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Mark's Postcard Paradise


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Where were you on Halloween weekend 2005? Well I had the good fortune to be a Six Flags season pass holder that year, which as it turned out was required to visit Six Flags AstroWorld on its final 2 days of operation ever before SF sent it to the grave. If you didn't have a season pass you were screwed, and SF would not let you in the gate. I guess it was a way to control the vast numbers of people coming to pay homage to their home park one last time. When I heard the news that the park was closing after Halloween weekend, I knew I had to get to Houston one more time as I had not visited AstroWorld since the 1980's. I had a really good time that weekend in 2005, and I still think it's a shame the park was ever laid to rest (Boo to Kieran Burke!).

 

Here's the Texas Cyclone in all it's "coffin" style train glory. Fortunately by the time I rode TC again, those Morgan trains had been replaced by PTC stock. I was able to catch the last public train of the night on it ever and have to say the SF maintenance guys really showed some love to this coaster over the years - much moreso than to its younger Georgia cousin in my opinion. It was still fairly smooth and a great ride! R.I.P. Texas Cyclone and AstroWorld.

 

Happy Halloween everybody!

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Thrills, Chills

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Coffins

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...Here's the Texas Cyclone in all it's "coffin" style train glory. Fortunately by the time I rode TC again, those Morgan trains had been replaced by PTC stock...

 

Although this would have made its demise even more tragic, I wish it were true. Actually, the park only removed the headrest part of the same old Morgan trains. Check the TPR photo gallery for the Texas Cyclone for examples, including a few photos of the last ride.

 

Nice card, btw. I had never seen that one.

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Actually yeah now that you mention it, I do remember the cars having that Morgan feel inside them, so I stand corrected. I think it was the headrest removal that threw my memory off. Good call!

 

Matteocrepaldi...that's a cool Gardaland card. At first I totally thought it was a picture of a scaled model.

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Anyone know what year this attraction was put to rest? I'm' sure it seemed much bigger back then.

 

edit: according to this site the pictured Skull Rock was just one of many attractions in the Skull Island section of the park. Skull Rock had gawked at guests from the park's opening year of 1961 until it was removed in 1978.

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Don't know if it still does, but when Nemesis was young it featured a bloody waterfall as part of its extensive theming. What I saw of it reminded me more of Hawaiian Punch, but maybe that's what alien blood looks (tastes?) like...

 

I'm finding mostly cobwebs in my frightful postcards box. You're gonna see something very similar to this card tomorrow.

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postmark 20 Oct 1997

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Told ya.

 

Nemesis opened two years after the original B&M inverted, Six Flags Great America's much-cloned Batman. Although its track length is a bit shorter than Batman's, its unusual sequence of elements and close-to-the-ground layout give a very intense ride experience... that really packs a punch...

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thirsty!... gimme more punch!

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[Reposting due to Halloween poltergeist TPR outage.]

 

Greeting card sent to me by a coaster friend. This park has a rodent problem!

 

When AstroWorld's halloween event began in the 80s it was called Fright Nights. For this event they used an altered version of their multi-colored logo (the one that served as inspiration for Shane's Amusement Attic season 2 logo). I'm sure it appeared in print, but all I could find was my two Fright Nights shirts, so I scanned one. Pretty cool, eh?

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Fright Nights logo mid-80s

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inside

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Elissaland?

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***BREAKING NEWS***

 

This just in from the TPR News Network:

 

In a surprising turn of political events and with only two days to go before the United States presidential election, today from Santa Claus, Indiana George the Eagle announced his campaign for the candidacy of the White House. Promising free soft drinks and affordable fudge for everyone, George seeks your vote on Tuesday, November 4th!

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I'm not like those other Georges....no really....seriously!

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I'm George the Eagle and I approve this message.

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I love that version of the AstroWorld with the Bats. The old AstroWorld logo was always one of my favorites that is why I chose it to be my threads logo for this season.

 

I always thought it funny that people that where not familiar with the park would sometimes call it CastroWorld when they saw the logo.

 

So are we done with the Scare theme now?

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I don't have any, myself. And I don't know if any parks put out such themed cards, Holiday World being a probable exception, but...

 

How about posting Thanksgiving-themed park postcards?

 

A suggestion.

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I will liken my post today to yesterdays political events.

 

With the historic results of yesterdays election we are finally rid of the old regime and ready for change!!! (Mc Caine = 1st gen free falls)

 

Unfortunately one relic (prop 8 = Demon Drop) continues to hang on.

 

I am Shane Huish and I approved this post

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LOL Shane...not a fan of the 1st gens? I've always liked them except for that terrible bump and jar to the head when the car transitions back to the lower track. And yes the SCAREadise series has been kicked to the curb much like the old regime you mentioned! By the way how was Mexico? We need a FULL photo TR!

 

I suppose with this month's big U.S.A. holiday of Thanksgiving coming up we could go with a theme of rides/parks that are real turkeys, but I think I'm personally just going to keep at a weekly anything goes for now. Feel free to post your turkeys though if you wish. I do have something a little special to gobble over for Thanksgiving.

 

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions for the Paradise, please speak up. Also we need more contributers in here so everyone come on...show us what's in your collection!

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Also we need more contributers in here so everyone come on...show us what's in your collection!

 

Agreed! Restoca has some great postcards, so does Mark...and yes I post here every now and then, but I sure would think that there would be a lot more contributors to this thread. It doesn't take much to scan in a post card and post it on here to share with us.

 

I encourage those of you that have a post card collection, no matter how small or large, to share them with us. This can be an even better thread if we get some more contributers... Now get scanning!

 

Here is a great old card from Cedar Point.

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not many of these attractions have survived the years

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Mexico City was incredible, there will be a trip report that will come soon with all the details. Unfortunately both parks I visited did not have any post cards, believe me I looked everywhere. So for the time being you will have to do with this one... Frontier City, my old home park when I worked for Six Flags.

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Can you believe this park was once the Head Quarters for Six Flags?!?!?!

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Boy I am on a roll tonight...here is one more.

 

Can you believe the Busch company ever had an "off-the-shelf carnival type ride?" Well it did, and it was Glissade.

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If you are going to succeed as a theme park you should always start with Schwarzkopf!

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Here's a So Cal gem: Harry Traver's beautiful Cyclone Racer, which operated from 1930 until it was closed in 1968. Anyone here ever ride it?

 

There was an episode of Leave It To Beaver that featured this ride and the Beaver's anxiety about being expected to ride it with his older brother and friends. I'm guessing that was filmed in the 50s.

 

I had heard of it, but never seen the footage in this

from 1936. There is an intro explaining exactly what it is. I...

 

In the photo on this card it looks like some of the wood is unpainted. And I'm suspicious of the blank spot to the left. There was a large midway in that area which should be visable in this shot. Looks like it's been retouched/removed here. (See the only photo in the rcdb link above.)

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Here's a So Cal gem: Harry Traver's beautiful Cyclone Racer, which operated from 1930 until it was closed in 1968. Anyone here ever ride it?

 

It was obviously before my time, however my dad told me how he rode it on its final day of operation in 1968. He described it was very rough and rickety. He's lucky to have such a rare credit, so it's too bad he's not an enthusiast.

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