpected drops got the kids attention 6/10 Barn Swing - Good ride. Pretty cool going through the barn. Not as intense, or fast as Riddler here at SFOT, but not much is. Still really good 7/10 Time Traveler - This ride exceeded my expectations, by a lot. I had been worried about the "spinning" since it was announced. As mentioned, it rotates more than spins and that rotating turns a coaster with some fairly basic elements into one of the most fun coasters I have ever been on. Not the best coaster, but definitely one of the most fun. The family loved it also! It was my son's first coaster with an inversion and he came off the ride with a huge grin! I really like that it will be a different ride and experience each time. 9/10 We arrived before rope drop and made our way to TT both mornings. Friday we waited an hour and 20 minutes, but that was apparently due to some media event. Once they opened the ride it took abut 25 minutes to get on. Saturday it was about a 20 minute wait. The rest of the time the app was showing anywhere from 90-150 minute wait time, or the ride was down, which it was during late Saturday afternoon. Marvel Cave - So glad we did this. What a fantastic experience...and in a theme park, no less. We also rode Flooded Mine which was fun, but the kids prefer Justice League. Actually I do too, but it was a unique, cool ride. The train was awesome! The kids enjoyed the "robbery" and I enjoyed getting some looks/pics of Outlaw Run. The Fireman's Landing area was really well done. The kids really enjoyed the play area, and I didn't hate it either. I can't say enough good things about SDC. Top to bottom just a first class park. We are already thinking about heading back up sometime, but it is a 7.5 hour drive for us. Not sure when we will be back but was have some unforgettable memories to hold us over until we do!

Going to SDC opening weekend. There appears to be a 2 day ticket option on the reservebranson.com website. The price is something like $70.00 or so. Has anyone gone this route? Is it recommended? I know the season passes aren't much more, but we live near Dallas and this will be our one and only trip there this year. Plus there are 4 of us so any way we can save $ is a big deal.

We didn't ride Catwoman - I don't really do fast, spinning rides very well anymore. My daughter wanted to go on it but my wife wasn't feeling it. I am sure they will ride it next time out. It looks like fun to me but I would be out of commission if I rode it. I did read your SFFT report and it was great, as always. We will be down in San Antonio in April to do Fiesta for the first time and ZDT.

Six Flags Over Texas Trip Report 3/4/18 The family and I visited SFOT on Sunday 3/4 and although it is couple days later, I wanted to share some thoughts and few pictures from the visit. Overall, I would have to say this was one of the better experiences we have had at a park in a long time. The weather was cloudy and called for about a 50% chance of rain. My thought (hope) was it would keep most people away...and for the most part it did! It never really did rain hard at all. Just some drizzle, so it never did effect operations. The park was rather empty. We had literal walk-ons on almost everything. We were able to ride everything we wanted, multiple times. The longest wait was for Mr. Freeze at about 20 minutes, but that was due to it being down a good part of the day and only running one side. Even the food lines were non-existent, for some perspective. So let's get to it; The park opened at 10:30 and we were there at 9:45-10. There were maybe 20 cars in the lot. We were quickly through security and waited for the rope drop. Having the Gold Membership, we were able to get into the park at 10:20am. We headed right for Justice League, since it one of the not so many that we can all ride together and enjoy. Justice League: Battle for Metropolis - We got the first ride of the day! This is a really fun ride. The entire family likes it and somehow, someway I can get a higher score than my son, who just turned 10. He said he doesn't understand how I can get such a high score since he plays video games more than me. I told him it just because I am daddy - - 7/10 ! My score on JL - the screen showed top 2%, don't know about all that but it impressed the kids We wanted to do Pandemonium next, however, it was closed. The sign said due "technical adjustments." Thought I read somewhere that Pandemonium was getting a station upgrade or something like that. No one was working on it and it never opened. Runaway Mine Train was next; - Decent ride. It was not the smoothest, but for 50+ years and being the first Arrow Mine Ride can't complain. Kids liked it! 5/10 We decided to head towards the DC area. Riddler had no line at all, so that was a no-brainer to do next. Riddler - Walk-on. What a great, fun and intense ride. The wife and I enjoyed it a great deal. Kids sat this one out. 9/10 SkyScreamer was next on the list - Walk-on. This turned into even more of thrill ride than it normally is. It was pretty breezy, probably about 20 mph or so. As we got up higher, the swing my son and I were in started twisting in the wind, going almost 180 degrees while we were going around. There were moments where we were almost backwards, spinning 400 feet in the air. All that added to it being even more exciting than normal. Loved it! - 9/10 Judge Roy Scream was next - Eh...It is a wooden coaster with an out and back layout....It is just kind of there...Not bad, not really good. This is one coaster that I can truly take it or leave it. Hopefully, one day, the park will get a top notch woodie to add the ride collection. 4/10 Batman was calling us next - The wife and I always enjoy Batman (we have liked just about every B&M invert we have been on). The cool thing is that my daughter really wanted to ride it. This would be her first invert ever. It was a 2 train wait for the front row and we were off! As usual, a quick, fast, intense ride. Not much in the way of head banging which is always a good thing. The best part...my daughter loved it!! She couldn't wait to ride it again! - 8/10 Stopped off for a couple of kids rides including the Batwing, and the Mini Mine Train. Don't judge Justice League one more time before lunch - 5 minute wait. Lunch was OK. All-American grill. Pizza and chicken fingers. The food was fine, not great, but really don't expect it to be. I do love the dining passes though. Like being able to spend an entire day, having a great time and not worrying about spending a dime - in the park! Next up..Runaway Mountain - We really like RM. With it being indoors, it takes, what could be a real bore, into a nice, fun, somewhat exciting family coaster. Nice and smooth with some good turns and drops. 6/10 We were still letting our food settle a bit so we made our way over to... Yosemite Sam's Gold River Adventure - Walk-on. I think that this is a really underrated ride. It is not anywhere close to "thrilling", but it is a solid, family attraction. The scenes and story are interesting and it is a nice long ride. The animatronics seemed to be working fine. I didn't notice anything missing or not working (unlike the Bugs Bunny log flume at SFFT). 5/10 A quick stop by the antique cars - also a walk-on. and then...... New Texas Giant - 2 train wait for the front row. Man, I love this coaster! One of my favorites. A great first drop, with actual theming at the top of the hill. Long, interesting layout. Nice overbanks with a silly amount of ejector air...all that and silky smooth! Just a top-notch coaster in my book. 10/10 Yes, the park is this empty! Titan was next - Walk-on. This is truly one of the more disappointing coasters I have ridden. It is not a bad coaster, as it has some good qualities, it's just that it could have been so much more. It has a really nice first drop and one decent airtime hill. It is super intense in the helices. It just isn't a whole lot of fun to me. With the size and initial speed that it has, it could have been a top 10-15 coaster, with a better layout, IMO. 6/10 We walked over to Shockwave - Also a walk on. In fact we had the train entirely to ourselves...at 2:30 in the afternoon. Shockwave is classic that a lot of people don't talk about. Hard to believe it is 40 years old! It is still pretty smooth, intense and fun, fun, fun. The loops are great and there is more airtime than you would imagine just by looking at it. 8/10 They had the whole train to themselves also! Making our way around the park - we rode the Mine Ride again. Then onto Mr. Freeze - This was about a 20 minute wait. Actually I feel fortunate that we got to ride. It was down, from the time the park opened until about 3pm. Once it opened, the people that were there must have made a rush there. They were only running one side as well. The ride?? It was great! Loved the backward launch! It was super fast, intense and an overall terrific ride. 8/10 We rode Batman again and then the kids did the Batwing. Then there was....JOKER Joker - OK, so I had not ridden this ride yet, nor any of its clones. Last year it was either down or too long of a wait. Today it was a walk-on, so we figured why not.....well...2 days after the fact, I still don't know if I sort of liked it or hated it...It was more intense than I thought it would be. We flipped 4 or 5 times and it felt like I was going to fall out of the car. On the forward flips it felt like someone kicked me in the head, not sure why. I recognize it for being unique and I sort of enjoyed most of it except when the car flipped forward....Now, we have ridden X at SFMM back when it opened the first year...the wife and I loved that. We didn't love this. I came off this with a headache, which almost never happens, even when I ride SLC's or old Arrow loopers. TBT at a later date After the Joker and some Advil we rode the train. The conductor was really entertaining and was making corny jokes the whole time. We enjoyed the train ride and made a loop around the park. Another stop at Justice League and then dinner. The food was actually good. The Brisket Fries are highly recommended! One other thing I should mention were the employees. Now, I now it is SF and early in the year but the employees actually seemed happy to be there and were very pleasant! I don't think we encountered any that were not friendly. Some of them, unprompted, greeted us, asked how we were and made sure we were enjoying ourselves. I know this sounds minor but being at a SF park it was very noticeable. After dinner, we did the antique cars, the merry-go-round.... and a somewhat night ride on Texas Giant, again a walk on. The kids had school so we had to get home, but left the park very satisfied. Other general impressions - Several food stands were not open, as expected with the low crowds and being early in the year. There was a lot of construction in certain areas of the park. The "new" Harley Quinn area is just a fenced/walled off area. There doesn't appear to be any vertical construction, so it is gonna be a little bit before it opens. The "old" Harley Quinn area is just sitting the empty, kind of weird looking just an empty spot. The park, finally this year is supposed to have more (some?) Coca-Cola Freestyle machines. These appear to be going in the former Go Fresh Cafe and the old Cold Stone locations. They are not open yet but we could see the machines inside. The Oil Derrick was closed. It said due to technical difficulties but looked to be getting a new paint job. El Aserradero was not running, nor was Roaring Rapids. Not a big deal as we had water falling from the sky part of the day. This was a great way to begin our 2018 Coaster/Theme Park Adventures! Can't wait to get to a few parks we have never been to this year, including SDC for Spring Break! Hope y'all enjoyed the report!

Just checked out the new video on Time Traveler. I am even more exited now than I was before to ride it. I was a bit concerned about the spinning since I cannot do spinning flat rides, but this looks really fun. I will be there opening week, on Friday and Saturday, with the family. Our first trip to Branson. Spring Break can't come soon enough! I imagine the weather can play a role in the crowds this early in the year but typically how are the crowds opening week/weekend?

The park opens next Saturday - the 24th. The website says late spring opening, so probably around Memorial Day. I will be at the park a few time before then, I will post any updates and pics from my visits.

Silver Dollar City opening week in March. So ready to ride Outlaw Run and try the new hotness out.

I would plan on it being pretty busy with it being Christmas week. Definitely be there at open. Having the Flash pass should allow you to get the major rides done though. Keep in mind that New Texas Giant and Joker are only on the Platinum Flash Pass. I would suggest going left once you enter the park and working your way clockwise through the park. Hit La Vibora first as it's capacity is horrendous. Then try and hit Ruanaway Mountain which is close by. RM is not on the Flash Pass and it can get up to 30-45 if the park is busy. Then try and hit Texas Giant (especially if you are not opting for Platinum) and Titan. The last couple of times I have been there both have had operational issues and were down at different times. If you are close by and they are running, ride them. Shockwave is never busy and Batman has been only 15-20 minutes lately, even when the park is busy. The mine ride is not on Flash Pass either but shouldn't be more than 15 minutes. The rest of the major rides you should be good with Flash Pass. Riddler, Pandemonium and Justice League are usually your longer waits (each can easily run 30-60 minutes) but with FP you should be fine. The only other potential issue is with Joker. If you are doing Platinum you will be fine but if not Joker has been running around a 30-45 minute wait when the park is busy. The other thing I would suggest is eating before and after you enter the park. if you have to eat in the park, try and eat at off peak times. The food service is really, really slow and you could lose 30-60 minutes just waiting for food. Hope you have a great time and be sure to let us know what your thoughts are of your visit to both SFOT and SFFT.

Great report and pics. Can't wait until my first ever visit in April.

Has anyone heard if Time Traveller will be opening when the park opens for the season in March? I am planning a family trip up to SDC during the first week they are open, while my kids are on spring break. It will be our first visit to SDC and looking forward to it either way.

1. Raptor 2. Montu 3. Fire Dragon 4. Ice Dragon 5. Batman (SFMM & SFOT)

As far as I know Mr. Freeze is closed for the season. It showed closed for season earlier in the week and and it still shows closed for the season, on the app. I believe they are updating the website because it now shows both Harley Quinn rides on the ride list, with one of them as "not open yet". Everything else is up and running except the water rides, Oil Derrick and Freeze. Great bonus this year with Batman and Joker open. The last day of the season is January 7th. Opening weekend for 2018 is February 24th-25th.

We will be hitting our home park, Six Flags Over Texas numerous times with our season passes. Also planning a few road trips Silver Dollar City Six Flags St. Louis Six Flags Fiesta Texas Cedar Point - so glad family lives there, gives me a great excuse to go to Ohio. Waldmeer Kennywood Six Flags Great America Six Flags Over Georgia

Hi folks. Been a long time lurker on TPR and wanted to share my first trip report with y'all. The family and I visited Six Flags Over Texas on Sunday the 19th to enjoy Holiday in the Park. Overall, a really good experience. Everyone had fun and the frustrations were minimal. We had great weather, sunny in the 60's and light wind. The park was moderately busy, but in all honesty I was expecting it to be busier. It was bring a friend free weekend. That combined with the good weather I wasn't sure what to expect. We feel fortunate that our wait times were not too bad. Everything was running and most, if not all with two trains. The exception of course was Mr. Freeze which I believe always shuts down for HitP. However, Batman was running, which was a nice surprise as that has been closed In years past. We rode; Runaway Mountain - walk on - great family coaster. New Texas Giant x2- first time, 1 car wait for the front seat. Second time, a fantastic night ride with about a 15 minute wait. A really great coaster! Titan - 10 minute wait. tried to ride again after dark but it was down for awhile. Fun first drop and intense helices. Would've liked to got the night ride. Shockwave - 5 minutes - Always a good time! Judge Roy Scream - 10 minutes - kind of rough but OK. Mine Ride - 10 minutes - Fun for the family. Batman - 20 minutes for front car - short, fast and fun SkyScreamer X2 - Once during the day and once after dark to see the lights. About 15 minutes wait in the afternoon about 20 minutes second time through. Justice League - 10 minute wait. We got kind of lucky with this, as it had been down for a bit, but re-opened the gates as we walked by. So on in we went! Riddler - 20 minute wait The Six Flags Railway - rode it at night to see more of the lights. The kids rode a few of smaller rides as well. Didn't ride Joker this time nor La Vibora (which was well over an hour wait). Tried to ride Pandemonium but it went down while we were at the bottom of the steps. Once three members of maintenance came and started to walk up the lift we hill we bailed. The Holiday in the Park theme was done pretty well. Lots of colorful lights, good scenery. The had fire pits to roast s'mores. The kids enjoyed the sledding hill. The food was fine for Six Flags; The lines for the food weren't that bad either. JB's Smokehouse was turning 'em over pretty quick. All in all, a fun trip to kick start the holiday season! And now the photos! Hope y'all enjoy! New Texas Giant 147' down Overview of NTG Chaparral Antique Cars Cyborg - Justice League The Hall of Justice Runaway Mine Train Batman! Batman from the sky The Judge Riddler Shockwave Titan and NTG HitP Carousel Peppermint Parlor Christmas time! Cowboy Santa Lights! Lights! and more lights! Christmas Tree More Christmas Trees Carousel at night Frosty snowhill