New Texas Giant: A Rather (Un)Biased Review

[TexasGiant1982]

In 1995, I was dragged onto the original Texas Giant at SFOT by my stepsister; she simply slammed me into the seat, put the seatbelt on, and pulled down on the lap bar. I had no choice but to ride the sucker, but after two-plus minutes, I thoroughly enjoyed it. So when I returned to SFOT back in 2009, Texas Giant was in need of a major improvement; although the ride was VERY rough, it was still my favorite throughout the park. Eventually, I got to see Texas Giant's renovation through TPR's site and major news outlets, but this year, I decided to get a Play Pass and try out this "New" Texas Giant for myself.

 

What a ride it would be!

 

At first, I seriously considered chickening out and putting myself in the "Chicken Coop" because I wasn't sure how I was gonna react to the ride's forces, but I figured "what the heck, I'll do it" as I put the bag I was carrying in the bin and boarded the black train. The horn wasn't working today, so the ride op tried to calm my nerves a bit before we were dispatched. Going up that first lift reminded me of the old TG, but I started to think (and say out loud) "what the hell did I sign up for!?" The moment the black train went over the precipice and into the first drop, my mouth was spewing out words that start with "S" and rhymes with "SPIT." Once that train hit the first "bunny hop" just before the first 90-degree turn, I KNEW that NTG was going to be a very different animal than the original. I swear to God that my rear end flew out of my seat for a good second on the third bunny hop after the overbank.

 

More S-bombs followed as I felt those pops of airtime after the midcourse brake, and the tunnels in the ride's finale added some more charm.

 

Overall, I'd give this thing an eleven out of ten if I wanted to. For those who wish to pay a visit to SFOT, ride NTG first before anything else.

 

Here are some things of note as I rode NTG today:

 

1. The horn and fire-spewing derrick thingy wasn't working today.

2. Only the red and black trains were running.

3. The wait time averaged around 20 minutes.

[ValleyfairFan]

The reason for the fire deal is the drought conditions in Arlington right now, same reason some towns are even going to do fireworks for 4th of July. DFW Metro needs some rain BADLY

[David H]

Well, they got rain last week -- during our ERT session at the ACE Con! Yep. It hadn't rained in many weeks, but it waited until ERT to rain. They saw lightning in the area and shut down the rides two minutes before the park closed. They kept Runaway Mountain open for us though, but most of us went to the party they threw for us in the picnic grounds, while the heavens opened up. In fact, it rained so badly that they had to cancel ERT on Titan the next morning because some of the tunnels had flooded. But they gave us Shockwave instead, to make up for losing ERT on it the night before. And they added Titan to the ERT the next day. In the end, it didn't really matter, since we'd had so much ERT anyways! (Even without that night, we had 8.5 hours of ERT there and the park wasn't even that busy during the week anyways!) But it was a funny irony.

 

As for the fire, I'm not sure it's completely due to the drought. The rep from SFoT said they were having issues getting it approved from the city, and implied that it was more than the dryness. The funny thing is that it was the city that apparently pushed for the fire effects in the first place.

 

As for them only running two trains, I heard that it was because Gerstlauer is very bad about sending replacement parts. So they don't have three fully functioning trains -- not even two months after the ride opened. Luckily, I only waited with the GP once during the Con, since we had lots of ERT on it. (3.5 hours, which was way more than my poor thighs could handle, especially with nearly walk-on rides and the ability to just sit on it for most of that time!) And that time, I only waited because I took an extra ride during Titan ERT that morning, and get in the Giant queue just after a huge wave of GP got there. I still waited around 20 minutes, which I could have avoided if I'd skipped the extra Titan ride. Bad planning, but I wanted to get those rides in before leaving the park for good shortly after.

 

As for the horn, I didn't hear it at all during our four (partial) days there.

 

And if you think the airtime was insane, you should have ridden it late at night. Steel coasters don't usually break in that much during the day, but this hybrid sure seems to!

 

And yeah, San Antonio made Fiesta Texas take the fireowrks out of their show starting the day before our day there, which mainly left some video, some lasers and a LOT of "Woo hoo, Texas is the best!... And oh yeah, America, too!"

[David H]

And yeah, San Antonio made Fiesta Texas take the fireowrks out of their show starting the day before our day there, which mainly left some video, some lasers and a LOT of "Woo hoo, Texas is the best!... And oh yeah, America, too!"

 

Haha! One of my favorite moments with TPR was during the VIP seating for the laser/firework show at Fiesta Texas. Screw the fireworks (don't get me wrong, they're awesome) but San Antonio Sam and the greatness of Texas are what really made the show

 

That's one of the unique -- and a bit bizarre to an outsider -- things about Texas. That feeling that Texas is unique and better than all other places that a lot of the residents have. You even see it in the whole Six Flags title and theming, where they're celebrating Texas' history. You wouldn't see that in just about any other state. I can't imagine an end of night show at Canobie Lake Park, where they would go on and on about how great New Hampshire is, and have whole segments about each city! Or even bigger states, like Ohio or California. The only real equivalent in other states is the similar feeling many people have about being American.

[PAL]

As for the horn, I didn't hear it at all during our four (partial) days there.

 

I heard that horn repeatedly during both ERT sessions and rides during regular hours. It could be up to the operator to sound it. I didn't pay it that much attention, but the number of horn blasts seemed to vary.

 

Did you hear the clucking from the chicken coop?

 

A friend who posts here says three train operation causes constant stacking. I'm just offering an alternative theory for two train operation.

[takedown]

Thanks for the review!!! This is getting me even more excited for my trip next week to SFOT. Hoping to get some good rides on the night of the 7th and back all day on the 8th.

[TexasGiant1982]

And yep, I heard the "clucking" sound whenever someone goes into the Chicken Coop, and I got a really good chuckle out of it--as did most of the other riders.

[Jive]

I was recently blown away by Giant. I never rode the old one but this new version is close to being the ideal coaster IMO.

[samisthabomb]

I heard that horn repeatedly during both ERT sessions and rides during regular hours. It could be up to the operator to sound it. I didn't pay it that much attention, but the number of horn blasts seemed to vary.

Yes, the horn is manually controlled. It could just be that the op got tired of hearing it

[Sportsdude360]

Personally, I don't mind the horn not sounding. That thing was driving me loco last time I visited the park.

[takedown]

You weren't lying, rode the front once and the back twice. In the back it feels like you will be ejected going over the first drop. What a great ride.