jedimaster1227 Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 While attending a conference just last week in Dallas, I had the chance to briefly visit Six Flags over Texas. The park immediately reminded me of Six Flags Great Adventure, with tons of attractions and lots of space to cover. Because of my limited time there, I didn't really have the chance to hunt for credits; rather, I sought to ride the few rides that I knew I would want to do for sure. Tony Hawk's Big Spin was extremely busy, especially as conference attendees (Six Flags over Texas was our special event for the conference) began to pile into the queue, pushing the wait time to well over an hour. It looked like a pretty good spinner, but I figured I could skip it in favor of some of the larger, more intense coasters. I started my visit out with Mr. Freeze, and I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I enjoyed it. Having ridden multiple Premier spaghetti bowls on the East Coast/Behemoth trips, I wasn't expecting much for this launcher (though the lack of OTSR's was great), but from start to finish, I was thrilled. The ride has an innovative duel loading station with three essential positions for loading and the launch. To try to make this explanation simple, platforms A and C are parallel to each other with a gap between them (position B). Each of the two platforms is rigged up to a massive conveyor belt of sorts, which pulls the entire loading platform away from the air gates into position B where the launch and brakes are placed. The ride then thrusts you into a nice straight-away, followed by in an inverted top hat (like the one that used to be on Great Adventure's The Chiller), leading into a banked turnaround into the ride's vertical spike. Addition Lim adorn the spike, adding momentum on the reverse descent which sends you back through the entirety of the track backwards. All in all, the attraction was fantastic--running really well (better and better with each ride) and was a great surprise. I ended up riding Mr. Freeze three times during the course of the visit. Next up was Texas Giant. I made it a point to grab a ride on this, not only because of its good reputation but for the fact that it would be retracked starting at the end of this season. The ride itself is very large and a good length, making the experience thoroughly enjoyable. The track is certainly in need of some work, and I walked away with a knee that had been jammed a few times, but the ride was truly a fun, wild ride. We rode Texas Giant twice that day. After roaming for a little while with one of my fellow officers, I met up with my good friend Uma, riding Titan as quickly as I could. My first Giovanola coaster, the thing was about as intense as I could have imagined based on previous descriptions. The airtime was decent following the first drop, but the star elements of the ride seem to be its two helices, both of which induced near-blackout moments. Funny enough, my non-coaster-enthusiast friends kept going on and on about seeing green and black spots over their eyes during the ride; I figured I wouldn't tell them what happened, trying not to scare them. Our last coaster of the was Shockwave, the park's Schwartzkopf looper. Having ridden Mindbender at Six Flags over Georgia, I had high expectations for this one. Though not particularly large, the ride features two signature Schwartzkopf loops with a real bite, followed by a few airtime hills that deliver on a scary level. The ride from the ground looks to be very small, but in this case, size mattered not, as the few dips provided offered knee-to-bar moments that rivaled those of its Georgian cousin. Following my new credits (I'm now at 191 credits, so I'll hit 200 on the Deep South trip), I stopped at the park's parachute tower, having not done one before. Just last Summer, I marveled at the beauty of Coney Island's parachute tower and had longed to ride one, so now I had my chance. The ride was only running one side but moved along quickly without more than a five minute wait. It wasn't anything too special, but now I can say I've ridden one. Overall, my impression of the park was pretty strong. I loved to see how friendly the cast members (if that is what they are called here) were to our conference attendees and enjoyed the visit wholeheartedly. The park's layout is a little confusing, but nothing too terrible. Id probably say that is my second favorite Six Flags park, with Great Adventure taking the lead as of now. Now, lets move on to some photos! "I'll be back for you later..." Proof that I was really here. Time to head out... I love historical touches like this in parks... Six Flags over Texas is home to a working oil well/pump right in the middle of its grounds (near the parachute tower). Uma and I on the parachute tower! Whee! Up they go. Down goes my liking for this park. Hiya Tony! This is just one of those photos that I'm really proud of, and I don't know why. Can I Flashback to a moment before I saw this monstrosity? Patriotic. Get your mind out of the gutter! My first parachute tower! asd;gagblahcliffcathangeraslkd;ghla;kshdg Am I in the right park? Uma really liked Texas Giant, even though I forced her to ride in the back row. Titan doesn't get much photo love, but its really great. Blackouts bring out the white in my eyes... My compliments to Schwartzkopf for creating a little monster such as Shockwave. Concrete: The Ride. Definitely a solid attraction. It rocks my world. Slab. Bashingly awesome! Time for some TPR Park Index love! Hello beautiful! Though I didn't get to ride it this time, it seemed like the queue for Batman: The Ride was also themed well. Now this, I like. (No implications here.) Mr. Freeze was actually pretty well themed. For an older Six Flags ride, I actually felt like I was at a theme park... But remember, if it has theming, its an amusement park, right Andrew? We did this. Mistake. See what I mean? Mr. Six needs to elevate the fun levels like he does over at Six Flags Hard Rock America... I genuinely believed that this man was a guy dressed up as Mr. Six! Gets me everytime! I couldn't really think of a caption to describe this one. A nice entrance to the park. Now this is interesting! Bloons and coasters... These are a few of my favorite things! What's that I see? Oh, and I forgot. This update was sponsored by Coca Cola and presented by the Six Flags over Texas cowboys! Special thanks to Uma for sharing some of her photos with me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbilly Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 sweet report, cool that you got to go there for a while! How long did you get to stay in the park for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Indeed, Titan will do that to ya. Will make you see trippy light spots and maybe walk weird afterwards. Infact I had to go to first aid that time because my mom was so worried I might pass out (I was already hungry, tired, thirsty, and abit sick before I rode Titan). Although have yet to meet somene who doesn't have a problem with Titan. Were you coughing when you got back to the station because the forces made it hard to breathe? Shockwave is a fun lil machine indeed. So glad to lose my Schwartzkopf virginity to it. Those two loops sure are intense! I actually almost "folded in half" on the second loop. Did you find Flashback smooth? I found quite smooth, no headbanging for me. I hear it's one of the smoother boomerangs out there. Did you ride Conquistador (The Intamin pirate ship in the Spain area)? If so, did you get any airtime on it? I didn't get any for some reason. Kinda disapointed with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 ^^I got to the park at around 2:30 pm and had to stand at the main entrance to greet our attendees for about an hour and a half. I left the park at around 8:30 pm to head back to the hotel. ^I had no issues breathing on the ride, so I'm not entirely sure what that sensation would feel like (nor would I want to). I listed the attractions I rode in the original post, Flashback and Conquistador not being on that list--they'll be there for my next visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Only one more month to go. Nice trip report as always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 ^I had no issues breathing on the ride, so I'm not entirely sure what that sensation would feel like (nor would I want to). It's just like after the ride, I was coughing really hard and trying to catch my breath. Alot of people were like that too and afew couldn't even walk straight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfmmrules! Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 SFOT still has their 1st generation drop tower? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haiderodes Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 ^No, they removed it for Tony Hawk...thus his caption. Glad someone else feels the same way about Mr Freeze. I love it and was plesantly suprised by the theming in the queue, lighting effects in the station and fog in the launch tunnel. As for Batman, its queue rivals the SFOG version for length...its truly massive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 ^^^^Thank you very much! I'm sure you'll really enjoy the park Erik! Just so you know, the best seat that I found on Texas Giant was back left with the best being second row, left seat for Freeze. ^^^Nope. I didn't have any of those problems. I was a little in shock from the intensity of the ride, but nothing to worry about. Those signs you've just listed don't seem to be particularly good... ^I did get to walk briefly into the queue, but the ride broke down shortly after. If you say its as long as Georgia's, I'm definitely impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy524 Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 That picture with Mr. Six reminds me of something a friend told me. He's an actor at SFOG in the gunfight comedy show, and he said that the first year they had Mr. Six, the guy had so much makeup on that he could only stay out in the heat for about 15 min. because he would start to melt. But now they've started using latex masks. He also said the original guy (at least at SFOG) was, I think, 28 years old. Interesting, huh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not For Sale Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 You're overstepping the boundaries of our friendship. I don't like this one bit. Also, bloons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbinbop20 Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 I rode Titan 20 times consecutively on New years eve and also got a midnight ride on it with fireworks going off in the parking lot next to it... The experience was completely awesome but my body hurt from all the G's for like a week straight! Here you can see titan with a firework! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny_ioa Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Nice report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musketeer Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Great trip report. That Mr. Six is really scary! They need to work on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterboy25 Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Hey thats an awesome post and in the little time you had, you got a lot done. Just next time you go, I am not sure if you had one this time or not but you have to get a pink thing (its like the most amazing thing ever) Anyways, awesome post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintballer Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Mmmmmm Pink things..A SFoT exclusive. Glad you had fun, I think B:TR's line sucks compared to GAdV or others, but Mr. Freeze takes the cake of 'em all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorkscrewFoley Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Nice TR/with the pics. I seem to hold my breath every time I read a TR for SFOT or SFoG, mainly because of Shockwave or Mindbender. I've yet to do a looping Schwarz, and maybe soon I'll get my chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six Flags Enthuseast Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Six Flags over Texas has been one of those parks I've always wanted to go to. Nice little reports like this make me want to go to it even more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollercoaster2428 Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 I wish I was in the Ample Room Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy T. Koepp Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Texas Giant!? Seriously? You liked it!? Guy "Adam, your losing points with me dude!" Koepp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I rode Texas Giant last year in the front and it was just ok. I then made the mistake of reriding it in the back. That was the most pain I have ever felt on a coaster. I felt like climbing out of the coaster halfway through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted June 30, 2009 Author Share Posted June 30, 2009 ^^ and ^ I was truly caught off guard at how fun it was. I expected the ride to be brutally on par with the Georgia Cyclone (Six Flags over Georgia) and Predator (Darien Lake), but it was more in line with Beast (Kings Island) from what I could remember. While the ride was a little jarring, it was a fun kind of jolting that really brought out the "wild ride" in the wooden coaster. I could see where some retracking could (and will) do some good but overall, the ride seemed just fine. Maybe I just caught it on a really good day, because I'd put it up there with Silver Comet after my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFrombaugh Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 ^I didn't think Texas Giant was as rough as people made it out to be either, but I don't remember it being terribly spectacular - the hills deliver "floater" air at best (and that's on a good day). It certainly reminded me more of Son of Beast than any other woodie I've been on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I didn't enjoy Texas Giant either. I was sitting I think in the 3rd row from the back. I didn't feel much airtime for some reason but I didn't find it too painful or rough. 20 rides on Titan in a row?! I'd pass out if I was to ride even more than 3 times in a row! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbinbop20 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 ^ It was extream! but yeah it was actually 29 times, I mis typed it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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