From their newsletter:

“Are you ready for non-stop thrills, flavors, and entertainment? Make unforgettable memories all summer long at Six Flags Over Texas, opening daily starting May 23 through June 17, then open Wednesday-Monday all summer long. Plus, make a splash at Hurricane Harbor Arlington now open for the season!”

The park calendar also shows all Tuesdays as closed after the 17th.

I understand that the latter part of the summer is a ghost town but this is still very dissapointing to people who potentially planned vacations around visiting this park.

A few months ago, I was able to go to the Adventuredome in Las Vegas. The park is located in the decaying Circus Circus hotel. I found it charmingly haunting. There was a carnival and trapeze artistry in the casino proper. It smelt like popcorn and peanuts. There were a bunch of kids running around as you would expect I suppose. The place was fun but in a cheap travelling carnival kind of way - it wasn't the type of tacky that I like about Vegas, but I had a nice time.

For whatever reason (probably declining revenues) they force you to pay for all the rides in a lump sum and it costs way too much for what you get. The 3D theater was fun, so was the half pipe and pirate ship... I couldn't fit in anything else. Sort of a bummer for how much I paid... and the new Spongebob dark ride was charged separately at 20 DOLLARS FOR ONE RIDE. Vegas, baby. I came for the coasters anyway. I got three rides on El Loco and two on Canyon Blaster. Here are my thoughts:

El Loco (7/10): I usually love these infinity coasters. Monster at Adventureland is in my top 15. However, this was both rough and short. I liked the speed of the lift hill and props to them for building a full coaster on such a small footprint. The near miss elements were great. It was just a little jerky. Probably my least favorite infinity coaster of the half-dozen or so I've ridden. Still, overall very fun.

Canyon Blaster (5/10): I've come to the conclusion that I don't really care for Arrow loopers. This coaster was very small; I'm quite tall and the horse collar wouldn't come down very far so I had a little bit of fear for my life throughout the whole coaster (like, the collar was almost horizontal but the operator told me it was fine). I know people have said that this is not very rough especially for an arrow looper. After my two rides, I'm going to agree to disagree. After getting jerked around on El Loco, this was worse. Positives: the theming was cool, the tunnel portion was fun, and the way all four inversions hit you one after the other - although typical for an arrow looper, I suppose - was pleasantly intense. Just not my bag.

I rode the Big Apple Coaster back in 2019 and was not super impressed, but I believe with the new restraints it's probably the best coaster in Vegas. When I head back there in a few months I'll probably ride it to confirm. I wish that I could have rode Speed: The Ride when it was here. Vegas is a really fun time and I'd like to see it get some modern thrill rides that are consistent with its quality in other areas.

Let me know if you have an extra ticket or if you end up not being able to come. I’ll be at the park either way so I don’t mind of it’s last minute. I know the odds are low, but feels like it’s worth a shot!

https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/giant-dipper-100-year-santa-cruz-boardwalk-19455146.php

Really enjoyed the details and behind the scenes shots of this anniversary article about the Giant Dipper at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Shout outs to all the mechanics we have on the sub.

To be clear, I'm not asking for advice here. I do have a fear but I'm well on my way to conquering it. I'm more just curious to hear how you all conquered yours.

Did it go away after riding a specific coaster? Or was it a long process? Any rides that were big landmarks for you? I just want to hear!

Edit: Thanks for your responses everyone. It's super interesting/comforting to hear your experiences. In a few hours I'm heading to Alton Towers and im planning to conquer Nemesis, Smiler, Oblivion and Galactica! Feeling like I can get that all done

Also shout-out to the couple from Orlando that rode Xcelerator with my boyfriend and I, y'all we're cool af!

Welcome to General Discussion Thursday!

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This is the post to discuss whatever you want: sports, movies, books, or anything else on your mind, even further roller coaster or amusement park discussion! Just keep it friendly and respectful and anything goes.

Full Show: Clark Gets a "Sleazy" Sales Call and The Outrageous Cost of Vet Bills Right Now (youtube.com)

24:00

Last summer, 14 rides in the day. Had an amazing experience riding the last train of the night with the crew. A half full train in the dark.

So since when I was a kid whenever I have gone to an amusement park and ridden roller coasters they have been super fun except for when I lie down to go to bed and close my eyes I still feel like I’m riding the ride and can’t sleep for the life of me. Does this happen to anyone else? And do you know anything to stop it?

I was watching the Bobby Fingers video about Fabio's run in with a goose on Apollo's Chariot, and it got me thinking - What other crazy, relatively harmless famous events, planned or otherwise, have happened on a coaster?

Obviously I'm specifically not talking about accidents here which unfortunately tend to be the most famous, more interesting bits of trivia and history.

One of my favourites is the utterly nuts flaming exploding escape from Giant Coaster at Fuji-Q

I'm blind, I think I've only experienced a roller coaster once, I think, when I was like eight or something like that, and it traumatize me. That experience was terrifying at that age. But I am left curious, because I don't really remember it that well, what does it feel like to ride on roller coasters? What do they do? Exactly? I'm 20 years old, and I haven't been on a roller coaster ever since. I think there are different types of roller coasters if I'm not mistaken? I'm just curious on what it feels like to ride one, what movements happen, stuff like that. Because I can't see videos of the coasters, because I'm blind, I need someone to explain it to me I think what makes roller coaster so scary to me is that if I'm ever writing one, I won't know what's coming up. And I won't know what will happen. It honestly makes me want to cry with fear. Because I would want to know what will happen on the ride before it does. so that I can get ready for it. I don't know. It just freaks me out. I feel like if I ever would want to experience a roller coaster again, I would need to know exactly what happens and when it happens. And I would probably need a play-by-play of what's going to happen while I'm on the ride. Like I would need someone with me when I'm writing it telling me what's going to happen. But anyway, I just wanted to ask what kind of things happen on roller coasters? Like what does it feel like? What are some different types of roller coasters. I'm assuming that a lot of them feel very different from one another? I just want to get a better understanding of everything.

Back out to parks (IOA/USO) for the first time since last fall, feels great to be getting in so much activity again.