Day 3 was a very easy day as all of it was spent at the first of our Six Flags trilogy. Fiesta Texas which opened in '92 and was a park that was new to Thomas and Tal but another one that Christof and I had already been to. So two of us would have an easy day and the other two wouldn't.
We got an update from the hotel staff that the receptionist was alright and taking some time off following her bad news the night before. Rather amusingly the replacement receptionist made the comment that she'd wished her husband was dead, then she laughed, then I laughed...nervously, before making excuses and leaving.
Greeting you at the entrance to the park is the inverter B&M, which was the new coaster when I came here in 2008, well new as in relocated from Six Flags New Orleans.
The park wasn't too busy, the only noticeable crowd gathered at the entrance to get in.
There's something not quite right with Daffy. It's like he has ulterior motives or hiding something. Just don't trust the duck
The theming is nice in this park. The fact this park has any is probably more to do with the former owners than Six Flags who bought it.
New for 2016 is Batman: The Ride the first installation of the S&S Free Spin coaster, an absolutely immense structure which features cars rotating along a single plane. There are no left or right turns, just forward and backwards. This was also the coaster that went viral on Facebook and where quite a few of my friends asked me if I'd ridden it - now I have!
I've ridden several versions of the Intamin equivalent with mixed success, on some I've not rotated at all, on others I've spun violently, so I was hesitant to ride this version. I needn't have worried, it was great; powerful but not in a rough manner. The first ride was over in a blur but the second where I recall doing a good section of the track in a face down flying position was so much better.
This is not a subliminal comment on the ride. It's much better than that.
Cute Justice League themed prizes for those who can thrown a hoop around a bottle.
Our first coaster was Superman Krypton Coaster which had been chosen here to be the coaster onto which to install virtual reality headsets. The new "thing" for the amusement industry. As someone who wrote a paper or two on VR during my uni days seeing this tech back in the public eye was a good thing.
How it was being implemented, probably not.
Firstly the VR headsets take time to put on and set up. This kills the throughput of the ride. Whilst we were waiting for our turn we had to keep ourselves entertained. I had the group blatantly break the rules.
We spent some time wondering if we could take over the queue line but rival gang of Club 5 had a larger presence and we didn't fancy our own Alamo standoff.
On this ride you can choose whether to wear them or not. Headsets have to be cleaned between rides and adjusted for each rider, then calibrated for each rider. So there's quite an industry of staff on the platform.
Onto the VR itself, the film has you riding a monorail which is attacked by Lex Luthor who then battles with Superman who tries to rescue you whilst fighting him. The lift hill section is a great start to the ride as you find yourself being hit with a gravity gun. The midcourse brake features you skidding along a freeway and the inversions are the train spinning out of control. It's all done really well.
(Photo is Tal's)
The crew are set for our VR experience
The second time however suffered an overheat during the lift hill which displayed an error message for most of the ride and when the picture came back I suffered a virtual out-of-body experience being able to look down at my own body. The movement was also out of sync which gave me a headache. On returning to the station our group (it wasn't just me) complained and we got another go; this would kill throughput even more.
So it's a nice idea, but poorly implemented. I'm not sure why they thought it would be a good idea to put this on their biggest rides, as they appear to have done throughout the chain. These rides would have attracted a crowd without the VR and there's no reason why this couldn't have gone onto a smaller, less popular ride. Someone clearly through two pluses would make a bigger plus, when in fact it has made a minus and killed this ride.
Here's a pano of the ride.
Onto the cre-hoing and the kiddy rollercoaster becomes another tick to some of the group.
A Texas themed drop ride.
I'm glad I didn't have to ride this today.
Loony Tune theming on the flume ride. This is the quality you usually expect from the Flags of Six.
Unlike this, which is why above their benchmark.
It's worth mentioning that as well as being a fun ride, the Batman coaster serves as a wonderful centrepiece to the park, which it lacked previously. It's quite a big structure and can be seen from most of the park. It's a lot more interactive, if not as pretty than a Disney Castle.
Poltergeist is one of those Premier knot coasters (and if they didn't call it that they should have). I had difficulty getting the restraint down on this one, but with a little pathetic protest from moi, the bar was locked in and we were off. It's a fun if chaotic coaster.
Tony Hawks has become Pandemonium and the ride has faded more than the paint has.
Six Flags are also doing the dining fleecing option. I like on this one how "Healthy Options" has been included to make it sound alright.
Scooby Doo is their shooting dark ride, hence the camera shot being taken in the dark.
It's a Larson Fireball Rollercoaster
Mmmm, Bacon!
The rapids looked really good but despite the heat, which was hotter here I think due to the mass of black tarmac, I didn't want to ride this.
So, the reason for coming here was to ride Iron Rattler. Back in 2008 there was an average wooden rollercoaster here called Rattlesnake. Six Flags knew it was rubbish but rather than put VR on it they offered it to Hero Golden Boys Rocky Mountain and said "make it better", which they did.
and what an incredible rollercoaster with a thrilling first drop, incredible pacing and some wonderful elements.
I liked that it made use of the quarry wall to introduce a second drop towards the end of the ride.
The best photos of the coaster can be taken from the rapids exit line. It would be nice to be able to get up to the quarry top as I'm sure you'd get some great photos there but they've done a great job with the location and accessibility for photographers; something that has become as important to me as riding them.
Next to Rattler is a mine train coaster, this one hurt my back before it had hit the lift hill.
In the Outlaw Run exit they've posted this rather angry rooster.
This is what happens if you skip leg day.
#iPop is one of their musical performance shows. The park has really good reviews for their shows; I'm not sure this is one of those, but it was still quite enjoyable and the shade gave some respite from the heat.
A rather fun shirt in their gift shop.
The park doesn't just have 1 giga, they have 5.
Justice League Domokuns.
You're not allowed to bring your handgun into the park but the park are happy to sell your kids one.
Coaster of the day was of course Iron Rattler.
The park is a Six Flags Park so you know what you're getting. Lots of advertising to encourage you to spend more money, some very good rollercoasters, some OK operations and some bad ones. A park where you can have a good time and a frustrating one on the same day.
Now for dinner I'd found a beer place called the Flying Saucer with a great selection of drinks and food and I highly recommend it.
If you manage to drink 200 pints you get to put a plate on the wall. A nice touch but as we were only here for one night that would have been a fatal challenge to have accepted..
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