sirloin
Roller Poster
Over a business trip in Dallas, I had hoped to jump over to the original Six Flags one evening. We tried for Wednesday evening, but a storm opened up right over the park right as we were getting to it, followed by a bigger storm from the north that combined with it. We sat in the parking lot of the Subway right outside the entrance to wait it out for a bit, but had no luck. Thursday evening, however, was an evening of beautiful sunshine and, as we would soon discover, minimal crowds.
We kicked off our day on Titan with two laps that required no exit from the ride. Titan remains a favorite of mine, especially for the fact that it does the complete opposite of what hypercoasters usually do. I still think that the elongated airtime hill over the first drop is one of the best floater airtime hills in the business, but we all know that it's the two nasty helices that give the ride its reputation, and neither one disappointed. It's a genuinely awesome coaster that is always a pleasure to ride.
Next up was its neighbor, The New Texas Giant. My limited experience with this ride was its cold, rainy, gray media day, and coupled with the amount of time it has been since then, I just didn't really have any memory of how good it actually was. It was genuinely a fantastic ride, and I dare say I applaud it for being perhaps a bit more balanced than newer RMCs. I don't think it really rocked my socks off, but it was might fine.
We opted to work our way across the park from there to The Joker, a credit neither he nor I had in our track records. My expectations were pretty low, expecting the ride to be kind of a budget thrill with nothing really remarkable about it. Oh, how terribly wrong we were. He and I laughed so hard we almost hurt ourselves. It seems like it should be such a cheesy coaster, but it was exceptionally fun. We were able to stay on a second lap due to the lack of riders, and I remember lying flat on my belly over one of the camelbacks on the top portion of the track in a weird sensation of forces. It was absolutely glorious.
We chose Mr. Freeze - Reverse Blast for our fourth attraction of the evening. I'd ridden both this and the St. Louis model when they launched forwards, but I was interested to see how much of a difference this made. I found it to be a bit of a wash. These rides are just so good that it doesn't really matter what order of forwards/backwards you take. I really wish parks were investing in these instead of Sky Rocket IIs, because not only are these rides vastly superior, but the two-train operation makes a world of difference.
Batman-The Ride followed it up and proved yet again just why these clones sit near the top of my rankings. We rode it first near the back and while it didn't totally set my world on fire the way it has in the past, it still totally rocked. We took the lap, got some fries and onion rings at Johnny Rockets (which were terrible), then came back for another lap in the front row that was spectacularly good. I maintain that Afterburn is the only inverted coaster that contends with it for being the best invert design in existence, but for now, the Batmen still sit on top.
We got an additional lap afterward on Mr. Freeze and The Joker before making our way to Shock Wave. Now, folks, I've gotta ask: what it is about this ride that so many people love? We rode in the back and hit a few hills of righteous air, but beyond that, seriously, what makes this ride so amazing to so many people? It isn't bad by any means, but it just doesn't do much for me one way or the other. Am I missing something?
We worked our way back to the front in hopes of snagging one additional lap each on The New Texas Giant and Titan, but we only got the former due to a breakdown on the latter that conveniently ended right as we got to our car. Oh well.
For only having about three hours there, it was immensely productive. Crowd levels were low, and some crews had moments of great efficiency. There's still a ways to go, but every now and then, they cranked out a train or two fairly quickly. I wish that Six Flags would touch of the appearance of their parks a bit as they just have a very different feel from other parks, and not always in a good way, but Six Flags Over Texas remains one of, if not the, best parks in their portfolio, and I look forward to going there again!
We kicked off our day on Titan with two laps that required no exit from the ride. Titan remains a favorite of mine, especially for the fact that it does the complete opposite of what hypercoasters usually do. I still think that the elongated airtime hill over the first drop is one of the best floater airtime hills in the business, but we all know that it's the two nasty helices that give the ride its reputation, and neither one disappointed. It's a genuinely awesome coaster that is always a pleasure to ride.
Next up was its neighbor, The New Texas Giant. My limited experience with this ride was its cold, rainy, gray media day, and coupled with the amount of time it has been since then, I just didn't really have any memory of how good it actually was. It was genuinely a fantastic ride, and I dare say I applaud it for being perhaps a bit more balanced than newer RMCs. I don't think it really rocked my socks off, but it was might fine.
We opted to work our way across the park from there to The Joker, a credit neither he nor I had in our track records. My expectations were pretty low, expecting the ride to be kind of a budget thrill with nothing really remarkable about it. Oh, how terribly wrong we were. He and I laughed so hard we almost hurt ourselves. It seems like it should be such a cheesy coaster, but it was exceptionally fun. We were able to stay on a second lap due to the lack of riders, and I remember lying flat on my belly over one of the camelbacks on the top portion of the track in a weird sensation of forces. It was absolutely glorious.
We chose Mr. Freeze - Reverse Blast for our fourth attraction of the evening. I'd ridden both this and the St. Louis model when they launched forwards, but I was interested to see how much of a difference this made. I found it to be a bit of a wash. These rides are just so good that it doesn't really matter what order of forwards/backwards you take. I really wish parks were investing in these instead of Sky Rocket IIs, because not only are these rides vastly superior, but the two-train operation makes a world of difference.
Batman-The Ride followed it up and proved yet again just why these clones sit near the top of my rankings. We rode it first near the back and while it didn't totally set my world on fire the way it has in the past, it still totally rocked. We took the lap, got some fries and onion rings at Johnny Rockets (which were terrible), then came back for another lap in the front row that was spectacularly good. I maintain that Afterburn is the only inverted coaster that contends with it for being the best invert design in existence, but for now, the Batmen still sit on top.
We got an additional lap afterward on Mr. Freeze and The Joker before making our way to Shock Wave. Now, folks, I've gotta ask: what it is about this ride that so many people love? We rode in the back and hit a few hills of righteous air, but beyond that, seriously, what makes this ride so amazing to so many people? It isn't bad by any means, but it just doesn't do much for me one way or the other. Am I missing something?
We worked our way back to the front in hopes of snagging one additional lap each on The New Texas Giant and Titan, but we only got the former due to a breakdown on the latter that conveniently ended right as we got to our car. Oh well.
For only having about three hours there, it was immensely productive. Crowd levels were low, and some crews had moments of great efficiency. There's still a ways to go, but every now and then, they cranked out a train or two fairly quickly. I wish that Six Flags would touch of the appearance of their parks a bit as they just have a very different feel from other parks, and not always in a good way, but Six Flags Over Texas remains one of, if not the, best parks in their portfolio, and I look forward to going there again!
