Sue Posted June 27, 2008 Posted June 27, 2008 Monday morning started out with a tour of Rangers Stadium in Arlington, TX. It turns out that we were the only people there for the 11 am tour so it was just the 2 of us. This tour was much better than the Red Sox tour we took in December where we hardly got to see anything. We would've like to see a game, but they were just arriving back in town this day. In the evening, we headed to Wonderland Park in Amarillo, TX. They have unusual hours during the week in that they're only open from 7-10. They normally don't include the Fantastic Journey dark ride and TX Tornado coaster in the POP, but we were able to purchase a special handstamp which isn't sold to the public that allowed us unlimited rides on both plus free mini golf. Fantastic Journey was quite a long dark ride and was very well maintained. Unfortunately, we only had time to ride it once. We got 6 rides on the TX Tornado, but they needed about 8 riders to dispatch and it wasn't easy getting that. The park seemed fairly busy, but none of the rides had lines. Unfortunately, their new coaster, Hornet, was still a few weeks away from opening. We had ridden it indoors as the Mayan Mindbender at Astroworld, but it would've been nice to ride at Wonderland as well. Between all of the rides we went on and the mini golf, the 3 hours just flew by and it was closing time before we knew it. When they say closing time is at 10, they mean it. They were turning off the lights on Big Coaster before we even got off of the last train of the night. We had a really good time and would definitely return to this park. Cyclone coaster: Fantastic Journey dark ride: Texas Tornado: Big Coaster: Hornet coaster: Excellent mini golf course: It's the Wonder Wheel!
christianscoasters Posted June 27, 2008 Posted June 27, 2008 I went to Wonderland a couple years ago. It's kind of ghetto/carnie-ish, but I had a GREAT time! The rides were a lot of fun and it was a great birthday present for me Lol jk the only time we could take a vacation was the week of my birthday. So we went to Wonderland that day.
RenegadeFan Posted June 27, 2008 Posted June 27, 2008 The supports on the loop are awesome! I've never seen them like that before. Great TR too!
JimmyBo Posted June 27, 2008 Posted June 27, 2008 I remember going there last year and thinking the Fantastic Journey was really messed up. Did you guys go on it? What did you think of it? Was it as Fantastic as ever? I'm kind of bummed they just plopped the Hornet coaster in there and didn't really do anything around it. Oh well, it makes it feel like more of a fair than an amusement park.
haux Posted June 27, 2008 Posted June 27, 2008 How is Texas Tornado? It's a Hopkins, so I'm sure the trackwork is crap. What are those PTC trains like? The supports on the loop are awesome! I've never seen them like that before. Great TR too! That loop's supported like that because the track originally followed the main spine. But it would roll back, so they made it shorter and supported it that way. Weird, huh?
Sue Posted June 27, 2008 Author Posted June 27, 2008 I wasn't sure what to expect from the Texas Tornado, but it actually was a pretty fun ride. The trains were decent as well. I could see it being awful if it had OTSR's, but with lap bars, it's fun.
ebl Posted June 28, 2008 Posted June 28, 2008 I went to Wonderland in May 2005. Unfortunately, the Tornado wasn't open yet for the season (maintenance, one guy said). It is nice that the former Mayan Mindbender from SFAW is there (and running, I'm guessing). When I was there, my first thought was "Ghetto!" But, strangely, I wouldn't mind going back sometime. Eric
Sue Posted June 28, 2008 Author Posted June 28, 2008 No, Hornet(aka Mayan Mindbender) isn't open yet. They still had yet to build the station and control panel at the time we were there. We probably missed it by a matter of weeks.
Shavethewhales Posted June 28, 2008 Posted June 28, 2008 That place looks awesome, I love the classic dark ride, it reminds me of the Phantasmagoria at Bell's. In fact, the entire park kinda reminds me of Bell's. These are the kinds of parks that you can really kick back and have a good time at without the massive expenses. I wish people would quit calling them "ghetto" just because they aren't packed with multi-million dollar attractions.
DBru Posted June 28, 2008 Posted June 28, 2008 Great TR! I've always been fascinated by the Tornado; it just looks so...strange! The Rangers Stadium tour sounds cool too! I took a tour of the Pelican Stadium in Myrtle Beach in April, and it was great.
TheRapidsNerd Posted June 28, 2008 Posted June 28, 2008 Thought I read somewhere the other day that Hornet was Astroworld's Mayan Mindbender. If that's so, glad it's running again, even without a building.
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