Trip Report for Six Flags Fiesta Texas
6/30/04
Crowds/Weather: Light/Thunderstorms

Park Rating
Mike: 3.75 out of 5
Mike’s Park Comments: Fiesta Texas was a real surprise. Not knowing much about the park save for it being a Six Flags and having a Golden Ticket for “Best Shows,” I was happy to discover that Fiesta Texas is a great medium sized park.

What looks to be two man made ridges (I’ve subsequently learned it was a rock quarry), very tall, line the park and give the entire park a very unique and exceptional look and feel. The words “Six Flags” and “very unique look” may seem insane to those that haven’t been here, but really this is the one Six Flags park that comes closest to having absolutely none of the problems of the chain. Fiesta Texas is a really fun park with a great aesthetic and… believe it or not, atmosphere. Both the wood coaster (The Rattler) and the steel coaster (Superman: Krypton Coaster) use the cliff as a launch point for drops, with Superman doing so with amazing success.

Because of the excellent ambience and fun experience I had at Fiesta Texas, a return tirp for SFOT, Schlitterbahn, and this park will definitely happen.

Another note of Fiesta Texas is the employees. They were great. Funny, fun, fast, efficient, friendly – these are as good as amusement park employees get. Maybe every Six Flags GM needs to visit Fiesta Texas to see how good their employees could be?

If Fiesta Texas lacks anything, it is an abundance of great rides. Superman and Poltergeist are fantastic, but that’s about it, and I can ride coasters very similar or as good as Poltergeist much closer to home. However, “only” two great coasters is to be expected for it’s size - Fiesta Texas is a superb medium sized park and absolutely the best run Six Flags of the trip.

Clarisse: [Clas Number] out of 5
Clarisse’s Park Comments: The day we went, we got rained out. I mean really rained out. There were half naked kids running and dancing in the rain to amuse us. At least we got on 2 rides before it poured. After the long thunderstorm, the park was empty for the rest of the day.

The park is set inside this old quarry. The flat rock walls that partially enclose the park make it look sort of surreal. At closing, the park projects its laser light show against one of the rock walls, which makes for an almost perfect screen. Six Flags Fiesta Texas has the best laser light show I’ve ever seen, in or outside of an amusement park. Of course the laser show has cutesy colored drawings of cutesy fun stuff. They intersperse it with movie projections, narration and fire works during the show and a huge fireworks spectacular after it. The theme of the show is ‘Ain’t America great! But the best part of America is Texas!” Aside from the arrogance, it was a really good show. It had educational bits in it, which I forgot. And the fireworks spectacular was, well, spectacular. I really appreciated walking away getting rained on by burned bits of fire works. Hey, ain’t America great!

Scooby Doo

Clarisse: 3.67 out of 5
Comments: This is another Sally dark ride clone. For my adoring public who is now saying wtf, herez an explanation…Riders sit in a car that seats 3 or 4 that travels pretty slowly along a curvy track. Along the way they get to shoot at targets that activate the themed animatronics (in this case Scooby Doo). Score is also kept. My score was 1950, Mike didn’t really play cause his gun was gooey with some unknown stuff. This ride is well themed and has cool animatronics. However in this sort of ride, riders (namely us) don’t really notice the themeing because they’re so busy playing the game and hitting the targets that the themeing isn’t really appreciated.

I loved our on ride photo! It’s not the usual on ride photo of all smiles or terrified looks. We were both playing the game therefore we are looking in different directions with intense looks on our faces. The photo captures the ride experience very well.

Frisbee

Mike: 4 out of 5
Comments: This Frisbee goes to 11! A very fun flat ride that I wasn’t expecting after riding the hideously boring one at Six Flags New Orleans. If this had a Coney Island length ride cycle I’d rate it even higher, though I imagine the average Six Flags patron couldn’t handle that.

Clarisse: 2.75 out of 5
Comments: This ride is basically a pendulum that spins. Its similar to Dizzy Izzy except the pendulum goes higher, although the angle of rotation stays under 180 degrees; and it spins around more (does it spin more cause of higher kinetic energy or is it a program thing). Also unlike SFNO his one thankfully had a reasonable ride time, it made for a more fun ride. I was reluctant to ride though, I can’t help but be nervous on these spin and spew rides!

Superman Krypton Coaster

Mike: 4.95 out of 5
Comments: Absolutely the best floorless of the trip, better then both Kraken and Medusa. The interplay with the cliff is part of what makes this coaster fantastic, along with the sheer feeling of both size and speed I feel while riding it. It only lacks a tiny bit in intensity, making it fall short of a 5 out of 5 attraction but still one of the top rides in America all the same.

Clarisse: 4.7 out of 5
Comments: This is a floorless coaster. Not only is s beautifully fun, but it’s also not bad to look at. The coaster is built off of a cliff blasted into rock; the cliff is pretty cool looking even without the looping flippity coaster track in front of it. There is a statue of Superman at the top of the first loop; you cant see it while you’re one the coaster but it looks pretty cool when you’re regarding the coaster as a whole.

The coaster starts off at the bottom of the crater, then it soars to the cliff and sends you off of it into a loop. The silliness of this ride puts passengers through stupendous, loops, banks and inversions. Unfortunately it’s not a perfectly smooth ride, I experienced some head banging.

Bugs' White Water Rapids

Mike: 3 out of 5
Comments: A flume that is quite a cut higher then the rest. Shockingly well and entertainingly themed, with some excitement plus a long ride time – this flume is a winner, and I very rarely write that.

Clarisse: 2.65 out of 5
Comments: This is cutesy flume ride. The ride itself wasn’t that exceptional. It did have with excellent themeing especially on the queue. Its designed after the Bugs Bunny cartoon Set in the Middle ages with a cute fire breathing dragon "Knighty Knight Bugs.” The themeing is fabulous by 6 flags standards but it would fall short to universal studios themeing standards. ON one part of the coaster, the flume goes through a low ceilinged tunnel, when you pass thorough it, look up and marvel at the multicolored stuccoed ceiling constructed entirely out of chewed gum. Or chew some on the queue so you can add your contribution!

Rattler

Clarisse: 4.45 out of 5
Comments: The Rattler is aptly named. When riding this coaster, expert to be shaken around – a lot. The first time we rode, we sat in the back. I got jostled so much I was scared to ride the 2nd time (but of course we ended up riding over and over again).

This coaster has truly high drops which contributes to its ouch factor. It’s also really long and keeps on going even after you think its over. There’s a helix section that you can think of as kind of boring, or a break from the insane intensity. The coaster is also braked to shit, but it needs it!

On one of our rides, a ride op dropped his soda filled paper cup on the track by accident. He was really worried about it, but the other ride op told him to chill and watch the show, cause the train was just gonna tear it up…it did… and it was kind of funny, but I guess you just had to be there.

Mike: 4 out of 5
Comments: A wooden coaster that is quite unique and beautiful, if not the most entertaining. A frightening, exciting and rough beginning is followed by a trim brake and then a surreal circle (a helix um, kind of) that eventually leads to an exciting ending that’s a bit too short to really forgive the eccentric, yet unpleasant middle.

Roadrunner

Clarisse: 4.12 out of 5
Comments: This coaster is fast mine train. Actually, the coaster isn’t really a mine train, its too new and smooth it’s more like a junior steel coaster. The 2 kids behind us kept exclaiming about airtime. I didn’t get any air, I guess cause I’m about 60 pounds heavier than they were…or it could have been cause I was stapled in.

The themeing on this ride is plentiful. Riders are treated to scenes of Wile E. Coyote trying to foil and eat the roadrunner in various predictable ways. The coyote looked pretty cool, as it looked furry (I cant imagine that it was though ‘cause if it was it would get pretty nasty after a few rains). The best part is that …the train…is the roadrunner; the coyote is constantly trying to capture you! Rocks are supposed to fall on it, the train passes though a TNT tunnel…but as the roadrunner, you’re just too fast for the coyote’s tricks.

Mike: 3.8 out of 5
Comments: An obviously newer mine train that rides great, is themed great, and gives a truly fun ride for both kids and adults. It may be short on airtime, but it’s not lacking in speed and sharp turns – one of the best mine trains of the trip.

Poltergeist

Clarisse: 4.92 out of 5
Comments: Poltergeist is so compact and intense I think I suffered brain damage from this ride! If I did get brain damage from this ride, at least it was enjoyable brain damage. It launches you to 60 mph in literally no time and then sends you upside down several times though loops, twists and banks. It does all this really quickly. When you’re waiting on the platform the train comes back so quickly, it almost seems like the train never left the station. When you’re on the ride your brain reels from the intensity, and you feel each coaster element acutely, making the ride seem long. Actually, the train never leaves the station; the ghosts just make you think you did.

The themeing of the coaster is cute. The station is in an old fashioned house (which looks like it could have ghosts. You can’t see the loading platform from outside of the coaster and you can’t see the coaster from the station, which makes much of this ride a surprise. If you’re lucky, like us, you’ll get to ride it over and over again!

Mike: 4.9 out of 5
Comments: After experiencing Poltergeist, I was very annoyed that the previous two versions of this coaster were closed. I’ve subsequently found out I was wrong to be annoyed. At Kings Dominion, they’ve pretty much ruined the coaster by braking it, which I experienced first hand when I rode it at Kings Island. At SFA, the coaster was closed so I can't comment on it. I originally thought they had OTSRs but have subequently learned they were removed. I'm looking forward to getting on the one at SFA. I love this launched coaster and it’s fairly long ride length (and layout). An empty park allowed us to ride many, many times and I never got tired of it.