mightypotato Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 (edited) Two years ago, I decided to take the plunge and went on my first TPR trip. I loved it so much, I decided to do another one whenever I could. When Outlaw Run and Iron Rattler got announced, then I heard that TPR was hitting all three RMC coasters, I knew I absolutely had to do this trip. Despite two of the RMC coasters being closed, I still had an absolutely fantastic time with both old and new friends. But as always, I'll get to all those "final thoughts" type things at the end of this report. So...let's get this party started! THE DAVE THOMAS DISCLAIMER™: I like to write my full park experience the best I can, so prepare for some word reading. Part 1: Six Flags Fiesta Texas (you are here) Part 2: Sea World San Antonio (Page 2) Part 3: Six Flags Over Texas/Texas State Fair (Page 2) Part 4: Magic Springs (Page 3) Part 5: Silver Dollar City (Page 3) Part 6: City Museum (this place is so awesome, it deserves its own part) Part 7: Six Flags St. Louis Part 8: Wisconsin Dells + BONUS PARK! Part 9: Six Flags Great America Part 10: Cedar Point ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Part 1: Six Flags Fiesta Texas We arrived early to the park on what was already a very hot day. We met up with the higher ups at the park who gave us the expected bad news that Iron Rattler was indeed closed and wouldn't be opening any time soon. But, then they gave us the good news that we got morning ERT on Superman Krypton Coaster, Poltergeist and Pandemonium! Talk about turning lemons into lemonade! We made our way to the back of the park for the first coaster of the trip, Superman Krypton Coaster. This is a very unique floorless coaster than interacts very well with the quarry walls. It still has the "B&M cookie cutter" element order (minus diveloop), but it just seems...better. I guess setting really makes all the difference in the world. Plus, this one still has forces. I really enjoyed the ride and can say without hesitation that it's my favourite floorless coaster. After many rides on Superman, we made our way over to Poltergeist, the park's Premier spaghetti bowl coaster. After riding this, I've been on all 4 Premier spaghetti bowls, and out of them I prefer this one. It seemed to have a bit more of a kick in the launch and doesn't come to a complete stop on the MCBR like the FoF clones do. Still, I really shudder to think about how bad this would have been with OTSR's...this thing definitely whips you around during the ride. We only got one ride in on Poltergeist during ERT before leaving to grab our Q-Bot. Q-Bot obtained, we made our way over to the first of many Gerstlauer spinners on this trip, Pandemonium. This particular Pandemonium was one of those Tony Hawk's Big Spin rides and it still has all of the old theming...or at least Six Flags' attempt at it. There are random half pipes and skateboarders all over the ride. It doesn't quite make a lot of sense, but if you've got it, you might as well use it. Anyways, back to the ride itself. It's your standard Gerstlauer spinner, fun but not too intense (unless you find that lucky balance). We didn't find that balance during our ERT rides, but we definitely did later in the day and spun like crazy. So...ERT was done. Now what? Well, seeing how it was incredibly hot outside already, we decided to use our Q-Bots on the Scooby Doo dark ride which became known as "Air Conditioning: The Ride". Whenever we needed a break from the heat, we would go take a ride on Scooby Doo and enjoy the A/C. Now, as for the ride? It was ok. Not the best shooting dark ride I've been on, but it was your standard Scooby Doo/Boo Blasters type affair. Definitely something you could ride multiple times in a day and not get bored of. After Scooby Doo, I realized that I was at 199 credits. The choices for my 200th credit were Goliath, the park's Batman clone, Boomerang or Kiddee Koaster. Naturally, we chose Kiddee Koaster. What made it even better was that when we were lining up for it, the rest of the line was also TPR people who have no shame. In fact, the ride that I was on was a complete TPR takeover. Good job guys! I actually regret not buying the on ride photo because it would have been hilarious. With my 200th credit safely secured, we made our way over to a far better ride, Goliath. Batman clones would be a recurring theme on this trip, with 5 on offer over the course of the trip. This particular Batman was a mirrored version with only 7 cars, much like the kick-ass one at La Ronde. However, this one wasn't as good as the La Ronde one. Don't get me wrong, the ride is still fantastic and packs a good punch, but it felt like it was lacking something. Not sure what it was, but it just didn't hook me in like most Batman clones tend to do. After Goliath, we made our way to the air conditioned lunch being put on by the park. The food was good (for park food), but the real highlight was beer. Glorious beer! And not just your usual Miller Light stuff, but actual beer like Shiner Bock. The beer really hit the spot and got us ready for the rest of the day. After lunch, we still needed to finish up our credits before the Iron Rattler walkback, so we begrudgingly went to Boomerang. What else can I really say about it? It was a Boomerang, it punches you a few times and you go backwards. Hurrah. For the last of our credits, we made our way to the park's surprising mine train, Road Runner Express. It was actually really good! It was definitely a nice surprise finding a mine train like this. The drops were nice and the various helices gave some nice forces. Overall, it was a very fun ride and one of the best mine trains I've been on. Credits obtained, we decided to see what else the park had to offer. We made our way over to Sky Screamer, the park's Starflyer. I think I finally got used to the Starflyers on this trip as this one didn't terrify me like the one at SFGAdv did last year. Instead, I found this to be relaxing and the views you got were nice. I also enjoyed just peeking up above the quarry walls, it was definitely well placed by the park. So...the log flume. This park has a pretty decent log flume with a few good drops and nice interaction with the path (over and under the path? What madness is this?!). But...there are some surprises along the way. Namely, a dragon that squirts water at you and keeps following you as you make your way to the next lift. Both times we rode the flume, the dragon seemed to lock itself on to me, soaking me. Speaking of soaked, on our first ride, I foolishly chose the front seat. As we came off the second lift, the front end dipped a bit, causing water to flood in over the top and sides. Again...soaked. But then, just when I thought everything was fine and I would stay dry, we decided to ride the rapids ride. I don't know what it is, but I seem to have a magnetic attraction to the waterfalls on these rides. Every time I ride a rapids ride, I always get bulls-eyed by the waterfalls. This one was no exception. So, I was soaked...still yet again. After drying off for the final time, it was time for our Iron Rattler walkback! We got some great views at the bottom of the first drop and then the park took us up in a van to the top of the quarry walls were we could walk around the crazy curves at the top of the ride. It was really bittersweet being up there. Just looking at it, you can see how insane and fun it would be, but you knew you couldn't ride it. Ah well...gives me a reason to come back! We re-rode a few things, then made our way to our VIP (i.e., the front of the grass) seats for Lone Star Nights, the park's light and fireworks show. The only word that can describe this show is "$TEXAS". The whole show was about how awesome Texas is, but mainly San Antonio. Easily the best part of the show is when God himself hammers Texas into the world. Amazing. Also, as a really cool thing to do, the park put TPR's name up on the rock wall just before the show started! After the show ended, the park gave us still yet even more ERT on Superman and Sky Screamer! Both rides were even better at night, with Superman running fantastic. I stayed on Superman for the majority of the ERT session and had an absolute blast. All in all, we had a fantastic day at the park, despite Iron Rattler being down. The park staff was extremely friendly and went out of their way to show us a good time. I definitely appreciate all the perks and little things they did for us. And now, pictures! First park of the trip! We are very important people, apparently. First up, ERT on Superman! Huuuuuuuuge vertical loop! Very cool interactions with the cliff walls! Zero-G! The park ran two trains, which meant zero waits. Hurray! Poltergeist also ran two trains! Still no waits! Hurray! Mmmmmm...spaghetti Twisty! Oh yeah...there was also a combo tower here. It was decent enough. Preparing to get spinny... You are here. Noted. My 200th credit...ultimate shame. Ba-na-na-na-na-na-na...Goliath! Yeah...that doesn't have the same ring to it. Still a fun ride though. More hot zero-G action Oh. Goodie. You've been on one, you've been on all of 'em. This was a nice little surprise! Don't go chasing waterfalls...stick to the rivers and the streams that you're used to. Superman from the train ride I always loved the look of interlocking corkscrews Sploosh! That stupid dragon... I'm glad I'm no longer terrified of these things The worst part? There's a reason this sign is here. TEXAS! Time to walk back! *cries* It just looks so awesome! I really need to get back to San Antonio... I bet this part is fun... Gorgeous! The track bends in ways no track should. Amazing. More curvy goodness Oh, I'll be back. Poltergeist from the ferris wheel at night Yay fireworks! Sky Screamer by night! DVD Bonus Extra - Lone Star Nights video! Next up: Sea World San Antonio! Edited October 14, 2013 by mightypotato Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kailisun98 Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Wow! Seems like you really had a blast at SFFT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatle11 Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Lol, stupid dragon! I had forgotten about that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Dippin' Dots crazy day! I love that park. Thanks for reminding me about the stupid dragon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkeyman18 Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 That Freaking Dragon..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sportsdude360 Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Take my word for it, Iron Rattler rides just as awesome as it looks! Now that it's open again you definitely need to get back down to San Antonio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperShawn Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 I also forgot about that horrible but awesome Dragon! Thanks for the reminder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatle11 Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 I am Texas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 Nice start to the report. I love the setting of SFFT. A bummer that IR was closed but that just gives everyone a reason to go back to the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteornotes Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 I really liked this park the one time I visited. Sucks that Iron Rattler was closed for your visit, but at least the park made an effort to make it up to the group. THE DAVE THOMAS DISLAIMER™: I like to write my full park experience the best I can, so prepare for some word reading. Ice Bat & I greatly approve of this. Actually, I'm stunned anyone even reads my reports. This may inspire me to post a new one... dt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barge84 Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 That Freaking Dragon..... Agreed. Stupid dragon. He soaked our entire boat. Although, there were a couple people in the front row that got a little bit more wet than the rest of us. Can't remember who they were... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypotato Posted August 28, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2013 Part 2: Sea World San Antonio The next stop on our adventure took us just across town from the hotel to Sea World San Antonio. For some reason, I always forgot about this park when talking about Sea World. I always think of Orlando and San Diego, never this one. Funny that, because this place was actually pretty darn good! We arrived bright and early in the already hot morning (you might notice a pattern here until we leave the south) and were escorted to the back of the park for our first of three ERT sessions. Yep...you heard right, out of the four coasters at the park, we had ERT on three of them. Now that's starting the day off right. Our first ERT was on Journey to Atlantis, the park's water "coaster". Now, I could open a big can of worms and start to question whether this ride counts as a credit or not. Ah what the hell...*grabs can opener*. So...while I do count this as a credit, I can definitely see why some people don't. Hell, I'm even close to not calling it a credit. I guess what does it for me is that little coaster section (and I do mean little). Since it's gravity driven, I count it. Your mileage may vary. Anyways, for the ride itself? It's a lame coaster, but a decent splash boat. It most definitely provided an "acceptable amount of wetness" without really getting too drenched. The backwards coaster section seemed rather pointless and to be honest, was kind of lame. During our ERT ride, as we approached the second turntable, the ride decided it didn't want to work anymore. I'm not sure how long we were stuck up there waiting at the top of the drop, but we all had a good laugh. It was even better when we all started cheering when the ride came back up and we started to go down the drop. Now that I was acceptably moist, it was time to hit up ERT coaster #2 of the day, Steel Eel! Much like how I always forget about this Sea World, I always tend to forget about this Morgan hyper. And you know what? That's a damn shame, because this ride was great! It provided very nice floater airtime throughout the entire course. I'm pretty sure I spent more time just floating than I did sitting in the train. They were only running one train for ERT, but they were working pretty quickly, so there was never really much of a line. I also really dig the funky supports that the ride has. It kind of reminds me of something I would make in No Limits because I have no idea what I'm doing. After Steel Eel, we made our way over to our last ERT coaster, Great White. This is another Batman clone, but not mirrored like Goliath was. I actually preferred this one over Goliath. Not sure what it was, but I felt like this had some better pops of the positive g's in the second half of the ride. I definitely stayed on for a while and got quite a few rides. It always blows me away just how right B&M got it on the first attempt at an inverted coaster. With ERT safely behind us, it was time to get to the sad and pathetic part of the day, Shamu Express. Not really much to say about it. It's a junior kiddie and I felt bad for riding it. After we got our Shamu Express credits, it was more or less time for lunch. After we finished eating, we had some special visitors from the park. They brought out a bird (I really can't remember what kind of bird), a snake and a lemur! Animals! Cool! We got to get up close and personal with the animals which is always very neat. Easily the star of the three was the lemur who had everyone's attention for quite a while. I mean...how often do you get to see one? After lunch, we decided to do the "Sea" part of Sea World and did a bunch of the animal exhibits. Our first stop took us over to the penguin encounter where we saw...penguins. I love penguins and was very happy watching them walk around and swim in their habitat. It was kind of a shame that they were in winter mode, so it was kept dark in the room. But, whatever is best for the animals comes first. Also in the same building were puffins and such. We stayed there for a while and watched them swim around and dive into the water. It also helped that the building was air conditioned. Next, we figured "what's the point of going to Sea World without seeing some shows?". We made our way over to Cannery Row Capers, the park's sea lion show. When we got there, they had a warm up act doing his thing for the crowd. Yes, that's right. A warm up act at a theme park show. The guy was actually pretty decent and provided good entertainment while we waited for the show to start. Cannery Row Capers is basically a detective themed comedy show, but with sea lions. It was pretty entertaining and gave us all a good laugh or two. Plus, there was a huge walrus at the end. And I mean HUGE. So, it gets points for that. Leaving the theatre, we made our way over to the shark/coral reef exhibit at the front of the park. It was pretty cool seeing a bunch of sharks, but the best part was seeing a diver go into the tank to feed the fish and various rays in the tank. At one point, it turned into a bit of a feeding frenzy with the rays. It was very cool to see, despite it being simple. Another thing you pretty much have to do at a Sea World park is see the Shamu show. So, we made our way to the VERY back of the park to get to the Shamu theatre. At a normal park, that wouldn't be too bad of a thing, but Sea World San Antonio is a HUGE park and everything is very spread out. It actually feels like there's a lot of dead space or places that could be better used. If I had one complaint about the park, that would be it. Anyway, we made our way to the Shamu show and watched some killer whales do some jumps and flips and the like. Out of the two shows we saw that day, I actually preferred the sea lion show, but both were quite good. After seeing Shamu, we made our way allllllllllll the way back to the front of the park and got back on the bus to take us to Dallas. I had a great time at Sea World San Antonio. It was a nice change seeing all the animals and going to the shows instead of running from ride to ride. I definitely think this place is overlooked, which is a shame because it was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of said fun! Arriving at Sea World! Pretty! Ker-sploosh! First ride of the day! See? It's totally a credit...*cough* Further sploosh Next up was some Morgan hypercoaster goodness TPR people enjoying the first drop Floaty! The back seemed popular on this ride... ROBOSHARK! Has that been made into a SyFy movie yet? This was the only picture I got of the ride...for some reason. Noted! Sad and/or pathetic. Take your pick. Remember that scene in Hannibal where Ray Liotta eats his own brain? This reminded me of that. Lemur! Bird! I'm not afraid of ghosts, I'm not afraid of sharks, I'm not afraid of cancer, I'm just afraid of snakes! They really creep me out! Where are their arms and legs? It's not OK! (that's for all 3 of you Bob's Burgers fans) Water skiers practicing water skiing Penguins! Puffins! Warm up act to the sea lion show Sea lions! He's on the case! That is a huge walrus! This was a fun show Non robotic sharks! Fish in a tube Sea horses Feeding the fish Feeding the rays Flamingo! The Shamu theatre There's the star of the park! Lots of jumps and such They would occasionally get up on the platforms and spin around for a bit Awwwww...baby whale! Next up: Six Flags Over Texas/Texas State Fair! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kailisun98 Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 I wonder why the killer whales's dorsal fins look so droopy with the exception of the baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyyyper Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 I wonder why the killer whales's dorsal fins look so droopy with the exception of the baby. I'm guessing they're top-heavy. They stay up perfectly in the dense water, but have no resistance in the air and flop down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sportsdude360 Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 I haven't ridden Steel Eel since 2000. I remember it having a lot of air time but I also remember it having a herky-jerky feel. It kinda reminded me of Magnum XL200 at CP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypotato Posted September 6, 2013 Author Share Posted September 6, 2013 Part 3: Six Flags Over Texas/Texas State Fair Leaving San Antonio behind us, our group of adventurers made its way across the state to Dallas. But before we could get to any parks, we had some business to take care of. Namely, the international snack exchange! These are always fun events where we get to try different tasty treats from around the world. And I really do mean around the world! We had snacks coming from all over the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and even China! We are certainly a diverse group. My favourites were Bill's super hot habenero brownies and Stacy's Jack Daniels balls. Delicious. The next morning, we made our way across the street to Six Flags Over Texas. We didn't have any ERT at the park, which was disappointing, but the park let us in early to head back to the Mr. Freeze area before the park opened. So, that was at least nice of them. Tragically, that would be the last nice thing the park did for us. So, Mr. Freeze. This was both my first Mr. Freeze and backwards launch (unless you count that one part of Mummy or impulse coasters, whatever) and I really liked it! The inverted top hat was awesome, providing both hang time and airtime somehow. Staring straight down the vertical spike with only the lapbar was also very cool. It was a refreshing change of pace being on a Premier launched coaster that wasn't either a Flight of Fear or Italian Job clone. Mr. Freeze is definitely my favourite model of theirs. Afterwards, we hit up the park's new hotness for 2013, Texas Sky Screamer, a 400 foot tall Starflyer. For being 400 feet tall, it was really tame. I never felt like I was that high up in the air. It might have been that there is really no frame of reference around you to get a sensation of height. For instance, in San Antonio, you have the cliff walls or at SFGAdv, there is the ferris wheel. I actually found the ride to be pretty relaxing. I think with this ride, I finally got over my fear of Starflyers. We wanted to ride Judge Roy Scream next since it wasn't on Flash Pass, but it was closed. Boo-urns. So, we instead made our way over to mine train corner, home of Runaway Mine Train and Mini Mine Train! Runaway Mine Train is one of those "ACE landmark plaque" rides since it's the very first mine train built. For being as old as it is, it was still a good bit of fun and provides a really good pop of airtime that I wasn't expecting near the end. Mini Mine Train is well...a mini mine train. It's the same model as the one at La Ronde, only you don't need a kid to ride. A credit's a credit, so we rode it and were done with it. After grabbing a quick ride on the park's S&S combo tower, we made our way over to the second Pandemonium credit of the trip. We ended up spinning quite a bit on this ride, which when added to the extreme heat of the day, didn't really sit well with us. Let this be a lesson, really hot day + spinning = no fun. Wanting to take a bit of a break, we ventured out in search of an air conditioned ride. Our quest was completed when we made our way to Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure, the park's indoor dark/water ride. Now, this was most definitely old school! You just float through the various scenes of Bugs Bunny and company fighting Yosemite Sam, but it was really enjoyable. I like these types of rides and it's a shame you really don't see them anymore. Well...or they get ruined like the one in Kennywood did. You still suck, Garfield. Now, the park has the first mine train, but did you also know that it has the first log flume as well? You did. Oh. Well, way to steal my thunder. El Aserradero was the first log flume made and the source of absolute hilarity and embarrassment for our group. For some unknown reason, the ride op thought it would be a good idea to send the four of us out in a single log. Now...we're not the slimmest people in the world. So, not only were we uncomfortably close, but when they tried to dispatch us, the log just sunk to the bottom of the trough. Being the persistent people they are, they kept raising and lowering us over and over again until we eventually dispatched successfully. But the fun wasn't done there! While we were going through the flume, there were times when it definitely felt like the log was going to tip over. It was terrifying, uncomfortable and a bit awesome. After getting off the log flume and vowing never to talk about it again (a vow I clearly just broke, sorry guys), we hit up the park's bobsled coaster, La Vibora. La Vibora is an Intamin bobsled with one abreast seating. I really don't care much for Intamin bobsleds and none of the three I've been on have been very good. You really had to hold on to avoid getting rocked in the brakes and it was just...boring. On our ride, we broke up into two groups of two. On the ride I was on, there was a kid in the front seat. The instant we pulled into the station, he just climbed out of the restraint and hopped out of the train to our bewilderment. No one tried to stop him or anything. Next up was the park's hypercoaster, Titan. I was really looking forward to this ride, especially the bonus helix which I had heard kicks all sorts of butt. As it turns out...it DOES kick all sorts of butt! The first drop didn't really do much for me and I really didn't find much (if any) airtime, but those positive g's...WOW. The bonus helix was probably the most intense helix I've experienced. When we hit the MCBR, all I could say was "holy crap, that ruled". The rest of the ride also provided great forces, especially in the Goliath helix. If you like positive g's, this is definitely the coaster for you! Remembering that we still hadn't ridden Batman yet, we went and rode Batman. This was the third Batman clone in three days for us. I'm really running out of things to say about these things. It was intense and fun. Go Batman. When we got off Batman, it was time to make our way back to the hotel and catch the bus for the Texas State Fair. When the NTAG accident happened and Shockwave went down, Robb and Elissa worked their magic and got us some time at a bonus park! The vast majority of us left Six Flags early to go check out the State Fair. And...holy crap, did that place rule! We were immediately met at the park by very enthusiastic employees who gave us all leis (probably the first time in a long while a lot of us have gotten lei'd), free bottles of water and all you can ride cards. For most of us, the first stop was the park's 500(!) foot tall observation tower. From inside the gondola, you got great views of the park, downtown Dallas and the Cotton Bowl. Plus, being 500 feet up in the air is damn cool. After the tower, we went in search of the park's three credits. First up was their Wacky Worm clone. This was my first Wacky Worm, believe it or not. I don't know how I went so long without riding one. But the star of the park was just up next. We made our way over to Jungle Twist. When we saw it from the tower, it looked like a really small, lame kiddie spinning coaster. We were wrong. Dear god, we were wrong. I have NEVER spun more in my life than I did on this ride. I don't know what it was...but this ride was "holy crap" insane. Words really can't do the ride justice. I hope someone got video of the ride in action because...damn. Remember what I said about heat and spinning being a bad combination? It most certainly was after Jungle Twist! So, we cooled off by going into the awesomely named Island of Cats and Dogs to watch the dog show. It was a bunch of dogs doing frisbee tricks and racing eachother. It was fun and a nice break from the heat. Afterwards, we got our last credit, Windstorm. Windstorm has a unique feature that other rides don't have...a water tunnel! Granted, this water tunnel is just the ride op spraying you with a hose, but whatever. The friendliness and humour of the ride ops at Windstorm really made me enjoy the ride that much more. I mean, it's just a portable Windstorm, but I loved it. Looking for things to do next, we went into the Bubble House, the park's fun house. We came into one room that had a really sad bubble machine and were like "oh, that's it? That's kind of lame". Little did we know that at the end of the attraction was a room just covered and overflowing with bubbles. The bubbles were well past my ankles and about halfway up my shins. Awesome and wholly wacky. Speaking of wacky, the park also has a ghost house! In said ghost house are really awesome (if cheesy) rooms with mirrors, tinfoil and psychedelic paintings. Again...awesome. During our wandering, we noticed that the park has a skyride. We like skyrides and thought we should ride this. Immediately upon entering the gondola, we realized the terrible mistake we had just made. These gondolas were fully enclosed with only small windows and no air conditioning. It was no skyride. It was the Texas Sweat Lodge. Oh yeah...and it's a loooooong skyride as well. But, despite the heat (or maybe because of it) we had a blast and were laughing about it the entire time. We even pointed and laughed at other people riding it on the return trip back to the station. After finishing up the rides, we had a nice dinner of pizza and more beer, then sadly had to leave. I had an absolute blast at the State Fair Park. Everyone was extraordinarily friendly and the place was really nice. I would definitely go back if I ever make it back down to Dallas. It definitely kicked the crap out of Six Flags. Speaking of Six Flags, once we finished at the State Fair, some of us went back into the park to get any missed credits. I went back in to get my Judge Roy Scream credit and another quick ride on Mr. Freeze. After that, I took off and crashed at the hotel. I really wanted to like Six Flags Over Texas and I had heard so many good things about it. But...it just kind of sucked. The staff were rude, inattentive or just didn't care and the operations were definitely not the best. I don't know if we caught them on the mother of all off days, but it was not a good experience. And it's not like you can blame it on NTAG and Shockwave being down. The staff at SFFT were still great and the park went out of their way to show us a good time. The whole thing was really disappointing. But...thank god for the State Fair Park! They know how to have a good time! And now because I'm sure you're tired of my rambling...pictures! Welcome to the La Quinta Inn. Please do not molest me. Thanks. Arriving at Six Flags Over Texas on the hottest day ever. Seriously...it was like "surface of the sun" hot. Our first stop of the day Inverted top hats rule This part was very cool as well Still more Mr. Freeze It definitely did not seem like 400 feet tall... Choose your destiny... Historic and junk Superma: Tower of Pow! Another panda coaster Spinny spinny OH GOD WHAT IS THAT? KILL IT WITH FIRE! ...really? Rackinfrackin' no good rotten... I hate rabbits... Four adults + 1 boat = hilarity! It was a decent flume though La Vibrator While it's not the best ride, it does look pretty! *sigh* Again, to be so close and yet so far was sad. I bet this would be fun This part too Here's a ride we did ride though! Full of bonus helix goodness Crazy intense g's! I guess from here it looks 400 feet tall... This was the third Batman...so I guess this one is Batman Forever then? 'Merica! 500 foot tall observation tower at the State Fair! This huge ferris wheel? Absolutely dwarfed by the tower. Downtown Dallas The Cotton Bowl! Crazy stilwalker people having fun with people at the park Bubbles! Returning to Six Flags at night I did like the lights on the entrance to Mr. Freeze Next up: Magic Springs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historyfreak92 Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 I love the Six Flags Over Texas photos, makes me want to go! By the way, Confederacy doesn't mean bad, it just the South! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Zo Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Low pay, long hours, danger everywhere... you sure that's not just an ad for employment at SFOT? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawlessBagel Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Great to see your photos Matt. I really need to start posting my trip reports and photos. I'll finally have some time this week. Although I Haven't decide of I'm going to go to SFNE/Quassy next weekend though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Cool Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 I wonder why the killer whales's dorsal fins look so droopy with the exception of the baby. It's because of them being in captivity. Awesome photos so far, looked like a great trip to be on!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypotato Posted September 15, 2013 Author Share Posted September 15, 2013 Part 4: Magic Springs Following our day in Dallas, our group woke up at a stupidly early time to get on the bus for 5:30am to make our way to Magic Springs. After a long drive through Texas and Arkansas, we made our way to Magic Springs! When we arrived at the park, we were all given free souvenir bottles with unlimited refills! Since it was still stupidly hot outside, it was needed and appreciated. We didn't have any ERT at the park since it was more or less a "run in, run out" quick credit stop. But, the park was definitely helpful in getting our rides in! Our first stop was the park's woodie, Arkansas Twister. This ride was...interesting. It was smooth in the parts where it should be rough and was rough in the parts where it should be smooth. For instance, at the bottom of the drops, it was smooth and fine, but cresting any hill, it started to jackhammer. Mild jackhammering aside, it was a pretty fun ride and is a good fit for the park. Something not too intense, but not really boring. Also, the ride op here was either jacked up on caffeine or cocaine, was insane or all of the above. She was...different, lol. Our next stop took us down the massive hill the park is built on and to X-Coaster, one of those crazy Mauer-Sohne Skyloops. This ride was supposed to be gone for this year, but was given a reprieve. Hurrah. We lined up and as we were making our way to the station...it broke. And it didn't sound like it would be going back up any time soon. No matter, there are still other credits to hit. We walked by the kiddie credit which had a huge line...the vast majority of which were TPR members and made our way to the park's SLC, Hangman. What else can I really about Vekome SLC's? It was shaky, rough and not that good. So, pretty par for the course. Happily though, this was the only SLC we had on the trip. Thank god for small miracles. While we were getting off the SLC, we saw that X-Coaster was running again, so we made our way back over to get our ride. This ride scared the crap out of me. I absolutely HATE vertical lifts. Not sure why, but they really freak me out. So, going up the 150' lift was not very pleasant. However, the upside down part of the lift was pretty damn awesome. The restraints actually felt more secure than I thought they would, so it was enjoyable. The twist/dive back down into the station was neat, but the highlight was definitely the inverted lift. After successfully riding X-Coaster, we tried to get on the kiddie credit, but it was broken. So, it looked like we were going to miss out on the ride since we only really had time for lunch and then to leave. After lunch, we were making our way back out of the park and ran into Elissa who said we had an extra half hour at the park! Guess where we went? Yep...the kiddie coaster. Guess what? It was still broken! So, we were guaranteed to not get the credit. Kind of a shame, but no big deal. Instead of riding the kiddie credit, we made our way to the park's awesomely named S&S shot tower, Dr. Dean's Scream Machine. It was a fun little tower, with a good pop of airtime at the top. But...once the ride finished it broke, trapping us for a few minutes. We had a good laugh imagining missing the bus because we were stuck on the tower, but were let off pretty quickly and made our way to the front of the park to meet up with the group. All in all, I had a good time at Magic Springs. It's a nice little park with some nice rides (and unique in X-Coaster). The only downside to the park is the steep hill you need to climb down to get further into the park and climb up to leave the park. But, that's just because I'm lazy. We got back on the bus and made our way to Missouri for our night at Silver Dollar City. More to come on that later. And now, pictures! Arriving at Magic Springs! They had a pretty nice waterpark. Kind of a shame we didn't have time to do some of it. First coaster of the day! They call it Arkansas Twister, but it doesn't really "twist" Dr. Dean and his rocket machine! X-Coaster! Terrifying, yet fun Wait for the *ker-chunk*! Twisty! Still yet more X-Coaster Random pirate show Oh. Goodie. Not the worst SLC I've been on, but it still wasn't very good Next up: Silver Dollar City! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatle11 Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 After getting off the log flume and vowing never to talk about it again (a vow I clearly just broke, sorry guys)... The sad thing is, that was probably the most fun we had at SFOT. I probably would never have gotten to Arkansas if it wasn't included on the trip, so that was definitely a nice stop. The X Coaster is definitely terrifying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypotato Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 Part 5: Silver Dollar City We left Magic Springs and made our way across Arkansas and into Missouri for our night at Silver Dollar City. Originally, we weren't going to have a night here and would have night ERT on Outlaw Run the following day. But, SDC was trying out their Moonlight Madness event that night, keeping the park open until midnight. So, instead they gave us park admission and Outlaw Run ERT the night before! This was just the start of the awesomeness that SDC bestowed upon us. We arrived in Branson, where it is EXACTLY like the Simpsons say, "like Las Vegas, if it were run by Ned Flanders" and made our way up some winding roads to get to Silver Dollar CIty. Like most people, our first stop was Outlaw Run, but the line was still pretty long, so we decided to grab some of the other credits in the park. We made our way over to Powder Keg, only to find it broken. So, we walked just down the path to Fire in the Hole! FIre in the Hole was super cool! It was part dark ride, part coaster with a random splashdown at the end. It's very much of the "old school" variety, but was still a lot of fun. The dark ride scenes were all great and told a pretty cool story. Also, "baldknobbers" is funny in a really immature way. Screaming "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" at the last drop is also way too much fun for its own good. After our ride, we went back up to Powder Keg, only to see it was still down. No big deal, since there was Wildfire just a little walk away! Whenever thinking about the standard B&M sitdowns, I always forget about Wildfire. It's probably because it doesn't really do anything crazy like Hulk or Dragon Khan. But, what it does do, it does well. The ride isn't really intense, but is smooth, floaty and "B&M fun". It's something that could easily be marathoned or ridden when you don't want something too intense. It also has one of the best settings for a coaster ever. The views of the mountains at the top of the lift are great and diving in and around the woods/cliffs is a lot of fun. Not that you can really see that at night, but still. Coming off Wildfire, we gave Powder Keg another shot. The third time was the charm as it was up and running. This was my first air launched coaster and I really liked it! The ride provides some nice airtime and a lot of nice laterals and direction changes. The only bad part of the ride is when it randomly switches to the old Premier track just before the lift. That part is rough and shaky. Overall though, it's a great ride that would be an awesome "first big coaster" for kids. Even KidTums got in on the Powder Keg action that night! After Powder Keg, we were taking a bit of a break and then decided to ride Outlaw Run before our ERT started. We had heard that the restraints were changed and that it would be a tight fit. But as rumours usually go, they were completely wrong. None of us had any issues with the new restraints. But...as for the ride itself? HOLY CRAP! The ride is balls to the wall crazy from the first drop right up until you hit the brake run. The first inversion was a lot more fun that I was expecting and the crazy ejector airtime made me very very happy. The ride seems to do things that a ride shouldn't do, like the 90 degree banked airtime hills. I was also very glad to see that the double barrel roll finale flowed naturally and didn't seem really gimmicky. I was absolutely blown away by Outlaw Run. RMC and SDC hit one hell of a home run with this coaster. It also managed to edge out both Skyrush and El Toro for my #1 overall spot. I can easily say it lived up to the hype. After our ride, we waited for the queue to empty out and we got some ERT on Outlaw Run and the park's Screaming Swing! I love Screaming Swings and this one was no exception. Since the line at Outlaw Run was taking a while to clear, we went over to the swing where they were waiting for us to come over. We had a great ride with a nice long cycle. There were a lot of full swings that made us all very happy. More parks need to install these. During our swing ride, the queue at Outlaw Run cleared and were given free reign of the ride. The park was running both trains for us that night, which led to only small waits, making all of us very happy. I don't think anyone left the station for our entire ERT session. Basically, we got off the ride and back around to the entrance for another ride. It was a fantastic time, that I was sad to see end. When we got back to the buses, the park had another surprise for us, SDC goodie bags! Inside, we found an Outlaw Run t-shirt, an Outlaw Run mug and candy! This was a huge surprise for us and it was very appreciated. Thanks so much, everyone at SDC! The next morning, we were back at the park bright and early in the rain (thank god for TPR ponchos) for our Outlaw Run photo walkback. We got taken back through the structure of the ride, and got a lot of good chances for photos of the ride. But the highlight of the walkback was being given a sharpie and told to go ahead and sign the ride! We all left our autographs on the ride, which was extremely cool and then made our way to breakfast and another walkback, this time of Fire in the Hole. At Fire in the Hole, we were given a really cool behind the scenes look at the maintenance areas of the ride. We got the full tour, from where they do all the in house machining and fabrication of parts to where the trains are inspected and torn apart. I love seeing the inner workings of rides and how they're kept up. So, being in the maintenance rooms made me really happy. Once our walkback ended, we were set loose in the park. Naturally, our first stop was Outlaw Run where we grabbed a couple of rides on it before the crowds started to show up. It was just as awesome in the day as it was at night. From there, we made another very obvious stop...Sullivan's Mill wherein we found fresh baked cinnamon bread. The cinnamon bread is one of those "must do" type things at SDC. It was soooooo good. The loaf we were sharing between our group did not last very long. But, that was just the start of the good food to come at the park. Our next stop took us over to the park's mine train coaster, Thunderation. This was one of the better mine trains I've been on. It had some really surprising drops and some of the turns has some decent forces. The ride really came alive at night where you go blazing through the woods at night in the dark. It was a ton of fun and we found ourselves riding this quite a few times throughout the day. Up next was the Flooded Mine, the park's indoor shooting water ride. This was a really old school shooting ride and my gun was pretty broken. Unless there was some random combo scoring system, something went wrong as I somehow managed to score over 800,000 points during the ride. Either way, it was a really fun ride and had a lot of that old school charm. After our ride, we tried another one of the park's delicious treats, a skillet meal. You find these things all over the park and they all look and smell delicious. They also taste delicious. I think we ended up trying every skillet there was at the park. They were all fantastic. All of the food at this park was amazing. You can easily gain five pounds just by walking in the gates. But you know how you can lose those five pounds? The cave tour. Our group decided it was a good idea to check out the caves that are at the park. But, since it was raining pretty heavily that morning, part of the cave flooded, meaning we only got a half tour. It also meant that the trams at the end of the tour were inaccessible, meaning we would have to climb our way back out of the caves. Hurray stairs! Even though it was a half tour, we had an absolute blast touring Marvel Cave. Our guide Tony made all the difference. He was very friendly, very energetic and very funny. He really seemed to love what he was doing and it came across in how he led the tour. We got a fantastic photo of our group with Tony, who is now our Hug Buddy for life. After the caves, we took in the Saloon show, mainly to get into the air conditioning, since it was a pretty hot and muggy day. It was alright, nothing to really write home about. We then met up with the group for an awesome lunch provided by the park. The highlight of the lunch was having the park president just randomly go around taking drink orders and refilling everyone's cups before introducing himself. We also had a visit from Herschend's CEO (at least I think he was the CEO) who was dressed in very formal cargo shorts and t-shirt. Just like with our cave guide, everyone at lunch seemed to really love what they were doing and wanted to make sure we had the best experience possible. I wasn't the only one who thought so, since all of us gave the park a standing ovation after a Q&A for just how good of a place this was. After lunch, we made our way to the kiddie credit to be sad and pathetic. I give full credit to the ride op there for determination in getting my fat ass on the ride. She really had to work hard, but she would not give up until she heard the click of the restraint. It's the little things like that that make this place awesome. Speaking of little things, we were getting another skillet meal and the person at the booth saw our Outlaw Run shirts and asked if were were there last night with the ride op telling terrible jokes. We said that we were, and she told us that the guy making the terrible jokes was her husband! We all laughed and she apologized for the bad jokes. We continued our day, getting in re-rides of pretty much everything at the park. That night was the park's Moonlight Madness event where they stayed open until midnight. The park didn't know what to expect as this was the first time they were doing it. Turns out, it was a massive hit! The park was packed all day, right up until closing. At 11pm, Outlaw Run had a two hour wait! Craziness! I really cannot say enough how much I loved my time at Silver Dollar City. Everything at the park is top notch. The rides, food, staff...everything was incredible. This is one of those parks that everyone should visit at least once. I also cannot thank the park enough for all they did for us. I was blown away by my time here. Here are some pictures of Silver Dollar City! Arriving at Silver Dollar City! Hey look at that! A working RMC coaster! Do a barrel roll! Weeeeee Sideways airtime! Crazy first drop! Inside the ride structure! Leaving my mark on Outlaw Run Fire in the Hole! Control panel for the ride All the machining and fabrication is done in house. Pretty neat. Squirrel! Secret backstage access! The trains are inspected here They're taken apart here! A couple of trains being worked on Wheels! RIP, Buckets Lift hill of awesomeness! First drop of awesomeness! The Outlaw is captured. The good guys always win here. Oh yeah, Chris. Work those udders. Happiness awaits you just inside these doors... Bakers! These guys were very friendly and talked with us for a bit while we waited for our bread Oh god, yes! OM NOM NOM SDC is also a very beautiful park Super fun mine train The next few pictures will be food porn. You've been warned. Soooooo good OM NOM NOM Further noms! The finished product. Delicious. The Flooded Mine Really old school, but really fun! 800,000 points? Probably not...lol Pictures of Outlaw Run from the (really awesome and fun) train ride! Dem curves... More sideways airtime Keep on rollin', rollin', rollin' Starting to descend into the caves I studied physical geography and geology while in school, so I kind of nerded out here More fun rocks Damn, that's one big hole. YOOOOOOUUUU STUUUUUPIIIIIIID BEAAAAAAAAR!!! Very cool formations in the cave Limestone pillar! Lots o' rocks! Hug Buddies! Stirring the candy? That's a paddlin' Some photos from the saloon show The bad guy...booooo But remember, the good guys always win. So, yaaaaaay. Red velvet funnel cake? OMG YES Wacky shack! Slanted! Wildfire! Yay for vertical loops What an awesome setting for a coaster Cobra rollin' I wonder why B&M don't make more standard sit down loopers They also had a decent log flume here. It absolutely soaked us! Neat Powder Keg theming More cool theming If you've still got the old cars, you might as well use them! Heading down the last big drop after the lift It was twisted and very fun! Plus it has fire. Fire makes everything better. They really went all out on the Outlaw Run merchandising... This was at 11pm. The park was just a little bit busy. Next up, City Museum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts