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Great report! I'm so jealous you can enjoy Six Flags Fiesta Texas yearround.

 

 

it's really nice it's just over an hour away from us (closer to 1:20, but still. .not a bad drive).

 

if weather isn't terrible (supposed to be 60% chance of rain), I'll head there on Wed, expecting it to be DEAD.

if weather is terrible? I'm off all week, but Nick goes back to work on Thurs, and I'll just head down there on Thurs myself.

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Thurs, 12/27 visit.

 

Since it was so overcast, then raining, and nasty on Wed I was requested by the spouse NOT to drive to San Antonio, and instead went on Thurs, 12/27.

As opposed to how nasty Wed had been, Thurs was beautiful, with the weather in the high 60’s and the sun out.

 

So hopped in the car around 10:30 and headed towards San Antonio to be there just around the Noon opening.

Traffic was way worse than I was expecting – I figured Holiday travelers would not be heading home yet, but due accidents and construction on I35, it took me over 2 hours to get there, pulling off the Fiesta exit close to 12:30.

 

I had noted to my spouse it was either gonna be dead, since most folks were still visiting family, OR it was gonna be packed . .with no in between.

 

The moment I turned onto Six Flags drive, I knew it was gonna be the latter – I’ve never seen the entrance backed up past the tunnel. And once thru the tunnel I was pretty shocked to see all the parking booths open, and full lines of cars. Oh, and the lot was already full past the guard tower (oy).

 

Ok, so I knew I wasn’t gonna get a lot of riding in, but was here so let’s enjoy.

 

I parked fairly far back so it would be easier to get out when I left (and when I left the lot was full way past my car), and headed up to the main plaza.

The line of folks to get in was large, but kudos to the park for having all the metal detectors up and running – even if they weren’t enforcing the two “Express Entry: No bags or purses” rules. Seriously, I was two people behind a woman in one of the Express lines who had her 4 kids, and one in a stroller. Yep, a stroller, in the Express Entry line, and you bet yer butt, the bottom of the stroller was full of bags, that each had to be opened, and checked and the full stroller screened while the woman complained about them stopping her when she has “nothing bad”. . . welcome to poor humanity.

 

luckily, other than this self centered entitled woman, didn’t see anything like It the whole rest of the day.

 

I was surprised to see so many folks lined up at the ticket booths – but then realized they were running a couple of promotions, and that’s why (along with the weather) was so crowded: 1) Bring a friend for $20, 2) buy a membership and get Fast Lane wristband for the day, and 3) in honor of the Alamo Bowl (today), the Park was offering discount tickets yesterday (as well as the Iowa State University Marching Band was doing a Parade thru the park).

 

Surprisingly tho, despite the lines at Security, and at the Ticket windows - not much lines at the actual gates to get in – which were moving super fast, as they were eschewing the finger prints, since it was so busy – so scan the card only, and then in the front gates.

 

Was slightly disappointed to see there were no shows scheduled today, since I had hoped to catch some. But I completely understand it’s the week of Christmas and People take time off.

 

In fact, staffing issues were noticeable thruout the park, particularly with the number of closed eating stands. The ones that were open, had long lines, but that is expected when the park is so crowded, so no faulting them there, tho would have been nice If they were able to get more staffing.

 

Was also a bit surprised to see some rides closed that *had* been operating during Holiday in the Park as recently as a week ago: Goliath, Gully Washer (with water drained), Bug’s Whitewater Rapids (still had water in flume), and Crow’s Nest Ferris Wheel.

 

Pretty much everything was up and running tho, including Poltergeist and Wonder Woman were down when I arrived, but both opened during my visit.

 

Seeing how crowded it was, I decided to go ahead and eat first, as it was already 1:30 by the time I actually got INTO the park and I hadn’t eaten anything yet today.

I smartly deduced that Festhaus was the best option, since that’s the most spread out of the eating options at the park, and my gambit worked and within 5-10 minutes I had gotten thru the Hot Dog line and was sitting at table inside the dining area watching the Carousel thru the windows while eating my neon-cheese chili-cheese-dog with tots meal that is part of my meal plan.

 

was it the best thing I ever ate? Nope, but it was edible, and way quicker than going over to Totally Kicken Chicken (which had a huge line every time I passed it), or Johnny Rockets (which had a line spilling out of the queue into the walkways – not helped that the Boardwalk location was closed, so everyone was at the Superman location).

 

after eating, I went right next door, and waited a cycle for the Carousel (yeah, it was already that crowded, that they were running full carousels!), but I didn’t mind, and I ended up getting on my bunny (white rabbit).

 

Upon exiting the Carousel, I headed towards Wonder Woman which had started testing and had noticed from the carousel queue. I guess it opens at 2, since park opened at noon?

 

Even with getting to the ride just after it started cycling people, the line was almost all the way to the entrance. But since I was here anyways, tho confused on how it could have gotten that packed so quickly, I got in line. Turned out it wasn’t more than a 30 minute wait, since it turned out the line looked so long only because they were not using the full queue – the whole “statues” queue was being squeegeed to get the water/leaves out from the prior day’s storms. Why did they not do this in the two hours before the ride opened for the day? Well. . . Six Flags. LOL. They also were holding the line around the Flash Pass Merge point (something I saw at every other ride too. . .I guess to make it more of a benefit for those who purchase), but that also added a little more “virtual” wait.

 

Kudos for having all 3 trains cycling (even with a couple of seats out of commission), tho I get the feeling they don’t run all 3 that often - as they were stacking constantly, rather than moving smoothly thru the station. But still. Overall, good on the park for running all 3 trains, and the employees were great!

 

After Wonder Woman, I briefly considered hopping on Hustler, but decided that likely wasn’t a great idea still so soon after eating. The Batman queue was completely full, so decided to bypass that and headed to Superman. Noting no additional construction for the new Joker Ride, tho the site looked like they were going to be pouring foundation for it in the near future. . . and Whirlygig still looked the same as it had during my prior Holiday in the Park visit.

 

The Superman queue, while wasn’t completely full, was the fullest I’ve ever seen it. Going several back and forths under the tarps in the space behind the gift shop. This line moved rather quickly tho with two train operations (and holding at the Fast Lane merge), and in less than 30 minutes, I was up the stairs, and then walked onto the back row for my ride.

 

this was the first ride I’ve had on Superman since I got the Photo Pass, so of course I got the picture. I noticed quite a few folks taking a picture of the screens and the booth operator didn’t seem to mind (something I had *also* noticed at Wonder Woman), so I asked her if they aren’t enforcing that anymore . . . and she shrugged.

I guess if they aren’t, that makes sense why they had dropped the price for photopass so much that I bought it for 2019. I guess the true test will be next time I’m on Bug’s rapids, since that booth used to have a big sign noting not to take pictures of the screens. . so will see if that’s still there next time.

 

After Superman, I continued making my way around the park, people watching, taking pictures, and stopping to watch folks ride the gunslinger upcharge (lot’s of people lined up for this). There were folks lined up for the Holiday Express train – but having ridden it I bypassed. Remnants of the ‘Make your own S’mores” firepits were out, tho not lit . . and I didn’t see any carts selling the kits? So maybe they are done with those for the season and just haven’t removed the firepits yet.

 

I also noted completely full (and I mean *completely* full – as in spilling out into walkways) queues for Iron Rattler, and RoadRunner Express – so even tho I don’t mind waiting in a line since I’m in the park? Nope, not today, as those were 2 hour + waits. No question.

 

I hadn’t been over to boardwalk yet, and I wanted to get a look at the new Pirates ride to see if any work had been done, so I continued around the park on my 2nd lap still taking pics and stopping for a “professional” pic from a Six Flags photog in front of the giant ornament (he told me they wouldn’t be out later due to staffing, so I got it in the bright sun).

 

Just as I was passing Poltergeist (which had been closed all day), they started testing. I stopped for a moment, and saw another empty test car, so joined the handful of folks milling about by the closed entry queue. .and sure enough, a few moments later, a staff member came out and opened up the queue. So I ended up on the 1st full train of the day on one of my favorite rides. And they were actually running 2 trains too! 1st time I’ve seen that in a long while.

 

I was gonna ride again, but the line had already extended out to some of the switchbacks outside the main station (again, something I had not seen in a very long time), so decided to be happy with my one ride, and go check out the Wonder Woman line. By now the Statue queue was in use, and the line was almost all the way to the entrance (at least 1 ½ hour line), so I bypassed and headed to the boardwalk, waiting a couple of cycles for Fireball (getting stuck in the center, but oh well, still a fun ride). I only really ride Pandemonium or Spinsanity when I’m with Nick, since he’ll ride those, so I went ahead over to the new Pirates ride and noticed they now have signage up, as well as a pretty good amount of detail in the outdoor queue area.

 

I took a few pics, although wasn’t able to get anything from the indoor queue as the doors were closed.

 

As I was walking away, I passed someone who looked like a Store Manager from the Boardwalk area headed to the backstage area by Pirates (and stopping to pick up some trash along the way), so I struck up a conversation and complimented on the really nice job the park had done with the theming on the outside of the new ride that opens next week.

When we were there a few weeks ago, no outdoor work had been done, so I said how cool it was to see the signage up. He responded that the outside signs are the last things they put up, and that they are super excited to debut the new ride and said “just wait until you see the inside!” (so I mentioned I had seen some photos from a tour a few weeks ago, that Ryan had posted on TPR, but I was looking forwards to seeing what they had done in person).

 

He asked me if I had been having a fun day, and I told him I was, even tho it was very crowded. And I mentioned I had just considered riding Wonder Woman again, but it was for the best that the line was too long for me since I can get “tender” from the seating position if I ride it too many times in one visit. And he laughed and said he had ridden it 35+ times in a row with no problem (which caused me to think, “ok, who is this guy?”). . but we came to the conclusion that since he’s taller than me, he’s likely more comfortable in the seating position on the ride than I am, since my shorter-than-his legs might be more stressed : )

 

It was right around then when another Six Flags worker on the boardwalk walked up and he introduced me to him (sorry, can’t remember this worker’s name). . . but this worker was excited about the evening event, which was to be the Employee’s party to ride the new ride, as well as the boardwalk rides and Wonder Woman open after park close.

 

This worker said “thanks Jeff” as he was heading off. .and it was *then* that I looked at the Manager guy’s nametag and realized I had been talking to Park President Jeffery Siebert!

( LOL. . good thing I hadn’t said anything negative!).

 

I immediately shook his hand again, apologized that I hadn’t recognized him – and noted we’d interacted before via Facebook (tho I’m sure that doesn’t mean anything, he interacts with lots of folks)

 

He asked me if I was going to be coming to the Membership premiere of the ride . . . pointing out the membership benefits sign out front. I think I responded with explaining how we’re pass holders, and although the Membership early experience was cool, the upgrade to Member wasn’t for us at this time: we’re fine with the lower tier benefits of passes -which mesh with our style of experiencing a theme park, and since we love Fiesta Texas we come fairly often to the park from Austin.

 

We only talked for about 5-10 minutes but the highlights:

 

-- We talked about the Carousel – shocking I know. I really complimented on how great it looked and how happy I was to have it back open.

he praised the folks who hand painted all the restoration and agreed with me on how beautiful it was looking.

 

-- Still about the Carousel, we talked about the music playing and how it was different the 3 times I’d visited since it reopened (and I made him laugh by telling him about riding the SFOT one to “Getting Jiggy With It”). He told me the music on the Carousel will be changing year round to go with the themes of the Park, but it will always be a Wurlitzer organ version of whatever the theme is (which I had not realized was a real organ inside the Carousel, I had thought it was simply recorded music, but he said it’s a real organ).

 

-- Speaking of Themes, since they are now open Year Round: Mardi Gras celebration is going to be starting in January, instead of waiting until the early March Spring Break timeframe.

 

-- and speaking of year round, I asked him what that was gonna do to the maintenance schedule? ie: are they going to try to cram in maintenance Mon-Thurs since they no longer will have off months? His answer was that they were going to move towards doing continuous maintenance and he thought that was a good thing.

Not sure how to parse that answer, other than to think there will be some ride downtimes on some weekends. . hopefully they will advise online what might be down for maintenance each time. but hey, if Disney and Knotts can stay open year round and keep up, I'm sure Six Flags Fiesta can too.

 

-- I commented on how I was pleased and surprised that Poltergeist was operating both trains, and he told me it had been due to a “wheel supplier” issue that kept the 2nd train idle for most of the year, but that was resolved now.

 

I didn’t want to take up too much of his time, so I again thanked him for the conversation, and how I can’t wait to be back to ride the Pirates in the New year.

 

then continued my 2nd trip around the park (again noticing the huge lines for food still, and the still overflow lines for IR and Roadrunner).

 

I was wanting to use my “snack” on the meal plan for a shake but the lines at the places that offer it were simply too long, so I was pleased to notice that the Lemonade Stand in the central square offered the Frozen Lemonade (regular or Strawberry) as a “snack”, and that line was only a couple of people deep. So I did that, and browsed the stores up front while enjoying it.

 

Since no shows, I had decided that I would head back home, having been in the park for a few hours, when suddenly a marching band fired up behind the Theater off the main square – as noted at the beginning of this, it was the Iowa State Marching Band – they are in San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, and they are quite impressive. So I hung around and watched them pour out into the main park, for a parade around the park. Luckily, they headed right (towards CrackAxle) so didn’t block me . . and instead I went the other direction for one final ride on the Carousel before they came all the way around : )

 

Then I headed to the car and left the park around 5pm. . . so all in all not a BAD day. Didn’t do a whole lot, and certainly not a *full* day, but in ~4 hours I did:

 

eat lunch

ride the Carousel

ride Wonder Woman: Golden Lasso Coaster

ride Superman: Krypton Coaster

ride Poltergeist

ride Fireball

ride Carousel again

 

Not a terrible way to spend a day.

 

On to pictures:

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holee crap. . . the line to get TO the parking booths

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all lanes open, and all full.. yep, big crowd today.

but it's a beautiful day, and the temps are in the high 60s

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yep, can see the lines from way back here

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they do have multiple Holiday in the Park theming still up, but light on shows/performers - understandable, I mean it IS Christmas week.

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Hmm. . Goliath doesn't seem to be cycling?

(yep, was closed this visit)

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my lunch. . . mmmm. . neon cheese

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but got to ride my bunny

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Wonder Woman line, 5 minutes after official open.

not as bad as it looks, since they aren't using the "statue" queue room. (but they are holding the line back prior to "Flash Pass" merge

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stopped in the line, can get some nice pics tho. . but stupid bright sun

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ah there we go. . . Sun blocked by the track of the initial dive loop!

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ooo

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oooooooo

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NEVER, in my entire time going to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, have I ever seen the Superman queue this full!

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the quarry walls are so dang pretty, and you get some nice views, if you ever have to wait in the Superman queue

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see? pretty!

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walking towards Crackaxle area. . tried to get a shot with IR too, but got Gunslinger and Roadrunner in the same pic.

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Line was too long for this for me to wait today, but this location is so great for a Skyscreamer, even if it's not the tallest one in the chain.

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so pretty when they have the waterfalls running.

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huh? Gully Washer is drained. .it was just running the other week.

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the toy soldiers blocking the German section train station

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wow. . full Batman queue. that's something I rarely (ever?) see

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I'm Batman!

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Took a pic of the sign when walking by, then saw it testing, went back, and got on 1st train of the day.

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oooooooo. . signage is up at "Pirates of the Deep Sea"

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and they are announcing Membership preview night. . the queue is looking really nice outside

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theming!

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stupid shadow from Crow's nest. . but they had several of these "Jolly Roger" tarps/flags hanging on the outside queue

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the inside (of the outside queue) looks GREAT. yeah, it's only some netting and twine, but looks so good.

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as do the "paintings" along the walls

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look who I bumped into and struck up a conversation with (without knowing who he is): Park President Jeffery Siebert

 

and yes, I asked him before we parted ways if I could get a pic with him, and asked if it were OK that I post it on TPR.

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what's this? a Marching Band Parade?

and I managed to time it to be right were they come out?

cool.

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they really were VERY good.. . such moves too. very choreographed as they marched

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On Ride pic from Wonder Woman

(again, they put me in the back seat. . I did not mind at all)

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oh Six Flags.. stay Klassy

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On Ride pic from Superman (back row)

1st On Ride I have from this since I got the photo pass for 2019)

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official pic from the giant ornament.

 

Daytime with sun behind us, but I rather like it, to be honest!

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sideways frame works really nice with Boomerang - which also had a line, tho not a completely full queue.

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Great report! I'm really intrigued to hear how the Pirates ride turns out. Judging by the outside, it must be pretty good on the inside.

 

As for the cheaper Photopass, that's a good point it may be the park realizing it's easier than stopping cell phone photos. I got one for SFNE simply because of how cheap it was. The all-season photo pass was the same as the one day photo pass.

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^ it could have just been staffing issues, that since it was only one person working each booth at both WW and Supes (also noticed only one person at IR booth when I walked by the store, but didn't peek into Roadrunner store to see if only 1). . so maybe they were just focused on helping those that wanted the pics rather than stopping folks from taking pics of the screen.

 

but I really do wonder if they just aren't going to stop people anymore since the photopass to get an "official" photo has dropped in price so much. . . . I mean, I'd rather have the "real" picture than a picture of a screen.

 

as noted tho. . will check it out again next time I'm in the park and see if it's still the same.

 

(and Bill. . .that shirt was a Chanukah gift from some friends. . LOL, they know me, right?)

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...(and Bill. . .that shirt was a Chanukah gift from some friends. . LOL, they know me, right?)

 

Indeed they do, my Cedar Downs-loving frea...uh...friend!

 

And a Happy New Year to and for You, and Those Close to You

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...(and Bill. . .that shirt was a Chanukah gift from some friends. . LOL, they know me, right?)

 

Indeed they do, my Cedar Downs-loving frea...uh...friend!

 

And a Happy New Year to and for You, and Those Close to You

 

Thanks Bill!

 

and Happy New Year to you, and all my fellow TPR folks as well!

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That’s funny about Jeffrey Siebert. I’ve had the chance to speak to him a few times. I’m sure he does not remember me but he sure acts like he does. You can tell he loves the park and only wants to watch it grow.

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  • 4 weeks later...

will try to get the photo report up tomorrow, but just a quick update about what I think is the best day I've ever had at SFFT:

 

ALMOST perfect day today at Six Flags Fiesta Texas as the overcast day (in the mid 60's) kept everyone away. . park was D-E-A-D. .but still:

 

-- more costumed characters than I've ever seen out, giving it their all (the Mardi Gras parade thru the park was not only way more elaborate than I was expecting (and longer too), but the folks on the floats seemed to be having a great time)

 

-- the special foods for Mardi Gras are *included* in the meal plans, so you can sample them if you have a plan.

the Gumbo is what I tried and it was very good. (passed on the Beignets for my "snack", tho they looked good (noted for next time), as couldn't pass up 3 feet of cotton candy in Mardi Gras colors)

 

-- the new Pirates of the deep sea ride is very, very good. The queue is almost to Disney Level. Seriously, really well done. Let down a bit by the ride itself being less Disney and more Six Flags (Lots of wood cutouts, with only a couple of animatronics). .but still above average for a Six Flags Dark Ride. and worth it for the queue. GREAT job.

 

-- lack of crowd meant walk on - for *everything*

Wonder Woman x 5 (in a row)

Iron Rattler x 4 (in a row)

Poltergiest x 2

Pirates of the Deep Sea x 3

Pandemonium

Roadrunner Express

Superman Krypton Coaster

Boomerang

Scream

Bugs Bunny Rapids

Skyscreamer

 

(Batman was closed all day, and Goliath was also walk on, but passed on it, as I was coastered out by the time I was leaving)

 

all ridden with less than 1 cycle wait for most all of them, during my ~5 hours in the park.

 

*ONLY* thing that didn't make it an absolutely perfect day?

Nick didn't come with . . too cool for him so went alone.

 

otherwise tho? ended up being a great day to go.

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As noted above, took a drive down to Six Flags Fiesta Texas yesterday.

 

the main reason I wanted to go, was to get a ride on/look at the new Dark Ride: Pirates of the Deep Sea (the complete re-do of the Scooby Doo dark ride, which had been planned for 2018, but officially opened in early Jan of 2019).

 

The outside was looking great, and I had heard great things about what had been done inside (including Park President telling me on my last visit when I complimented him on the outside queue saying, “just wait until you see the inside”). So I was itching to get a look.

 

the other big reason I wanted to go? Yesterday was my Mom’s Yartzheit (the 2nd year anniversary of her passing). I lit the memorial candle and said a prayer for her when I got up, but I did not want to just sit around the house all day. . . .feeling. so instead I was determined to get out, even if the day ended up being busy.

 

I suspected it would not be busy, since it was *very* overcast, with a 20% chance of rain (it had been 40% for Sat the evening before). It also was predicted to stay in the low-mid 60’s all day, which is cold for most Texans. It was cold enough that my Spouse didn’t want to be out in the “cold”. . so I went by myself.

 

I had made plans to meet up with a friend in San Antonio at the park to ride coasters, so even if Nick had come I would have a coaster buddy to ride everything Nick cant/wont. . but I told Nick I fully expected him to flake and not show up (since our meeting time moved from Noon, to 1, to just after 1, to then closer to 3). So I wasn’t expecting him to show, and spoiler- he didn’t. But that’s ok, if I don’t expect it? I’m not surprised

 

anyways, the drive down was smooth and just about 1 ½ hours after pulling out of our driveway, I was pulling into SFFT parking lot at 1pm. I knew right away it wasn’t gonna be a busy day, since the parking lot wasn’t even a 1/4th full.

 

But I parked pretty far back anyways (more walking is what I need these days), and headed into the park – which I had forgotten I had been told that Mardi Gras celebration would be starting in Jan, since SFFT is year round now. They had the big signs up, and lots of decorations about, tho mainly focused on Rockville (where the main stage and food options mostly are). . .although there is a stage and a small snack food with Mardi Gras options in the main festivals plaza too. But majority of the “Mardi Gras” theming is in the Rockville area.

 

I headed towards the boardwalk for the new Dark Ride – that was gonna be my 1st stop, since I was gonna ride that no matter how long the wait.

 

Walking past the train tracks near Poltergeist, it looked like it was closed. . .no visible line at all in the queue. But then I saw a few people coming up the exit lanes (maybe getting turned away?), and so I asked them, and they said “no, it’s open, we just got off”.. so I got in the line, which was so short it was not even to the station – seriously, there were only like 3 people inside the station. A few more folks joined the queue while we were waiting, as even with only ~5 people on the train that was loading when I walked up? They were having issues getting someone to fit, so they spent a few minutes trying to get them in (eventually they had to walk of shame. .. Poltergeist’s trains really are VERY unforgiving).

But the park was running both trains, and once the train took off, I was on the very next ride.

 

I realized that if Poltergeist didn’t even have queue outside the station, then likely everything else would be very short/non-existent today, so once off, went back around and took a 2nd ride on Poltergeist before heading towards he boardwalk, stopping along the way to take pics with Looney Tunes characters who were out and about in Mardi Gras costuming.

 

have to give the park Huge props (and told them so in the guest survey they just sent me) – even tho the crowds were not out yesterday? More characters, and costumed cast roaming around and interacting with the public than I have ever seen at SFFT. Several had beads, or performing with batons, heck even the boardwalk had roving bands of Pirates, and a Shark (left Shark) to help promote the new rides. It was great, and I had a wonderful time interacting with them and posing for pics.

 

When I got to Fiesta Bay Boardwalk, sure enough there was no visible line for the Pirates. I worried for a moment that maybe it wasn’t open? But nope, doors were open and a costumed pirate at the main entrance ushered me inside the queue.

 

If you’re familiar with the old Scooby Doo queue? It’s NOTHING like that..the only thing they have in common is how dark it is in the queue. Like seriously dark. . give your eyes some time to adjust dark (or like I saw a woman do on my 3rd ride, use your cellphone flashlight to see where you are going). It is no longer a straight back and forth queue, as you now navigate a “cave/town” to get to the loading platform. . . the path brings you past rooms full of treasure, an old timey street at the docks, a working waterfall !, animatronic pirate who explains some stuff (whom I had a hard time following, but if there IS a queue, I’m sure you have time to listen to him tell the whole tale), and some really impressive, almost Disney Level immersion. Bravo to Six Flags for this queue. Easily the best queue line I’ve ever seen at any Six Flags branded park. The Animatronics aren’t as impressive as Justice league, but the full on immersion? Pirates of the Deep Sea wins best queue.

 

The re-do of the Mystery Machine vehicles is also really well done – if you didn’t know the ride used to be Scooby Doo? You’d never know these “ships” are just repainted Mystery Machines. It doesn’t really work as a “ship”. .but it works well enough to go along with the stunning (I was super impressed) “guns” that we now use – old fashioned pistols!

 

Note: they LOOK great, but are super hard to aim. I scored in the top tier on one of my rides, but honestly, I couldn’t really tell where I was shooting. It’s hard to aim, so it’s all guessing and occasionally you hit a target that triggers something. I had just as good a time NOT shooting, and just watching the sets, since a lot of the stuff seems to trigger automatically anyways (likely for the younger set so they don’t get frustrated if they don’t hit anything.. because who can tell if they did hit something if it goes off anyways?).

 

Other than the difficulty in aiming/shooting, the only real negative I can give is that the ride itself doesn’t quite live up to the promise of the queue.

I said yesterday, the Queue is almost at Disney level, but the ride it purely Six Flags. A very elevated Six Flags, but yeah, lots of use of Painted wooden cut outs, with only a couple of animatronics inside the ride (the standout one to me being the ghost-pirate playing the giant organ in one or the rooms).

 

It appears that very little (if any) of the old ride’s sets were re-used – tho some of the bookshelves in the library rooms looked a tad familiar. For the most part appears to be mainly new construction, with a few surprises thrown in – hint, in the mermaid room, don’t focus on the wood cutout mermaids.. look behind you for the projected underwater menace on the screen.

 

I rode 3 times, the 1st time taking pictures, then since no line, cast members let me stay in the vehicle and ride back thru to play. I then got of the ride and went back thru the queue once more and rode a final time playing and taking pics. Posted them all below in my photos (unfortunately since the vehicle is moving, and I can’t figure out how to get a still from the “live” feature of my stupid upgraded new iPhone, some are blurry).

 

I say again, Good Job SFFT. Very above average dark ride for a SF park, and I’d say even better than Ghostblasters ride one finds at a few CF parks.

 

It was time to eat, and I’ll give another Kudos to Six Flags (not sure if it’s specific to Fiesta only or not), that the special Mardi Gras food offerings are almost all included as part of the Meal Plans. So if you have a Six Flags Meal Plan? You can get a main, and a snack, just using the plan. They also sell a very reasonable sample pack offer for those without meal plans, that seems to be a nice savings from buying individual portions.

 

I tried the Gumbo this trip, and it was very good. But the Muffaleta, and the PoBoys looked decent too, but since this runs thru Spring Break in March? My next visit will be the Etouffee, or the Jambalaya.

 

For snack options? The Boudin Bites looked really tasty, as did the Beignets, the King Crunch Donut, and the Fried Green Tomatoes. Can’t wait to go back to try them all over the next 6 weeks.

 

there is also a special Drinks tent, serving Hurricanes, Mint Juleps, and Southern Comfort Tom Collins’

Although I’m not sure I’d be affected by a Six Flags pre-mixed drink (a Security Guard I was chatting with said the Hurricanes are “potent”), wasn’t gonna chance it knowing I had to drive back to Austin later. But next time I’m in park with someone? Yep, will be trying one

 

after eating something, I was right there by WonderWoman, so peeked at the line and saw . . not even full station wait! So I hopped on that (likely not a smart thing to do right after eating, but oh well, LOL). Ended up riding 5 times back to back, since there was no wait. After 4 rides of being placed in the back seat (not that I minded), I asked the “place-setter” if I could ride in the front for my last ride, and she put me in front row of the train after. This is the only ride I actually had a 1 train wait. For Wonder Woman! Yeah, it was *that* dead.

 

You’d never know from the employees that they were upset about the lack of crowd, as everyone I interacted with was not only cheerful and happy, but also super-efficient.

 

and helping move the lines along? Everything other than RoadRunner (which was running only 1 train) and Boomerang (also only 1 train : p) was running multiple trains. WonderWoman was cycling all 3, Iron Rattler/Poltergeist/Superman/Goliath all cycling 2, and Pandemonium was cycling 5.

 

Batman was down all day, not really sure why, but it *could* be because they have started working on the re-theme for Whirlygig, and had it in pieces, with the main chassis sitting over in the queue for Batman (I noticed that from the train). So maybe they are just worried about having guests too close to something they could get into. . . or maybe Batman was just having issues yesterday?

 

Across from Whirlygig they have now cleared out all the remaining foundation from the old Top Spin, and the ground looks ready for them to start installing the Joker pendulum ride – tho no sign of any work on that as of yesterday. The site appears ready to go now tho.

 

I made such good time getting thru lines, I actually went on things I have not been on in years (hello Boomerang). It was a walk on, so I did it. I think last time I rode this one was in 2015? Maybe even 2013. I’ll give it credit that there was no headbanging. Like at all. So that was nice, but at the end of the day, it’s still a Boomerang.

 

So likely will be another 5 years before I ride it again. . . LOL

 

Gully Washer is still drained, but other than that, Batman, and the kiddie teacups, everything else seemed to be staffed and running yesterday.

 

Even Bugs Bunny WhiteWater rapids – which has gotten even MORE ghetto, if you can believe it. I guess all the love that went into Pirates of the Deep Sea queue line, came out of Bugs’ queue line. Still almost all figures missing from the queue, although now the Yosemite Sam sleeping knight figure appears to be broken in half, with his legs leaning one direction, and the top half just propped against the wall in the other direction (if my phone hadn’t been safely put away in a plastic bag, I woulda taken a picture!). At least the sleeping dragon is still there, and the Dragon/Sam figure on the loading dock too. . but otherwise? Still bare and sad.

 

I got a log to myself, as there were very few folks wanting to ride today. The figures ON the ride are still there (unlike on Roadrunner Express), but the spitting Dragon wasn’t working on my ride – I asked and the operator told me they turned it off due to the colder weather. So the flume ride is still open, but they turned off a feature that can get a rider wet? Hmmm. . ok, Six Flags, now you’re working to my expectations. The camera during the drop didn’t flash, so I just assumed it didn’t work. . but that’s not the case! Apparently the flash simply doesn’t work. . .but they were selling the photos! LOL, so yeah, I got the worst, grainiest, picture because . . well, I have a photopass (she tried to lighten it up so you can actually, you know . . see me, but it just made it a little grainier).

 

Oh well. At least the Bug’s picture has a ride-unique frame available (as do WW, Superman, and RoadRunner. . Iron Rattler for some reason didn’t have that option when I downloaded the onride photos today)

 

I did take the opportunity to ask her if Six Flags had relaxed the rules about allowing people to take photos of the photos, and she said they are still supposed to ask people not to (but I did note the signs advising people not to were no longer there on this ride, or on Superman photo area). So make of that what you will.

 

After circling the park a couple of times, riding the train, and another stop at the carousel – which is back to playing classic carousel music, tho with a German tint, as it’s now in the German section, I was ready to head out. It was just after 5pm, so I had been in park for about 4 ½ hours, and ridden a LOT.

My friend had flaked, so no reason to stay to close at 8. So I headed back to the Rockville Mardi Gras area to get my Snack from dining plan - 3 foot long Cotton Candy (in Mardi Gras colors).

 

I saw them setting up the barriers for the parade, and noted that started at 6. I decided even tho it would be fun to see, it likely would just be the performers I had seen thruout the day anyways and headed to the front gates. Where I got stuck in a line (two people deep!) for over 20 mintues, so I could get scanned the “professional” pics onto my photopass.

A manager even apologized to me and the folks behind me in line. . . as he realized this was idiotic – tho note: he didn’t open up a 2nd window! LOL. . . ending on a very Six Flags Day.

 

once I finally got my photos scanned onto my card, it was about 5:40. . so I called Nick and told him that since I was still here, I was just going to go toss my cotton candy into the car (along with the six *full size* bags of Maltesers that were being handed out at the exit – it was funny, I guess she just had to work until they were gone, so everyone was getting handed multiple bags of the candy as they walked by), and then go back into the park to watch the parade.

 

I ended up being close, as I had parked way back in the lot, and by the time I did that and got back into the park (by this point they had closed all metal detectors other than 1, and only had one entry gate open. . .I don’t blame them, it was a slow day, but of course was behind someone who had to go thru the detector 3 times, and THEN had an issue getting their brand new pass processed at the gate.. LOL.. always something). . but I made it back in, and over to Rockville before they completely closed off the walkways for the parade route.

 

The parade starts in Rockville, and snakes thru the back of the park, ending by the Waterpark. And I again give the park credit for laying out clear markings where the parade route is, so folks can stay behind the barriers / painted lines, and enjoy. I’m sure it’s a huge help during crowded days.

Again, it worked in my favor that it was such a light day, as even tho I got there just before the start, was easily able to cross the route, and secure a great spot at the 1st turn. Just in time too, as moments after settling in? the brass band fired up and the parade started.

 

I was correct in that the parade featured pretty much every costumed character I had seen thruout the day (including both bands that had been playing on the Rockville and Los Festivales stages). . but the parade also included multiple floats, a couple of them really well designed, pulled along and carrying people tossing out THOUSANDS of Mardi Gras beads.

 

Just look how many beads I got, and remember I was near the very front of the route. Can you imagine how many beads they go thru each parade?

 

I noticed some signs near the front gate noting a guest can sign up to be a VIP guest and ride a float (wonder how much that costs), but it certainly did look like most of the people on the floats were not Castmembers. . but they all *did* look like they were having a ball.

 

very glad I stayed to watch, as it was more impressive than I had expected, and some of the floats have moving parts and were of a much better quality than I would have thought. Worth it to stay to watch if you get a chance to come out during the Mardi Gras festival.

 

after the parade passed (about 20 minutes long), they opened back up the walkways, and I – along with about ½ the guests still in the park, headed out to the parking lot.

 

The drive home wasn’t bad, although I did hit some rain in Kyle (and people don’t know how to drive in rain) so it took me closer to 2 hours to get home.

 

All in all tho, had a fantastic, and distracting day (didn’t think about Mom the whole day). Seriously, even with the hiccup at the photo-pass line, it was still the best day I think I’ve ever had at SFFT.

 

And I plan to be back again several times during the Mardi Gras celebration.

 

Now. . on to pics!

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I'm here at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. . .oooo. . I forgot I had been told the Mardi Gras festival was starting in Jan this year, since they are now a Year Round park.

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Interior signage is still just Six Flags Fiesta Texas tho :)

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Plenty of Mardi Gras photo ops around.

 

Why of COURSE, I shall play along

 

(I asked a cast member rushing to a restroom break - so he told me while dancing while taking the pictures - if he would snap a couple of pics for me. Don't worry, I gave him kudos in the survey when they ask if anyone went out of their way for me)

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ok.. I'll do a pic as the King too. . . . if I must :p

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Jester Daffy, and Royal Bugs & Lola!

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Poltergeist. complete walk on, tho still some delay due to size issues.

those trains really are NOT forgiving.

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What I'm here for, on the perfect, non-crowded day!

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oh my. . this queue looks amazing! really, really well done.

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theming! my camera really makes it look lighter than it is. .it's dark and misty down this hallway.

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Waterfall? in a Six Flags queue? Whaaaaaaaa?

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and color changing too!

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X marks the spot. . follow along on the treasure map, tho it's a big dark around here unless the video screen lights it up.

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what's that I see? an animatronic?

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yep. .he's explaining the story! did I wander into a Disney Queue by mistake?

 

very well done Six Flags Fiesta Texas!

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the treasure room just before boarding

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even the small details are taken care of

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the repainting of the old vehicles works really well. I don't really get "ship". .but it doesn't look like the Mystery Machine anymore

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and the "guns" are fantastic! bravo, even if hard to aim.

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entering the ride. . flying dutchman?

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blurry pirate flags

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stupid camera. . sorry for blurry :( , but thought y'all would want to get an idea of what's inside

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a couple of animatronics are in here. . . .

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but also a LOT of wooden cutouts.. that just bring the ride down a notch.

 

oh, it's still very good, but the queue is A+ and the ride theming is B-

 

(that's an A for Six Flags tho) :)

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cannons. . sorta kinda like PotC. . . .on a budget. but still cool to see.

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pop up Anamatronics in the bed, wood cutout in the mirror. . "best" of both worlds?

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a couple of scenes mix cut out figures, and video screen projections. Some work better than others, but overall, the best Dark Ride at Six Flags i've been on.

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loved this room at the end, even if I wish the figures weren't cut-outs.

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rating system at the end of the ride

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Jolly Roger hanging at the exit queue.

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Band playing some great Zydeco music at the central part of the Mardi Gras celebration: Rockville.

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not too crowded, but the street performers were out and having a blast.

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a listing of the food offerings on a hand out (but I took pics of the bigger signs in a moment if you wanna see pricing).

 

the other side of this is the parade route thru the park.

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more stilt walkers in the central plaza. There seemed to be a lot of them (at least 10-12) spread thruout the park. and they were all moving and dancing, and having a ball interacting with the people in the park.

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didn't get this guy's name, but this is a Six Flags professional pic

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a pic I took for Nick to show him how dead the park was today

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as is this one - Tweety and Sylvester dressed to party

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Boomerang.

 

yes, I rode it.

 

no, I'm not proud of that :p

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the space where Der Twister (Top Spin) used to be. . and where Joker Pendulum will be going!

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the old foundation is all cleared out and ready for construction to begin.

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even Whirlygig is finally getting some work done, after sitting idle for a few months. (the main chassis is back there on the left by Batman).

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Headed over to the Mardi Gras Festival area to grab some food!

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Not super crowded, but a stilt walker (playing trombone) is hanging out between band shows (on that stage down at the end)

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I do like a lot of the decorations in this area. they did a good job.

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the Sampler offering prices. . not a bad deal for those without meal plans

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the Drink options.

 

TGI Friday's prices. .but the drinks tho premixed, were served in fairly large glasses.

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the Gumbo I had.

not bad, tho I wish it had some seafood in it. You can tell it was popular by how much is left when he was scooping.

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but if you do have a meal plan? you're in luck! all the offerings are options (tho the seafood ones have an upcharge of a buck or two)

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more offerings

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and more (these are at the stands by Hustler)

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along with the desert options

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some of the desert offerings. the cheesecake was tempting too!

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Not a trip to SFFT without a ride on my bunny!

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I'm not the only one riding. . there is ONE little girl on the horse behind me. :)

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found a shark on the boardwalk! Left shark too. a Pirate is taking our picture..we all went Arrrrrrgh!

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and a 2nd Pirate joined me and the shark. . . Arrrrrrgh!

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this was adorable. . the little kid was minecraft swordfighting with one of the stilt performers

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and some ladies were out dancing along to the band too.

The castmembers really seemed to be having a blast (maybe because the event is only in it's 2nd weekend)

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from my perch for the parade, near the starting point

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and here it comes. .

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who doesn't love a parade? especially ones with lots of music and beads thrown?

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the floats were more impressive than I was expecting

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with many of them having moving parts

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everyone on the floats was having a ball dancing and throwing out beads.

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the Skull on the front of this one let out a shriek every time the mouth opened :)

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the drummers in the band that had been performing in the Los Festivales stage got to ride in style :)

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more stilt walkers in the parade

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big ol float themed to a riverboat. this thing was really impressive in person.

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the baton twirler who just DGaF.. I absolutely adored her. .she was having so much fun!

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the finale float with King Bugs, and Queen Lola.. complete with confetti bombs.

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the parade just ended. . I got "beaded"

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and this is less than those around me got, since I was using one hand to take pictures thruout the parade :)

 

good job Six Flags!

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Headed out the lights started to come on, so snapped a quick carousel picture.

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out of order, but my 3feet of cotton candy, in yellow, Purple, Green

Edited by bert425
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and since I maxed out the pics in the post above. . LOL. . here are the "bordered" offical pics.

 

(other than Iron Rattler, which apparently doesn't have a border avail. for photopass download)?

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this pic is bad enough by itself, but with the border, you can't even see me. . LOL

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Great report! One thing that I find interesting is that they brought the pirate animatronic from Creative Enginnering, the same company that created the Rock aFire Explosion formerly found at Showbiz Pizza Place.

 

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I’m probably the only one who cares about facts like this

Six Flags also purchased a retrofitted Fatz animatronic for fright fest

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Fantastic photos! Six Flags Fiesta Texas has always been reeeally high on my US bucket list for parks

 

thanks! you should come! It's a relatively small park, but there is a fantastic variety of coasters & rides. and if you come during summer months, when the waterpark section is open it is easily a full day park.

 

I will note that even tho this is the 1st year they are open year round (weekends only on "off season" tho), it does seem they aren't really bothering with any "Shows" in any of Fiesta's multiple theater spaces on the off season.

 

tho there are temporary stages set up for bands to play in Rockville and in the main plaza.

 

I suspect that once April/May rolls around for what used to be the standard Season (and waterpark opens), we'll start seeing the "big" shows come back to the 4 "show theaters" (Rockville High & Zaragoza theater are large indoor spaces that have full on productions, while Los Festivales amphitheater, and the amphitheater in Crackaxle are both medium size outdoor spaces with live bands performing and what looked like an animal act stage set up (in the crackaxle one)).

There's also a smaller stage area in Kidzopolis for the Looney Tunes show, as well as a similar stage set up in the front of Sangerfest Hall (dining room for the main food court) which they use for music and smaller shows.

 

So if you enjoy seeing the shows, and hit it during summer? can easily be a 2 day park.

 

 

Wow Fiesta Texas added more theming for Pirates than I expected. Great report!

 

Thanks! yeah, I was really impressed how immersive and just how well done the theming in the queue was done!

As noted, the ride itself relies way too much on painted wooden cut-outs, with a couple of animatronics, and projection screens . . . but just the queue elevates it so much!

 

 

Great report! One thing that I find interesting is that they brought the pirate animatronic from Creative Enginnering, the same company that created the Rock aFire Explosion formerly found at Showbiz Pizza Place.

 

I’m probably the only one who cares about facts like this

Six Flags also purchased a retrofitted Fatz animatronic for fright fest

 

That IS interesting that it's the same folks that did Showbiz. . and now that you mentioned that, I can kinda see that in the movements the pirate guy was making. that's funny!

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meant to post these, and forgot.

 

the "unframed" pics from Roadrunner (which is hysterical, and I never realized how cool the angle of the coaster during the pic is, since I never have gotten a pic from the ride before), and the Bug's Bunny Rapids, in all it's "glory"

 

LOL

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Roadrunner Express. . .

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all alone. . and yes, I sang:

 

"I'm alone in a loooooooog fluuuuuuuuumeeeeee" much to the amusement of the employee sitting at the top of the 1st drop :)

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an Iron Rattler back row pic.

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Six Flags sure loves their stilt walkers! I do love that Mardi Gras event (although ours in St. Louis is in July). Fun photos (and that log flume one is hilarious in how it cropped you out of it).

 

LOL.. yeah, it was so bad, I'm sure they didn't sell a single one! No idea why they haven't fixed the camera. . but then again, they haven't fixed any of the figures in the queue!

 

if I hadn't had a new photopass, wouldn't have bothered, but for me now, the worse they are the more likely I wanna get it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great updates! The pirates ride redo looks great! I wonder why they didn't just advertise that as the new for 2019 attraction, seeing as they just received a major thrill attraction, so advertising a family friendly ride would seem like the logical next step, especially such a good one. Six Flags is wierd

 

Also:

Poltergeist’s trains really are VERY unforgiving

Are there any notable differences between Poltergeist and Jokers Jinx's trains? My dad, who is a big guy who often has trouble fitting on some rides, actually said he found JJ's restraints to be among the comfiest and easiest to get into (in SFA). Very interesting...

 

I look forward to the next update!

Edited by JG-77
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Great updates! The pirates ride redo looks great! I wonder why they didn't just advertise that as the new for 2019 attraction, seeing as they just received a major thrill attraction, so advertising a family friendly ride would seem like the logical next step, especially such a good one. Six Flags is wierd

 

 

 

thanks.

 

Pirates of Deep Sea had been announced for 2018 - Thrill Coaster (WW), and Family Dark Ride both coming same season.

 

but due to issues, it just wasn't ready to go in 2018 (another minor point is they were storing the carousel horses (which had gotten a major re-paint when they tore down Amerigoround to move it so they could build Wonder Woman gift shop/entrance plaza in that area). . so they couldn't open until they got the Carousel back up, since the horses were all being stored in there.

 

the Dark Ride really made a lot of progress once the Carousel opened back up. . at least to my eyes.

 

so anyways, that's why they didn't announce it for 2019, since it was announced for 2018.

the big ride for 2019, is the Joker's pendulum ride. . so we're getting another thrill ride, on top of this "bonus" ride

 

Also:
Poltergeist’s trains really are VERY unforgiving

Are there any notable differences between Poltergeist and Jokers Jinx's trains? My dad, who is a big guy who often has trouble fitting on some rides, actually said he found JJ's restraints to be among the comfiest and easiest to get into (in SFA). Very interesting...

 

Joker's Jinx and Poltergeist have the same exact trains -- but what causes the problems is the side seat belt connection.

you MUST be able to click that seat belt onto the side. .and not every body type lets that happen.

 

not to be crass. .but those with bigger gut, seem to have no issue, but some who are larger on top (larger chest on men or women), it's hard to get the restraint low enough to get the side seatbelt to click.

 

I don't think I've *ever* had a ride on Poltergeist where at least one person had to exit the train. and it's not always the larger guests one would think would have an issue.

 

heck, *I* have a hard time getting it to click myself, and need the operator to click it (the angle is funky for me). But have always been able to ride it.

 

hope that clarifies some?

Edited by bert425
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