Photo TR: The TPR Texas Trip

Erik Johnson · September 4, 2009

Sorry it has taken me so long to finally get around to doing this. I finally got all my photographs organized so I am now ready to start this thing.

So let us start off with: Six Flags Over Texas.

The last time I have ridden a coaster in Texas was when I was 5 years old (1978). This would have been a trip to Astroworld. Before this trip, The Serpent was the only coaster I have ridden in the state (I was also my very first coaster ride). So I guess it was time to go back and visit more parks. As you all probably know, Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) is the very first Six Flags park on the planet. It is one of three original Six Flags parks which are Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Over Georgia, and Six Flags St Louis (or Mid-America).

I have to be honest that the main draw of the Texas trip for me was to have the opportunity to ride Shockwave. Yes, I am one of those fanboys, I am sorry but I can not help myself. The ride did not disappoint. Overall I had a really good time in the park. They do have a descent coaster collection (Mr. Freeze really is awesome) and a good mix of flats, water rides, and even a dark ride.

Of course we were in the park in TPR Style in that we all had Gold Q-bots (which means no waiting in lines), an early morning walk back for Mr. Freeze on the second day, and 30 minutes of night ERT on Shockwave. I actually had to sit out on the ERT session due to being simply coastered out for the day (and almost getting sick on Judge Roy Scream). So I was able to take in the Glow-In-The Dark parade in which I thought Six Flags did a pretty good job with.

Anyways, let us go to the photographs. They are not in any real order this time as they do represent one and a half days in the park.

We can actually walk to the park from our hotel. Just follow the signs.

These people, as well as myself, were a part of the Non-Deep South/Texas trip participants.

I can also see the Ranger's stadium as well as the brand new Cowboy's stadium.

This would be my view out of my hotel room for the next 2 days.

I am one of the few who leaves Florida on vacation.

The park entrance does look like something out of Texas.

Looks like we are.

Are we getting closer yet?

Judge Roy Scream is actually outside of the park.

SFOT still has its parachute drop.

Group shot.....In front of the world's very first Six Flags park.

Or you can follow the flags.

Runaway Mine Train is actually something special.

This sign represents the first two coasters I rode on the trip.

These people seem to approve.

Two loops with three serious airtime moments = coaster bliss.

This was the real reason why I signed up for this trip.

You guys ready for your ride?

While on the blurry side, you can tell how blue the station actually is.

We see you Mr. Freeze.

This guy is cool, he makes sure that all the coasters work in the park.

Rules of the ride.

All kinds of theming can be found in the queue.

This would be the logo for the ride.

Mr. Freeze is the other "Best" coaster in the park.

When in Texas.....

I have ridden all of the Batman coaster/clones in the United States. All of them are good.

They do have this Intamin Bobsled in the park.

Why are they smiling? Oh yeah, the train has not left the station yet.

Oh no....It is Texas Giant......argh!

Runaway Mountain is Dark! Also have you ever wondered what would be Premier Ride's take of a Windstorm coaster? This would be it.

If you said Runaway Mountain, you would be correct.

What are these people waiting for?

This would be my third parachute drop ride. There are not too many of these left.

Boomerang......Next!

It is difficult to get good pictures of Titan, but it really does have an extra helix....I swear it does.

Whatever it is, it is a really early one.

They claim this is the world's first log flume ride. I really have no idea.

Random theming that involves my last name.

Into the deep...dark...hole.

"I wonder if this will be better than Monster Mansion?"

I know those people.

Okay, good to know.

Dark Ride!!!!!

Judge's entrance. The tunnel takes you to the center of the earth before you get to the station.

Tony Hawk and friends.

Photographs are allowed on this ride. You can get some nice ones. This would be Judge Roy Scream.

You guys ready?

Random Canadian.

While a fun ride, it really can use a nice referb.

Daffy gets no respect.

The coyote is my favorite character.

This guy would be Bugs Bunny. Is there any other Bugs Bunny dark rides out there?

Wes seemed to like the tower.

This is a really dorky photo of myself.

We found the S&S tower to be a little weak. Though it is really tall.

Judge Roy Scream and our hotel.

This would be a better photo of Titan.

Want to go to the top?

Yeah yeah....through the trees.

No longer in 3-D.

When Six Flags hits 50, it will be because of this park.

Old artwork.

How many of you have actually ridden this?

Ms. Pac-Man!

They do have a small outdoor museum, this would be an old park map.

I guess more random theming?

Oh wow, Pink Things are fans of TPR.

It is kind of like sherbet on a stick.

You cannot leave the park without buying a Pink Thing.

Texas Giant will be closed next year for its super referb.

Would the T stand for Texas or Titan?

And we leave you with a photo of Mr. Freeze at night.

Erik Johnson · September 4, 2009

On our second day of the trip we spent a half-day at SFOT. After we were finished, we had our first long bus ride on the trip. We had to drive from Dallas to a location about 30 miles east of Houston which is where our next park is located. That would be the Kemah Boardwalk. While the drive was long, we did find a few ways to keep ourselves busy until we got to the park.

The coaster finally opened to 64 second ride cycles. It is very fast and intense....but I think its too intense for such a small space. More on that later.

We all found ways to keep ourselves busy until the coaster opened.

Kemah turned out to be very nice.

Also the water was very choppy.

It got very dark.

But due to a rather large a powerful Thunderstorm, we had to wait a little longer to ride.

We are here for the Boardwalk Bullet.

I believe this guy was one of the owner's of the park. His group really put together a nice package for us.

After about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Dallas, we have made it to the Kemah Boardwalk.

This would be a failed attempt at the, "Robb Shaves" square. Maybe another time.

It sure is.

We did get a little creative.

Let us get some food.

I look way too happy.

It'z Express

Yep!

We all received a card with just enough credit for....well you know.

"Photo With Ice Bat" Check!

On our way to Houston we had a surprise stop at this place.

You just had to dress up like a cowboy for our first rest stop.

Looks like I already got a square. "Dan Is Tormented With Sugar"

This would be my bingo sheet this year. I wonder how I will do.

Elissa Bingo!!!!!!

Dave Thomas has the microphone, so you know what that means!

This would be the TPR party bus.

Erik Johnson · September 4, 2009

What is there to say about the Boardwalk Bullet? While super fast and intense, (which is good right?), I think it might have been pushing it a bit too much for such a small footprint for the coaster. Many of us actually got quite hurt after our rides that evening. I am pretty sure I have slightly fractured a rib and it is still tender to this point. That is not very good, especially since the trip was almost two months ago. I was able to manage two more rides on it for our ERT session the next morning. I was only able to ride the front row, anywhere else would have made my injury much worse. Our day at Kemah was a blast. Robb and Elissa managed to work out a few extra things for us to do during our visit. Not only did we have an hour ERT session on the Boardwalk Bullet. We also had a speedboat ride in the bay, a stingray petting encounter, and an awesome buffet.

Onto the photos shall we?

I think parks that do not have Spongebob are in the minority. Till next time folks!

Pet the stingrays. They will not bite.....much.

We went here next.

Ice Bat is awesome. I guess Dave is as well.

One last photo. I was not going to risk my camera.

This was taken before we all got drenched with sea water.

Awww, Dan! You missed out.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

We all got our seats for one of the fastest, wettest rides ever on a TPR trip.

Next was our ride on the Beast.

Maybe next time we will.

The front row is the safest row to sit in.

Wes was the official time keeper. I think our record was 64 seconds from the previous evening.

ERT session for the Bullet. Yes, you should be worried.

There it is. It is waiting to spit us out into the bay in pieces. It is such an evil ride.

Wes and Dave Thomas managed to put together a pack of stuff for our Boardwalk Bullet rides for the day.

Houston Command Center for NASA.

U2Rox · September 4, 2009

YAYAY for Texas Trip reports!!!!!!

Texas was such a good time! So many experiences in such a short amount of time!! The day at SFoT was one of my most memorable!!!

And the Texas BBQ during the trip, OMG!!! My mouth waters just thinking about it!!

Miss you guys!! Texas was Amazing! Thanks for posting Erik!!!

Carnage · September 5, 2009

Ha, I don't even remember that photo being taken.

Maybe one of these days I'll finally start my TR too.

I think we can blame the Smile Cam feature on Robb's HD camera for that one.

coasterfreaksrttd · September 5, 2009

Wow... One of the most detailed TRs I have seen on this website... Looks like you had a good time... Looking at a picture of Texas Giant made my spine hurt . The Bugs Bunny ride looks like it could use some love... I usually tend to be not that impressed with S&S rides that shoot you up... The drop down, the part that matters in a drop ride, is dwarfed in comparison... The rise slowly and freefall model is much more thrilling... Now if they could only make a perfect hybrid... That old shuttle looks interesting. Lots of neat dark rides and the like... Overall, great TR!

----Alex

Medusa1861 · September 5, 2009

Nice, TPR seems to be making these trips even better each year. With more than just "going to random park ad getting ert" Definitely hope I can go on one of these trips next year, as long as I don't get a job immediately after I graduate college, I'm good.

Paul_Hollibone · September 5, 2009

Just on the Bugs Bunny ride, I know there were atleast 2 more (obviously different though to the one at Six Flags Texas) but WB Movie World in Australia has a Bugs Bunny dark ride, as did WB Movie World in Germany, which was a clone of ours. I do believe that the Germany version is now however gone.

What an awesome looking trip so far though, and that storm looked awesome. Two thumbs up for the storm (and the subsequent pictures taken of the storm).

printersdevil78 · September 5, 2009

OK, I think I need to take a break from viewing photo TRs for a few days... because every time I see one as awesome as this from a TPR trip, I say to myself, "Wow, I wish I had gone on that one!"

One TPR trip a year is not enough. I need to just hit the lottery and get it over with! Excellent TR as always, Erik. Looking forward to more!

AllenA07 · September 5, 2009

I like SFOT, it has a lot of charm for a Six Flags park. It reminds me a little bit of what Knott's Berry Farm used to be like. I still need to get down and ride the rides in Kemah. I went there a few months back while in Houston but the coaster was closed for much of the afternoon and frankly the heat (actually more the humidity) convinced me that it wasn't worth waiting around for the credit.

PKI Jizzman · September 5, 2009

Hey Erik, still drying off from the speed boat?

Carnage · September 5, 2009

^ I made the mistake of sitting in an outside seat, with no one in the row in front of me.

When it turned that first time I got a full unobstructed wave to the face.

Erik Johnson · September 5, 2009

Ready for some more?

We next visited Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Instead of doing the park in one full day, we ended up splitting our visit over two consecutive afternoons/evenings. I thought this was a great idea as it helped us to escape the brutal Texas dry heat in the summer. We naturally were given Gold Qbots again to make our visit even more enjoyable. Other perks included evening ERT on both Poltergeist and Superman: Krypton Coaster, which are the best coasters in the park. We also received VIP seating for the Lone Star Spectacular Laser/Firework show, which was quite cool.

Overall I thought the park was quite nice with a good coaster selection and other attractions.

Well, it is time to go. I hope you enjoyed it, I know I did.

See, lots of fire!!!

It had lasers and all kinds of fire!

One other evening we had VIP seating for the Lone Star Spectacular. Which was a show about how awesome Texas is.

That would include myself.

Another train full of happy riders.

How about Superman?

Can you make out the train?

Ready for your ride?

We also had ERT on Superman: Krypton Coaster....at night!

Awesome man!

Let us head on over to Poltergeist ERT!!

ERT is about to begin. There was much rejoicing.

Headlights are considered theming.

Poltergeist through the trees.....at night.

It is starting to get dark out here.

Train!!!!!!!!!

The Scooby Doo shooting dark ride was fun.

Unusual looking flat ride.

Speaking of Frisbees, this one is pure evil.

"Kick it over here Chris!"

Well....maybe not.

Derek showed off his frisbee skills.

Lunch Time!

Then you go through all of this stuff.

This would be the launching area.

Poltergeist is really fun. Out of the four Premier Rides "Flight of Fear" rides, this one is my favorite.

Well, this part you end up having an insane spinning cycle. I think we spun over 50 times here.

I find them all to be fun family coasters.

This would be the second Tony Hawk Big Spin on the trip.

Here is a closer look.

It does have one of the largest vertical loops in the world.

"We are way up!"

Superman: Krypton Coaster is really great! Probably my second favorite floorless next to Kraken.

Dragons are so stupid!

The photo is not so good, but you get the idea.

This would be the beginning of the ride.

The water log-flume ride is themed!

It would be a Vekoma roller skater in case if you wanted to know.

This would be the coaster for the kids.

The coaster still was fun. It is very fast for a mine train.

The mine train here was really great. Though they have removed much of its original theming.

I have never seen coaster track sway as much as the one on the Rattler.

So how did you like the 3 minute helix? Read anything good?

Oh dear.......

Take a guess which direction the coaster is going.

Next up was the Boomerang. Which turned out to be quite good....for a Boomerang.

Isn't Fiesta Texas the third location for this coaster?

For whatever reason, it is the tamest Batman/Clone that I have ridden so far. It maybe because of the shorter train.

Goliath would be the first coaster that I rode in the park.

Yeah! We made it to Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

Erik Johnson · September 5, 2009

Sea World San Antonio!

We spent a little over a half of day at this park. Perks included a lot of ERT on both Steel Eel and Great White in the morning. I can not remember how long exactly it was, but I think it was close to two hours. We were supposed to have Journey to Atlantis as well, but there were some mechanical issues that prevented us from riding until later in the day. Sea World is huge! So a lot of walking is required between attractions. Steel Eel was the big surprise on the trip. It certainly exceeded everyone's expectation. Anyways, let us get to some more photos.

Sea World Part 1

During out lunch they brought out some cool critters for us to look at.

"Dan Takes a Picture" For Elissa Bingo.

Elissa will kill me for all these photos. But here is the, "Elissa Peels the Skin From a Hot Dog" photo for Bingo.

Well, we all know better.

Stalker Photo for Bingo: "Elissa Enjoys a Pepsi".

As you can see Shamu is not as big as the one in Orlando.

More people riding Shamu. Hi Rox!

Speaking of Elissa.

This would be the kiddie coaster credit. It also is my "Ride Sign Photo" for Elissa Bingo.

Yes it does have one of these things.

Happy, Happy TPR riders!

Great White is another Batman clone. But I am perfectly happy with that.

You enter here to get eaten.

We also ERT on Great White. I am sure Dave approves of this coaster sign.

Steel Eel!!!!

Look happy, do they not?

Steel Eel is awesome. Lots of nice airtime moments.

Come on, open up already!

I like fish, but we all know the reason why were are here.

I wonder how much longer you will see this symbol in the front of the park?

When you see Shamu, that must mean we are at a Sea World park.

nitrofan · September 6, 2009

I used to live in San Antonio, so I have a soft spot for those parks. Steel Eel was my first real major steel coaster and Great White was my first upside-down coaster. That all happened when I was in 4th grade, and we decided to move up to Six Flags. Great TR! It's always nice to see pictures of my old home park.

Erik Johnson · September 6, 2009

Sea World San Antonio Part 2

And we leave you with a final photo of fish. I like fish.

For you rapids fans.

It proved to be a lot of fun.

Hey, Journey finally opened!

One final group shot.

Everyone loves Walrus, Right?

Here is a better shot of the complete stage.

Ha ha ha!

I always love these shows.

Wow, this is actually a different show than the one in Orlando.

I wonder where these will go when they build Manta 2.

Shamu is still hungry. Give him some more food, please.

Ha ha ha. Shamu is so evil.

This is why I did not sit in the front row. Saltwater and electronics do not mix.

Do they really get paid for sleeping on the job?

Must feed Shamu!

Oh, flying fish!

Hmmmm...I wonder what is here. The show is actually the exact same as the one in Orlando.

So anyone remember what Florida park that used to be at?

Please do not eat me.

Ahhhh......Shamu attacks!

jedimaster1227 · September 6, 2009

"Elissa Enjoys a delicious, refreshing, Bryan and Adam-approved Coke."

Fixed.

This is a great report Erik! It certainly makes me wish (even more) that I could have continued on with the Texas trip following the Deep South tour...

cfc · September 6, 2009

I wonder how much longer you will see this symbol in the front of the park?

The floral eagle was one of the first things to go at Williamsburg.

Looks like another great time, Erik. I'm kind of a sucker for those Morgan hypers.

carolinacaniac · September 6, 2009

the entire trip was a blast! I can remember the feeling of being luke-warm and salty after the boardwalk beast, and wishing that the Bullet was torn-down right there in front of me. I wish the trip could have been a couple days longer, but if nothing else, it means more reason to go on a trip next year!

-Gary T.

nitrofan · September 7, 2009

They completely changed the set for the Sea Lion show since I was last there in 2005. What was the "official" name for the Shamu show?

Erik Johnson · September 7, 2009

^ Believe.

christianscoasters · September 7, 2009

Did you ride Steel Eel in the back seat?

Erik Johnson · September 7, 2009

^ I sure did and it was a lot of fun!

Anyways, let us go to our next park, Schlitterbahn. I had to admit that I really did not know much about this water park before going on the trip. Sure, I knew about the Master Blaster and a few other attractions, but I simply did not know much else about the park. Boy was the park really great! I think many of us would agree that it was the highlight park of the trip. First off, Robb and Elissa arranged for us to have early morning ERT. We had ERT on the Master Blaster and the Flow Rider ride. We also had early entry for both the Dragon Blaster as well as the brand new Congo River Expedition Lazy River/Rapids ride. Without these early morning perks, there would have been no way to be able to do all these attractions. The parks get VERY crowded once it is open.

Schlitterbahn is seperated into three different sections. The newer sections are Blastenhoff and Surfenburg which are right next to each other. The older section, which you have to take a tram to, is simply called the original Schlitterbahn section. I spent most of the time in the original section on this visit. This section really reminded me of Knoebel's atmosphere for some reason. Maybe it was all the trees. Most of the attractions in this area are tube chutes which are a combination of a lazy river and an older style waterslide built for tubes. Many of them are interconnected with each other. One of them is over 45 minutes long. They are all feed with natural water as many of these slides actually do end up in the river than runs alongside the park.

I do not have many photos from this section due to the fact I do not have a waterproof camera.

Also this will be the last posting of this trip. I did continue on to Oklahoma and Missouri for Frontier City, Silver Dollar City, Worlds of Fun, and Six Flags St. Louis which you can find a trip report located here:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=51873

A little later I will post my reviews of all the coasters on this trip.