Associated parks:
None
“ So here I am…………….somewhere, as I find myself surprised”
Let’s take a step back for a sec.
Last month, I had the chance to go down to Atlanta to help with a three-day video shoot for the Travel Channel on three different rides. I had such a blast that I decided to make the trip down there again as soon as possible. I wasn’t planning on purchasing a Six Flags pass this season because the two Six Flags parks I really wanted to hit this year, I had already done before May and felt it would have probably been cheaper for me to skip the pass this year considering I wasn’t planning on going to any more Six Flags parks this year.
That all changed thanks to a great friend (thanks Robert!), and a talk from a couple of other people including Joe Campenella (Legendary) and Kevin Smallhorn. Looking at my work schedule, it looked like the best time for me to visit Six Flags Over Georgia again would be the first Friday they would be open. May 24th to be exact. I found a cheap flight through Delta, and started making other plans. Robert had other plans for this Memorial Day weekend so I would not be able to meet up with him, but I would be able to meet up with Joe and Kevin for a few hours before they left for a big Texas trip.
About a week before the trip, I get a call from Joe one day while checking my e-mail. Joe asked what time I need to be back to work after the trip down South. I told him I had to be back at work at 7:00AM Monday the 27th. He then hung up. Ten minutes later he called me back telling me he wished I could stay until at least Monday. This wasn’t making a bit of sense to me at the time. I asked him what he meant but he didn’t lead on to anything. Finally, after a third call, and another call from Kevin, I was asked if I wanted to join them on their Texas trip. At first, I said no. After about a half an hour of thinking it through, I thought that if I could plan it carefully, I could do their trip, and make it back for work on Monday morning. I quickly went searching for cheap fares once again and found something cheap that left San Antonio at a decent time to go back to Columbus. This was too good to pass up.
After I booked the flight, I called Kevin and Joe and told them I was in for the trip. They seemed to be as excited as I was about doing a trip to Texas. So everything was planned. We were to also do the trip with friends Chris Ward and Kyle (for some reason I forgot your last name. sorry).
--Thursday May 23rd—
I arrived at the Port Columbus airport ready to start the trip. Everything was going as planned. I dropped off my car at the airport, hopped into a shuttle, and soon found myself checked in and boarding my flight. Right before my flight left the gate, all the lights went out in the plane. Everything got silent. Out of all the times I have flown, I have never had that happen before. The pilot announced that the power cord that we were plugged into at the gate was prematurely unplugged and we were not to worry. Soon power was restored to our plane and we soon left. No worries, just a bit startled by that nice start.
The flight down was smooth as usual. As soon as I arrived, Joe picked me up and we decided to go to the Galleria Mall to play some Dance Dance Revolution like we did a few weeks back. The 3rd Mix machine at this location was great and we couldn’t wait to play it again. We arrived at the hotel and stopped for a bite to eat at a Subway inside before heading off to the arcade. We walked inside.
(silence)
Joe and I looked at each other. The same arcade that we had spent a few hours in just weeks ago with a lot of flashy new games was almost vacant. I don’t mean vacant of people, I mean vacant of arcade machines. Only a few machines remained, and DDR wasn’t one of them. After talking with a arcade personnel, we found out that the arcade was going out of business and if we wanted to play DDR, there was a 3rd Mix machine 15 minutes to the north at another mall. We were kind of bummed. We also noticed a flyer as we were leaving stating there was to be a DDR tournament at this other mall the next day but we weren’t going to be able to watch it.
Joe and I arrive at the other mall and quickly find the arcade. We end up watching future tournament players practicing before playing a couple games by ourselves. While this machine wasn’t the most responsive, it was just nice to play on a real machine again. We soon left and headed to Joe’s place so he could finish getting ready for the big trip. While there, we checked out Coasterbuzz from his PC and looked at various coaster pics he had taken from past trips. Good stuff!
After a quick stop at Walgreen’s to pick up some blank video tapes, we found ourselves at the awesome home of Kevin Smallhorn. His house sits back in a forest and there is a nice driveway to travel down to get to his house. The driveway is almost coaster-like with its curves and drops. Already I felt like I was home. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by Kevin and his wife Sam. Both are super friendly and treated us great. You would expect that after playing a couple of games of DDR at the arcade that Joe and I would want a brake from it. No such luck. Kevin had the home version on Playstation (Konamix) so we all played a few games while Sam looked on and laughed. I think she was having as much fun as watching us as we did playing. Even Kevin’s dog Abby watched.
If that wasn’t enough we got to check out Clayton Hauck’s new Coaster Mayhem 2001 video. I really liked the 2000 version but Clayton outdid himself. The whole video is not like anything out there and looks really professional. The whole intro was enough to convince me that Clayton is going to go far in the video producing field. The humor alone is worth the price of the video and I would recommend this video to anyone wanting to see new coaster stuff. Some of the shots he got are very rare as is his take on editing. Great video and I can’t wait to watch it again.
By this time, everyone was tired and went to sleep. We needed to get as much sleep as possible because the next few days were to be long, tired, but fun.
-- Friday May 24th –
Six Flags Over Georgia.
This is easily one my favorite Six Flags parks. I have never had a bad time there. The whole feel is so different from most Six Flags parks that sometimes it doesn’t even feel like a Six Flags park at times. After picking up our rental van for the trip, we made our way to the park. We quickly got in line so I could get my season pass processed but were told to come back at 1:00PM as the pass processing area wasn’t open at this time. At least they honored my voucher as a ticket so I could get into the park. The park wasn’t very crowded today so we made our way around various rides before heading back out at 1:00PM.
-Acrophobia-
Still the scariest drop ride I have done. I somehow ended up getting grease on my shirt from the restraints but the ride made me forget about it for the time being. While it isn’t the tallest ride in the world, it still provides one heck of a thrill. I only rode once so I could video tape Joe and Kevin on their ride from the ground. Joe did the ‘Jesus Pose’ at the top. It turned out great on video.
-Déjà vu-
This was my 4th visit to this park in a year, and each time Déjà vu was closed. I wasn’t expecting to get to ride this so I wasn’t disappointed when we walked up and saw that the ride was closed. Too bad this ride has so many problems because it looks to be a great ride. I did ride the SFMM version but didn’t care for it that much. I wanted to ride another version to see if my views would change but it didn’t look like that would happen. For some reason, I don’t see the Déjà vu clones to be at those parks for a long time considering the problems they have.
-Ninja-
While many claim this coaster to be rough, I have never had a problem with it. I would even go as far as saying I find this coaster is smoother than most like it. It’s a Vekoma ( it does have Vekoma trains as printed on the seat backs, but with Arrow wheels, go figure) but it tracks pretty well. We rode this twice because of a short wait.
-Superman: Ultimate Flight-
One of the surprise coasters of the year for me. I still am in awe at the power of the pretzel loop. We rode in the back row one time, and then waited for a front seat ride the next time. The waits weren’t all that bad either time (40 minutes). I think the back offers more intensity while the front provides a better feeling of flight. I could never get tired of riding this coaster. I just hope a park near me installs one in the next few years. =:^)
We left the back area of the park and decided to make our way up to the front. As we passed Deja, I noticed a small group of people at the ride entrance. I pointed this out but Joe and Kevin said it probably wouldn’t be working. We walked over to see what was up. According to a ride op, the ride was to open in 20 minutes?
WHAT????
Could it be that I might be able to finally get a ride on this version of Déjà vu?
Joe insisted that I wouldn’t be able to ride it. 20 minutes later, we were walked through the queue and into the station as testing was completed. All tests proved the ride was ready to open. The crew even let us pick our seats. With only a two train wait, we decided to give the very front a ride. The first group went on, and came back with no problem. The second group went up the first spike, dropped, went through the boomerang, vertical loop, up the second spike…………..then…..
(silence)
Kevin and Joe looked at me and told me that the second ‘catch’ caught the train, but lowered it down to the bottom of the spike. They didn’t’ even have to look to tell me this. Sure enough, that is what happened. I was just one minute from getting on this ride and it decided to go down once again. I wasn’t upset about it, but just confused why these coasters have so many problems. We decided to wait it out and see if they would re-open. The train full of riders was soon lifted to the top of the spike, released and returned to the station. Soon, more testing took place, and then the air gates were opened.
“ No way! This couldn’t be! Am I really going to get to ride this?”
You bet
Joe and I hopped into the front seat while Kevin hopped into the seat directly behind my right shoulder. Soon we were strapped in and away we went. I could not believe we were riding this coaster. Going up that back spike while looking straight down is a treat. Without warning, we were released and away we went. We flew down the spike, through the station, up into the boomerang, through the vertical loop, and up the second spike.
As we were lifted to the top, I was amazed at how close we actually came to the top of the tower. I mean, REALLY close. We were then again released. The float down was incredible. Through the vertical loop, through the boomerang, and once again up the back spike. We were then lowered back into the station.
We just rode Déjà Vu at SFOG! (# 398)
So what did I think? I had a MUCH better ride on this version than I did at SFMM. The SFOG version seemed to be much smoother, and much quieter for some reason. It’s a shame the ride has so many problems because when running, it is a great ride.
We then went to the front of the park and met up with Chris and Kyle. Everyone except me left the park to go eat. I ended up getting my pass processed at this time. Once done with that, I met up with the rest of the group at Georgia Cyclone and took a ride.
-Georgia Cyclone-
I still consider this the scariest wooden coaster I have ridden. There is just something about it that terrifies me. I don’t feel this way on any other wooden coaster I have ridden. It’s a mean ride. You want airtime, give this a ride.
After riding a couple more things in the park, we left and started the official trip that Kevin named the “South Texas Roundup Trip”. After a quick stop at Wal-Mart to stock up on food and drinks, we started the 800 mile journey to Houston!
The trip through the rest of Georgia and into Alabama went quick. Joe had made a lot of trivia questions that we all had a blast answering. A lack of traffic worked in our benefit as we soon found ourselves going through Mississippi. Thanks to a few stops to stock up on loads of energy drinks like Sobe Adrenaline Rush, fatigue wasn’t getting to us. It was now dark out but we were still all awake. We had planned to have at least one person up while another person drove but we all remained awake. We pulled into New Orleans at around midnight. We took a small side trip to Jazzland just so we could see it from the road. On the way back to Atlanta, the rest of the guys would be stopping here for a visit. We even pulled next to the Jazzland sign and took a group picture.
-- Saturday May 25th --
An hour or so later we found our way at Dixie Landing Park and took another group picture. Everyone was still a go thanks to a round of everyone telling a ghost story or two. Yea, that sounds cheesy but it kept everyone alert and was great fun. We continued through Louisianan and made it to the outskirts of Houston in great time! It took us 11 hours to travel around 800 miles. The funny thing was Kevin drove it ALL and never once was in need of another driver. Those Sobe drinks really do work. The last half hour was difficulty though because that is when we turned on the music for the first time. Yes, 11 hours with no music! It can be done. However, the second we turned on the music, 3 of the 5 of us went to sleep in no time flat (Damn that “Sandra Says” song)
It was around 5:00AM at this time. Originally we were going to just sleep in the van until Six Flags Astroworld opened up but we were so grimy feeling, and tired that I suggested we find a cheap hotel near the park so we could get a bit of sleep and freshen up a bit before we went to the park. I would even pay for the hotel if it was under $65. We found a new place that offered some nice looking suites but I knew they would be expensive. I went in and asked if they had vacancy. Not only was there room available, but when I told the man behind the counter that we were only planning on staying a few hours, he cut us a deal. He gave us the best suite in the place for $60!! Woo hoo!!
We went up into our suite. It we weren’t so tired, we would have been more blown away by the size of it. Everyone got to sleep on a bed and take a shower. We ended up with about 2 hours sleep. You might think that’s quite a price to pay for only two hours or so, but it was SO worth it. We felt much better a couple of hours later.
-Six Flags Astroworld-
The last time I went to this park was in 1998. This was when Thriller (a.k.a. Texas Tornado) had its uncomfortable restraints. To this day, that coaster remains one of the few I have no desire to ride again with its old restraint system. I rarely have a problem with restraints but those restraints actually cracked my back in 1998. I am glad they got new restraints for it, but that also is one of the reasons the ride remains closed.
I called one my best friends, Maria Evans, once we arrived at the park. Maria and I went to tons of concerts within the last 10 years. We met at a Pantera concert in 1992 and have been great friends since. She moved to Houston last year so this was the only chance would have to see her this year. She took up my offer to meet up. She loves coasters and parks and hasn’t been to the park since she moved down to Houston last year.
After we met up we went for a ride on the new-to-me…
-Serial Thriller- (#399)
Using my trick of only riding an SLC in the back row helped me enjoy this ride more than I thought would be possible. Yea, it was pretty intense at times, but I have ridden much worse version of this ride. We even ended up riding this twice!!
The park wasn’t exactly crowded like we thought it was going to be so we took advantage of it and rode almost every coaster in the park twice. We even met up with our old friend Ron who works at the park. I haven’t seen him since 1998 but he made our visit this time worthwhile just by hanging out a bit. Thanks Ron!
-XLR8-
Probably the tamest out of all the Arrow suspended I have ridden, but it has a unique layout and seemed faster than I remembered. The last half of the ride contains a few swoops over some trees and shrubs. Pretty neat ride
-Viper-
For its size, it’s a peppy ride. It’s smooth and has some laterals that make you want to hold on. The tunneled first drop is always neat to go down into as is the lone vertical loop. First Anton ride of the day and Kevin’s 100th coaster!!! Congrats Kevin.
-The Serpent-
For its small size, this is a fun coaster that uses the terrain good. Its kind if hidden so you really can’t see it until you get on it but it’s worth a ride if you can find it. Good coaster to train younger riders on as was the case when we rode. Behind me was a mother who had talked her son into riding his first coaster. It was neat to see his reaction. He loved it.
-Ultra Twister-
One of the most unique coasters I have ridden. To this day it remains unique in the US. That first 85-degree first drop into a camel back and twists is really fun as the return trip while rotating. It was much smoother than I remembered.
-Texas Cyclone-
O.K. I have ridden this coaster before, but I honestly don’t remember a thing about it other than it having those odd ‘coffin cars’. Since those odd headrests were removed last year, I was curious to see how the ride would be. First off, getting a view with the ride is brilliant. Second of all, this ride ROCKS!!! It’s a fantastic ride and has excellent pacing with some amazing airtime and mad laterals. Now I will remember it! No doubt.
-Greezed Lightnin’-
Anton coaster #2 for the day. Only second flywheel launched coaster in the US. Great start, great ending. I don’t think I could ever get tired of riding this one.
I skipped Batman: The Escape because I didn’t care for it much when I rode it in 1998 and we were limited on time.
-Mayan Mindbender-
For a dark coaster ride, this is pretty unique. The soundtrack is pretty creepy to listen to while going around and around in the dark. There are a couple of surprise twists that you don’t see coming that always catch me off guard.
After doing a quick lap around the park, we decided to leave Astroworld and Maria and continue our trip to San Antonio. After saying our goodbyes, we hopped back into the van and started the 2-hour plus drive to Six Flags Fiesta Texas for the Fiesta Fest event. The drive over to San Antonio went by fast thanks to more of Joe’s trivia questions, and a pass through a brush fire in the middle of the freeway.
We arrived at our hotel for the night, checked in and then soon found ourselves at the park.. We also met up with ACE members David Lipnicky, Josh and Brandy Harrington, and Scott Connor.
-Six Flags Fiesta Texas-
I remember liking this park a lot back in 1998, but I forgot how beautiful it is. Easily the most beautiful park I have been to. The theming, the cliffs, the music. It all plays a big part in making this park feel totally different than any other Six Flags park. Of course, there were 3 coasters added to the park since 1998 and we took no time into getting on
-Superman: Krypton Coaster (#400)
I had heard good reviews about this coaster. However, nothing could prepare me for the shock this coaster gave me. For our first ride, we took a front seat ride. Well worth it! Everything about this coaster is outstanding. The layout is unique. The way it uses the cliff wall is awesome. The pacing is fantastic. You should have seen my face the first time I looked down that first drop for the first time. It seems SO steep. The loop, while if I am not mistaken, is the world’s largest. It seemed like it took forever to go through. The helix on top of the cliff wall was a nice surprise with a great pop of airtime at the top. The camel back was smooth and provided a nice float. The cobra roll was smooth and fast. The climb up into the block brake was great considering how close we came to the cliff wall. The dive down, corkscrews, and pop into the final brakes all were insane! What a ride! I couldn’t think of a better coaster to have for #400 on this trip.
Both Kevin and I were literally high an hour after riding this coaster. The buzz didn’t leave us for quite sometime. To make the most out of the rest of the night, we rode a few other things before the event started. We rode the Top Spin which provided a rather odd program and kept us upside down a lot more than a certain ride I could name at a park near me. =:^) As a matter of fact, this was my first time riding a standard Top Spin this year and it felt so different. The ride ended up giving someone in our group a nose bleed also. We also rode the insane Frisbee which provided us with a rather intense ride, as did the Scream S&S combo towers.
After we registered for the event, we were escorted by SFFT personnel to the V.I.P. room to watch the fireworks and have some beverages. Marketing manager Duane Brown did a fantastic job in putting this event together with ACE members Tim Baldwin and Jeffrey Siefert. I also got to see some familiar faces that I hadn’t seen in a long while including Robert, Sharron, and Steven Reagan, Dawn and Mike Robinson, Jason Burkett, among others.
Our ERT started after the park closed on…
-Poltergeist- (#401)
Having ridden the PKI version of Flight of Fear, I kind of new what to expect. This is basically an outdoor version of Flight of Fear with a two train operation. This also opened this year with just lap bars. Poltergeist vowed everyone in attendance with the pure speed it was producing. That last half of the ride is crazy with its quick turns and snappy corkscrew.
We got in a few rides before moving to the new Scooby Doo Ghostblaster interactive dark ride. This was a tournament of sorts so we were only permitted to take one ride on this, but it was enough to sample how cool this ride is. I could easily see a version like this doing very well for a park in my region considering we don’t have anything like that up this way.
After the ERT, we were told to give our scores to park personnel so they could choose the winners the next day. We then left the park and made our way back to our hotel and fell asleep soon.
--Sunday May 26th--
BOOM! CRACK! SMACK!
Each of us awoke to the sound of the most electrifying thunderstorm I have ever seen or heard. Honestly, I have been through some nasty storms but this one, while it didn’t last very long, was severe. We all looked out the window and noticed it looked as if a river rapids ride had been installed in the parking lot. It actually looked like a raging river. Ironically, the thunder and lightning wasn’t the thing that woke me up but rather a large drip noise in the room we never found out where it was coming from. We soon went back to sleep and woke up to blue skies a few hours later.
We made our way to the park again to start our morning with some ERT on Superman: Krypton Coaster. Once at the park we were informed that the ERT was to be moved to Scream because the cobra roll on Superman was partially underwater from the storm. From one side of one of the Scream towers, you could easily tell the area was flooded. The park pumped out the water as soon as possible to get the coaster open for park opening. The ERT on Scream as fun. We ended up getting a chance to ride all three towers. Each tower offered the combo ride which included a nice blast up and down, as well as a shot down from the top. These were the first combo towers I have ridden and I was surprised.
After the ERT ended, Kevin and I made our way to the only coaster in the park I had never ridden.
-Boomerang (#402)
We only waited a few minutes before the ride opened and we were allowed to ride. At this time the park was giving ACE members a cliff tour so they could get up close and personal with the Superman coaster. I wanted to do this but if I missed it, I wouldn’t be upset. Plus, I wanted to ride this Boomerang. I don’t know what Vekoma has done to their most recent Boomerang coasters but they seem to have been smoothed out. It must be the trains. Both Kevin and I agreed that this was very smooth. We didn’t have to fight the ride like some of the others I have ridden.
We then made our way over to where the cliff tours started. The park would load up a couple of vans at a time, take us up to the cliff, and let us walk around while the coaster zoomed overhead and below us. Joe, Kevin, Chris, and Kyle all decided to skip the tour where Josh, Brandy, and I decided to do it. I wasn’t sure what to expect. The drive up to the cliff included a drive through a tunnel under the front gate plaza and up a curvy road between The Rattler and the Road Runner Express coasters. Once on top of the cliff I realized how cool this was to be.
The view from top of that cliff area was spectacular. Superman looked so cool from up there. I took loads of pictures as did everyone else. Joe ended up joining the tour later and used my video camera to tape all kinds of cool shots. We walked from the first drop to near the cobra roll. The tour lasted about an hour and exceeded every expectation I had.
Once done with the tour, Joe, Kevin and I went for another ride on Superman. This time we sat in the back row. While it was a good ride, I still prefer the front for the visuals alone. This is a very visual packed ride. After our ride, we went to have lunch. The park went out of their way to have a feast for us. While I didn’t eat much, everything did look good. A small presentation was made and event T-shirts were handed out as we left. Thanks Six Flags!
Time was running out for me at this park because I had a plane to catch in a few hours. We made the best of it by riding The Bugs Bunny flume (fantastic flume), and Road Runner Express. It’s a shame we haven’t seen any more of these 3rd generation Arrow mine rides because this one is great. The fast lift hills still impressed me as does the twisty course. I had time for one more coaster before I had to leave.
- The Rattler-
When I rode this in 1998, I didn’t find it all that bad. The helix felt kind of odd as did the complete stop in the block brake, but I never felt it to be the worst coaster I had ridden. This year, the coaster had its double down 2nd drop redone so it’s more of a large helix than anything. We didn’t wait long for this one. The first drop had some laterals to it that I don’t remember. The new reprofiled second hill was quite intense, but a bit rough. Not a real bad rough, but enough to let you know you were on The Rattler. The helix still remains odd as ever and almost feels like it doesn’t belong on this ride due to the strange pacing but is followed by a block brake (no stopping anymore), and a nice dive into a tunnel before heading back to the station.
By this time, I was really tired and decided it was time for me to start heading back towards the front of the park to leave. Kevin, being the ultra cool dude he is, offered to take me to the airport. I said goodbye to Joe, Josh, Brandy, Chris, and Kyle before leaving the park and heading the airport. It didn’t take long before I was inside the airport waiting for my flight. As I was waiting, I checked out some of the pictures I took on the trip. It seemed like the trip lasted a full week even though it was only a couple of days.
I was extremely tired by this time. I took my seat on the place, and fell asleep just as we were about to take off. I remember waking to the sound of the engines cranking for our take off, then I dozed off. I woke back up to watch the take off but I somehow slept through it because we were already 20,000 feet in the air. How did I sleep through that? The flight to Dallas was short. I had to switch planes in Dallas. The plane I took from Dallas was quite small. There was no leg room so I couldn’t get as comfortable as I had hoped. Just as I was getting comfortable, I hear this:
“Is there a Sean Flaharty on board? If so, you might want your Six Flags season pass and everything with it”
“WHAT?”
It seems that as I was making my way through the narrow seats on the place, my wallet fell out and someone found it. Talk about luck! Phew!
I tried to sleep on this flight but couldn’t get more than a few winks. I do remember flying over Indianapolis and seeing a fireworks show over Dayton. After I landed back in Columbus, I took a shuttle back to my car and made my way home. I turned the radio off just as we did on our 11 hour trip. Funny thing is, my half hour drive home without music seemed to last a lot longer than our 11 hour trip did. That’s probably due to the cool people that made this trip possible that weren’t with me on the way home.
Thanks to Joe Campenella, Kevin and Sam Smallhorn, Chris Ward, Kyle, Josh and Brandy Harrington, Scott Connor, David Lipnicky, Tim Baldwin, Jeffrey Siefert, Duane Brown and those at SFFT, Jason Burkett, Mike and Dawn Robinson, The Rolling Reagans, Jason Knutson, Robert Ulrich (even though he wasn’t there) the Mississippi weigh station, Sobe Adrenaline Rush, Nilas, Orbs, and bright flashes.
Thanks for reading,
-Sean
*** This post was edited by Sean F. on 5/28/2002. ***
Sean, that trip was awesome. I loved the rock scream! I have it on video twice and i laughed so hard it was unbelievable when i saw it! Oh yeah and thank you for thanking the orbs, that was hilarious.
PS- my camera started and stopped working again. That thing is beyond me!
Awesome trip and i came so close to you at one time in trivia!
Sean, man, that was one awesome TR! You said everything I could say (I'm still going to do my own TR :)) and didn't leave out barely any details!
Great job and I was really glad you could join us for this trip. I know for part of the day on Sunday things were a little...weird, but I chalk that up to sleep deprivation. LOL. I was happy you could make it though. I mean, who else would get my trivia questions right? Not those newbies, that's for sure. ;)
I'll be seeing ya on Friday and Saturday, Sean! SRM is comin, hell yeah.
Take care of those Nillas, LMFAO.
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"Hey, what were the 80's like, were they cool?"
Sean:
Couldn't have said it better myself. All I have to say is that I love the 80's: Atari, Pitfall and PONG. Fiesta Texas has to be one of the most beautiful parks I have ever been to. It is a good thing that more people don't see what Six Flags can do with a little themeing in a park.Texas Cyclone rules, and Superman is everything everyone says it is and MORE!
Two more weeks and CM! Bring on MF.
Legendary says,"Don't get your hopes up too high, you will be dissapointed when you get off S:KC!"
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"Sit down, enjoy much airtime and put your feet IN the fire!"
*** This post was edited by Scorcherboy on 5/29/2002. ***
Always enjoy your TRs Sean. Great job.
:o)
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Sorrrrrrrry folks! Parks closed. The moose out front should have told you.
Scorcherboy said:Legendary says,"Don't get your hopes up too high, you will be dissapointed when you get off S:KC!"
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"Sit down, enjoy much airtime and put your feet IN the fire!"*** This post was edited by Scorcherboy on 5/29/2002. ***
I dont think i will ever forget that one.
LOL
Sean' that was probably the mopst enjoyable trip report I have ever read. I always love reading your trip reports. That tour on the cliff sounded awesome.
-Another Sean
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-Sean Newman
80 coasters and soon to be more
Life is a roller coaster Ride It!
*** This post was edited by SFgadvMAN on 5/29/2002. ***
*** This post was edited by SFgadvMAN on 5/29/2002. ***
I dunno, I've heard "mixed reviews" about the cliff tour. Ahem. ;)
Kevin and Chris, I only said that because I didn't want you to have "anticipointment!" I had been hyping up SKC all freakin' month and just didn't want it to let y'all down. I'm glad to see that it didn't. :)
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"Hey, what were the 80's like, were they cool?"
Julie,
Glad you liked it! It was a great trip.
Chris,
I guess the lefties in the group really are the smarter ones. =:^) My throat is still sore from screaming so much.
Joe,
Yea, lack of sleep was getting to me as was every little negative thing I was seeing or hearing. It's all good though. Oh, and I still heard that someone didn't want to do the tour because they didn't care for it last year. Must be afraid of heights?
Kevin,
Thanks for reading dude. Your hospitality remains untouched. Even thought I only met you a month or so ago, if feels like we have been friends for years. I can't wait to do PKI and CP with you in a week or so.
Homey,
Thanks! Glad you liked it. Now that I look at it, I really didn't mean to make it that long. Joe called me tonight and told me it was REALLY long. I went online and looked at it again and said, " Oh man. What have I done?" LOL!
Sean,
Thanks for the comments. The cliff tour was indeed awesome and one of the highlights of the trip. One of these days I am going to have to do a video trip report so people can actually see what I am talking about.
-Sean
Man oh man. Once again your TR is so detailed that I can't quit reading it! One thing to remember about your TR's Sean....."they ROCK!" lol. I'm glad all of ya got to go (Sean, Chris, Kyle, Joe, Kevin, etc, etc, etc....). I honestly don't think it would have been fun without yall. Me and Brandi (Brandi with an "I" - she'll let you slide on this one time ;)) had the best time! Being her first ACE event and her first time to meet everyone of you she can't wait to do it again. Anyway, on to my view of the event.
-Saturday May 25-
After driving 14 hours from my house in Starkville, MS (Go Dawgs!) we finally arrived at San Antonio at about 3 pm that evening. We chatted with a few other Texas friends from around the state while we waited on the van load of crazy, sleep deprived, maniacs from Atlanta (and Ohio =:^) ) to arrive before heading off to the park. Finally the van load of coaster enthusiast made it's way to the parking lot of the hotel, only to be loaded up again and heading down I-10 a few miles to Fiesta Texas - A Six Flags Park (not to be confused with Six Flags Fiesta Texas. lol.) As we approach the parking booth, I take the right side entry and Kevin and "the van" take the left side. It didn't take long for me to realize that I had forgotten my parking pass that was issued to us. Kevin said he had it covered and would lend me one of his (and with 5 people in the van, someone has GOT to have a parking pass). Kevin uses his pass and then drives off laughing in that "oh so pick-you-out-of-a-crowd" laugh. Little did I know what he was laughing about until the parking attendant said that he told him I didn't have a parking pass and to make me pay. (I'll get that 7 bucks from you yet punk!) Once we park and get in the park we head straight for SKC. Being as I had already ridden it at Fiesta Fest '01, I opted for the second train so that the "newbies" could all get a front ride. After the ride was over we all met at the end of the exit ramp and laughed about the new #1 status that SKC had just been given by a few folks.
*snip the rest of the day cause I can't remember it. lol*
-Saturday night
We all met at Mi Pueblitos for drinks to watch the Lone Star Spectacular from afar. After the show and the GP cleared out we were all led to the "topless" Poltergeist. After my first ride with lapbars, I was speechless. Kudos to Fiesta Texas for retrofitting this now "amazing" and "full of arm choppers" ride. It took a bit of convincing, but Brandi finally rode it and fell in love! She still isn't to crazy about the corkscrew, but she'd ride it again. lol. Once the Poltergeist ERT was over it was on to Scobby Doo. This is a very nice dark ride. Very well put together and nicely themed. After that the event most looked forward to of the night....SLEEP!!!!
-Saturday night-
I think Sean explained the "storm" good enough. I can only add that outside my window (I had a good view of the storm drain) it looked just like Sean said, a raging rapids ride had suddenly popped up below us. Aside from that and the crazy as hell lightning (it looked like someone had a strobe light set to super fast on outside my window) the night was fairly "normal" for me - late to bed, early to rise.
-Sunday May 26- (the day that will not soon be forgotten)
The day began with ERT on Scream!! since superman decided to swim that morning. The ERT was very nice and I got to ride all 3 towers. I think I like the combo towers the best of all the S&S towers. You get more bang for your buck. After the ERT, it was up the cliff wall for the photo tour. Viewing the park from the quarry walls has to be the highlight of the event. After videotaping numerous runs of SKC and taking a few mugshots of Sean with his camera, we headed down the cliff to eat! The meal was more outstanding than last years and to me the highlight of it was the introduction of the Citrus Mango Cheesecake. Very, very good. After the meal me and Brandi told Sean goodbye and wished him a good trip home. Later we (Me, Brandi, Joe, Chris and Kyle) wandered aimlessly through the park riding the majority of the flat rides they have to offer. Kevin joined us after he got back from dropping Sean off at the airport. He arrived just in time to see the one thing that will be talked about forever. The Chaos incident. They came, they saw, they rode, and the got stuck upside down. Chris and Joe ended up getting locked upside down in Chaos at the end of the ride and by doing that when an unexperienced ride op is running the ride, they remained upside down for the better part of 20 minutes. LOL. I videotaped until the supervisor got in the way and asked me to stop filming. Still haven't figured that one out. I got enough footage to laugh at. Especially the jackass comment. Once that was over we wnadered around the park again taking pictures and filming everything in sight while we waited on the night time ERT. It finally got here and The Rattler was first up. Riding in the backseat of The Rattler with a trick lap bar that pops up at random with no lights on, was one of the highlights of the night. One incident with the lap bars occured during mine & Kevins first ride in the back seat. As we slowly eased over the crest of the lift and began to pick up speed, my lapbar as well as Kevin's popped up about 2 notches at the same time. We both looked at each other with shear terror as we descended the drop with nothing but a seat belt to hold us in. After we survived the drop we pulled them back down only to have them pop up 2 more times throughout the ride. I pretty much gave up on keeping it down, and ended up back in the station with my lapbar in the same place where it started BEFORE I pulled it down. It was wild. After that was over, we finished up the night with ERT on Superman (lights off - WOW!). Once that was over we bidded Kevin, Joe, Chris, and Kyle adieu as we went back to the hotel and they hit the road again headed back to Atlanta and hitting a few parks in between San Antonio and there. I still say yall are the craziest people I know for pulling that stunt off without killing everyone on board.
I guess I'll wrap my TR up since I invaded Seans TR. lol. By the way Sean, Brandi wants me to thank you immensly for the "fear talk" yall had on the cliff top. She's on the road to recovery! lol.
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