Roller Coasters, Holy Rollers!

I consider myself a roller coaster lover (not quite to the level of an enthusiast), so on this trip across the United States I want to experience as many theme parks as I can. Six Flags has a great season pass program this year, allowing us to see all of their parks with the same pass. We plan to see as many as possible.

The plan called for us to spend two consecutive days riding roller coasters and enjoying ourselves in two different Six Flags theme parks spread about 300 miles apart. Could we pull it off without dying from exhaustion? Would our flare for the crazy finally get the best of us? Would we just give up and run to the car screaming and crying? Well, I am here to tell you that we followed the plan exactly.

Friday was our last day in San Antonio and with my Dramamine in hand (I recently began to get motion sickness) we visited Six Flags Fiesta Texas. This park was built in 1992 on the site of an old rock quarry. Several of the rides even go over and through the granite cliffs that contain the park. Fiesta Texas features a couple of cutting edge roller coasters and many other rides that we enjoyed. Overall, I was impressed with the theming at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. I wasn’t expecting much in this department given my experiences in the past at Six Flags Magic Mountain. However, the companies’ new focus on drawing families into the parks is starting to show. The park was clean and looked very well maintained.

Since it was Friday, the park wasn’t very crowded. We arrived at 10am when they opened and were able to enjoy most of the rides in about seven hours. The only exception was their brand new coaster, Tony Hawk’s Big Spin which was broken down most of the day. At 5pm we left satisfied and hit the road towards Dallas. Our next park, Six Flags Over Texas was about four hours to the north.

For some reason we thought that Texas was mostly desert. If it is, we haven’t found very much. The drive from San Antonio to Dallas was smooth and without problems. Once again, the scenery was green and enjoyable. We even stopped at a road side diner in Waco, Texas that served up a great burger. It was there that we heard our first true southern accents in Texas. Most of the people in Austin and San Antonio spoke without much of an accent at all. We pulled into Arlington, Texas (outside Dallas) at about 10:30pm and quickly checked into the hotel, got into bed and went to sleep in preparation of another long day of amusement park fun!

Six Flags Over Texas was built in 1961 and is the original Six Flags theme park. The Six Flags name originates from the six countries that have ruled Texas over the years. (France, Spain, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States & United States of America) It was built by a wealthy Texas oil tycoon after he visited Disneyland in the late 50’s. The theming has changed considerably over the years but this park is still a lot of fun. Six Flags Over Texas is large, very historic and features several great roller coasters. We even managed to get stuck on one.

Six Flags over Texas is significant in theme park history for a couple of reasons. First of all is the roller coaster Shock Wave. Shock Wave was built in 1978 and was the first modern roller coaster to feature two consecutive vertical loops. Another historic roller coaster is the Mine Train coaster. Built in 1966, the Mine Train was the very first modern tubular steel roller coaster to use multiple linked together cars. (Matterhorn at Disneyland was the first modern tubular steel roller coaster, but it only used one car.) Six Flags Over Texas also features the very first log flume type ride in an amusement park.

We are excited to say that Shawn Reece finally hit the 48” mark and was able to experience a couple of personal roller coaster milestones of his own over these two days, including his first vertical loop. I can tell you that Jasmine and I were more nervous than he was. Shawn Reece is definitely a roller coaster freak like his dad! I can’t say that I am sorry to report that.

Overall, I am very glad that we were able to stop and enjoy these two theme parks. With the roller coaster bug temporarily out of our systems, tomorrow we will continue on our journey east towards Disney World! After taking in downtown Dallas tomorrow morning, the plan calls for us to drive south into Houston for the night. We will then continue on to New Orleans for a couple of days after that!

We want to thank everyone for the comments and emails. Your support is truly appreciated and keeps us going.

Much Love,

The Coomer Family

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

---

Lower Spend - Chase Ink Business Preferred^® 100K!

Chase Ink Business Preferred® is a powerful card that earns 3X Ultimate Rewards points in a broad range of business categories on the first $150K in spend per year. Right now earn 100K Chase Ultimate Rewards points after $15K $8K spend in the first 3 months with a $95 annual fee.

Learn more about this card and its features!

---

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.