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This was my first visit to a Six Flags Park, let alone SFOT and I honestly didn’t know what to expect with all the bashing of Six Flags parks “atmosphere,” but I did know that SFOT was considered one of the best Six Flags parks around. The location of the park is terrible, from Superman I could see a traffic jam on the westbound highway (I-30?) just outside of the park from about 4-9 o’clock.
The park definitely didn’t give itself a good first impression, either. My mom was mad that only 15 minutes after opening, the restrooms by the entrance were out of paper towels. And the metal detectors caught me off guard, even though they are a pretty good idea.
We immediately headed right after grabbing a park map (which sucked by the way, no where on it was a list of the open rides, and only a few rides were labeled) and went around the park counter-clockwise.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by the park. Parts of Looney Tunes land reminded me of a mini-IOA and other parts reminded me a lot of Silver Dollar City, which is not a bad thing at all. The park was pretty clean, and the employees were very friendly, which caught me off guard as well. The park really shows its age in a few places (one example being the Goodtimes Square), but overall it was a great park.
The first coaster we hit was Judge Roy Scream, and it was probably the biggest disappointment at the park. I loved the setting of the ride (the Bill Cobb plaque was a nice touch), but it was just too slow and boring. It was smooth and the head choppers on the return run were pretty good, but the ride was just too slow for my liking. I didn’t feel any airtime on the course at all. I rode once towards the front and once towards the back, and there wasn’t much difference between the two, save for the fact that the first drop was much better in the back.
The next one was the mine train. I didn’t really know what to expect, as the only mine train I’ve ridden is a bit different than most. It was cool, mainly for the scenery. Even though it kinda ruined the “theme” of the ride, I thought it was cool how close it was to Mr. Freeze and Batman. It wasn’t exciting and was a little jerky, but it was better than I thought it would be.
Up next was Superman. I’d never ridden the turbo drop variety before, and this combined the best of both kinds of S&S towers. The launch didn’t seem as intense as, say, Detonator at WOF, but the drop more than made up for it, and the view was great. It wasn’t as intense as expected, but it was just a blast. I rode it I think three times.
On a side note, we rode it twice early, and once around 8:30, and the later ride did not seem intense at all, with hardly any airtime. My dad even noticed it. My guess is that it was colder later and that affected it? Any thoughts?
The next coaster was Shockwave. I hated the station, I hated the ramps to the station, I hated how it needed a paint job, and I really hated how the ride visually shimmied and shook all over. But despite all those things, this ride was awesome. It was a huge surprise. The first drop was good and the airtime was unreal. I actually got a bruise on my thigh from one of the drops. This thing packed probably the most intense and powerful ejector air I’ve ever felt. I loved this thing and I would love to see something like this at WOF. It was just so much fun.
After that, it was time for the big one, Titan. The line was the longest in the park, at about 30 minutes, but it wasn’t too bad. This is one of the first times in recent memory I can remember being a little nervous about a ride, mainly because I sometimes have a hard time with positive g’s. But this ride was amazing. The first fall was great, and I was really impressed with the steepness of the second drop. The first helix was nuts, and I couldn’t even begin to describe how the second half of the ride went. It wasn’t as intense as I thought it would be, but the constant speed and turns of the ride were unbelievable.
The final coaster we rode was La Vibora. The wait was pretty long, I think around 30 minutes. I had never ridden anything like this before, so it was pretty cool, but nothing spectacular. I got a couple good jolts going into the brakes on the course which kinda sucked, but nothing too bad.
Didn’t ride any other rides, most of the flats I’ve been on before, and I wanted to ride Shockwave and Titan as much as I could. The night went by pretty fast, which obviously means I must have been having fun, right? Anyway, this park was great, I would love to visit in the summer (I really really wanted to ride Texas Giant). It had a good atmosphere, and the theming wasn’t bad at all. Six Flags should be proud of this property because it has a lot of character and great rides. A fresh coat of paint is definitely needed in a few areas, but this is really a great park.
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