Photo TR: Scott's MEGA Trans-American Road Trip!

[Scaparri]

^I'm probably the wrong person to talk to. The only small park we made it to was Belmont (which happens to be this update) and we enjoyed it. It was worth an hour or two.

 

Thanks for the comments, guys! Glad you're enjoying it. And yeah, I must say, we were pretty lucky to come up with this idea and have it work out as well as it did. It was definitely an unbelievable experience. On to the update...

 

Day 7: Belmont Park and Castles 'n' Coasters

 

So, sadly, this would be our last day in SoCal. After crashing with Chris, we headed down to San Diego and met up with our friends Steven and Chelsea at Belmont Park. I thought it'd be cool to check out the Giant Dipper, given how old it is, and just see a little bit of San Diego. It was a cool little place. Definitely what I imagine when I think of a beachside amusement park. We were all really impressed with San Diego, too. It was quite possibly the nicest city on the trip. Giant Dipper was a lot of fun as well. Nothing thrilling, but I really enjoyed it. Just pure fun.

 

After a couple hours in San Diego, it was time to check out from SoCal and head to Phoenix for the night, where we'd hit up Castles 'n' Coasters. If you simply walk around, Castles 'n' Coasters is a really cool, nice place, especially for a 'family fun center.' We started to get a little excited that this might be the gem of the trip, but our excitement was premature.

 

The place *looks* nice, but it's a pit! The operations were unbelievable. At one point, we sat in the Desert Storm train for almost ten minutes, just waiting to be dispatched. If you've ever been on the ride, you know there is no momentum issue. The guy just didn't feel like starting it yet. Later, Robby and Tyler decided to do the Himalaya they have there, and I went to the bathroom. When I was finished, I walked back over to find that they hadn't even started the ride yet! I went ahead and hopped in with them. BUT, then there's the story that is the icing on the cake. Actually, no, it's the WHOLE FREAKIN' CAKE!!

 

STORY TIME:

 

So, while we were loading onto Patriot, there was a kid about our age that was dressed in regular street clothes, on the platform, having a conversation with the actual ride-op. The kid, let's call him George, then begins to check the lap bars, and the actual ride-op makes a comment about how George obvious misses "it." It can be assumed that he is referring to George working at the park. Fast forward fifteen minutes later...

 

We are sitting in the train on Desert Storm, waiting for our lap bars to be checked, and again, George is there checking the restraints as the actual ride-op just sits Indian-style behind the controls. George finishes, then as the train is rolling out of the station, HE HOPS INTO THE TRAIN!! He is standing up in a car, leaning against the head rest as the train rolls out of the station and HIGH FIVES THE RIDE-OP!!! It isn't until a third of the way up the lift hill does he finally sit down and pull down a lap bar that apparently was left open simply for this purpose! Unbelievable! We were stunned. Unfortunately, we didn't catch it on camera. But yeah, that pretty much sums up how this park is run. Simply stunning!

 

Anyway, it was an overall interesting day, to say the least. Thanks for reading and enjoy! SFFT is up next!

This picture really shows the bizarre nature of the ride. Nice place, but horrible operations! It could be a really cool 'park' if they just got their junk together.

 

This concludes this update. Thanks for reading! SFFT is up next!

The ride was pretty short, but really unusual and had some sweet head choppers.

For the record, they blatantly acknowledged our cameras and were perfectly fine with it. Honestly, I probably would have crapped a cinder block if they had a problem. If you haven't already, read my 'story' at the beginning of the TR to find out why.

That's what sheer, straight-up terror looks like.

Falling Ride of Death was the scariest freakin' ride on the trip. You slowly go up this rickety, shaky tower, and with a slight warning, you plummet down with the car making this rubbing, grinding sound. Then, at the very last second, you slam onto the brakes. Utterly terrifying. My life flashed before my eyes.

Next, we tried the Falling Ride of Death, or something along those lines.

 

So, the picture is blurry, but you have to admit, it was a slick idea.

The palm trees were all really close to this thing. I think I got eight palm tree credits during my ride.

Seeing how most of our whoring attempts thus far had been blown, we took advantage this time.

The loops on this bad boy were both fairly bizarre.

Lift hill shot!!! Except on this ride, the lift hill actually shook when the train got near the top. Hmm...

The graphics on the trains look pretty cool.

Lots of parks say stuff like this, but we didn't realize that we should actually be a little concernicus here.

Desert Storm is the big attraction here, so naturally, we headed there first.

We were all in agreement, this place *looks* really nice. Boy, were we deceived...

Alright! Back to coaster pictures! We finally made it to Castles 'n' Coasters in Phoenix.

While driving through AZ, this fine gentlemen at a border patrol checkpoint apparently thought we looked suspicious so he felt the need to drill us with questions. Yes sir, we are American citizens. Yes sir, we drove across the country for spring break.

So yeah, we eventually figured out they were talking about a date, as in the fruit, but we still got cactus banana shakes that made our taste buds dance.

Well crap, they are apparently world famous so we have to try them, right?

Wait, what?

 

Truth be told, we saw billboards for about fifty miles for this place and were slightly baffled. Robby and I decided we had to check it out to see what the scoop was. Tyler was obliviously sleeping in the backseat still.

I take it back, I'd hate to break down out HERE.

Hey look, Tyler sleeping. Imagine that... 200 miles, folks. 200 miles.

I would sure hate to break down out here. This was the part of the drive to Phoenix where I popped tranny in neutral and coasted down a mountain for almost ten minutes straight.

This was the bumper car showdown between Tyler, Robby, Chelsea, and Steven.

 

Sadly, it was now time to check out from Belmont and the rest of SoCal, but we'll be back one day. Plus, we still have another park ahead of us today!

Tyler is mildly retarded.

Down near the beach, you can get a nice overall shot of the Giant Dipper.

Behold!! The California Burrito! This thing had to have at least a pound of carne asada steak, with a ton of cheese, and get this... french fries in it. It was practically the most amazing thing I've ever put in my mouth. Well, if you don't count In-N-Out at least... or Pink Things.

Yeah, this place really was RIGHT across the street from Belmont.

Just an FYI, there is a minimum $5 purchase if you are using your 'devit' card.

Our friends that we met up with that day took us across the street to Roberto's for lunch. It was a walk-up Mexican food place, and as our friend, Steven, said, "You know it's real Mexican if it's called 'Roberto's' or ends in '-erto's.'"

We couldn't pass up the Flippy Wheel of Doom. Especially since they don't charge $7 for their's! coughvegascough

I hadn't done these land bumper boats since I was probably 7! They were awesome!

 

Is it bad that I find the crying kid in the bottom right to be pretty funny?

I really liked the wrap-around first drop or whatever you want to call it. The entire ride was a lot of fun. Kind of a surprise actually.

We encountered quite few woodies with these Morgan trains. I kind of liked them.

This park really reminded me of the beachside scenarios on RCT.

They had this cool model of the Dipper in the shop where you buy tickets.

Anyway! After 15 minutes at the beach, we came back to find that all the rides had finally opened!

That smile is the "hurry up and take the freakin' picture, my feet are turning to ice" smile.

 

The Pacific would be the first of two major bodies of water that we'd encounter on the trip. You guys can probably figure out where all we're headin' during the rest of this trip now.

Robby and I thought this was hilarious. There were a bunch of old ladies just wandering the beach with metal detectors. Not exactly how I envision my retirement, but if that's how you get your jollies, then awesome.

From what I saw, I really liked San Diego. Most everything was pretty nice.

Going to the Pacific has always been a bit of a goal of mine, so it was cool to finally make it.

These morning test runs were pretty slow, but overall, it was looking like a pretty fun little coaster. However, we showed up a little early, so we strolled down to the beach for a short bit...

They started their morning testing right as we pulled into the parking lot.

So yeah, here we are... our final park in SoCal. **tear**

There's what we're lookin' for. For some reason, I really wanted to come down and ride this 80 year old coaster. Plus, I thought it'd be cool to see a little bit of San Diego.

Journey taunts us as we head to Belmont. Unfortunately we had neither the time nor the money to hit up SeaWorld San Diego on this cross-country trek. However, there is still another SeaWorld that we'll be passing by later in the trip

Well look what we have over in the distance...

[sillytrixx]

Cool TR!

 

It looks like you guys had a lot of fun.

[haiderodes]

I haven't been to Castles n Coasters in about 7 years or so, but from my past experiences they have a rule about not dispatching Desert Storm until 15 minutes pass or they have a full train which ever comes first.

 

Oh and Roberto's is good food and its also a chain, they have them all over Southern Nevada and California.

[Scaparri]

Day 9 (Part 1): Six Flags Fiesta Texas

 

My Worst Six Flags Experience in Five Years

 

So, we were all really excited about this park. We had heard so many people say that it was the nicest and best themed SF park in the chain. Well, it's hard to argue with them on that part. The place was definitely nice and well themed. However, the ride quality is mediocre at best, and the operations were horrendous. When the park finally opened on this spring break Saturday, we quickly were greeted with three closed coasters: Superman, Rattler, and Tony Hawk. In Tony Hawk's case, they simply choose not to open that section of the park until two hours after the park gates open. I could be wrong, but Superman and Rattler seemed to be closed simply because of staffing issues or something. This left Poltergeist, Boomerang, and Road Runner open.

 

With the three most popular coasters closed, that meant everybody was crowding the other three coasters. Boomerang was lined clear out of the entrance, so that was as good as a closed coaster to us. Furthermore, Scream was only running one tower, the sensors on Scooby Doo weren't working, and when Rattler finally opened, they were running only one train. It was just pathetic, especially for a Saturday during spring break. We were all incredibly annoyed by how poorly the park was run that day. So much to a point that we decided to just leave at 1:00 in the afternoon and go to SeaWorld, a park that was never even planned for the trip.

 

The two most anticipated coasters in the park turned out to be two of the biggest disappointments on the entire trip. I expected Poltergeist to be just as intense as Flight of Fear, but instead was blown away by how tame the ride was. It really felt like a family looping coaster at times. Then, I had always heard how Superman was the best B&M floorless, but it didn't even approach living up to that reputation. The drop was cool and zero-g rolls are always fun, but the entire ride was just too drawn out and forceless. Out of the four I've been on, SKC definitely bottoms out the list. It was so disappointing.

 

The entire day at the park was just a huge disappointment. I had my expectations, but none that were unrealistic. Theming-wise, the park far exceeded my expectations. Rides and operations, on the other hand, were nothing shy of underwhelming. It was really too bad.

 

Thanks for reading and enjoy! Next update is SeaWorld San Antonio and a brief return to SFFT!

We all gave a collective "yes" to SeaWorld, so we bid this place adieu. We'll be back, to give Superman a second chance. Until then, this is all for this update. Thanks for reading. SeaWorld Texas and a brief return to SFFT is up next.

Well, Rattler was open, but one train operation = two hour line. It's Saturday.

 

At some point, one of us said "Screw this, let's just go to SeaWorld. Do you guys want to?"

I'll give another courtesy shot to Road Runner. It wasn't half bad.

Given that Boomerang was still lined out the entrance, we headed towards Rattler. The ride looks absolutely monstrous.

The park looks so nice. Definitely a unique setting.

We were able to score the roller skater credit. I never knew that they had a custom version.

YOU were supposed to be good, too! Why!?

Norville? Messy? Bell bottoms? No ambitions?

 

Did it ever occur to anybody else that Shaggy is a stoned hippie?

We decided to waste twenty minutes of our time on this house of crap. Would have been cool if the sensors were working.

Four in one shot.

Gotta love these Gerstlauer spinners...

Probably because it's the best ride in the park and there was nothing better to do.

How are you so disappointing? Why? Scream (SFMM) kicked your socks off!

Finally, they opened the boardwalk and we partook in the mad rush to Tony Hawk.

Scream. One tower. Saturday.

 

Lame name, cool paint scheme.

We went and waited for the boardwalk to open, where you can tell this guy hates his job.

This was possibly the best part and it's saving grace, minus the pretty cool drop.

As mediocre as it is, you can't help but take pictures of the thing.

This is not sarcastic in the least.

Again, the park *looks* really nice. Cool theming everywhere... well, except Superman which was pretty bland.

I just don't get it! It looks so good! The drop was cool, but the entire ride was so forceless and drawn out. We'd be back later to give it a second chance, but it would have to improve a whole lot to redeem itself. Such a disappointment.

This ride was SOOO underwhelming. I've heard so much talk of this being the best B&M floorless, and I have no idea how that is possible. We diagnosed it with Thunder Dolphin Syndrome. It looks so freakin' good, but just doesn't deliver.

Finally, at 11:30, they decided to open this thing! It seems like they just had staffing issues... on Saturday.

I was definitely amazed by in depth SF went with this ride. I was impressed.

On the way over to wait for Superman, we came across this cool themed log flume and decided to give it a whirl. After all, we had nothing better to do.

Boomerang won a courtesy photo, and then we moved on to try and find something worthwhile.

But wait! See all these people in front of Boomerang? Yeah, that's the line. So, with a line out the entrance, that's pretty much equal to Boomerang being closed right?

 

Seriously, I have not been this annoyed with a SF park in years.

So, half an hour after the park opened on a Saturday, the only open major coasters are Poltergeist, Roadrunner and Boomerang...

Rattler at least started testing... half an hour after the park opened. It wouldn't actually open until about noon though.

Don't lie, a small part of you enjoys lift hill shots as well. This ride was actually a little surprising for a mine coaster. Not too bad, but no Gold Rusher.

Well hey, at least Roadrunner is open.

So with Superman and Tony Hawk closed, we decided to head over to Rattler, but GUESS WHAT!?!? It's closed!!! It's Saturday!!

Robby and I were in agreement with Tyler. "Meh." It was practically a launched, looping, family coaster... if that's even possible. Hey! Maybe THIS is what SFMM is getting next year!?!?!?

Wow, Poltergeist was so underwhelming. I naturally figured that this would be just as intense as its indoor kin, but man, was I wrong. They had this on pansy mode.

So, after Scream, being the Premier fanboys that we are, we hopped over to Poltergeist.

With Superman down, we decided to head toward Tony Hawk, only to find that they don't open that area until freaking noon! IT'S SATURDAY! So instead, we knocked out Scream, which was only running one tower... Should I remind you guys what day it is? Cool path theming though.

So, once they opened the gates, we immediately headed towards Superman, only to be greeted with empty trains just sitting on the track, with nobody in the station. Did I mention that it's Saturday?

They were doing some testing early in the day.

Umm... here is "Goliath." It does make the front of the park look kind of cool.

Six Flags Fiesta Texas... it definitely looks nice from here.

[CoasterGuy06]

Was Superman running all 3 trains with only a 3 man crew too?

[Scaparri]

^Yep. It was good that they had the three train operations going, but I'm pretty sure they didn't have many more than three, if any. One on controls and two on load if I remember correctly. Well, four if you count the person pulsing the line at the bottom of the station.

[Jayjay719]

Great photo trip report so far Scott. I can't wait to read the rest!

[PKI Jizzman]

Too bad that Poltergiest has got a case of the pansies like FoF does. My friend told me that they were told to do that to 'make the ride longer'. Atleast the cork at the end is pretty tight

[Scaparri]

^Wait, FoF is on pansy mode too? I mean, there was nothing intense about Poltergeist. The first three inversions weren't even intense at all, as opposed to FoF, which was always insane. Please tell me it isn't so...

 

On to the update!

 

Day 9 (Part 2): SeaWorld San Antonio and a brief return to SFFT

 

While planning our massive trip, we all expressed interest in going to SeaWorld, but simply couldn't find the time so it was left off the schedule. However, with Fiesta Texas sucking, we spontaneously decided to leave and drive over to SeaWorld!

 

We were really excited because, well, Fiesta Texas really didn't set a very high bar for SeaWorld, so it couldn't be much worse. We were pleasantly surprised by the place! While the park definitely lacks, animal and exhibit-wise, from Orlando, the rides were great! Steel Eel was a major surprise. I was really curious about it because I never hear anything about it. I always assumed it was sort of like Wild Thing at Valleyfair; a ride that looks cool, but is actually the lamest, most forceless hyper coaster in the land. Though it's not a genuine hyper coaster, it was far from lame! During our first ride in the back seat, we got completely ejected over the first drop!! The rest of the ride was filled with strong floater air. It was really a great, medium-sized 'hyper'.

 

Great White was a bit of a surprise too. That probably sounds stupid, seeing how it's just a Batman clone, but it seemed unusually intense and was still smooth as glass. Maybe it was just a breath of fresh air after the pile of 'meh' at Fiesta Texas, but it just struck me as abnormally good.

 

Journey was also a little surprising. As we waited the 45 minutes in line for it, I repeatedly asked myself "Why?" I can't even really explain why, but I ended up really liking the ride. The nature of it is just unusual, from the turntables to the backwards drop. Then, once the boat is released from the second turntable, it agonizingly creeps toward the edge of the drop so slowly. And suddenly, wham, the boat shoots down the drop. Again, it's hard to explain, but it was a lot more fun that it looked.

 

After spending some time at SeaWorld, we headed back to Fiesta Texas to give Superman another try and hopefully ride Rattler and Boomerang. Unfortunately, because I didn't realize what time the park closed, we were only able to ride Superman. While it gave a much better ride during the second time around, it was still very disappointing. Honestly, I really enjoyed it, but it still didn't beat any of the other floorless coasters I've ridden. It's just too drawn out and weak.

 

Thanks for reading, and enjoy! Kemah is up next!

This place will get a second chance... one day.... maybe.

 

This concludes this update. Thanks for reading! Kemah next!

The park really did have an awesome atmosphere. It's a shame the operations weren't on the same level.

 

Unfortunately, due to time issues, we weren't able to get our Rattler or Boomerang credits, but that's my own fault.

Alright, so while Superman was running much better at night, it still was an overall disappointment and failed to pass any other floorless I've been on. Did I miss something with this ride?

Six Flags TV!

 

Andre 3000 = Awesome

 

However, Andre 3000 < pelicans

I think this was the point where one of us said, "Wait, why did we leave SeaWorld again?"

We definitely had a MUCH better time at SeaWorld than we did earlier at Fiesta Texas.

 

However, it was time to head back so we could hopefully get our missing credits and give Superman a second chance.

For some reason, Tyler didn't take off the yellow lap bar pad thing for kids, so he got zero airtime.

I'll spare you guys another Nemo quote.

 

I re-iterate: Best Pixar film ever.

"Oooh, let's name the zones, the zones, the zones. Let's name the zones of the

open sea..."

SeaWorld is just filled with awesome animals. However, I wasn't as impressed with Texas' collection and exhibits as Orlando. They really seemed to lack at times. It's still a really nice park though.

I had to take advantage of the free beer over in the hospitality house. Cool plaque, wrong race.

Mhmmm... beer horses.

 

Beer horses = awesome, however, beer horses < pelicans.

We considered whoring, but the saw the line for it, and opted not to.

And while Robby and I, who sat on the inside of the row, were slightly spritzed, Tyler was flat out drenched.

Alright, so, I can't lie... As simple as this ride may look, I was really kind of surprised by it. The entire turntable/backwards drop thing is a little intimidating when you are 100 feet in the air. Not to mention the massive flume-feeling drop. It was a lot of fun!

You get a really good view of Steel Eel over by Journey.

Wow. Just when San Diego thought THEY got screwed...

Pelicans = Awesome

So, this would have had a train in it, but it broke down right after we got off. I'm telling you, we brought the Fiesta curse over!

 

Still one of my favorite shots of the trip though.

Seriously, has anybody else found this one to be particularly good?

I don't know what it was, but this clone clearly stood out as the best in the bunch. It was still glass smooth and gave a really intense ride!

Great White takes the win in the "Coolest Ride Entrance Sign Ever" category.

Before heading over to Great White, we took a quick trip through the Penguin Encounter.

 

How's it going, Jahan?

We brought a curse over from Fiesta Texas. We were the last train dispatched before it broke.

We were all really surprised by this ride! It was a darn good coaster for a ride you don't ever hear about. It was loaded with airtime. Mostly strong floater air, but still air.

Yeah, notice how the drop suddenly becomes steeper after the first 10 or 15 feet? Well, you get ejected if you're in the back seat of this bad boy.

Makes it look huge, doesn't it?

Here we are... first credit of the park. This ride seemed slightly mysterious, in that, I really didn't know a whole lot about the layout and you never really hear much about it.

Here we are... at the only park on the trip that wasn't even planned!

Steel Eel! Hopefully this park provides a better experience than SFFT.

Continuing the "Tyler Sleeping" installments, I present the icing on the cake. After stopping for lunch, he FELL ASLEEP DURING THE FIFTEEN MINUTE DRIVE TO SEAWORLD! WITH HIS DRINK IN HIS HAND!!! Tyler, you are a pro.

[arrowfanman]

Scott!!! Excellent PTR! I've been following along and have enjoyed every bit of it!

 

 

 

It was awesome meeting up with you guys! Definitely was an amazing coincidence! I'm actually very surprised to hear your experience of Fiesta Texas--especially since it's sort of regarded as one of the new "flagship" parks for the Six Flags chain.

 

Oh well. Glad you enjoyed SFMM and the Disney parks. Hope to see you guys again soon!

 

-Jahan

[PKI Jizzman]

^Wait, FoF is on pansy mode too? I mean, there was nothing intense about Poltergeist. The first three inversions weren't even intense at all, as opposed to FoF, which was always insane. Please tell me it isn't so...

 

Well, I don't think the launch has changed on FoF since the first time I rode it. The first three inversions are pretty crazy, being thrown all over the place. But right after that, you come to nearly a complete stop. Maybe you do! But the front car hangs down the banked curve and then the rest of the train is pulled down. From there on, it's really nothing; except for the last cork, where you get some sick hangtime.

 

I guess FoF is on 1/2 pansy mode.

[sfotfreak]

I have to ask this, what was better Titan or Goliath

[Scaparri]

^Definitely Titan. Goliath was great and all and definitely had the better theming, but the extra helix before the mid-course on Titan definitely gives it a defined edge.

 

^^^Thanks Jahan! It was great to see you during the trip! It was kind of funny. We had been keeping our eye out throughout the day for you and then I just randomly asked this guy on the Ninja platform if you were his supe and he said yeah. Then, we got back from the ride, and poof, you were there. It was kind of crazy. But yeah, great to see ya again.

 

And thanks again to everybody who has commented. Glad you guys are enjoying it. Kemah will be up later today!

[coolhandluke]

I had heard about Great White being a more intense ride than the typical Batman clones, so you are not the only one. RCDB confirmed it with simple stats:

 

Length of Batman clones: 2,693-2,700 ft (depending on which one you look at).

Length of Great White: 2,562 ft

 

Max forces of Batman clones: 4 Gs

Max forces of Great White: 4.6 Gs

 

Because of a lack of room, Sea World crammed the same elements and layout of a Batman clone into a slightly smaller space by taking out excess track, reducing its length. Thus, you go through the elements at a faster pace, resulting in a more intense ride.

 

So it's not just you! And awesome reports, by the way!

[sfotfreak]

What excess track did they take out

[Scaparri]

Day 10: Kemah Boardwalk

 

The final park of our trip was Kemah Boardwalk. As most of you probably know, there's only one real reason to come to Kemah and that's for the Boardwalk Bullet. I was fairly excited about this because Gravity Group is yet to produce a ride I don't extremely like. Voyage and Hades both blew me away, so I had high expectations for Bullet.

 

To be honest, I still don't know what to make of the ride. It's so good, but so bad at the same time. I'll start by saying the first drop is absolutely amazing. The way it twists to the left and then rips you to the right was incredible. The rest of the ride is hard to really explain. There are sections that are blistering fast with multiple pops of airtime, and then there are sections where the ride nearly stalls or just doesn't go fast enough. The last third of the ride completely dies out. There are places where it seems like GG thought the train would be going faster than it does because some turns just feel too banked.

 

Then you have the roughness, which I never figured out. There are parts that are completely bone-jarring, and there are places that are fairly smooth. However, if you don't ride in the right place, bone-jarring turns into bone-shattering. By the end of our time at the 'park', I refused to ride anywhere but the very front or the second to last rows. Everywhere else just wasn't enjoyable. Wheel seat, non-wheel seat, it didn't matter. At one point during a ride in the middle of the train, I got knocked so hard that I had a welt on my knee when we got back to the station. That welt remained as a bruise for the next week. Brand new wooden coasters aren't supposed to be like that. So, with that said, if I'm riding in one of the two rows I mentioned, it's a borderline top ten woodie. If I'm riding anywhere else, it's one of the most miserable coaster rides on my list. It's really unfortunate that's the case.

 

Either way, we had a good time at Kemah, which was sadly, the last park on the trip. Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics! There will be a special update in the near future that you won't want to miss! It is being brought to you by special request!

And we end just like we started. The trip of a lifetime. Thanks for reading everybody. There will be a special update in the next few days that you guys will NOT want to miss!

In Louisiana, I spotted one of the funniest un-intentionally funny billboards I've ever seen.

 

Rice. Awesome!!! As if teenagers are completely mind blown from a steaming bowl of white rice. Well done, Louisiana Rice Promotion Board.

Hey look, Tyler sleeping. No freakin' way...

Three days earlier, we were at the Pacific. Now we're at the Gulf of Mexico. This was a crazy trip.

One more of Bullet. Hopefully they'll invest some serious money into fixing this thing. With as bad as it is right now, I can't imagine it five years down the road.

I wonder if the neighbors are pissed they built this?

And then just to the left of that, you have the rides. Actually, I'm pretty sure all of them are seen in this picture, minus the obvious.

This is where most of the restaurants are.

The trio. I had to slap a fairly fake smile on. I was slightly uncomfortable because you could really feel the tower shaking.

Some nice views up here...

I was fairly stunned when we pulled up to the park and then saw the observation car go up the tower. Until you see that, it looks like a cheap drop ride.

They had this cool miniature train that went through the property.

I stayed on the ground while Robby and Tyler lost there inverter virginity. Torture device if you ask me...

They definitely used just about every inch that they could.

It's really amazing how much they fit into such a small area. I just don't understand what went wrong with this ride. Some parts are fairly smooth, then other parts try to shatter your femurs and tweak your back alignment.

They tried to warn me though!

After most of my rides, I was really excited to see this sign.

The front and second to the back gave really great rides. And the first drop is ludicrous!!

This is the part where the ride almost stalls out.

They are smart... the front was one of only two rows that didn't beat the excrement out of me.

Robby and Tyler go for another whirl. When I said I was down for the count, I was serious. I actually had a welt on my knee at the end of the day, which simply became a large bruise that I had for a week.

You really haul some major ass through half this ride.

 

After trying a few other seats in the train, I ended up getting put down for the count. Some of the seats are tolerable, while others are just flat out brutal.

This was the best lift hill shot I could do.

Ehh... a bit disappointing. The first half is nuts, but the second half just dies out. And I'm pretty sure first year coasters aren't supposed to be that rough.

The guy on the right sure looks to be having a good time...

Lookin' back from the queue, you can see that Kemah is a really nice place.

Alright, let's do this. Last coaster of the trip...

We didn't come here for overpriced seafood and steak though, rather, this bad boy...

Kemah is a really nice little tourist trap, filled with restaurants owned by Landry's.

I feel like one of these boats should be named Jenny.

There's a coaster in there somewhere.

Here we are at our last park: Kemah Boardwalk.

Here's a view of the Houston skyline.

[ParkTrips]

You guys should have stopped at SFNO on the way home... oh, wait...

 

How can you not love the Bullet??? Maybe you should have ridden it 42 more times to form an opinion that can be considered close to accurate

[jtizzle]

Your TR has been helpful with my late night insomnia Had something to read through and swoon (Hope that's ok hahaha)

 

Anyway very cool trip you guys took. It's wierd that a new coaster (Boardwalk Bullet) could be so rough. Maybe it's working backwards in time.

[Flippero95]

I've loved following along with you guys on your road trip. I haven't been to Kemah since the built the Bullet, I can't wait to get down there and ride it one day.

 

It is a very nice "tourist trap" as you put it. Of course, any place you can drink a margarita right by the ocean is good in my book, coaster or not.

[astroworldfan1]

Great P:TR! I haven't yet riddent the Bullet, but I was at Kemah when they were building it. Kemah is a nice little park.

 

Wait....rice isn't that popular in Louisiana. I'm not fasinated when I see a bowl of hot steaming rice!

 

-Tatum

[Scaparri]

SPECIAL UPDATE! MUST READ!!

 

I didn't plan on including this part, but I have received multiple requests from friends, and the member this revolves around has given me approval.

 

Alright, so during the second night of the trip, we stopped at a mall in Amarillo, TX for dinner. We weren't really sure what we wanted to eat so we figured the food court would be a solid choice. At this point, we'd been in the car for quite a while so we all needed to pee pretty bad.

 

So, I'm in the bathroom doing by thing, and Tyler is a couple urinals down from me. The entire time, he is staring at me, trying to make me uncomfortable. I finally finish and start to head for the sink when I hear Tyler go "Ohhhh!!!" I asked him what his deal was but he didn't respond. A couple seconds later, he turns around and reveals his dilemma. He was so focused on trying to weird me out, he was completely oblivious to the fact that he was pissing down the inside of his shorts the entire time!! Hilarity followed.

 

Tyler, a fairly laid back guy, just slapped a grin on his face and waltzed back through the food court and changed his shorts in the back of my car. Afterward, we gingerly walked back in, still laughing, and grabbed a bite to eat. He'll never live that moment down, and he knows it. Thus, he will forever be known to us as "Amarillo."

 

Thanks again to everybody who checked out this TR and to those who commented. Hope you all enjoyed it. And now, on to the evidence...

And out with new shorts on. It happens to the best of us, Tyler! At least its not like you just lost it!

Maybe it's a little weird I took pics of this, but seriously, you can't pass up comedy gold like this!

Time to change out.

And here it is. He was a good sport about it.

You can't see it very well in this one, but WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!

[Scaparri]

Actually, those shorts are still wrapped in a plastic bag inside my trunk, so I'm not sure which shorts you washed. Did you have another accident you'd like to share with us, Amarillo?

[spaceace12]

They are for real? Ha, who knows. I was asleep half of that trip anyways. I even fell asleep in the Tatsu pretzel loop (Cha-Ching)! Actually, I just did all my wash from the trip so I just assumed they were in there.

 

A sleep through the whole trip, really. Atleast that way you didn't have to drive much.

 

Nice TR Scott (I think that is your name, lol).

[Dleo]

LOL... thanks for including your short Amarillo update... that was some good funny! Sounds like you had a great trip.

[Jayjay719]

Haha, best trip report ever! I read the entire update and it was awesome Scott. Looks like you guys had a blast! I must say though, thankfully pissing through the inside of my shorts has not happened...yet. Thanks for pics and stuff Scott.