Another Visit to Six Flags Over Texas

It has been 15 years since I last visited SFOT. With this park only being a 4-hour drive from my home, I really don't know why it took me so long to revisit. Here are my thoughts about my 1.5 days at the park during spring break in 2022:

Recap of my Previous Visits

I visited SFOT twice with my entire immediate family, once in 2006 and again in 2007. I rode most coasters at the park (including the original Texas Giant and the defunct boomerang clone called Flashback) at least once, but missed out on Batman and Mr. Freeze due to height restrictions. I preferred Titan to Shock Wave, and both of those held my #1 steel coaster spot for a little while! My family also enjoyed the river rapids ride, the train ride, Rodeo, and Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure at SFOT.

Overview

On Thursday, I was at SFOT from 2PM-7:30PM. As expected, it was very busy with spring breakers like myself. I only got to ride 3 coasters before it rained shortly after 7PM. Even though the weather quickly cleared up, park employees announced that the park was closed (90 minutes early) and shooed us guests out. Overall I was extremely disappointed with my experience on Thursday. Thankfully, I had a much better time on Friday. I visited the park from open to close, and even though the crowd level was about the same as the previous day, I was able to accomplish a lot more. My ride totals for the trip were 8 on New Texas Giant, 4 on Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast, and one on Shock Wave, Batman the Ride, Runaway Mountain, Pandemonium, and Runaway Mine Train. Over the two days, wait times ranged from 5 minutes to 135 minutes. Judge Roy Scream, Joker, and Titan never operated. I picked up four coaster credits, but missed out on Joker. Maybe I'll be back in a few years for Aquaman and Prairie Screamer. I would love to see SFOT build another B&M in the future. Six Flags Over Texas had some decent theming in queues/stations, and most queues also had a good amount of shade. This park is tricky to navigate, especially on the left side, so I recommend looking at a map ahead of time. Park employees were friendly.

Coasters

Because New Texas Giant is somewhat downplayed by the coaster enthusiast community, I was taken aback by how good it was. RMC's first creation is not even close to being their worst in my opinion! To start, its Gerstlauer trains are decently comfortable, and the coaster is still as smooth as can be. I wasn't bothered by the plexiglass. NTG's drop was the best in the park, and one of the best moments on the ride. The rest of this coaster consists of airtime hills, overbanked turns, and tunnels. As I wrote this last sentence, Millennium Force came to mind, although the ride experiences are much different. NTG loses steam after the MCBR, but there was only one instance in the second tunnel where I expected airtime that turned out to be kind of a dud. Otherwise, this coaster has a wonderful mix of quality airtime: some floater, ejector, in between "flojector", sideways, sustained, and quick moments. By a small margin, New Texas Giant was my favorite ride at SFOT. Now I'm in the "yes, the RMC is the best coaster in a park" group. This coaster had an average 1-2 hour wait, but I skipped it most times by hopping in the single rider line. This is my biggest tip for visiting SFOT. It's located where the Flash Pass entrance was, partly down the Titan path. I was assigned a seat every time, but so were people waiting in the standby line. Even with assigned seating, I rode once in the very back and front rows. I only waited 5 minutes maximum using the single rider line.

I was a little wary of Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast since it had the same restraints that crushed my foot on Flight of Fear last summer. However, I had no such problem this time. Three out of the four times I waited for this coaster, it temporarily broke down for about 30 minutes. On the bright side, it gave me plenty of time to rest my feet and admire the neat abandoned ice cream building that the queue snakes through. Including downtime, I waited between 60 and 135 minutes each time. Mr. Freeze was always worth the wait! I rode once in the front, twice in the back, and once in the middle. The launch was thrilling but a little weak. My favorite element on this ride was the top hat inversion. I was yanked through it on the first pass and got great hangtime from it on the return trip. The overbanked turn was another great positive-G moment. I was let down by the spike. While it provided a few seconds of weightlessness and a "cool" visual looking straight down, I had expected this element to be more forceful. All in all, this Premier oldish launch coaster is solid and very intense. I can see how intensity lovers might crown Mr. Freeze the best coaster at SFOT. I loved it too, and it's currently in my top 50.

Batman the Ride was my third favorite coaster at SFOT. The one ride I got was in the back row. I thought it was as smooth as any. I enjoy these clones more and more with each ride! I moved these B&M's up a few spots in my rankings.

My thoughts on Shock Wave haven't changed since I first rode it in 2006. Its back-to-back loops are awesome and more intense than modern day vertical loops. However, the rest of the ride was lackluster for my preferences. The airtime was generally too abrupt and threw me into the uncomfortable Schwarzkopf lap bar. It's a must-do ride for all new visitors to SFOT though, and uniquely bumps right up against Interstate 30.

I don't have many comments on Pandemonium, Runaway Mountain or Runaway Mine Train except that they were all more forceful than I remembered.

Other Rides

I only rode coasters on this trip, but I have ridden many other rides at SFOT in the past, including the river rapids ride, the train ride, the chairswing, kiddy rides, and the antique cars ride.

Food & Merchandise

I had lunch at Primo's Pizzeria. The food and service were better than the SFFT location. I ate dinner at Dry Hole Charlie's. The food there was average. I bought a t-shirt with the park's skyline on it; SFOT's coaster merchandise was limited.

Cost

Since I visited SFOT over multiple days, I purchased a spring pass for $88 total. I walked to the park from my hotel, so I didn't pay for parking. My meals and t-shirt each cost around $20. The entire trip (2 nights at a hotel, gas, food, shirt, and admission) cost $503.

Photos

These photos were taken by me. Please credit this website if used.