Park Review
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Arlington, Texas April, 2001 Six Flags over Texas was already my favorite of the 12 Six Flags parks I've managed to visit and now it is even more so. Celebrating its 40th season, the park unveiled the much-anticipated Titan hypercoaster to the media, contest winners, and special guests last Thursday, and were kind enough to invite ACE members as well. What a day; the place was buzzing with excitement, weather was perfect, lunch was wonderful, and rides were PLENTIFUL! I counted 39 for myself and could have had a lot more (one ACEr ended up riding 85 times). The park allowed people to show up and begin riding at 5:00am (Okay, I'm not that fanatical; 8:30am was plenty early enough for me!) and ran the last train about 9:45 that night (a LONG day for the park, indeed). Throughout the day, there were stoppages for various activities including a morning ceremony with remarks from Six Flags over Texas reps and Gary Story (and a NOT unappreciated appearance by the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders!). The park is obviously very thrilled and proud of their new ride and rightfully so. Titan is a world-class roller coaster. It is essentially Six Flags Magic Mountain's Goliath (255 foot drop, 85 mph) with an added upward helix before the block brake. The extra helix makes Titan feel like a more complete ride and is quite intense; it often had me graying out and tearing up and it isn't even the worst one! Titan's second half helix is probably best described as punishing. Near blackout positive G-forces sustained for what feels like almost ten seconds. Even with moderate braking, I saw stars (and tears) on nearly every ride. I'm surprised Sis Flags didn't get Giovanola to lessen the intensity, but I guess the GP handled Goliath okay. The ride's best moment may be the long camelback, which gives outstanding floating air in every seat! I'd like to see Giovanola work more negative Gs into their future designs. Overall, I totally love Titan, even if I'd still rather Six Flags over Texas had gotten a Ride of Steel! :) I don't want to make this much longer, but I also went to the park on Friday, Titan's official opening day. There are many improvements to the park this season, but two of the biggest are more comfortable seat backs on Texas Giant (although it's shuffling kinda' bad and far from its former #1 status) and beautiful new trains on Mine Ride. For some reason (no real explanation from the park), Titan did not open until about 5:30 pm. There was a crane by the ride for a while so it may have been a structural concern. Many people waited nearly all day by the entrance. When the queue was finally opened, there was an enormous cheer. People continued cheering loudly as they filed through the queue began boarding trains and returned on the brake run. I stayed for one ride and found it quite thrilling to feel and be a part of the public's jubilation over finally getting to challenge Titan. Many had, no doubt, never seen a 200+ foot coaster before and you would have thought they had been standing in line for ten years. Finally, Texas has a true hypercoaster! It was an awesome experience to be on hand for the debut of a mega ride like Titan. I hope to get the opportunity again someday. Okay, I've babbled on enough. Get thee to Six Flags over Texas when you can. It is arguably the prettiest and best run of the Six Flags empire with the best all-around coaster collection. Season 40 will definitely be their best ever. Mike
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