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Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) Discussion Thread


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BREAKING NEWS!!!

 

Yosemite Sam's Gold River Adventure dark ride may be closed for good! The website http://www.overtexasthrills.com is reporting that the park's classic dark ride suffered extensive damage in the recent floods. So much so that it may never open again. Reports of extensive damage to both animatronics and set pieces caused when flood waters raised the boats off their flume. The boats then floated into the ride's various set pieces and animatronic figures causing wide spread damage which may be irreparable.

 

http://www.overtexasthrills.com/park-updates/six-flags-over-texas-general-park-update-november-7-2018?fbclid=IwAR2BCVjlUDDzozN1Jdavj0HhkXpciE_DTfL9WniktggLmdH4DWF6MlfMrx0

 

Perfect timing to bring back Spee-Lunkers Cave! Strike while the iron's hot.

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While I haven't ridden Yosemite Sam's since August, so my memory might be fuzzy. I don't recall any sets that were so elaborate they can not be replaced. I really enjoyed the ride as a change of pace, but "elaborate sets don't can't be replaced"

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I hope the management team takes a look at what SFFT is doing to their old Scooby dark ride. With the flooding and damage, now is the time to refresh it. Take a year if they need to and open it in 2020. Would be a bummer to lose a dark ride especially when they probably replace it with a dumb carnival flat ride.

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While I haven't ridden Yosemite Sam's since August, so my memory might be fuzzy. I don't recall any sets that were so elaborate they can not be replaced. I really enjoyed the ride as a change of pace, but "elaborate sets don't can't be replaced"

 

There's a reasonable amount of rock work in there and some simple figures that move. That stuff still isn't super cheap to redo, especially if the boats are almost totaled out.

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I can’t see how the boats would be beyond repair. They’re fiberglass and already sit in the water all of the time and sit out in the parking lot in the off-season. Even if they floated out of the trough I can’t see what kind of irreparable damage would happen.

 

The ride was in pretty bad shape when I rode 2 years ago. Holes in set pieces, animatronics not working or making loud noises when they moved, animatronics greatly deteriorated - one had its nose worn off and a Bugs was holding a carrot that was falling apart. If the flooding did further damage, it might be a convenient excuse to forgo a major renovation and start over from scratch.

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The ride was in pretty bad shape when I rode 2 years ago. Holes in set pieces, animatronics not working or making loud noises when they moved, animatronics greatly deteriorated - one had its nose worn off and a Bugs was holding a carrot that was falling apart. If the flooding did further damage, it might be a convenient excuse to forgo a major renovation and start over from scratch.

 

This is it exactly. Parks these days hate anything they have to spend resources maintaining outside of the ride itself. I don't know why they don't see the value in it. Animatronics can be annoyingly finicky, but it's not a huge deal if some of them are occasionally not working. It's clear when they aren't putting much effort at all into it though.

 

They'll probably try to turn it into one of the cheap Sally dark rides with the plastic guns and the cardboard cutouts that barely move. Then they'll let even that get run-down...

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Any updates on Yosemite Sam Ride? Thats terrible that one of the classic attractions is beyond repair. Maybe its a blessing in disguise.

 

I really wish they would go back to more of the original themeing of the park sections. Seems like DC Comics is absorbing the park, so to speak, beyond its original glory. I still miss the old covered walkway near where the USA car ride was.

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Have they brought the new coaster in yet? I figure it will be one, maybe two flat bed trucks. Unload it, put it together, screw it to the ground and open it up to the public. The one at the fair took one day to put up so I imagine this being one more day since they are making it a permanent attraction.

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Got back from touristing around Texas earlier this week, and I visited Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, and Seaworld San Antonio.

 

I visited Six Flags Over Texas on Saturday which may have been a mistake. There were massive crowds for the holiday weekend, and I don't know if it would have been better if I had visited on Sunday instead. By midday even family coasters had long lines. Moreover, I had to leave a bit early as I wanted to visit the Rodeo in Stockyards while I was in the Fort Worth area.

 

General thoughts:

 

I didn't go in with a strong plan, and I hadn't planned my visit in advance so I was relying on signage for most everything. The park layout seemed rather confusing to me, and it was difficult finding some of the coasters (and I missed Shockwave entirely. Oops!). I also vaguely regret not doing the flash pass since I probably am not going to get to revisit the park anytime soon.

 

I had heard bad things about this park from this forum and in other places, but the operations seemed good. All of the major rides were running two train operations (including the short indoor one). One caveat is that they were only opening the airgates for a few seconds. I assumed that this was a company wide policy (they started doing that this past year at my home park), but Fiesta Texas doesn't do that, so I guess this depends on the park? I can kind of get why some of the Six Flags are doing this, but I doubt that it helps throughput.

 

The clientele skewed heavily towards families (potentially due to the holidays) which made the visit much more pleasant. Theming seems shockingly good for a Six Flags park. Especially on the west end of the park. Holiday theming was only okay, but I specifically want to point out that the park placed a set of three fire pits in a narrow corridor so that they could sell S'mores. This area got ridiculously smokey.

 

Half of the water fountains were broken. This is probably not a big deal for most people, but I like to travel light at amusement parks which is why I got pretty dehydrated at points at this park.

 

Some Ride Thoughts:

 

La Vibora : the park probably needs to better advertise that there is a single rider line as only one of the FlashPass signs indicates that there is a single rider entrance through the back. But I can see why single rider for that ride is fraught due to the non constant nature of the vehicle seating; on my first ride, I got stuck in the single rider line behind a foreign family who kept trying to pair together in the single seats. It is cool that you can feel that the vehicle is directly on the tube, but it is kind of painful on the rear when the ride bottoms out at the end of drops. Still, this was too interesting not to ride twice.

 

New Texas Giant : this was down earlier in the day, and I figured that I would get back to it later, but at that point in the afternoon it had a 1.5+ hour line, which was way too long given the nature of the visit. This was a big miss as I had been looking forwards to this one.

 

Runaway Mine Train : Yeah, I am a weirdo who actually likes family coasters. I love how funky and quirky old Arrow Mine trains can be (even though few of them have aged well), and I think this is my favorite one due to its length, layout, and its theming. I am also surprised that this pulled a line, but I guess I visited on a very crowded day.

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Hey TPR! It's been a hot minute since I've been on here but since I might be able to swing a quick trip to SFOT during Holiday in the Park while I'm in town for the Cotton Bowl, I have a few questions:

 

-Since I'll be staying in downtown Dallas (non-negotiable, let's just say I'm part of a group that has some special gameday duties ), does anyone have any experience using Uber to get to the park or at least know if it's possible? (Is there some sort of drop-off area, or would the driver have to go through the parking line? etc.)

 

-What should I reasonably expect to be open during HITP? Is everything open, or just a smaller segment like WinterFest at CF parks? (I think most things were open when I went for SFDK, but I don't know how climate-dependent that sort of thing is.)

 

Thank you guys!

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Hey TPR! It's been a hot minute since I've been on here but since I might be able to swing a quick trip to SFOT during Holiday in the Park while I'm in town for the Cotton Bowl, I have a few questions:

 

-Since I'll be staying in downtown Dallas (non-negotiable, let's just say I'm part of a group that has some special gameday duties ), does anyone have any experience using Uber to get to the park or at least know if it's possible? (Is there some sort of drop-off area, or would the driver have to go through the parking line? etc.)

 

-What should I reasonably expect to be open during HITP? Is everything open, or just a smaller segment like WinterFest at CF parks? (I think most things were open when I went for SFDK, but I don't know how climate-dependent that sort of thing is.)

 

Thank you guys!

 

Not sure about an Uber from Downtown. Certainly doesn't seem like it should be an issue. I do know there is a drop off lane at the front of the park.

 

Almost everything will be open. There aren't any areas that are closed off. Most of the rides are operating. The only exceptions I am aware of are Yosemite Sam (due to flooding), The Oil Derrick (closed most of the year), Caddo Lake Barge and of course the water rides. I also don't know if Riddler is back up. It seems to have been down a lot this fall/winter. Heard a rumor it was waiting for a part but haven't stopped by since 11/18.

 

Enjoy your time and be sure to enjoy Mr. Freeze, it usually is not open during HitP but was a surprise announcement this year!

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Using Uber from downtown Dallas shouldn't be a problem. Probably a $20-25 trip. The driver can get to the drop off area by staying in the left lane when entering the parking toll plaza area. The drop off lane breaks off just before you get to the toll plaza. The drawback is that you can get stuck sitting in traffic to get to the drop off if the park is busy and that's not unusual during HITP.

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Hey TPR! It's been a hot minute since I've been on here but since I might be able to swing a quick trip to SFOT during Holiday in the Park while I'm in town for the Cotton Bowl, I have a few questions:

 

-Since I'll be staying in downtown Dallas (non-negotiable, let's just say I'm part of a group that has some special gameday duties ), does anyone have any experience using Uber to get to the park or at least know if it's possible? (Is there some sort of drop-off area, or would the driver have to go through the parking line? etc.)

 

-What should I reasonably expect to be open during HITP? Is everything open, or just a smaller segment like WinterFest at CF parks? (I think most things were open when I went for SFDK, but I don't know how climate-dependent that sort of thing is.)

 

Thank you guys!

 

I used uber from where SMU is to Jerryworld when we went for USC vs Alabama. There is a dropoff lane. There isn't anywhere to wait for pick up though, but the driver had no problem finding us.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Park was absolutely dead tonight. We walked on or had a one train wait for multiples on Titan, New Texas Giant, and Shockwave. I rode every coaster except the kiddie ones. Considering we also had dinner and had trouble finding things, we packed a lot in. I'll post a TR when I get home.

 

We are doing touristy stuff tomorrow and Wednesday. SWSA and SFFT are on tap for Thursday. Maybe back to SFFT on Friday. Life is good.

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Park was absolutely dead tonight. We walked on or had a one train wait for multiples on Titan, New Texas Giant, and Shockwave. I rode every coaster except the kiddie ones. Considering we also had dinner and had trouble finding things, we packed a lot in. I'll post a TR when I get home.

 

We are doing touristy stuff tomorrow and Wednesday. SWSA and SFFT are on tap for Thursday. Maybe back to SFFT on Friday. Life is good.

 

Just heads up on Fiesta. . on Thurs they are only open from 5-10pm (so expect things that normally are open to NOT be . . I'd be shocked if Poltergeist, the Flume, or Pandemonium will be up, if the park is only open for 5 hours).

 

Same hours on Friday too. . .too bad you aren't going on Sat, since they are open from 2-10pm on that day.

 

but hope you have a great time regardless!

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^Thanks for the heads up, Bert. SFOT was only open 5-10 yesterday. We pretty much only ride coasters and are cool with skipping clones if time is short. I have ridden FoF at KD and KI, and The Joker's Jinx at SFA, so missing Poltergeist wouldn't be the end of the world (but I do love those Premier launchers).

 

The SFFT website only lists Goliath as closed ATM. I have ridden three Batman clones including last night and we will be riding Great White Thursday as well. So this visit will be all about Wonder Woman, Iron Rattler, and Superman. And maybe a s'mores for the daughter.

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I'm surprised that the park is open this week with schools being in through at least Thursday and most in through Friday. Any night this week would be a great time to go, especially with the fairly nice weather we're having right now.

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