An exciting bowl game 5 park trip

During my winter vacation I got to 5 different parks. First I got to make the trip down to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl (I am an Oregon State band member) so I got to hit the two parks

Six Flags Fiesta Texas:

The holiday in the park event was truly embarrassing. There were no guests in the park at all and it was obvious why. Superman Krypton coaster and Poltergeist along with half of the flat rides were closed. (an obviously no Rattler) So, there really was not much to do. The flat rides that were open were OK but nothing special.

Goliath- Rode Twice. On this particular clone the front seat is much much better than the back seat which is unique for Batman clones. I'd say this one is an average one. (7/10)

Boomerang- Actually the best vekoma boomerang that I have been on. This may have been because it rode slow due to the 40 degree weather though. (6/10)

Pandemonium- A descent spinning coaster but did not spin very much. This ride is so quiet you wouldn't even know that it's operating. (6/10)

Road Runner Express- Not bad at all. One of the better mine train style rides. (5/10)

Flat Rides to Note- Scream (8/10)- this may be the most frightening tower ride I have been on. There are some abrupt stops and weird sounds coming from this that add to the thrill.

SeaWorld San Antonio

The park was incredibly crowded and with one train operation on all coasters it was a bit of a pain.

Great White- This has to be the most lifeless of the Batman clones even though it does run much closer to the ground than the other ones. (6.5/10).

Steel Eel- Probably the most surprising coaster on the entire trip. Sat in the back car twice. The airtime is unbelievable. The first drop feels like a normal hyper coaster until you reach the max vertical angle about a quarter of the way down. From that point you are ejected out of the seat and keep getting ejected and slammed into the seat on every hill. The ride is short but has airtime that can compete with the Phoenix at Knoebels. Why does nobody talk about this ride at all (9/10)

Journey to Atlantis- This really should not count as a roller coaster. Its just a splashdown ride with a backwards drop in the middle (which is actually quite interesting). (6/10)

Flat Rides to Note- Rio Loco- do not go on this ride if you don't want a waterfall to just dump all over you. Not really all that fun there

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After San Antonio hopped on a plane to Florida for some more fun

SeaWorld

Everybody knows about SeaWorld. It was a very crowded day but lines were in complete control minus the shows (there were problems everywhere)

Manta- got a front row ride for my first time on this ride. It is an amazing ride with great themeing and landscaping. I believe Tatsu is the better coaster but Manta gives an amazing experience. (9/10)

Kraken- a great floorless coaster but is starting to rattle a lot more now than I'm sure it used to. Kraken seems to be upstaged a lot by Manta but still delivers a solid ride. (8/10)

Universal Studios

Dragon Challenge- Both sides are running fine but when they are not dueling this ride is nothing special at all. It feels like universal has given up on the ride. The whole park had 2 hour waits on all attractions and this guy was a walk on all day. People seem to have lost interest. (7.5/10)

Hulk- Why did B&M not make more of these launched coasters? Hulk really is a solid ride that continues to be both smooth and intense. (8.5/10)

Rip Ride and Rockit- got a first row seat for my first ride on this. It surpassed my expectations. I heard only bad things about the ride from others but I found it to be rather smooth and enjoyable. The amount of braking does take away from the ride at points though. (8/10)

Flats- the lines were long (New Years Eve) so only did a few of them (Spiderman was having extensive problems) The Harry potter ride was absolutely incredible and that line moves very quickly. Very impressed there.

Busch Gardens Tampa

We had a great time in this park. Shows were great. Crowds were non-existent (New Years Day) and all rides were open with the exception of the tiger side on Gwazi

SheiKra- The only thing I can say about this ride is that is nowhere near as good as Griffon. This is still a great style of ride. ShieKra delivers great hangtime on its drops and has a great splashdown. Why are there only 2 in the United States? (8.5/10)

Kumba- Running great for its age. Almost no rattling on this coaster. I feel like people overlook it. It runs very fast and I find it more comfortable than some floorless coasters. (8.5/10)

Scorpion- The smallest coaster I may have ever been on. Its actually a fun little looping coaster with one of the more unique vertical loops you will see. (6/10)

Gwazi- Since it was not racing it loses points but this is an underated wooden coaster. Back seat offered a speedy and relatively smooth ride. (7/10)

Cheetah Hunt- This was a unique ride with some of the best landscaping you could imagine. You get a large burst of airtime after the 2nd and 3rd launches which are the highlights of this ride. It is not an intense ride but is very enjoyable (8/10)

Montu- Saved the best coaster of the trip for last. Montu is simply an amazing ride that combines intensity, themeing, and landscaping perfectly. It is very smooth and is one of the longer inverts that I can recall. Montu is worth going to Busch Gardens Tampa for alone. (10/10)

Hope everyone enjoyed. Feel free to disagree with my opinions

That's a lot of money and a lot of traveling, I wouldn't have it in me to do a trip like this.

I love Steel Eel and I agree that it doesn't get as much love as it deserves. I think Dragon Challenge probably has a short line because it has ridiculous capacity, not because people don't like it.

It is my understanding that the reason why B&M didnt build anymore launch coasters is because they never technically built one in the first place. B&M supposedly doesnt like launched coasters and hired an outside company to do the launch hill.

Steel Eel is near the top of my coaster bucket list.

Steel Eel is THAT good.

B&M, as I recall, didn't build a launched coaster in Hulk - Universal had the launch engineered and construction, in consultation with B&M.

Non-Dueling Dragons....much of the short waits are capacity, but I've heard quite a bit of "GP" mentioning the ride isn't what it was when they DID duel. In addition, the capacity isn't what it once was with all the extra waiting around...

Rock-it....well, you said you got a front-row ride. In the back, the ride experience is WAY different (and not in the sense of "better").