Photo TR: TPR's Texas/Midwest Trip 2013

[robbalvey]

I can't help but wonder if SFOT would have been more hospitable had that accident not happened.

The park being un-hospitable to us happened well before the accident. We plan these things out months in advance. We had "work-arounds" though. Lo-Q was being incredibly helpful to us, and when Giant was still open we were going to arm our members with multiple Platinum Flash Passes to ensure the maximum amount of rides on Giant possible without waiting.

 

Once the accident happened, I did approach the park and said "look, I realize you guys had something happen that is devastating, but we'd still like to come in and give you guys some positive press, regardless. Is there anything more you can do?" (Keep in mind we don't ever ask for anything free, we always expect to pay for additional services. That's how this industry works.)

 

We were nothing but awesome towards Six Flags Over Texas. I was even on CNN and HLN a few nights prior telling the world how safe I think their rides are and I'd even take my daughter on Texas Giant tomorrow if I could. And all we were asking for from the park was to be given similar treatment as we had from the other Six Flags properties. Nothing more. Nothing less. Personally, our visit to the park was insulting and unacceptable.

 

When the park continued to be un-helpful, that's when we approached the State Fair and offered them the money that we originally had budgeted for SFOT for ERT and an extra meal.

 

With Giant and Shock Wave being closed, everyone armed with Flash Passes to get in all the other rides without waiting, and the park doing absolutely nothing additional for our visit, we really didn't need a full day at SFOT, so we opted to spend a few hours at a park that was being hospitable to us. We spent a good deal of time and money at the fair and it was money WELL spent!

 

--Robb "I really hope Six Flags Over Texas is reading these reports, and actually does something about it." Alvey

Edited August 15, 2013 by robbalvey

[SuperShawn]

While it is a bit sad that the whole SFOT stuff didn't pan out as hoped, I'm actually glad it didn't because Summer Adventures was such a surprise and there's a good chance I would otherwise have never gone down there. The Dark ride and crazy spinning kiddie coaster were some of the biggest surprises of the trip. Also loved that the employees were happy, enjoying their jobs and extremely welcoming.

 

Great updates by the way Erik!

[Erik Johnson]

Ugh, these reports are making me so mad at myself for skipping the Summer Adventures park. Hopefully I can find a way to make it back down there in a few years. Looks like it be a great place to spend an evening after a day in the city, but it's current hours don't really allow that.

 

It's a shame SFOT was so bad. You'd think after the whole NTAG accident they'd be going out of their way to provide good service and get some good publicity. Sounds like my visit which was rife with problems and annoyances was actually a good day for the park. What a shame.

 

You just reminded me of the TPR Midwest 2007 trip where we went to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. We visited the park just a few weeks after the horrible accident on the drop tower. When our buses arrived at the park we were greeted by, if I remember correctly, both the PR staff and the park president. They went way out of thier way to make sure that we had a great visit to the park. The entire day the service and friendliness of the staff was almost Silver Dollar City quality. I was simply shocked that we were in a Six Flags park.

[chadster]

I must admit, I secretly went back to Fair Park so I could ride the flow rider...maybe the Himalaya, and the service remained the same. Friendly, happy, glad you were there.

[mightypotato]

I'm glad to see you also went into the Skyride (AKA: Texas Sweat Lodge). That was mind numbingly hot, yet hilarious.

 

Like everyone else, I completely agree with your sentiments towards SFOT and the State Fair. I had a far better time at the State Fair than I did at SFOT.

[Aceattack52]

Does SFOT know they're catching this much hell? It would be a shame to see the same thing happen in future years.

[Barge84]

Great report, Erik! That spinning kiddie was the craziest thing I've ever been on. I normally skip out on the kid coasters, but after seeing it go through a cycle I hopped in line. The ride op had to physically stop our car from spinning about 30 seconds after the ride ended.

[gerstlaueringvar]

Aww I stayed at SFOT just to get all the credits… I've missed something great!

[PCW_Nut]

Aww I stayed at SFOT just to get all the credits… I've missed something great!

 

Yes you did. The spinning coaster was enough of a reason to go to that park. I was VERY impressed.

[TexasParkman]

I live only 8 miles from the Park. I am very upset that the Park performed so poorly for your visit. Early in the year- up until July the park was running great- great Customer service, high ride hours, etc. July came and it was like something drastic happened. Trust me- day in and day out this is usually great. SFOT has always been run very well. I am positive that Mr. Martindale will fix these issues. I am glad that you enjoyed Summer Adventures. It is the creation of Errol McCoy- former President of Six Flags Inc. Errol is old school Six Flags and know his business. The park may not be around for long if it's business does not pick up. The local paper reported that attendance has not been what they hoped for. They earlier had said that The Fair Board had low expectations for attendance for the first 2 or 3 years. Its major drawback is the location. Not a great part of town. Competetion is good though- hopefully it will spur SFOT to make positive steps in thier PR / Group sales efforts. Sorry again for the bad visit. When you come back- try for June- its much cooler!!!!

[Erik Johnson]

My last two visits to SFoT were really good, I was just really disappointed in my last visit. I hope that they make many customer service improvements in the future.

[Hriscay]

I live only 8 miles from the Park. I am very upset that the Park performed so poorly for your visit. Early in the year- up until July the park was running great- great Customer service, high ride hours, etc. July came and it was like something drastic happened. Trust me- day in and day out this is usually great. SFOT has always been run very well. I am positive that Mr. Martindale will fix these issues. I am glad that you enjoyed Summer Adventures. It is the creation of Errol McCoy- former President of Six Flags Inc. Errol is old school Six Flags and know his business. The park may not be around for long if it's business does not pick up. The local paper reported that attendance has not been what they hoped for. They earlier had said that The Fair Board had low expectations for attendance for the first 2 or 3 years. Its major drawback is the location. Not a great part of town. Competetion is good though- hopefully it will spur SFOT to make positive steps in thier PR / Group sales efforts. Sorry again for the bad visit. When you come back- try for June- its much cooler!!!!

 

I try and visit this park at least once a year. I've honestly never had a bad experience there, though one time I took a vacation and Titan was down the entire time. When I went last year the first day I visited NTG was not working due to something on the lift hill not working. I stood in line for 45 minutes and while everyone else left, me and the 3 kids stayed and started talking to the ride ops. I finally decided to go check out the other rides but when I came back about 3 hours later, NTG sill wasn't open but they let the kids up on the station platform to chill with them. The ride ops running that day were amazing. The kids even said I was with them so I got to spend the following 3 hours until it got fixed on the station with the ride ops. I'm sure that helped their day go by quickly but I don't know if i've met nicer people. They let the kids and myself ride it back to back for the last 30 minutes of the park being open because all the kids did was wait there all day to ride it. This was before the announcements about the parks future and I got good word on what might happen, boomerang being removed and getting the sky screamer and that next year will most likely be the expansion of Gotham City. I'm sorry that you all had a poor experience. I love SFOT and it has two of my favorite rides. Hopefully it will turn around after the bad word starts settling down.

Edited August 16, 2013 by Hriscay

[beatle11]

I'm glad to see you also went into the Skyride (AKA: Texas Sweat Lodge). That was mind numbingly hot, yet hilarious.

 

 

I must have lost 5 pounds in that thing!

[Naina21]

I'm glad to see you also went into the Skyride (AKA: Texas Sweat Lodge). That was mind numbingly hot, yet hilarious.

 

 

I must have lost 5 pounds in that thing!

They need to put up a sign stating that it is a round trip. That was the killer not being able to escape at the other end.

[beatle11]

^Yup, but to be fair, there was more of a breeze on the return trip. They need air holes on both sides of the car!

[805Andrew]

Great trip pictures so far. It looks like you made lemons into lemonade in the Dallas / Fort Worth area by heading over to the Texas State Fair.

 

^ I bet you all gained like 10 pounds from eating there. After all it is America's unhealthiest restaurant with 5 of it dishes over 2,000 calories.

 

Just because a dish has more calories doesn't mean its more unhealthy. 2000 calories from a balance of grilled meat, veggies, and grains is healthier than 1000 deep fried calories. I disagree that Cheesecake Factory is the unhealthiest restaurant chain in the US, as Cheesecake Factory has many options for everyone with more balanced options than many chains. Eating at Denny's or Hometown Buffet is far more unhealthy. When I go Cheesecake Factory I usually get an appetizer as it is a smaller portion than an entree so I have room for dessert. I do agree that CF's entree portions are overly exaggerated and excessive, but that's also the case at many American restaurants. I'd pick Cheesecake Factory over most restaurant chains if a highly rated, local restaurant wasn't available.

[robbalvey]

^ Yeah, I completely ignored his totally inaccurate post, *facepalmed* and moved on! lol

 

--Robb

[PKI Jizzman]

I love the Jiggity trip report! I'm so sad to hear you guys had a bad time at SFOT; we all had an amazing time on the 2009 Texas trip and it was really my favorite park in the chain along with SFOG. I was trying to comprehend what could make the park go from beautiful, hospitable, friendly, efficient, and downright fun....too....what you described! I mean...Six Flags has to be reading what Robb and Elissa are saying, they should take notice. I loved SFOT to death; each coaster was fantastic. Even La Vibora!

 

Only the drop tower sucked

[Meteornotes]

Awesome report so far. SFoT really should have done better. Hopefully there will be management changes there.

 

I was shocked by this statement about the nighttime show at SFFT:

 

Though I think the version in 2009, was better. (They shortened it and removed Zeus).

 

HOW COULD THEY REMOVE ZEUS?!? Now no one will know how he created Texas...

 

dt

[gerstlaueringvar]

I AM TEXAS!!!!!

[robbalvey]

I was shocked by this statement about the nighttime show at SFFT:

 

Though I think the version in 2009, was better. (They shortened it and removed Zeus).

 

HOW COULD THEY REMOVE ZEUS?!? Now no one will know how he created Texas...

Yeah, was a bit let down by the new version of the show. Gone is the whole "Zeus created Texas" (which was simply amazing) and also gone are the fireworks they used to launch at and explode on the cliff wall.

 

It was a nice fireworks/media show, but that was about it.

[chadster]

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the fireworks were given the axe due to lack of rain. Something about the fire department not liking the chances of catching stuff on fire. Or maybe that was just the excuse given, I could be wrong.

[BigBomer]

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the fireworks were given the axe due to lack of rain. Something about the fire department not liking the chances of catching stuff on fire. Or maybe that was just the excuse given, I could be wrong.

You are correct. Fiesta Texas and Sea World both have protested the firework ban but to no avail. The only time they can fire off fireworks is during a special event for which they seek permission, or right after it rains a lot.

[Erik Johnson]

Sorry for the delay, but here is a small update featuring Magic Springs.

 

I believe that about 99.9% of the trip members on the tour have never been to this park before. It really is not close to another other parks (I think the closest one is about a 4 hour drive). Lucky for us, Robb and Elissa arranged it that we would stop here for a few hours on our way up to Silver Dollar City. I thought it was a pretty good park. The staff certainly were very friendly. It sort of reminded me a little of my home park, Wild Adventures, though without the animals. While none of the rides were super special, it did have an overall good assortment of both coasters and flat rides. The waterpark section of the park is certainly the big draw in the area. There is a rumor going around that they may turn this into a waterpark only park, kind of like what Alabama Adventures has done.

 

Coasters you say? Yes they have a few including the only X-Car coaster in country, X-Coaster. I have never ridden one before, and it certainly was a bit of a freaky experience. They also have a wooden coaster, Arkansas Twister. I was happy to be able to ride this one since it is the old Florida Hurricane/Roaring Tiger coaster that used to be at Boardwalk and Baseball/Circus World park. When I went to those parks as a kid, I did not ride coasters so I never got the credit. I do now! We were lucky, that all the coasters were open for the day. Cha-Ching! Anyways, let us get to some photos. I honestly do not have many from this park. We were really only stopping by for a more or less credit run because we had Outlaw Run ERT later that evening, and we did not want to be late for that!

I have not been to this state since 1986. It certainly was the first time to ride coasters here.

The current government.

Yay, we made it!

This would be the front entrance.

First coaster credit in Arkansas. Naturally it is named after the state.

It is difficult to get photos of the coaster. I know Robb will post a POV soon enough.

Rules of the ride.

X-Coaster was next!

It really is quite tall. I think it had the inversion height record until SFMM's Full Throttle, but I could be wrong.

Rules of the ride.

Up the train goes!

This would be the crazy part.

Coming back down through the station.

This was the only photo I took. It was a somewhat clunky mine train.

SLC time?

Before...

...After

Those pour souls!

One of the many "ouch" sections of the ride.

Last coaster of the park.

Just shameless!

That includes you Neil!

Map of the park.

Random T-Shirt Time!

Awwww....we just missed them.

Bye Magic Springs!

They named a town after you Shirley!

Coming soon!

[ernierocker]

You know a band is on a comeback when they are playing at Magic Springs. Congrats Everclear!

 

Magic Springs was a pleasant park and much bigger than I expected. The only negative was the lunch experience. How long can it take to make a corndog?!?!