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Great report and photos! I'm very excited to try one of these! Probably Railblazer first, if it opens soon enough for my trip.

 

I'm a little concerned for my boyfriend about the height thing too. He's 6'3'' and skinny as a rail. He's had to cram into some ride vehicles before. They definitely should get a test seat for this!

 

Keep in mind, it might just be the build of my friend. His son, who is very close to his height, was able to ride with no issue.

Tho I do think at a certain height they are gonna have to cut off, since eventually knees will cause the same issue Craig had (the harness wont' close as his knees were blocking it locking in.

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Great TR! But I'm a little concerned. You said your friend that was 6'2 was not able to ride. So, was it because of his size or his height? I'm 6'4, 250lbs...Would you say that this ride isn't made for tall people, or big people?

 

it was his knees. .when he sat in the train (again, you sit with your legs straddling the "hump" which is the rail of the coaster), his knees prevented the harness from clicking shut safely, so he could not ride.

 

due to the design of the train, you can't do the "cross your ankles" thing to get one's knees lower (as he did on Poltergeist).

 

I saw other tall folks riding Wonder Woman, so it could just be that the body type he has, his knees just hit perfectly in that spot.

 

that's why I said the ride REALLY needs a test seat.

 

--> as noted under the pics, I did not see ONE walk of shame due to weight. some really large folks were riding with no issue, the seats are very accommodating to larger guests -- but super awkward to get into

 

It appears a test seat is being installed this week. Looks like we will have one for the grand opening this weekend!

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It appears a test seat is being installed this week. Looks like we will have one for the grand opening this weekend!

 

that is GREAT news to hear.

 

I *did* ask someone yesterday, but they said they didn't think there was going to be one (and to be fair, it was someone assigning the seats at the ride, so maybe they simply didn't know)?

 

but yeah, great news.

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Great report, Bert...glad that you had a great time (minus the bruises and soreness).

 

WW looks awesome!!!

 

it was worth every ache

 

and I look forwards to riding it again fairly soon. . the park opens daily in just over 3 weeks, so I suspect some hooky from work is gonna happen.

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yeah, sorry, but this is almost certainly going to be a no-go for you . . crossing of ankles is not physically possible on this coaster.. the issue is not with the size of the vehicle, but rather the design (by nature of it being a single rail coaster, needing to straddle the track).

 

couldn't get a pic of the car, due to my phone being well put away by the time you get into the vehicle, but found this pic online of the trains at the RMC factory (back when they announced Raptor track)

 

the way they are sitting, with legs spread? that's how you HAVE to sit. There is a large metal "hump" in the center, where the track goes.. . . so you could not put your legs together even if you wanted to, or cross your ankles.

 

 

Didn't realize how uncomfortable those trains really look... Perhaps I am not too bummed I can't strap myself in that thing I thought the lapbar would have some padding on it, or something, considering the forces on these rides. Is it really just a pad-free bar? That's what it looks like in the photo!

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yeah, sorry, but this is almost certainly going to be a no-go for you . . crossing of ankles is not physically possible on this coaster.. the issue is not with the size of the vehicle, but rather the design (by nature of it being a single rail coaster, needing to straddle the track).

 

couldn't get a pic of the car, due to my phone being well put away by the time you get into the vehicle, but found this pic online of the trains at the RMC factory (back when they announced Raptor track)

 

the way they are sitting, with legs spread? that's how you HAVE to sit. There is a large metal "hump" in the center, where the track goes.. . . so you could not put your legs together even if you wanted to, or cross your ankles.

 

 

Didn't realize how uncomfortable those trains really look... Perhaps I am not too bummed I can't strap myself in that thing I thought the lapbar would have some padding on it, or something, considering the forces on these rides. Is it really just a pad-free bar? That's what it looks like in the photo!

 

it's not really a "lap bar". . the whole contraption comes down over your head, and clicks into place (and then there's a seatbelt hanging from the center that connects as well. The operator does all of it.

 

so you climb into the seat, and the operator lowers the entire thing over you (so the section with the "bra seatbelts" as TbPony called them) are all attached to the apparatus. . . you're in there good - there's no way anyone is going anywhere.

 

I do not recall any padding, but it wasn't uncomfortable across the waist at all.. . besides, I was out of the seat so much, mostly I was hitting the seatbelts at the top of the restraint.

 

 

edit: looking back at my pics, I have this one that did manage to catch the restraint as the operator was about to lower it, and you get a good idea of it -- and there IS some padding across the bottom of the waist bar:

 

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Sounds like it lives up to the hype! Great report. The added water below the ride looks really nice.

 

one of the Engineers I was chatting with while waiting in line (I complimented them on such a great job getting the ride back up when it broke down earlier) told me that thus far each night they have to fish stuff out of it that gets lost on the ride.

 

maybe we'll get a "Six Flags box" of destroyed cell phones, like they did at Dorney?

 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQdRqVwUobhygwKcYakeTlg6yMz8EliGH999xU2M4hbrHo0-w1x

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^ I love when parks add that box. I do wish more kept a tally like Story Land does for Roar-o-saurus. When you ask them to retrieve an article for you, they ask what you lost and unsympathetically just add another tally to the board. Phones are usually number 1.

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When you ask them to retrieve an article for you, they ask what you lost and unsympathetically just add another tally to the board.

 

Love it.

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^ I love when parks add that box. I do wish more kept a tally like Story Land does for Roar-o-saurus. When you ask them to retrieve an article for you, they ask what you lost and unsympathetically just add another tally to the board. Phones are usually number 1.

Kings Island has one of those boxes at Diamondback (which doesn't have FFBFWMAG, unlike Banshee and Mystic Timbers)

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Thanks for the awesome report, and the fantastic photos!! Glad Wonder Woman is living up to be the fantastic ride we were expecting!!!

 

the back seat is attempting to kill you, whipping you over the 1st drop and the midcourse drop, with violent air-time that pushed me up (hard) against the shoulder belts. LOVED it.

 

the front seat is also attempting to kill you, with a free-fall that about 1/2 way down feels like someone slammed a large anvil on your back to force you down faster.

 

Okay, both of those sound amazing!!! I can't wait to get down to the park this summer to give it a go!

 

1) the design of the ride vehicle, by the nature of the ride itself, is odd, and not exactly comfortable.

It's basically riding the "hump" in the back seat of a car in the 70's. . note - you will be riding basically straddling the track, with your legs spread. After 4 rides back to back, my thighs were starting to hurt, and after the 5th ride and getting home, I'm going to be soaking in a warm tub tonight, as I'm really hurting from the strain of straddling that large track. . . so I would *not* recommend this ride for anyone with hip, or knee issues, as the way one sits in the car will put strain on both of those areas.

 

Yikes!! I didn't think about that with this design. But I could see how it could be un-comfortable.

 

2) this ride ABSOLUTELY needs a test seat, and it's not good that the park does not have one there.

a friend who was there with us for the 5th ride, was not able to ride, even tho he's only 6'2" because when he got in the seat, his knees went in a way that the restraint would not come down. of course he was disappointed, but mainly because no one had told him at the entrance that it might be an issue, so he wasn't expecting it. a test seat would solve this issue. (and also #1 I mentioned above).

 

Well that sucks. I'm 6'4" and curious if I might have a similar issue. . .

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I do wish more kept a tally like Story Land does for Roar-o-saurus. When you ask them to retrieve an article for you, they ask what you lost and unsympathetically just add another tally to the board.

 

That's awesome.

 

one of the Engineers... told me that thus far each night they have to fish stuff out of it that gets lost on the ride.

 

I'm picturing a bunch of engineers literally going fishing haha.

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2) this ride ABSOLUTELY needs a test seat, and it's not good that the park does not have one there.

a friend who was there with us for the 5th ride, was not able to ride, even tho he's only 6'2" because when he got in the seat, his knees went in a way that the restraint would not come down. of course he was disappointed, but mainly because no one had told him at the entrance that it might be an issue, so he wasn't expecting it. a test seat would solve this issue. (and also #1 I mentioned above).

 

Well that sucks. I'm 6'4" and curious if I might have a similar issue. . .

 

on the plus side, sounds like they have installed a test seat out front this week!

 

local news is running a story of the grand opening (on Sat), and they put a reporter in the train with the Park President.. who is attempting to talk him thru the course, and the reporter just keeps shouting "whooooo!!!' while on the ride.

 

LOL.. makes me giggle every time it runs (about every 2 hours on News8Austin):

 

http://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2018/05/10/wonder-woman-golden-lasso-roller-coaster-debuts-in-san-antonio#

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  • 5 months later...

EDITING THIS THREAD: to basically be a catch all for the Six Flags Texas Parks -- mainly Fiesta Texas. . so I can put all the Trip Reports here in one thread, as Fiesta is my main park.

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Labor Day weekend Trip to Six Flags Over Texas: Saturday Afternoon.

so after my TPR USA 2018 trip got back on Saturday, 8/4 -- we had planned the next day (Sun 8/5) to head to Six Flags Over Texas for the first time in many years to take advantage of our 2018 Season Passes. . . which we had purchased on a whim on Cyber Monday 2017, after several years of not having them.

 

there were several things on my list that I’d really like to ride: Texas Skyscreamer, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Riddler, Mr. Freeze (which I had never been on as it was down every prior visit to the park), and New Texas Giant – which I also had never been on.

 

However, there was simply no way I would be able to ride anything (let alone navigate the park) until I had given my Quad injury time to heal. Luckily, the hotel was willing to refund the room rate, and we planned to reschedule once I was recovered.

 

Fast forward about a month, and I was doing much better. Still not 100%, but much better, and ready to give SFoT a shot.

Labor Day Weekend, was our rescheduled trip, since we had Monday off. . but due to the holiday weekend (and a College Football game), room costs had skyrocketed. The place we had planned on staying that we had to cancel on (across the freeway from Six Flags) had jumped from ~$80 pre tax to almost $380 pre tax.

 

I was willing to pay for the room anyways since I knew price would go up due to holiday weekend, but decided to look around first.

Thanks to an online search thru my Marriott rewards account, was able to book at 4 Points by Sheraton (which had just been acquired by Marriott) and get a great room rate of just about $100 for the night.

 

Interesting aside: Folks that were checking in at the other side of the desk when we checked in paid over $400 for their room. . they asked why our room was so much cheaper, and she told them it’s because I had pre-booked online, and they were paying walk in rate. *I* think she should have told them that it’s impolite to listen in to what others are paying. . but hey, I don’t work there They also had what looked like a decent coffee shop/bar in the lobby that was open late, I think due to the football game crowd. We didn’t get a chance to sample the food or drinks, but I did peek at the menu and the options looked good.

 

It’s also really close – almost walking distance, and on the same side of the freeway - as SFOT, so I highly recommend this hotel: 4 Points by Sheraton (it’s a converted Holiday Inn Express as of May of 2018).

 

Anyways, since Dallas is ~3 ½ hours away from Austin, I got Nick to agree that we’d leave on Saturday by 11am, get to hotel to check in by 3, and then have a good 7 hours in the park before they close at 10. Then in the morning, we’d check out of hotel, and go to the park for a few hours before heading back to Austin no later than 4pm.

I figured that would be a decent amount of time to spend in the park and we should be able to hit what we wanted to ride.

 

What I hadn’t realized, but quickly discovered, is that not only was that Saturday BAFF (bring a friend free) day, but also there was a Platinum Passholders event happening from 10pm – midnight that night, so yeah it was going to be packed. I figured that since Nick won’t ride many things, I’d see about maybe doing my own Flash Pass, but would play it by ear.

So we packed the overnight bag, and got on the road to Dallas. With a brunch stop along the way in Hilsboro, where we stopped at IHOP and I tried one of the advertised everywhere “IHOB” burgers. They were having some staffing issues (and a very large church group had taken the majority of the servers, so we had to wait about 15 minutes even tho there were a lot of tables open. I absolutely didn’t mind, since what’ the point of sitting at a table if your server is going to be tied up with helping the large tables?

 

The burger I got, I think called the breakfast burger, was actually pretty good: Hashbrowns, Bacon, and an egg on top of the patty, and for a side I was encouraged to swap out the fries for pancakes. Even tho the egg was a little overcooked (it’s supposed to be runny so when you bite into it, it runs down throughout the burger), I was impressed with how it was better than it had any need to be. So yeah, I’d recommend it.

 

The crowd was very entertaining too – about what you’d expect in a small town in Texas: lots of Religious shirts, lots of cowboy hats, and lots of Metallica t-shirts on everyone else that wasn’t wearing a cross or a cowboy hat. LOL

 

We finished our lunch and were back on the road shortly. With very little traffic we made great time, and by 2pm we were pulling into the Hotel lot and getting checked in. we dumped our stuff in the room, hopped back in the car, and took the 2 minute drive to SFoT parking lot.

 

A fellow TPR member (and that’s another reason why I love the group of folks who post here at TPR), offered to reserve parking for us, since she wouldn’t be using her Diamond Membership that weekend. Nick was worried about taking advantage, since we weren’t members, but I accepted the offer (and thanked her profusely via email, so that’s why not mentioning names here. . but it was a wonderful kindness). I figured, if the park tells us we can’t use a Member’s reserved parking without them being with us? We’ll just go to the regular parking anyways. . so no harm in asking. It turned out that SFoT didn’t care at all, and directed us to the Preferred parking lot, just beyond the Parking entrance gates, and right near the front entrance to the park.

 

we stopped to get a picture of us near La Vibora from outside the fence then headed into the main gates. . and absolute chaos.

 

I knew it would be crowded due to BAFF, and the Diamond Membership event. . but the Flash Sale on the passes had really brought out the people (I had renewed ours for 2019 online from home on Friday). The entrance queue lines to get in were packed.

 

The Flash Pass booth had a line that snaked all the way back across the main entrance, and I took one look at that and decided that instead of Flash Pass? we would just ride what we could, and would wait together in lines enjoying each other’s company, since most of what Nick can/will ride don’t take Flash Pass anyways.

Honestly, tho I had a wish list of things I’d like to get on, there was only one ride on “must ride” list (New Texas Giant), and he was willing to wait with me in line for that.

 

it was insane how crowded it was at the front entrance plaza – which also had blasting loud music over speakers, and folks on microphones promoting the flash sale and a local radio station. So we needed to get away from there, but not before getting on the Carousel – which at Six Flags is up the steps overlooking the main entrance plaza.

 

It really is an absolutely gorgeous carousel here at Six Flags Over Texas. Certainly one worth riding. But OMG. . if you read my report from Six Flags America, I was disappointed that they I rode the carousel there to U2. I said it was the worst I’d ever been on. SFoT said “hold my beer”

 

We rode the beautiful grand Carousel at Six Flags Over Texas, not to organ music, or even Carousel music. . but to blasting loud Will Smith “Getting Jiggy With It”. I $#!t you not.

 

To say I was appalled is an understatement. . LOL. . but I’m smiling in the pictures, because. . . well. . . it’s a Carousel. But bleh. . awful. We finished our ride, and immediately got the hell away from the entrance Plaza, and didn’t ride it again, which is rare for me.

 

we headed towards Giant, but stopped at anything Nick would ride along the way, including El Sombrero (a Trabant), which is where the full effect of BAFF day hit us while in line, where we witnessed just some awful behavior.

 

Apparently BAFF actually translates to “bring your entitled a-hole acquaintances with no social interaction skills and who can’t afford to buy a ticket to go out in public” Seriously, I’ve never seen so much self-entitlement, posturing, and/or line cutting in my life at a park.

 

Another example is the exit from Titan, where you exit thru the gift shop. I was trying to buy us bottled water and the one employee manning the register ignored me for 6 minutes (I timed it) while she flirted and made dating plans with some guys on the side of the counter. I eventually just put the waters down and walked out.

 

I don’t work at SFoT, so not my place to say anything, so I said nothing. . although later in the line for Texas Giant, after watching the 5th group of teenagers cut the line, I actually DID say something to the guy who was manning the Flash Pass entrance. And he shrugged at it. Yes, I know they have the “if you see someone cutting, text” signs up ..but it was just disappointing to see that.

 

Anyways, deep breath. . . regardless, I let all of the above go and did our best to enjoy the afternoon/evening.

 

we went to New Texas Giant, and without Flash Pass it had about an hour wait, but Nick stood with me in line, until we got to the Flash Pass entrance (at which point he slipped out and sat down). This was bucket list coaster for me, as I had not been back to the park since they RMCd it. I thought the 1st half was incredible, but after the midcourse, it just kind of meanders about, slowly. Someone I rode with told me that they had started breaking it severely at the midcourse in the past few months, but that earlier in the season it had been flying thru the course. Hopefully will get a chance again in early 2019 season to try it out again and it will be less sluggish on the back half. Sill, I liked it.

 

After that we headed over to Titan – which as big as it is, is still “hidden” way in the corner of the park, and had a very short line because of that. I rode this solo too, but the wait wasn’t more than 10 minutes. This is still a great coaster, although I noticed also they brake here at mid course, almost stopping the ride. The weirdest thing about Titan is that they use the center of the layout for storage, so it’s odd to see pieces of the dismantled Troika, rafts from Thunder River/Roaring Rapids, and old parking lot shuttles, just hanging out in the center of the coaster as you zoom around it. Able to get some nice views of the baseball stadium from this ride tho.

 

We also grabbed a ride on the scrambler, Sidewinder, here too. .and saw them setting up one of the Haunts (Zombie themed) for Fright Fest.

 

the flume, while historic, and always worth a ride? Was only running one side, and the line was well over an hour, so we bypassed that. Same with Thunder River rafts, which had a line spilling out of the queue and into the walkways.

 

we did get in the line, and wait over 45 minutes for Yosemite Sam, yeah park was that crowded.

But I was fine with that because: 1) Nick will ride it 2) the queue is covered, and has air conditioning in the middle, 3) its’ an indoor dark ride and we both love those.

Interestingly enough, once we finally got to the boats ,we were between a family of 7, and a group of 8. . so they sent us alone, in a boat that holds 8-10 (two boats connected, each with two seats). I guess that explains why the line had grown so long, it was weird that he didn’t’ ask if any groups of 2 were there to fill the rest of the boat. Eh. . it made for a surreal experience, and was quite nice.

 

we continued around the park stopping as we got to things (Rodeo was closed ☹, so no bull themed ride for me tonight, as was the Oil Derrick(something to do with elevator parts needed)), Shockwave was basically a walk on, which is a shame. It still holds up great, and they are no longer doing that silly VR stuff on it. I was going to re-ride if nick was willing to go on it with me, but he just wasn’t feeling it so we moved on.

 

got to ride Caddo Lake Barge, and I’m glad we did, since it’s going away. It’s a fun, if short, cycle and it wasn’t pulling much of a line. Superman Tower of Power DID have a huge line, but luckily it has a solo rider line, so I waited less than 10 minutes for my ride on it.

 

we were headed towards the Mine Trains (Mini and Runaway), when Mr. Freeze started cycling. It hadn’t been running the whole time we were there and I was joking how I’d miss it yet again, so we bypassed everything else and headed directly to Mr. Freeze. Nick sat down outside, and I got in the line having no idea how long it would be – since the queue is hidden – but figuring it wouldn’t be too bad since it had just opened. Here again, LOTS of line cutting – in this case, teens pretending to talk on their phones, to cut the queue to “meet their friends up ahead”. And people let them pass! Grrrr.

 

It didn’t matter in this case, because 5 minutes after I got in line the ride went down, and a lot of folks left the line. I texted Nick and said I was gonna give it 15 minutes since I SEEMED to be close to the loading platform (wasn’t sure since never had been on the ride). After 14 minutes, they opened up the ride again, and it turned out I was correct, I was really close to the platform. So close, in fact, that when there was an open seat at the back – or front, since it’s reverse blast still – they asked if anyone was riding alone, and I got on the 2nd train after they reopened! Well worth the wait, and excellent ride, and something that’s totally re-ridable. If I had a flash pass, would have gotten immediately back in line. But since we didn’t and I didn’t want to be greedy, I went back to Nick, and we headed back towards the Mine Trains.

 

Both had gone down while we had side tracked to Mr. Freeze, but there appeared to be folks in orange vests working on both. So maybe a quick sensor check or something? Regardless, we decided while over here we’d get a ride on Gunslinger – which is still the exact same ride it was when it was at Astroworld. Even same lighting and guns. It doesn’t run the same program tho, as SFoT is operating the Gunslinger with no tilt it still does the basic swing, but just in a circle, no tilt so you’re swinging towards the ground. The enthusiasm of the operator made this a hell of a good time tho, even with a mediocre ride cycle, so it wasn’t bad waiting a few cycles to ride. It’s a Yo-Yo, which has the same weird “chest” restraint the yo-yo at Carowinds had. . so this time I made sure to get a pic of it.

By the time we got off Gunslinger, both Mine trains had opened back up, so we grabbed rides on both. Runaway Mine Train isn’t super exciting. . it’s basically lift hill the ride (it has 3 lift hills, but no real drops, other than the final one thru the saloon). .but again, it’s historic (the 1st tubular rail) and not too bang-y. and bonus is that it’s a coaster Nick will ride. Mini Mine Train is way shorter, but is also much smoother, with a small pop of air. We chose to sit in the front, because it has more leg room. We weren’t the only adults on it without kids, so don’t judge us!

 

it was getting close to 8:30, and we needed to eat something, but first we headed back towards Gotham, which was still packed, and up to Texas Sky Screamer. The line on this was so long it spilled out of the queue, and it looked like at least a 2 hour line. I certainly didn’t want to waste the rest of our evening waiting in a line (for something Nick won’t ride due to the height). .so I blew it off and instead we went thru the tunnel to Judge Roy Scream.

 

Judge Roy was a 1 train wait, and because we waited for front row, got a really good ride on it. It’s a shame how rough the rest of the train seems to have gotten – we heard lots of complaints as exiting – but in the front car it provided pops of air time, and a pretty smooth drops. I would hate for them to remove it, but it really does appear to need some re-tracking to get it back to top shape. Like Shockwave, JRS is a ride that’s been at the park forever, but never seems to have much of a line, and that’s a shame.

 

coming out of the tunnel after JRS, we went down the steps into Gotham proper, and decided we’d grab a light snack at Johnny Rockets. We don’t have the platinum dining pass, so although we’d eat free at our home park of Fiesta Texas, here we’d have to pay. Not an issue, as we weren’t all that hungry anyways.

 

So we split onion r’s/Fries, some water, and each had a shake. There wasn’t much of a line, as they had all the counter registers open, which is surprising for Johnny Rockets – as I’ve always gotten stuck in a line at the two Fiesta Texas locations.

 

But the service was horrendous. Seriously. At one point the guy who took my money disappeared in to the back, and I watched several folks go up to the hotplate and look at what appeared to be my order. Then walk away. I asked someone if that was my order, and they looked at it, looked back to me, said no, then went back to their register. A few moments later I asked them again if they could find my operator, as he had disappeared, and they went into the back and got him. He went to the hotplate, picked up the order that had been sitting there (that of course was mine) and brought it over to me. It was still hot, so we didn’t complain, but sheesh.

 

We grabbed a table on the far right of the restaurant, and then discovered the reason that the counter ordering wasn’t busy: this Johnny Rockets had set up ordering kiosks in the dining room, that you could place your order at, and then go to a window on the side to pick up. THIS is where the crowd was, and man was it a cluster. People standing confused, picking up the wrong food, bumping into each other (and the people standing around confused – hovering by the window waiting for their food). I’m *so* glad we hadn’t noticed this as an option and (as frustrating as it was) ordered from the counter ourselves. If it was this bad towards the end of the evening, I can only imagine the chaos this location gets earlier in the day, or at meal times!

 

oh, this Johnny Rockets is also where I witnessed an employee watch someone drop food on the floor from a tray they had just picked up from the self-serve window. . . and just stand there leaving the slipping hazard in the middle of the floor instead of cleaning it up - and she was LEANING ON A BROOM

 

Had a good time during our afternoon/evening, but sheesh. The clientele and some staff at SFOT leave a lot to be desired.

 

it was about 9:15 by the time we finished eating, and Nick wasn’t in the mood to spin, so he decided to skip Pandemonium and told me he was basically done for the night. I had been willing to go on Pandemonium since he’d ride it with me, but since he was done, instead I sat him on a bench near the restaurant and went and got in line for Catwoman Whip.

 

Gotham was still pretty crowded (I guess because of the Diamond Member event), and Riddler had a really long line, but Catwoman had only a 20 minute or so wait, so I got in line for this new version of Enterprise. It pulls some serious G’s and probably wasn’t the best thing to ride just after eating fried food, but I have to say I really liked it. Not something I can ride over and over – certainly need a break between rides. But very good. And with a beautiful lighting package. Hell, most of Gotham looks fantastic at night, Riddler, Catwoman and Harley all look stunning. What a great lightshow to have at the front of the park for advertising.

 

I wanted to go look at Harley, expecting it to be packed, since Spinsanity was the brand new ride. . but surprisingly the ride had a shortish line. Likely because the ride cycle is a little short. So I sat Nick on another bench, and got in line for it – not realizing it has a single rider line until I had already made it most of the way thru the queue. Didn’t take too long, and ended up on a seat on the edge of the ride. It was a lot of fun, since as you are spinning, it feels like you’re going to hit the spinning supports. . so lots of head choppers and feet choppers in effect. I got off it, and since Nick was still sitting, went around and using single rider line, got another ride on it – this time they put me in a center seat. And yeah, HUGE difference. In the middle seat, you just swing back and forth a few times, not very exciting, and certainly not as thrilling as it looks. The edge seats are the way to go, and if you get a chance to ask for one of those, it greatly improves the ride experience.

 

Joker was walk on, but I just wasn’t feeling it that night (could have been after Catwoman and then back to back Harley after eating). . so since it was close to 10, I told Nick we could head out as it had been a long day since we started out in Austin.

 

It was just as packed leaving the park as it had been at the entrance plaza when we came in, but eventually we made it out to the car. And then realized that although we were parked near the front, you don’t leave the parking lot at SFoT thru the area you come in – you leave thru the back and side street out the middle. And with everyone trying to leave at the same time at the end of the night? Yeah, the benefit of parking in Diamond Elite Preferred parking was a detriment. It was literally a parking lot. Traffic was so bad, and so stopped, people were getting out of their cars and dancing among the headlights. Really. Where were the parking attendants directing traffic? No idea, but they were *not* in the parking lot at the end of the night, trying to help people make an orderly exit.

 

After almost 50 minutes sitting in traffic to exit the parking lot, we finally made it to the side street exit -- and within 2 minutes after that, were back at the hotel took showers and climbed into bed.

 

We actually got a lot done, even with how crowded it was, but yeah the ending pilgrimage from the parking lot wasn’t “fun” and we actually considered maybe not going back in the morning.

 

But logic won out (the exit tomorrow won’t be anything like this, since we’re leaving mid afternoon). Besides, there were a few things we had skipped and since Sunday, in Texas, likely would be much lighter crowd in the morning at least. . . it would give us a shot to get the things we missed that I / we were hoping to get on.

 

here’s some pics from our 1st afternoon/evening at Six Flags Over Texas in many years:

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on our way to Dallas. . you can tell we're just starting out, look how calm we look.

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stopping at "IHOb" for a burger. . not bad, for an IHOP burger.

and I was encouraged to swap out the fries for pancakes to go with my breakfast burger - which was a great call, since the burger has hash browns on it anyways.

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just outside the front gate is where the parking pass got us a spot.

 

this is the closest we actually got to La Vibora - we never fully went into that section on Saturday, it was so packed. so even with this ride having a single rider line, we skipped it (as well as the swinging ship, and the Teacups over there).

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been a really long time since I've seen these front gates. not since the year before they RMC Texas Giant.

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I'm here. . doesn't look TOO crowded (tho once thru these arches, it got nuts)

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ooo. . a sign!

 

NOTED

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of course, once we get thru the craziness of the entrance plaza, it's straight (or is that gaily forward?) to the Carousel

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beautiful.

 

WTF is this music they are playing tho? but it's beautiful.

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yep. . in my Happy Place -- with the spouse about to get on a Carousel.

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even he's learned to love them with me, since he knows I'm GONNA ride them :)

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I rode my own Horseface -- just like our President!

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wheee

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LOL. . took a picture of the sign, but not the actual Trabant ride.

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this was my bucket list ride for this trip.. didn't care how long the line was, was gonna get on it.

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pics from the queue

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the train station/tracks from the queue for Giant.

 

it was only Labor Day weekend, but they were already setting up for Fright Fest

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we picked a gorgeous day to go. a bit warm, but that didn't keep anyone away, park was slammed.

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the Oil Derrick looks great with it's new paint . .but it was closed.

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after Giant, I went back to Titan -- which due to it's "hidden" place in the park? didn't have a line at all.

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less than 10 minute wait

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Titan doing it's thing on the lift hill

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view of Giant's lift hill from the Sidewinder queue

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Sidewinder, I took a picture of the ride, but not the sign. LOL

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Titan while sitting on Sidewinder

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whee

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ok. . time to head to Shockwave, but first let's get another pic of New Texas Giant while walking by. love the trains on this.

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looks SO good.

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in Yosemite Sam boat/dark ride.

 

NOTED!

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*big* @$$ long line, and they sent us out in our own boat!. . . so took a pic.

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Bugs!

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Wil. E. Coyote

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meep - meep

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Daffy

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oooo.. . an alligator. .

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Nick and the Caddo Lake Barge sign.

 

it's a shame if this really is going away, as it was a fun little ride.

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I have never gotten to even be in the queue for Mr. Freeze. . so yep, took some pics!

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even was able to stand behind the operator (with permission) and take a pic of the train returning

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the theming on this is great!

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and the ride? holy crap. . loved it

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the station for Mr. Freeze. . there's another on the opposite side so they can run two trains on the single track.

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memories of Astroworld. . it's the Gunslinger - but without the tilt :(

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I never realized that the Gunslinger was a Yo-Yo instead of a Wave Swinger.

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it even has those bizzaro bra-strap restraints that the Yo-Yo at Carowinds had (which ALSO ran without the tilt).

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Classic coaster, and still a lot of fun even without any major drops

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also a classic, and tho a kiddie, a must do at the park

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the self serve kiosks at Johnny Rockets.

Look how empty the restaurant is. . that's because on the right (which I didn't take a picture of), there was absolute CHAOS at the self-serve pickup window.

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Catwoman Whip. . .I think I preferred this to Enterprise classic. Being so exposed in the seat was amazing, and it pulls some serious G's

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the whole area looks great at night. From Catwoman's Whip sign

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pretty LEDs, tho Catwoman stayed mostly white and red.

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it's ME. . riding Catwoman's Whip. restraint up.

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restraint down

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sign at night

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Harley Quinn Spinsanity - the new hotness at night

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signs in the queue. there are a lot of them, but a bit hard to read at night.

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one gets some great views of Joker from Harley's queue.

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but hard to get a picture of Harley, since they have the queue covered with sun tarps.

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Riddler from Harley's queue, lit up all pretty.

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Harley's light package is absolutely stunning at night

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stunning

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wow

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stuck in the parking lot, trying to get out at end of night.

 

yep . .. .people were getting out of their cars to dance.

 

it was brutal.

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I can't find your review of it (in the above, it's an elder age thing for me),

but how is the Harley Quinn Spinzanity.......ride?

 

The light package on it looks awesome. But the ride on it......?

 

Just thought I'd ask, thanks. I actually find the entire set up of it,

and ride cycle as seen in videos, awesome!

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Great trip report. We accidentally went on a make-up bring a friend day a few years ago and the crowd was off the chain - both in quantity and behavior.

 

The only part of Gunslinger that came from Astroworld is the big handguns on the center of the ride and the name. The ride has been at SFOT since the '80's and was known as Texas Tornado prior to 2007 or so.

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I can't find your review of it (in the above, it's an elder age thing for me),

but how is the Harley Quinn Spinzanity.......ride?

 

The light package on it looks awesome. But the ride on it......?

 

Just thought I'd ask, thanks. I actually find the entire set up of it,

and ride cycle as seen in videos, awesome!

 

 

yeah, I know, I sometimes type a lot

 

Here's the section you were asking about - it's towards the end of the night:

 

I wanted to go look at Harley, expecting it to be packed, since Spinsanity was the brand new ride. . but surprisingly the ride had a shortish line. Likely because the ride cycle is a little short. So I sat Nick on another bench, and got in line for it – not realizing it has a single rider line until I had already made it most of the way thru the queue. Didn’t take too long, and ended up on a seat on the edge of the ride. It was a lot of fun, since as you are spinning, it feels like you’re going to hit the spinning supports. . so lots of head choppers and feet choppers in effect. I got off it, and since Nick was still sitting, went around and using single rider line, got another ride on it – this time they put me in a center seat. And yeah, HUGE difference. In the middle seat, you just swing back and forth a few times, not very exciting, and certainly not as thrilling as it looks. The edge seats are the way to go, and if you get a chance to ask for one of those, it greatly improves the ride experience.

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Nice report, Bert...I have to get to Texas to these parks.

 

I just hope that I can hit SFOT on a good day and not a shitty one like you did, or like TPR did a couple of years ago during one of their tours. This park (like Six Flags Great America) seem to stand out more in the chain as very hit or miss in terms of overall operations and visit experience.

 

I know that most can be hit or miss, but these two parks always seem to have either really good reviews or really bad ones.

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It's a shame that it has become hit or miss these days. Despite my visits to SF parks other than America being pretty infrequent, I felt like SFOT always delivered when I'd go there. It's one of the few in the chain to which I'd really like to get back in the very near future, although based on this review, maybe I don't.

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