Six Flags Over Texas- A Revelation (July 19)

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My very short rendezvous at my home park Friday night was vital for me.

It was perhaps my most important SFoT trip ever.

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My younger brother was recently selected to play on an Elite Soccer Club, and that meant games in (where else?) Arlington every other weekend.

He took it as an experience to improve his game and advance his skills.

I took it as an experience to improve my relations among park workers and advance my coaster riding record.

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His games were at 6:00 Friday, 12:00 & 4:30 Saturday, and 7:00 Sunday. I figured, with my handy season pass, I'd sneak in 3-4 visits.

Yeah, right.

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I ended up getting.... (drum roll, please)... ONE HOUR Friday night.

Oh well, that was a letdown, but, hey- how crowded can 9:00 Friday night be?

I expected wide open midways and wide-spread walk-ons.

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I scooted along some smaller, chock-full-o'-redlight streets, instead of getting on the highway.

Big mistake.

Well, that was 30 minutes lost.

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I arrived at the parking lot around 9:00....

THE FRIGGIN PARKING LOT WAS FULL!

That's right, even at 9:00 on a Friday night every single lot was full.

Oh... great.

Preston... buckle down, and brace yourself. Looks like you're landing in a crowded runway.

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Luckily, I found an empty space on the *front row!*

Well, maybe things won't be so bad.

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As I flashed my season pass at the ticket taker, I noticed droves of folks were pouring out.

Well, maybe things won't be so bad.

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I really wanted to get several rides on Giant and Titan. I noticed walkons for every Spain/Mexico ride.

Well, maybe things won't be so bad.

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I walk toward Titan. Crowd after crowd exits.

Well, maybe things won't be so bad.

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Yeah, right.

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I looked at the hopefully-empty queue.

Full.

It appeared the wait was going to be 45 minutues to an hour.

Crap.

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Next I headed to Giant, expecting a walk-on.

Yeah, right.

Only 15 minutes though. I can handle that....

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Now it gets interesting.

Of all the people to get stuck behind in the line, I get behind the guy you don't want to be behind.

He had a ponytail, an orange shirt, glasses, and jeans. About 200 lbs or so.

He smelled as if he rolled in a gigantic, unclean toilet for several hours.

Now that's rank!

If you're out there, PLEASE take a bath!

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I was in low spirits, when someone did something really dumb.

You know those basketballs you win on the ripoff carnie games? Someone decided to be funny.

THEY THREW THE BALL ON THE TRACK!

Major idiot!

And that's not even the worst part. Though the ball eventually rolled through and on the ground,

Nothing was done about it.

Even though one of the ride ops saw the whole thing, she did nothing.

In that quick moment, I lost respect for SFoT.

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Maybe the actual ride, my #1, would cheer me up.

I left disappointed, and to those out there who leave unimpressed, I now understand. A #1 ride only happens every so often, I guess.

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When I got off, I went to look at the on-ride photos. The screen I'd be on wasn't working, and the worker wouldn't let me look at the small screen.

COME... ON!

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I then noticed one smart teenager decided to flick off the camera.

SHORT STORY: My 1st trip to SFFT was eventful. On the wonderful Beemer Floorless, S:KC, another teenager flicked off the camera. He was taken to security, and was released 30 minutes before his departure time.

Back to this day, I pointed that out to the onride lady as the culprit came in.

His family laughed.

The lady laughed.

And I.... was furious.

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Has the original SF park lost its respectability?

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I then headed to Runaway Mountain for some last-minute rides.

Once I got near the station, I noticed a group of girls deciding to jump ahead of me after I had waited 10 minutes.

I yelled at them, and the ride-op heard me.

And now the bad part.

The ride-op spoke....

"Aw, forget about it. It's almost closing time anyway. Not that big of a deal."

I'd never felt sicker of this park in my life.

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I got two enjoyable rides, but I left the park disgusted.

I even felt sicker when I saw the sign at the Southern Palace....

"BAPTIST YOUTH DAYS!"

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Everything came together at the last minute. Obviously this had gathered large crowds, who upset regular guests, whose lowly attitude affected the ride-ops.

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I had to laugh. In fact, I laughed all the way to the truck. I later found out there were big-time Christian artists having concerts the whole weekend.

Ah well, I'll be up here in a couple of weekends anyhow.

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THE REVELATION: I finally see the terrible experience some can have at normally-excellent parks, and I now am free to respect every opinion, and when I do disagree, I'll throw my two cents in calmly and respectively.

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Points of the Report:

1) Always- ALWAYS plan ahead. Check out events, concerts, and the like.

2) Keep an open mind. The park and its coasters may be having a good day or a bad day. Realize you could have gotten either one.

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Despite all this, SFoT is still my #1, based on a fantabulous visit in early June, as well as normally-good days. But that doesn't mean they couldn't pick it up a little. Gee, you people needed to get with it!

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And to think I missed Steven Curtis Chapman and MercyMe!

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:)

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Nice TR. I'm surprised the ride op didn't even report the throwing of the ball. I always seem to get stuck by the people you don't want to be by in a line.

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Steel: 1)MF, 2)Goliath, 3)Magnum
Wood: 1)Villain, 2)Beast, 3)Roar(SFMW)

SFoT is my homepark as well, but I have to admit bad experiences are more of the norm than the exception. Of the parks I have visited in the past two years (BGW, SFFT, SFoG, PC, PKD, and SFoT) it is the worst. It is consistently the most crowded, worst landscaped, worst themed, and lacks punch for a 12 coaster park. I much prefer SFFT although it is an extra hour drive for me.

Well if an object is lost in the track area there isn't much you can do about it... no one, and I mean NO ONE is allowed in the track area unless the ride is locked out.

And what could the crew do? Hit e-stop for a basketball? It wouldn't make a difference anyhow, since the train would need some brakes in front of the ball to stop it.

The worst that could happen is the train runs over the ball and makes a loud pop. Shakes some people up but otherwise no harm done. People lost basketballs constantly in the track when I worked at GASM, and we didn't do anything about it for the simple reason there's really nothing you can do.

I suppose I took it as out of the ordinary... sure, it might have not done any harm, but what shocked me was that nothing was done to the thrower.

I suppose I've always hit SFoT on good days, because I've had some great experiences there.

IMO, SFFT is a great park, but doesn't really match up to SFoT. SFoT (imho) has better theming, better landscaping, better shade, and better rides. However, I do prefer SFFT's quarry setting over SFoT's "forest-between-big-roads" location.

SFoT is the best out of it, SFFT, SFAW, SDC, SFEG, Lakeside, WDW, and others, but that could (and probably will) change with my trip to HW, PKI, & SFKK.

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Nice TR! I love how you spread everything out. It was fun to read:)

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Sean

MisterX, yes people lose stuff on rides all the time, but that is not the point. This guy purpously threw it onto the track, who knows with what intent. Ride ops should have called security and AT THE VERY LEAST threw his stupid ass out of the park. If I was a ride op or a security officer, I would see if the fool could be charged with some sort of crime.

Maybe it happens all the time and no harm is done, but what if he had hit a rider in the face as the train went by?

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Nothing... NOTHING... can prepare you for... the Fourth Dimension!

Then it's an incident and action can be taken. If nothing becomes of it, then what's the point?

By that reasoning then if someone with a gun decides to shoot you, aims, and pulls the trigger but misses, he would be free to go? Maybe you were not harmed, but it's still attempted murder.

Throwing objects in the path of a coaster train is just plain stupid and cause for ejection from the park, period.

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Nothing... NOTHING... can prepare you for... the Fourth Dimension!

Right, except that it may have been dropped or lost accidentally. I've seen lots of people dribbling them around and lose them but I have yet to see someone throw one onto the track. Also we're talking about a basketball, not guns.

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Valpengeist said:
"I was in low spirits, when someone did something really dumb.

You know those basketballs you win on the ripoff carnie games? Someone decided to be funny.

THEY THREW THE BALL ON THE TRACK!

Major idiot!"

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This case that Valpengeist describes (and what we are talking about) was NOT accidental.

Even though we are not talking about guns, I hope you can see the parallels. It's called an analogy.

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Nothing... NOTHING... can prepare you for... the Fourth Dimension!

*** This post was edited by Soggy on 7/25/2002. ***

No one needs to get a bad attitude. I guess until you work at a park you don't see things the way that a park does. I think the most that security would do would be to eject them from the line, which is why I wouldn't call them unless they kept it up. This is sort of the problem I see with a lot of enthusiasts, they want things perfect and it isn't going to happen. Throwing a basketball on the track is not a crime unless someone is injured. What's more, say this dude/kid was with his or her family. Now you have a family that's pissed off and wants their money back and is going to raise all holy hell about it. The park doesn't want to deal with it, nor does security, nor does the crew. My personal strategy would be to not let this person ride and have a crew member ask them to leave the line, or have a supervisor deal with it.

Like I said... you really have to work at a park to understand my POV.

I guess I would have to work at a park to understand. Because I think a park employee should care MORE about the safe operation of a coaster than someone like me who just rides them, not less. I don't expect a perfect park, but I do expect rules to be enforsed.

I remember that in the news section not too long ago there was a discussion about someone who was hit in the face with a rock while riding Villian. The rock was thrown by kids in a common area. Now the rider is suing the park because it was discovered that there were other rock throwing incidentss that did not result in injury, but the park did not adaquetly address the problem.

If the kids were caught and procecuted the first time, the lady never would have been hit, assuming it was the same group of kids. Why wait until someone DOES get hurt to fix the problem? Ride ops cannot stop idiots from being themselves, but at the first sign of trouble, they should be dealt with accordingly. If there are places where people standing in line for TG can trow a ball onto the tracks, make a taller fence.

[gets off sopabox]

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Nothing... NOTHING... can prepare you for... the Fourth Dimension!

Okay... this is getting out of hand. Perhaps I should mention all of this happened inside the station...

Still, what if this was allowed without punishment? It might become a common activity for park guests- which I doubt, but they should at least have been escorted from the ride.

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Well if it happened in the station, then it really isn't a big deal at all. You just make them get off and no, you can't get your ball back.

I doubt security at any park would do anything more than boot them from line themselves, and what happened really isn't a "crime," so they couldn't be jailed or fined. Sucks, but that's how it is.