Six Flags Fiesta Texas - Thursday, June 27, 2013

After a few non-park/travel days (save for a Boardwalk Bullet detour while passing through Houston), my next park was Fiesta Texas. First off, the setting impressed me; the entire park is built into a large, natural rock quarry and some of the coasters use this to their advantage. First up of course....

Iron Rattler. Very impressed. The queue area is well done; not sure how much is new vs. what was kept from the original Rattler. Waited about 10 minutes in the morning, with a full queue later in the day it was about 45 minutes. The trains & restraints are incredibly comfortable, contoured seats with a T-bar which has a "grab knob". There's also a horizontal ankle bar but my feet barely if ever made contact with it.

The first drop (and subsequent turn) was thrilling even after multiple rides. Lots of sustained air here, and not just near the back of the train, the front had air too. Quite a bit on the overbanks and on the zero-g roll my butt was out of the seat the whole time. The end has another nice drop into a tunnel with some sweet fog, mist & lighting effects (insert "working lights in tunnels" joke here). Had a blast riding this thing, and definitely exceeded expectations. Has me even more excited to sample Rocky Mountain's other work later in my trip.

After a few Iron Rattler rides, worked towards the back half of the park....saw the TALL waterfall plunging down the whole quarry. Cool. Anyway, did a couple rides on Superman: Krypton Coaster. Great floorless here, my favorite part was actually the first vertical loop. There's also a cool little Superman figure topping the loop. The rest of the ride is paced well, the first half basically hugs the quarry wall, which makes for some cool elements.

Went to Poltergeist next, which again uses the quarr....ha, kidding. Good ride, but still better in the dark (Flight of Fear) even if the latter has trims. Noticed the Boardwalk section was just opening, so ducked into Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion....shouldn't it be Haunted Mansion on Haunted Hill? :-) Lots of cars stacking here, so much that my car got stacked while still in the final room, so got to really rack up points. Then came Pandemonium which is literally at the very back of the park. My car was full, but perfectly balanced weight-wise, so didn't spin at all until the second half. Ah well.

With temps hitting 100 degrees, the Angry Sun was in full force and things were getting uncomfortable....yeah yeah, says the guy who willingly planned on visiting Texas in late June. Still, figured I'd take an extended break and come back later. Hit up Superman again, then Road Runner Express on my way out. Standard mine train except for some quarry usage.

After returning in the evening, checked off the Boomerang credit (blerg) then Goliath. I knew it was a mirrored Batman clone, but this felt less intense for some reason. Finished with a couple more rides on Iron Rattler before close.

Only one random observation, the large water cups (probably 12 or 16 oz). I guess even Operation I Shrunk The Water Cups can't Beat the Heat.

Any insight on the best seat on Iron Rattler? I'm planning on heading down from SFoT-land later this summer and may only get one or two laps (due to toting the family).

Second car, first row. Every ride had plenty of sustained air but towards the front (not the very front) you get some ejector air as well, and the overbanks seemed a tad more forceful.