tomtom Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 With most of the country locked into what I can only assume is some eternal frost and obviously most of the parks are closed. But some rides still cycle on. So why you guys up north were busy digging out cars and cutting open tauntauns for warmth, I flew from mostly sunny Florida to probably sunny Texas. San Antonio to be precise. Now this was not initially suppose to be a coaster trip at all. This was suppose to be solely a nerdy trip of another variety. Since I apparently don't take vacations anymore without some sort of video game or coaster motivation anymore, I was in town for PAX South. But I simply could not resist the lure of Switchback outside town at ZDT. Then we discovered that SeaWorld, which I thought closed, was actually doing a pass holder preview that Saturday. So Saturday got co-opted away from PAX and into a mini Texas tour. So we met up with Jake, and ventured out into the wilds of Texas to find some wood. Aforementioned reason for being in San Antonio. But that's a nerdfest for another fourm. Or maybe an addendum. something something something! DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS A bright and early-ish morning in scenic middle of nowhere Texas. Now me saying in the middle of nowhere is not really fair I suppose. It is in the middle of two very big places. And it is a city-ish place. So basically what I am saying is it is just slightly inside, maybe a little to left of, the edge of nowhere. We did pass an alarming amount of cows to get there. But only like 30 minutes of cows. Also, unrelated that shack on the left had tacos. They were delicious. Anyway, We had arrived at ZDT! We made a ZDbeeline to Switchback so enjoy this important safety information! And now for the main attraction! The Dizzy Toucan! This ride had a surprisingly long cycle time which meant some of our party got reacquainted with those breakfast tacos a lot quicker than they expected! But seriously though Switchback. What an awesome little woodie! Let's all take a few photos to admire it. It's obviously not the tallest or the fastest, but how many shuttle wooden coasters are you gonna ride? Well, just this one I guess since it's one of a kind. It's so strange to be staring at this spike and it's all just wood. It's kind of a bit intimidating at this angle. Here it is from the other side, you can just make out the ZDT on the supports. They really crammed a good amount of coaster into a very small space. I personally wouldn't mind walking out my front door and seeing that train zooming by. It was a beautiful day for some wood action. A small coaster calls for a small train You swing through a building, past a patio and then you do it all again! ZDT also has go karts. Here's a sign that I'm telling the truth but I have no further evidence. They are fun. So that was ZDT. I think we would switchback seven or Ten times. It is a really fun ride and if you have the means and time I would highly suggest you check it out. After a stop at whataburger and driving to the other side of San Antonio, we arrived at SeaWorld. This is the Sea. There isn't that much water because it's in Texas and it's desert or something. But yea, that's the main attraction. There it is. Yep. Okay moving into the actual park we went to Steel Eel first. Did I mention what a nice day it was? Really anyone who lives up north should be jealous. Especially if they live in Pennsylvania. *cough* derek *cough* There were long lines everywhere that day at Seaworld. Unless you wanted to ride a ride, those you could just walk on to. Turns out people would rather have free souvenir cups then multiple coaster rides in a row, who knew? Steel Eel was fun. And since the park on this side is largely barren of anything else to take a picture of, I present you this hill. I did like how it basically follows the guest path for a ways. Hmm... This looks vaguely familiar. Oh man, it's the old penguin encounter like Orlando use to have!? And it's penguin doing the nasty season? Score! Check out those chicks. I missed the old penguin encounter with it's slow little moving walkway ride. Surely, it will soon be replaced with two, one mild and one wild. The wait time will be two hours. After penguins, we found lizards. Jake had a heart to heart with one. Here's the great white. He's trying to eat more veggies because when he grows up he wants to be batman. Oh, wait... He is. Good ride. There really wasn't much to do in the park, even including animals. The sharks and dolphins are hidden in Discovery Point, which is not open. And Aquatica is also obviously not open because winter or something. So it's not a trip to SeaWorld without Shamu! I am a little envious of this completely shaded stadium. Orlando's is more impressive but this feels more practical almost. Sad Shamu Happy Shamu! So long and thanks for all the fish! Shamu always has time for a staring contest! This picture is a bit blurry, but in my mind it makes me think the trainer is using telekinesis to levitate the whale in mid air. Shamu shows off his Titanic impression. The show itself was ok. It's a lot more based on education then other Shamu shows I have seen. It had a lot of "our trainers do x and then the whales do y" kind of moments. Now let's have cute kid "z" do "x" and watch the whale do "y"! It's still impressive though. Finally I have a picture of where all the real crowds were at! Somewhere back there is a soda stand. At the end of the day, nobody wants to ride coasters or see whales, they just want free cups. Journey to Atlantis was closed for maintenance. It's strange that they tore down the entire show building to do whatever they needed.... Oh...? It's... it's always like that? That's disappointing. So that was two-ish hours at SeaWorld San Antonio. Coasters were good, animals were few and far between. I also didn't know that this Seaworld did Howl-o-Scream. That seems like a odd event for a Seaworld park but good for them! I'll leave you with a distant photo of Six Flags Fiesta Texas, which we dorkily eyeballed from the mall next door since it was closed for the 3 weeks of winter they have in Texas. So Switchback was super cool. The folks at ZDT were super friendly and if you can go check it out. SeaWorld, on the other hand, you could probably skip. I don't feel any real need to go back since I have SeaWorld Orlando, a clearly the superior park, but I guess I'll still have to check out their Aquatica next time I make it out there. Anyway after leaving SeaWorld, we pretty much headed back downtown for more PAX things so that's all the coaster content I got for today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Sea World San Antonio looks like it could be renamed Marineland, USA - except they still have a killer whale show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElvisLuv Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 This park has the best growth potential in all the chain. Plenty of land for growth inside the park. It has Great climate as witnessed here except for nasty hot summers (like Orlando). The State is growing exponentially yet is major theme bare outside of this and two Six Flags. Sure there's smaller parks but small parks are small. (Love Pleasure Pier and Kemah for what they are) I hope the new man in charge gives it the love it needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoinItForTheFame Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Awesome photos!! Looks like it was some great coaster riding weather! (I'm jealous!) Here's the great white. He's trying to eat more veggies because when he grows up he wants to be batman. Oh, wait... He is. I liked this caption way to much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 We did pass an alarming amount of cows to get there. But only like 30 minutes of cows. I will forever now judge just how far in the middle of nowhere someplace is by clocking the amount of time in which cows are passed. Now, does this count if you are in traffic? Or if it's a slower road of 45MPH vs. 65MPH? There are factors here that need to be determined. It's IMPORTANT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtom Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 We did pass an alarming amount of cows to get there. But only like 30 minutes of cows. I will forever now judge just how far in the middle of nowhere someplace is by clocking the amount of time in which cows are passed. Now, does this count if you are in traffic? Or if it's a slower road of 45MPH vs. 65MPH? There are factors here that need to be determined. It's IMPORTANT! Traffic is the anti-cow. It cancels out cows. UNLESS you are stuck in cow traffic, in which case you are boned. I liked this caption way to much! Thanks! This park has the best growth potential in all the chain. Plenty of land for growth inside the park. It has Great climate as witnessed here except for nasty hot summers (like Orlando). The State is growing exponentially yet is major theme bare outside of this and two Six Flags. Sure there's smaller parks but small parks are small. (Love Pleasure Pier and Kemah for what they are) I hope the new man in charge gives it the love it needs. Definitely a lot of room for activities! I do like SeaWorld in general, and I liked the coasters. It's weird, I don't usually find myself asking for more animal stuff becasue that's not generally what I go places for but I think it would be good for them in this case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrlittle Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Seaworld San Antonio has always felt like the step child of the group. At least they announced a new coaster for next year. I agree about it being weird that this Seaworld does a Howl O Scream event. They do a decent job with the scares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking86 Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Great TR, thanks for sharing! Looks like a great little side trip! SeaWorld San Antonio is definitely the one park in the chain that you don't hear much about. The rides looks fun though (the few they have). I had a quick look at the map, it looks like they have some fair amount of space to add more rides. As for Switchback, it looks like an extremely fun ride. That vertical spike is such a bizarre sight! It's so strange to be staring at this spike and it's all just wood. It's kind of a bit intimidating at this angle. Well, technically it's mostly steel, but only an annoying coaster enthusiast would bother to point that out. Oh wait... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 I've only been to Six Flags over Texas, so I need to get back there for Switchback Railroad, not to mention Schlitterbahn and other parks. Thanks for the TR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skramp Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 We did pass an alarming amount of cows to get there. But only like 30 minutes of cows. I will forever now judge just how far in the middle of nowhere someplace is by clocking the amount of time in which cows are passed. Now, does this count if you are in traffic? Or if it's a slower road of 45MPH vs. 65MPH? There are factors here that need to be determined. It's IMPORTANT! If this is true, then the trip from KI to CP is 2hrs and 45 mins of cows!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 ZDT looks like the whole trip was worth it. Great shots during, and after the rides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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