SFFT, SFoT, WoF, SFsL & SFgAm PART 1

From Cleveland to Charlotte to San Antonio, the flight was long and frightening. I love coasters, but flying scares the s**t out of me? Weird. Anyways, San Antonio greeted Ryan and me with dark skies and rain. We had 8 hours to experience Fiesta Texas; hopefully the weather would clear.

The parking lot was absolutely dead. I’d estimate there were no more than 30 cars. Ryan would need to buy his season pass. Kyle (our ride from the airport) and I had bought ours from Kentucky Kingdom earlier in the year (much cheaper!), knowing this trip was likely to happen. This was Kyle’s last week on an internship at Fossil Rim Wildlife Reserve outside the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Ryan and I flew down to take the trip back to Cleveland with him, and stop at some parks along the way.

The rain and dark skies were turning into drizzle and light as we parked in front of the freshly painted Goliath (not very deserving of the name). Those colors are amazing though. The ride is definitely something you can stare at for awhile.

It was around 1 pm by this time and nothing was running. The midway upon entrance was both unique and quite beautiful. I was incredibly impressed with the theming overall and it made our experience much more enjoyable.

Bugs greeted us with a hand shake. We asked him when the rides were going to open. Then something horrifying happen: he pointed to Boomerang. Damn! Since it was the only thing running we decided to get the Vekoma clone over with. It ended up being your average boomerang, not the roughest I’ve been on (that’s coming later in the trip), but not fun by any stretch of the word.

Superman: Krypton Coaster was next along with being one of my most anticipated rides of the trip. Testing had begun as we headed toward the back of the park, so we hung a richard, strolled through Rockville (another great example of awesome theming, loved this area, especially the street/sidewalk effect) and ended up walking onto the ride. Front row first, then a re-ride in the back. Using the cliff was definitely a neat feature, as many of the Fiesta Texas rides (Rattler/Road Runner Express) would use it as well. My favorite elements were the drop after the MCBR (amazing!) and the Zero-G (seriously thought I was being tossed from the ride).

The Gully Washer followed and would be my first rapids ride in 8 years, Grizzly Run at Geauga Lake. It was definitely refreshing as the hot Texas sun was starting to introduce itself to us Clevelanders.

Rattler and Roadrunner Express were next. The zigzagging queue ramps to the station were everywhere. These would turn out to be somewhat tiring since there were no lines. I sat back row and up until the break run before the helix, Rattler was good. That helix was just so pointless though. Was it always so heavily braked (It might actually be fun without them)? The brakes after the helix were frustrating too. RR Express would be my first Arrow mine train. I loved it, very fun ride. Sat in the back on this one as well and got a decent pulling effect throughout the ride.

Didn’t really understand the Rollschuhcoaster theme, but it’s a kiddie coaster, who cares right? The ride-op announced it as “The Kiddie Coaster” over her mic. She also said “You guys are awesome” as she was checking our “restraints.” I’m pretty sure that was sarcasm. It was probably warranted.

Poltergeist was killer! I’ve been on FOF at King’s Island, but never without the OTSRs. Really enjoyed it (unlike FOF), might have been my favorite SFFT ride. It was a walk on like everything else that day. It is in desperate need of a paint job. I’d do something besides the yellow since Goliath is now there.

Speaking of… It would be my first Batman clone, and for whatever reason my expectations were rather high. I wouldn’t use the word disappointed, but it wasn’t spectacular. A little too short, but still enjoyable. The drop was great and the force on my dangling feet reminded me of Raptor’s final helix. If I had to wait I might have been upset, but there was no one there as it had been the last ride to open and the park had not filled up at all.

Tony Hawk was a pleasant surprise. It would be our first of four Gerstlauer spinning coasters (Spinning Dragons at WoF being my favorite of them all).

Other rides: Bug’s White Water Rapids (very neat queue and an enjoyable ride as well), Foghorn Leghorn’s Barnyard Railroad (very good train ride that got incredibly close to all of the attractions, allows you to take in the entire park), Scooby-Doo: Ghostblasters (not a fan of these dark rides, I’d sooner let everyone else play while I enjoy the art/scenery of the ride).

We left around 5ish as we had a 4 hour drive to Kyle’s place. We didn’t eat in the park, but did purchase a few drinks with Kyle’s SFOT Sports Bottle. Not sure if that’s allowed, but it’s definitely worth the purchase.

Overall, the park was very enjoyable, but we were lucky with lines. I’d have to imagine long queues in the Texas sun would be a giant drag. It was definitely a unique park, being built in a quarry. Fiesta Texas was the Six Flags I was looking most forward to, and it didn’t disappoint! *** Edited 8/21/2008 6:03:09 PM UTC by d_port_12E***