Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) Discussion Thread

[Andysol]

Anyone check out Holiday in the Park opening? Any predictions of how crowded it might be today? Thinking I might head over to the park this afternoon.

 

I went. The line to get in was absolutely ridiculous- I don't know if they had issues with the scanners or maybe didn't actually let anyone into the "holding" area until 2pm- but the line was all the way around to the bobsled.

 

Of course, I wait in line- 20 minutes later we're at the "gates" where there is a space between the ticket booths and the actual line where cutters just walk right in and "funnel". But- that's six flags, right? Ive rarely ever see it at Disney, Universal, or Sea World. But six flags... all the time. Rant over.

 

The crowds weren't bad at all, really- but I was with my 2 and 6 year old all by myself- so our rides never have waits anyway. But based on the food lines- it wasn't bad in the slightest. Snow Hill was the only wait- maybe 10-15 mins? We left around 6- so I didn't see the lights- I'll do that later this week when I have my wife with me and I'm not outnumbered.

 

I didn't get to do Holiday in the Park last year because the crowds were unbearable. Literally walked in, processed my pass, and left because it was insane! I'm hoping today won't be crowded. Planning on being there right when they open so I can get a few rides in and finally ride Justice League! haha

 

 

If youre going to do the santa's workshop thing (which might be really weird if you're without kids)- I can say to do that pretty early. I asked about reservations at 5pm and they said the soonest they had was 7:30. So my plan of action would be- first and foremost- be at the gates 15 minutes early- just in case they have the same issue I had or they aren't "holding" people anymore. Do Justice League right away- then Pandemonium (due to atrocious capacity)- then sign up for Santa's workshop if you want.

 

Let me know if they are still holding people by the tree of trees in the courtyard today- I'm planning on going tomorrow and hoping that Saturday wasn't the new normal of doing things.

 

 

Here is a copy of the event guide to see showtimes:

https://www.sixflags.com/sites/default/files/sfot2015guidehip_151104c_1.pdf?_ga=1.69152273.1062511702.1435852542

[rmsy]

If youre going to do the santa's workshop thing (which might be really weird if you're without kids)- I can say to do that pretty early. I asked about reservations at 5pm and they said the soonest they had was 7:30. So my plan of action would be- first and foremost- be at the gates 15 minutes early- just in case they have the same issue I had or they aren't "holding" people anymore. Do Justice League right away- then Pandemonium (due to atrocious capacity)- then sign up for Santa's workshop if you want.

 

You can also make reservations online: https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas/store/santaland-vip

 

It's $24.99/person if you're going solo, or as cheap as $4.99/person all the way up through $19.99/person when you buy the family pass valid for up to 8 people (how expensive per person it is will just depend on how many people you use the pass for).

[aeyrolet]

My new high score on Justice League: Battle For Metropolis.

[misterfogg]

And I thought I was in the top 3. lol

[jray21]

I still need to get out there and try out Justice League.

[Mighty_Thor]

How do you guys take care of the drink containers while going around the park? We will be at SFOT on Jan. 2 & 3. We have 5 in our party, including 3 kids, and obviously the all you can drink containers are coming with us. However, from our trip to St. Louis, it seemed that a backpack was the only way to keep all of them together while we went about the park, since we didn't want to have them left various places, and keep looking for them. (I assume that these would also be appealing theft targets if left behind anywhere) Trouble was, they kept spilling all over the backpack, too. I am absolutely certain that if all 5 of us walked around for an hour trying to keep them in hand, at least 1-2 of them would be left behind somewhere.

 

Also, several of the rides wouldn't let us throw the backpack over where a person gets off a ride, even though we were already boarding a coaster, and needed to put it over there. We were reduced to hiding the backpack in bushes near the entry to the ride lines, then hoping nobody took off with all of our drink containers & stuff. Is there a better way to do this? Where do you guys put your all you can drink containers when going on coasters? How do you keep your family stuff together?

 

Thanks for suggestions. It's obvious that we need to change something, but we're not sure how to go about it.

[Sportsdude360]

Hopefully Oceaneering will give our JLBFM the same TLC they're giving the one at SFSTL. Right now there's a ton of problems with the ride.

Edited December 26, 2015 by Sportsdude360

[robbalvey]

How do you guys take care of the drink containers while going around the park? We will be at SFOT on Jan. 2 & 3. We have 5 in our party, including 3 kids, and obviously the all you can drink containers are coming with us. However, from our trip to St. Louis, it seemed that a backpack was the only way to keep all of them together while we went about the park, since we didn't want to have them left various places, and keep looking for them. (I assume that these would also be appealing theft targets if left behind anywhere) Trouble was, they kept spilling all over the backpack, too. I am absolutely certain that if all 5 of us walked around for an hour trying to keep them in hand, at least 1-2 of them would be left behind somewhere.

 

Also, several of the rides wouldn't let us throw the backpack over where a person gets off a ride, even though we were already boarding a coaster, and needed to put it over there. We were reduced to hiding the backpack in bushes near the entry to the ride lines, then hoping nobody took off with all of our drink containers & stuff. Is there a better way to do this? Where do you guys put your all you can drink containers when going on coasters? How do you keep your family stuff together?

 

Thanks for suggestions. It's obvious that we need to change something, but we're not sure how to go about it.

Most if not all rides that don't have bins to store your stuff have lockers just outside the entrance for like $1 while you ride. If you have 5 cups, look at it as a 20 cents per cup convenience charge to store them while you ride. The other option to avoid the extra charge is to have someone in your party not ride and hang on to them until you guys are done riding.

[Jew]

I still need to get out there and try out Justice League.

 

I'm definitely looking forward to visiting next year as part of a weekend trip to see USC vs. Alabama at Jerry World. I haven't been on New Texas Giant either!

[chadster]

How do you guys take care of the drink containers while going around the park? We will be at SFOT on Jan. 2 & 3. We have 5 in our party, including 3 kids, and obviously the all you can drink containers are coming with us. However, from our trip to St. Louis, it seemed that a backpack was the only way to keep all of them together while we went about the park, since we didn't want to have them left various places, and keep looking for them. (I assume that these would also be appealing theft targets if left behind anywhere) Trouble was, they kept spilling all over the backpack, too. I am absolutely certain that if all 5 of us walked around for an hour trying to keep them in hand, at least 1-2 of them would be left behind somewhere.

 

Also, several of the rides wouldn't let us throw the backpack over where a person gets off a ride, even though we were already boarding a coaster, and needed to put it over there. We were reduced to hiding the backpack in bushes near the entry to the ride lines, then hoping nobody took off with all of our drink containers & stuff. Is there a better way to do this? Where do you guys put your all you can drink containers when going on coasters? How do you keep your family stuff together?

 

Thanks for suggestions. It's obvious that we need to change something, but we're not sure how to go about it.

 

SFOT is way different than SFStl and SFMM. Drink holders are at each major ride platform. Runaway Mountain, Runaway Mine train and Justice League are take your crap with you rides. (Justice League you are required to dump your drink before entering the ride building, sink provided) Unless you have something super expensive you in theory don't need a locker, in fact they have pulled most of them out at this park, but if you do need one to keep valuables in them, they are available for $1 or like $6 unlimited use around the park. And to be quite honest, if you have crap you are afraid people will take, and they do, even on ride platforms, putting your crap in a locker is the safer better bet.

[Condor]

A brief photo TR from last month:

 

SFOT was my fifth new park for 2015 and my ninth Six Flags. We went on a Saturday in early December so Holiday in the Park was in full swing with the expected heavy crowds. Sky Screamer, Batman and Mr. Freeze were closed, which wasn’t a big deal since we had ridden other installations elsewhere, and with Flash Pass we got all of the other credits except for Runaway Mountain. It can sometimes be difficult to get a true sense of a park’s atmosphere and geography when half of your first visit occurs in the dark, but from what I saw I think this place earns its reputation as one of the nicest looking and best themed SF parks. It’s probably my third or fourth favorite in the chain after Six Flags Over Georgia, Great Adventure, and possibly my local branch, Magic Mountain. The well rounded coaster collection is of course anchored by New Texas Giant and has two other standouts in Shockwave and Titan, but feels one solid B&M or quality wooden coaster away from competing with the best in the country.

 

New Texas Giant: Prior to 2015 the only RMC I had ridden was Outlaw Run, so this year felt like a bit of an RMC expedition as I got to check out Twisted Colossus, Medusa Steel Coaster, New Texas Giant, and Iron Rattler. As what is essentially a prototype for the ibox track, New Texas Giant is more basic and straightforward than the ones that followed. The consensus opinion is pretty well known by this point: It lacks the dynamic directional changes, banking, and inversions of the others, but bests them all in track length and quantity of airtime. Out of the five RMCs I have ridden, I rank it fourth after Medusa, Outlaw Run, and Twisted Colossus, but just slightly ahead of Iron Rattler. I honestly think the first drop is the best of the bunch even though the others are all steeper (and taller in IRat’s case) because it has the greatest sense of prolonged ejector airtime. To this day, my favorite first drop is still Millennium Force and NTAG’s drop looks remarkably similar to it in profile and it feels almost exactly the same while riding. The biggest flaw with this ride is that the first half feels very repetitive with a series of three back to back, overbanked, left turns. If it was being built in 2016, you can be sure these would have had more complex banking or some kind of inversion built in to at least one of them. I know this is extreme nitpicking, but this kind of stuff is half the fun in comparing roller coasters for me and New Texas Giant simply feels like it wastes more track than its newer cousins do. Each one of them is still awesome though and the four that count as steel coasters all make my top 15 (Outlaw makes top 5 wood).

 

Titan: This coaster was perhaps the surprise of the trip. SFMM’s Goliath is one of my home coasters and I have always found it almost intolerably boring. But somehow the effect of the added upward helix transforms Titan into a ride that feels much more complete. Goliath always had an okay beginning (the drop has no air), a middle where nothing happens at all, and a strong conclusion with the downward helix. Titan’s first hill feels taller. Being perched above an expanse of flat land with only stadiums and hotels far below you for as far as the eye can see adds to the illusion of greater height. Then straining against mounting g-forces not once, but twice, makes Titan feel like a something more than the sum of its parts while Goliath feels like something less than. And how is it that Six Flags has never reused this coaster’s name? We apparently need seven Goliaths, but only one Titan?

 

Shockwave: My second favorite at the park and everything you want in a good Schwarzkopf: age defying smoothness, old school proto-heartlining that doesn’t quite neutralize everything, transitions that feel more sudden than they look, and politically incorrect levels of high positive g’s by today’s standards. Another thing that’s great about coasters like this is that the GP doesn’t see them as top shelf coasters anymore, so lines are rarely long even though they’re often superior rides to the ones now hogging all the attention. I still hold a slight preference for Mind Bender at SFOG, but what Shockwave has that Mind Bender lacks is three moments of pronounced airtime you never see coming.

 

Judge Roy Scream: Even though I knew better, I rode in a back row wheel seat on a 1980s wooden coaster running three bench PTC trains. It wasn’t jarring, nor was it smooth, but it doesn’t offer anything like mild airtime or racing to make it worthwhile either. These little woodies are kind of frustrating in today’s industry. You can’t RMC them and they don’t justify the cost of new trains or a Ghostrider style rebuild either. They’ll just continue to receive the mandatory level of maintenance required to keep them running until the day eventually comes that they are removed for something else. They’re kind of coasters you can only accept for what they are and move on. Or maybe Judge Roy Scream is actually a delightful family coaster when ridden over a non-wheel seat and I have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. I don’t know. I only rode once.

 

Runaway Mine Train: Who knew the original Arrow Mine train was also one of the best? The POV I watched absolutely did not do this ride justice. It meshes with its setting so well it feels like a natural component of the landscape. This coaster gives the impression that it grew organically out of the ground and Angus Wynne Jr. simply stumbled upon it one day and decided to build a whole park around it. The layout is long like many mine trains, but it never becomes dull and monotonous the way so many of them do. It’s entertaining and visually interesting the whole way. I wish the park had been open for a full day so I could have ridden it more than once.

Another version.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Condor

[DoinItForTheFame]

^ Awesome trip report! Glad you enjoyed your visit. Thanks for the detailed report, and the photos!

[historyfreak92]

Here are my Photo's from my trip to SFOT sorry I took long! Also this was my very first time taking pictures and posting, my phone died in the middle of the afternoon on the first day when i approached Mr Freeze, & Batman, so the second day my phone charged, and i took pictures from Batman to Titan! Also when I was leaving Dallas, I cried a little and said goodbye Dallas I have to go back to BORING HOUSTON CAUSE OF ASTROWORLD BEING GONE, (but Kemah Boardwalk, & the Pleasure Pier does make me happy don't worry, it's just when I'm at home I have nothing to do, (but I do work with my mean Uncle but I'll explain sooner or later!), and being pushed to do things I don't want to do, it started to be like this ever since Astroworld Closed, but anyways on my next trip, I'll be going to SWSA, & SFFT this year stay tuned for photos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!

[Genx24]

Any word when the 2016 operating calendar is announced? I'm planning on making a trip to the DFW area in late April and would love to be able to visit the park.

[chadster]

Yes, the park re-opens on Feb 27th. In April they will be open Saturdays and Sundays, If I'm not mistaken, 11-7 on Sundays and like 10:30 to 8 on Saturdays

[Genx24]

Damn, no daily ops in April? I won't be able to visit then. Probably won't even be going to Texas if I can't go to the park.

[chadster]

I lost my cheat sheet, but their might be 1 friday in April they are open, mostly in May tho for schools and such.

[Genx24]

Even if it were open a Friday I wouldn't be able to go. If I were to come to DFW it would be from a Monday-Wednesday.

 

Thanks for the info. I hope to get out there eventually; it just would have been nice if it were this year.

[bigboy]

Are there any parks outside of Florida and California that have daily operation in April? This area generally doesn't have enough tourism business with school in to justify daily ops beyond May through August.

[Genx24]

^ Probably not. I just thought the park might be open daily by the end of April due to how early Easter is this year.

[coasterbill]

Are there any parks outside of Florida and California that have daily operation in April? This area generally doesn't have enough tourism business with school in to justify daily ops beyond May through August.

 

I believe Nick Universe but that's a strange case and that's the only one I can think of.

[BrandonR]

Hopefully Oceaneering will give our JLBFM the same TLC they're giving the one at SFSTL. Right now there's a ton of problems with the ride.

 

I haven't ridden it since opening. What's going on with SFoT's?

[Garet]

Are there any parks outside of Florida and California that have daily operation in April? This area generally doesn't have enough tourism business with school in to justify daily ops beyond May through August.

 

If you don't mind splashing out on a plane ticket, most Asian parks here are all year round.

[larrygator]

Are there any parks outside of Florida and California that have daily operation in April? This area generally doesn't have enough tourism business with school in to justify daily ops beyond May through August.

 

Dollywood (6 days a week) and Silver Dollar City (5 days a week)

[DirkFunk]

Are there any parks outside of Florida and California that have daily operation in April? This area generally doesn't have enough tourism business with school in to justify daily ops beyond May through August.

 

Kemah's open all week long. Galveston Pier too, I think. Adventuredome at Circus Circus. There's probably a few I'm not thinking of.