Mini Photo TR: Kemah Boardwalk

[CP_RULES]

NOTICE: A few of the following photos were taken with my iPhone, the others were taken with a digital camera but those can only do so well at night without a tripod.

 

Long story short, I went to South Padre Island with my boyfriend and his family for his brother's birthday. His brother happens to live in League City, Texas which also happens to be about 5 minutes from Kemah, both of which are suburbs of Houston (in case you didn't know). On our last night before we headed home we stayed at my boyfriend's brother's house and we happened to eat at Crazy Alan's swamp shack.

Which is conveniently located in Kemah with a view of this!

If you're headed to Kemah I highly recommend this place.

It has amazing food, good prices, quaint atmosphere, decent entertainment, and...

A nice view!

Which can be bittersweet when you're a coaster enthusiast.

We arrived after the sun had fallen and the lights had ignited.

The Bullet greeted us at our parking spot, which was free to park in. Hear that Six Flags?

Boardwalk Bullet is one of those rides that I kind of payed attention to but never would dwell on too much cause I didn't think I'd ever ride it. So while I kind of knew what to expect (rough, compact, shuffling, in a small park) I really wasn't sure what Kemah Boardwalk or its Bullet would bring to the table.

The entire area was extremely nice, though. Probably one of the nicest pay-by-ride areas I've ever been to (and way way way less sketchy than Boomers!).

Two tickets each for my boyfriend and I at $5 a piece cost $20 which is a little pricey but not bad for an in-and-out credit run. The sights alone were worth close to that, the park had very nice lighting. Here's a nice blurred nighttime picture for all you nighttime-TR-with-blurred-pictures fans.

Windseeker?

It was definitely very family oriented, though there was a few instances of mom dropping off the skater gang to pick them up later.

And a non-blurry photo of the ferris wheel for those of us who prefer to keep it traditional.

Ah, the time has come. BB was a real surprise. I rode both in the front and the back and I have to say the front is a much better ride. Lots more airtime than I expected and actually pretty smooth in front. Lots of noticeable shuffling in the back, along with a much rougher ride. The back did offer a few moments of OMFG airtime that the front couldn't quite offer. Overall I'd say its an 8/10 ride in the front and a 7/10 in the back. Still amazing all the things they were able to do with the ride in such a small area.

And I leave you with this horrible picture of the station, which I had to add because I thought it was notable that the ride operator was doing the "visual scan" thing that people were noting was starting to happen at some Six Flags parks. It really does seem silly, and all of the teeny boppers were sure to let the ride op know they agreed it was. The poor guy took it well though, making a joke about not making fun of the visual scan that made everybody laugh. That's it for this TR though, it was a fun little pit stop and a nice end to our vacation. Hope you enjoyed reading!

[coasterfreak101]

I just do the visual scan from my seat... That's probably weird.

 

I've always been amazed as to how they managed to cram so much into an acre. Glad to hear it's a good ride from someone who doesn't clock how long each run takes!

[jzoole]

I really miss The Bullet! It's been two years since my last ride. I'm glad to hear it was running well. Does it still do that thing where it takes like ten years to roll back into the station from the brake run?

[CP_RULES]

^Yes and no. If the previous train was ready to go (which it never was) and had already left the station before the second train had a chance to hit the pneumatic brake then all was fine. Otherwise yes, it was still doing that.

[jzoole]

They need to just not run two trains. Lol. The line never merits two-train operation anyway.