SFOT Fright Fest & Texas State Fair PTR

[VegasCoaster]

So my girlfriend and I needed to get up to SFOT sometime since we'll be leaving Texas after this spring more than likely, so we decided to head up to Dallas during UT-OU weekend. I'd highly recommend going during this time since Six Flags was empty until about 1 or 2, and the state fair is a pretty good time as well.

 

After going to SFStL two years ago during Fright Fest I was looking forward to Fright Fest, but was rather disappointed by SFOT's, especially considering its the original park. The only time I saw scare actors was when they were walking through the park during the day to get to their mazes. Also there were zero scare zones throughout the entire park and while SFStL isn't exactly a premier Halloween event, it at least had all the elements. SFOT had shows, mazes, and a bunch of repetitive and often noticeably old decorations. That said, I had a great time in the park and the ride collection was rather balanced, just Fright Fest was a bit of a let down.

 

The next day we went to the Texas State Fair and ate large quantities of fried foods, but thanks to the grad school budget didn't go on any of the spin 'n puke rides or any of the credits (4 in all). This was undoubtedly more crowded than Six Flags so I'd recommend getting there early if you want to get things done without waiting in long lines. Unfortunately wasn't able to stick around till night, but I'm sure the midway looks awesome at night.

 

On to the pictures!

 

Fright fest and State Fair to follow later.

Bobsled dropping into the second half of the ride.

Some of the layout.

The rollbars make me wonder if they added them voluntarily or if they added them after something happened.

Excited for some bobsled action!

Bend your snake, not your hair?

Schwarzkopf is taking over Six Flags!

La Vibora, the surprise hit of the trip. Somehow one of the scariest coasters when it can get it on three wheels on some of the turns.

Seriously could be a great ride and probably was. Ranks just below SOB and Psyclone for me with respect to pain at the moment though.

Texas Giant, Titan, the Rangers Stadium...and oh my god its a UFO!

What the rapids looks like when its dry.

Judge Roy Scream in all its mehness. Pretty though.

If only Batman were in the loop this shot would be perfect. B

Shockwave. I think people hyped it up too much for me. I like Mindbender a lot more.

Proof that there actually were people taking these pictures. I never manage to take many pictures of people.

Oil Derrick pictures as promised. Ooooo.

Most flattering picture of Michelle ever, courtesy of the Pink Thing. Try one, they are pretty good and also surprisingly cheap.

Someone call Silver Dollar City or Dollywood, one of their skillets is missing! On a side note I know normal park food is a rip off but the FF stuff was nuts. $8 for a quesadilla?

I never took this picture when I was in St. Louis, so I have to do it now.

Sense of Urgency!

Judge Roy Scream! Some ok moments of air, but nothing too great.

ACE's plaque for Bill Cobb who designed...

This also gives a good view of the park and is a great ride for the whole family. Not scary at all but unfortunately short.

The single rider line for this ride is proof that there is a god and he loves us. 2 hour wait for Tony Hawk. No thanks.

This crew is so fast its hard to get a picture of them. That or the lighting is bad.

UT will win the rivalry. Mwahahaha.

Green with envy.

I actually liked the queue, especially the natural shade.

He's been waiting for a while.

Runaway Mountain was reasonably fun but I was expecting something other than complete darkness.

Wooo Texas state school system!

Not want!

Show of hands, who's into S&M? Ok all kidding aside the ride was actually pretty fun, but one of the roughest I've been on in a while. It needs all of that $10 million and then I can see it being a seriously great ride.

These people might not have internal bleeding yet.

Porn shot!

Hey look, a maintenance bay!

Did someone steal the signature move?

A rushed train picture for those of you rail enthusiasts.

Finally Texas Giant opens. Chiropractors around Texas rejoice.

Helices of Death!

Faded, but still awesome.

Texas Giant was closed until noon. Not entirely sure why.

Jealous SFMM?

Again, get to the park early if you want to get on stuff quickly. I think we were in the park for an hour and hit 6 of the credits.

I think you can see all the layers of paint that have ever been on Shockwave here. Time for a paint job perhaps? Maybe?

Not even the ducks or turtles want to be in the malaria water.

The Oil Derrick. Great views of the park from here, but more on that later.

This trashcan's family comes here too! - Michelle would like to take credit for that caption.

Superman: Tower of really tall but not that forceful.

Either Dallas was hit by a nuclear bomb or I didn't know what exposure setting my camera was on.

Batman. Love the ride, hate the queue. No shortcuts and its long as hell.

All of 5 people enjoying the overbank.

I took waaay too many photos of this plaza.

Credit number 1 in less than 10 minutes! Somehow felt stronger than St. Louis', no idea why.

I suddenly feel like eating ice cream. Damn subliminal marketing!

I hear this section is popular so we hit it first. A good choice in retrospect.

Oooooo. I'm shaking in my tennis shoes.

Damn you joker for taunting us on the other side of the rope!

These guys makes up most of their FF theming.

Rocking the camera bag.

Very excite!

There it is, taunting me above the trees. I was looking forward to this ride the most and it didn't disappoint.

I'd recommend warp speed, gets you here faster.

Warp speed to Six Flags. Stat.

Apparently I'm insane until I actually wake up.

Pretty excited for 5:30 in the morning. Couldn't risk hitting traffic for the OU game.

10 years ago this ride didn't beat the snot out of you. That or people were into that in the late 90's.

First Helix of Death! Fixed! I wish they'd run this without slowing down the chain or having the MCBR on. Sure it might make people pass out, but it'd be sweet!

[paintballer]

Cool TR!

 

I think you messed up one of the photos, where it says "First Helix of Death" or something along those lines theres a picture of Studio 13

[Airtime&Gravity]

Nice trip report, and Six Flags looks like a great park. It is amazing how much there is so much to do there without looking like Elitch Gardens.

[Bbax]

Giant the year it opened was an amazing woodie. It was actually really smooth. I'm kind of bummed that they let it get so bad but, at least they are addressing it now.

[bobpuppet]

Great trip report so far. I have always wanted to visit Texas and SFOT looks like really nice. I cant wait for all the yummy fried food in part 2 of your report.

[VegasCoaster]

So onward with Fright Fest and fried food!

Not Vince, don't care.

When they said butter sculpture I wasn't picturing an entire bar scene.

The amazingly intense bake off. Oddly enough I think a guy won.

Apparently building K'nex is now an art form. Same with Legos, but I've seen actual Lego art.

Of course this is right across the way. Didn't try this, doesn't sound appetizing at all to me. Aside from deep fried butter though it might be the top fair food.

The juxtaposition of the baby pigs with an ad for pork is rather interesting.

This guy had a dog who could do a backflip. Never seen a dog do that that didn't wind up first.

And the cows from Borden!

In the agriculture area they had a grocery store full of Texas products.

And a huge stage. i think I heard the Commodores were playing that night, not sure on the accuracy of that though.

They also have a small railroad museum.

The very extensive classic car section.

I think a ticket is the least of your worries.

Is that an Egyptian with an arc welder?

Architecture.

...and climb rock walls. Unfortunately it was infested with little kids so no attempt from either of us.

In the car show you could pretend to drive a Ford truck...

mmmmm....fried things.

Quick, I feel my blood moving! Fried grilled cheese and fried Peaches and Cream. The peaches and cream won an award, so thats what we tried.

Must be a Texas fan. Hook 'em!

Pretty scenic minus the guy wires.

Awwww.

Big Tex! He's got a ton of model trains running around his base.

If you like bananas, this is your place. Well at least it would be if any of it looked good.

Because chicken fried steak would be too refined.

We thought pacing ourselves would be a good idea so we walked around. Sorry OU fan, well not really but I don't mean to rub it in your face.

See the flavor just oozing out of it? Oh wait thats the jam.

We opted for the fried PB&J with the classic it has fruit so its healthier defense. It was amazing.

They also had fried pizza, fried coke and fried PB&J w/ Bananas.

Fried Butter. Yes you read that correctly, deep fried butter. Fried cookie dough sounds amazing, but alas they were out.

We'll start off normal with a fried Snicker's bar. Amazing.

And now I try and kill myself with fried food! Fried Pralines, fired oreos, fried Reese's Macaroons...

Does this really need to exist? Really?

Sploosh.

The nation's largest ferris wheel.

The flume ride got really popular later in the day.

Makes me wonder if this was always painted like this.

No one knew what this was supposed to do. They just sat there like they were on a bench for the entire ride.

No idea what this does, but I think I've seen it before.

Again get to the fair early if you want to do any of this in a timely manner.

I like the subtle use of a giant cup of Coke.

Oldie, but fun.

Now on to the more intense spin and puke rides.

Actually this might be more of a coaster than the train.

So innovative. Sausage...on a Bun!!!

They even have a drop tower. Automatically the best fair I've been to, just couldn't go on rides.

One of the many fun houses / mirror mazes.

More spin an puke rides.

Good ride, don't know how intense of a program they were running though.

Looks cool, but never flips upside down.

Old school neon. Probably looks great at night, but I had hw due the next day so no shot at figuring that out.

The biggest and best for last. 4 credits in all unless you count the train.

Now thats a bit better.

Even more whorish than the Dragon Wagon.

Gigantic slide and another credit hiding in the distance.

Why must I be on a grad student budget with all these rides around? Gah.

How do you fry guacamole and queso? Didn't try this one, but interesting none the less.

Jeff Johnson credit?

Credit numero uno at the TX State Fair.

Steak and Shake was surprisingly empty for being this close to the park.

Choosing the right shake burger pairing might be more vital than choosing the right wine to go with a fine meal.

Decisions decisions...

Horrible picture of Titan at night.

Suddenly we're transported to CA! Didn't expect to run into Disney merchandise in the random stores in Six Flags.

Another maze right around the corner from the circus one.

Hey look its a scare actor talking to his friends! Scary!

Another one of the mazes.

Superman Tower of Blur.

Had an idea for a great shot involving this but I'd need an actual camera.

Night shots of flats are always good.

More hot half dead chicks! Not sure how much Oingo Boingo they danced to.

Batman's line was all the way out in the park area so all I got was this stupid picture.

Mr. Freeze at night. The line dropped down to 1-1.5 hours but still not worth it in my opinion.

Someone whiter than my girlfriend! Alert the press. (She doesn't normally rock the sunburn)

This guy was creepy, but all he did was take pictures with people.

And this is what it looks like normally. I prefer the acid trip.

This is what the Looney Tunes area looks like if you're on acid.

Then this guy gave out full size candy bars and fright passes for playing name that tune. I won one for identifying the theme from Mork and Mindy. Nanu Nanu.

Three other people and I learned how to do the Thriller dance from this dance group. Audience participation fail.

And for the girls and some of the guys, half dead dudes.

Hot half dead chicks. Check.

They have this in arcade form now? Why?

Oh my god watch out for that lamp post!

Good element.

Damn you for blocking the credit!

Entrance to the Studio 13 area.

Aquaman has the power to make people disappear!

Tony Hawk's not worth that long of a line for one spin.

Gaaaahhh!

Boo.

One of the mazes. Since Michelle is scared a little too easily didn't wind up doing any mazes, though I won a fright pass later that night (donated it to a family).

Pink Things. Not sure why they are only here, but they are pretty good.

Our lovely DJ for the night. You just want to run up and cuddle with him don't you?

Patriotic much?

These guys and some random spiderwebs and tombstones make up 90% of the fright fest theming.

This chick had epic boobage. Nice start to Fright Fest.

[VegasCoaster]

Last bit. Thanks for reading / browsing!

Also had a fried coke, which was nauseating. Not nearly as nauseating as the $25/ person ride on the Skyscraper (aka ferris wheel on crack).

I think the expression is better than normal sex. Had to try the Reese's macaroon.

Back to the midway to hunt out some more fried goods before heading to the traffic jam back home.

This guy! Again hard to get scale in there but he was immense.

This guy was huge too, but nothing compared to...

You can't go to a state fair and miss out on the animals.

Longhorn and baby.

Never heard of this place. Looks like a nice little family park after further investigation.

This pig was HUGE! Didn't think throwing my hand in there for scale would help, but I think he weighed at least 1 ton. Literally.

I trust you, random guy at the state fair in scrubs, with my teeth.

[ratdogg68]

Nice photos, but that fair looks expensive.

[VegasCoaster]

The fair is somewhat expensive, but everything runs off of coupons including the food with 20 coupons being 10 bucks. Don't know if you were looking at the food prices and thinking it was $8 for most of the food, but its not that bad, but not exactly cheap either.