TR: Six Flags Texas Parks

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

Some friends and I just returned from Texas, visiting both Six Flags parks and Sea World. Good times were had, memories were made and hotel rooms were trashed...ahh how how cool it is to be young!

 

Six Flags Over Texas

 

Prior to this trip, Magic Mountain was the only Six Flags park I had been to, and knowing how my homepark is ran, i came into SFOT with a little bias. I didn't know what to expect, but what i saw was jaw-droppingly surprising. After we rented our car and checked into our hotel, we decided to check out the park and get a feel for it. The park was fairly crowded for a sunday. We got in at about 6 o' clock and the midways were still busting at the seams. The atmosphere was alot more friendlier than Magic Mountain and it was a lot cleaner than what I would have expected from a Six Flags Park. The temperature was not so kind, but I would not let Mr Sun stop me from battling it out with these coasters

 

1st ride on our trip. Mr. Freeze.

 

Premier rides catches a ton of crap for the unsuccess of Batman and Robin the Chiller, but Mr Freeze south packs quite a punch. Sure, it's not a record breaker in any fashion, it's not the fastest, tallest, or longest of anything, but with ride ops moving quickly to keep the line moving despite one station operation, an exhilirating 70 mph launch, and an impressive layout, Mr Freeze was in fact the coolest coaster on the planet. I especially was impressed by the attempt to theme the queue around Snowy's Ice cream factory. Though not as nice as Disney or Universal themeing, the effort is there.

 

Texas Giant

 

This wooden coaster can be summed up with six words, "What the f!@# was THAT s&@!? For anyone who can remember how rough and painful Psyclone was at SFMM, Texas Giant was as bad as Psyclone, if it were a minute longer, 60 ft. higher, and 10 mph faster. I think "ouch" would be a severe understatement. Any ride with a ten-minute wait when the park is full should tell you something. To top it all off, the crew was so slow, at one point the dispatched a train, brought in the train from the waiting block, and left it empty in the station until the train cycling hit waitings, and then opened the loading gates. Wow.

 

Titan

 

My initial thought was, "This is the same thing as Goliath with an extra helix." How wrong was I. The crew was not as efficient with three trains as Goliath at SFMM can be (A train stopping in Main Brake every cycle, which IMO defeats the purpose of running 3 trains) but the line was moving at a steady pace, so no complaints there. After boarding I can tell you that if both of these rides ht 85 mph, I can tell you that Titan carries it a lot better. The helix before the MCBR was more intense than originally thought. I will feel disapointed everytime I ride Goliath now.

 

Shockwave.

 

Schwartzkoff classic. Smooth ride for a 30 year old coaster that provides a little bit of airtime. Add the fact that there is hardly a wait for it and it gets ten thumbs up from me!

 

Batman

 

Can you ever go wrong with a Batman clone?

 

La Vibora

 

Fun family ride. Old but still brings in a decent throughput. I liked it, and even bought the ride photo.

 

Judge Roy Scream

 

Why is it that older woodies run much smoother than newer ones? Small drop and compact out and back layout, but in the words of the fat Texan lady in the back row of our train, "Git 'er done!"

 

Flash Back

 

I was surprised to find a Vekoma boomerang with an actual station. Once you've ridden a boomerang, though, you've ridden them all.

 

Tony Hawk

 

Sucked balls. The rotating was rough, and you spin more in the brake run as you come to a dead stop than you do during the ride.

 

Overall Park Experience

 

There were some unavoidable "no-no's" that every park has, like catching ride ops, on their phones texting, slower loading procedures than one would like, etc. Overall this was a pleasant park. Their seemed to be a better ratio of family rides (I particularly like the Loony Tunes dark ride) to coasters. Scale of 1-10, I'd give this park a solid 8.

 

 

SIX FLAGS FIESTA TEXAS

 

It was a particularly hot day but there is a waterpark included in this trip so it wasn't all bad. I have a parking pass, so as I showed to the parking booth, they greeted me with "Welcome back Mr. Bailey". I was like wow, I don't think I've gotten that type of treatment from any park.

 

ROAD RUNNER EXPRESS

 

Best mine train I have ever been on. It may have something to do with the the train having upstop WHEELS instead of PADS. It deserved three rides. One of Arrows Hits, rather than Miss

 

RATTLER

 

Rattler was bearable, but still uncomfortable. I'm going to guess that because it's the only woodie in the park that they'd rather invest in fixing it (if the can call trim bakes everywhere fixing it) than demolishing it. It took like a whole minute to go through the ride's helix. The only cool part about this ride was the tunnel. Every other part of this ride was a painful borefest.

 

SUPERMAN: KRYPTON COASTER

 

Why is it that B&M stopped contracting Stengel to design their coasters? This floorless coaster makes Scream fee like Goliath Jr.

 

POLTERGEIST

 

Fun Launch, quick inversions, short line. I liked it, but it would have been better if two trains were available

 

GOLIATH

 

Unusual for a B&M invert to open at 4 pm., but it was sitting underwater for six months, so what do you expect.

 

 

Overall park experience.

 

With themeing, short lines, friendly employees, and one girl at Krypton Coaster checking the whole train and STILL not stacking made this the best Six flags park I'd been to.

[knottslover77]

Nice detailed trip report.

 

--Jay

[packfanlv]

Thanks for the commentary. I agree that SFFT, while small is a pleasant surprise with its beautiful theming and surroundings and its ride selection. SFFT is definitely one of my favorite Six Flags parks.

[VivaLaVibora]

SFFT sounds pretty bad with the operations they have over there. How can that be the best park? You are disappointed by so many things, but that's the best Six Flags park?

[tnguy]

Cool. I've been thinking about going out to these parks sometime, so it's nice to hear some commentaries on them.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^^^ Although I found some disapointments with SFFT, I was impressed alot more with how clean the park was, how friendly the staff was and the overall atmosphere. I don't think anyone from a major park (i.e. MM, GAD, GAM, OG) can appreciate the quality of these parks, unless you're just a park nerd.