SJEAg said:

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Ah, aka Sky Screamer.

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The real, real.

Took my kids there over christmas last year for nostalgia. Place is so ghetto these days. Or maybe we're just too spoiled by disney and universal.

I worked at SFOT for a few months in high school in the mid 90s. I was a train conductor. Was miserable with the same little twerps that you saw everyday because people use it like a daycare when school is out.

Sweet Kitten Feet said:

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Took my kids there over christmas last year for nostalgia. Place is so ghetto these days. Or maybe we're just too spoiled by disney and universal.

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Same!

Maybe it's some nostalgia and "good old day" syndrome but it seems so much worse than it used to be. The rides are rough, the crowds don't flow, things are dingy and dirty, staff doesn't care about much of anything, prices inside the park are out of control, etc.

The only thing that Disney matches them on is prices inside the park. In every other way they're so much better it kind of ruins other parks for us.

On a whim we went to Silver Dollar City in Branson a few years back and while it's not as ride heavy as SFOT is, the park was head and shoulders better than SFOT. I don't like the whole aspect of Branson, but SDC was worth it for a family with kids that want a day at the amusement park.

Stive said:

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Sweet Kitten Feet said:

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Took my kids there over christmas last year for nostalgia. Place is so ghetto these days. Or maybe we're just too spoiled by disney and universal.

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Same!

Maybe it's some nostalgia and "good old day" syndrome but it seems so much worse than it used to be. The rides are rough, the crowds don't flow, things are dingy and dirty, staff doesn't care about much of anything, prices inside the park are out of control, etc.

The only thing that Disney matches them on is prices inside the park. In every other way they're so much better it kind of ruins other parks for us.

On a whim we went to Silver Dollar City in Branson a few years back and while it's not as ride heavy as SFOT is, the park was head and shoulders better than SFOT. I don't like the whole aspect of Branson, but SDC was worth it for a family with kids that want a day at the amusement park.

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I haven't been to Six Flags since the early 90's. But, we took our kids to Dollywood a few years ago and it was a great experience. Very clean and the rides were good.

2nd Dollywood.
Clean park. Great rides. Beautiful in the Fall.

As someone who frequented both astroworld and sfot in the early 00's, two things astroworld was superior to was the attached waterpark and their fright fest. The astroworld fright fest was way better than the other two Texas parks. Beyond that, sfot was way better. Then astroworld closed and Houston has no real full scale amusement park and will never have one. Too much to invest with no roi.

Go watch the YouTube videos of the park during the 80s for a visual trip down memory lane. Good times!

Used to love SFOT during the '80s. Had no problems with any of the rides except the Texas Chute Out. It was the beginning of a late-developing fear of certain types of heights. Gives me the willies right now as I think about it.

Silver Dollar City, as some have mentioned, is awesome. Not as big and not as many rides, but they've gone all out on the ones they have. And weaving them among the trees and nature is so much cooler than the concrete worlds of Disney and Six Flags.

This first drop on the Time Traveler is incredible, and different depending on which side you start from. Either looking straight down or falling backward looking straight up.

I had season passes at Astroworld for a few years in the early/mid 90s. I loved it and Texas Cyclone is still my favorite roller coaster ever. I went back for the first time since my senior year in high school in 97, probably around 2002 or 2003, and it had become so rundown and ghetto, I didn't feel safe. I saw 2 fights, one of which involved probably around 10 people.

Astroworld was great in the 80s. Very small...not even 1/2 the size of SFoT or most parks. But you don't notice that as a kid...seemed huge to me then. Going in the 2000s the place was trash like it belonged in a ghetto mall parking lot.

I actually just went to SFoT for the first time last week with my kids. Was fun, light crowds due to weather, and good rides. It definitely doesn't have the theme feel of other parks we've recently been to. Seems like they could push the Texas thing more then they do. Not fair to compare to Disney, but places like Dollywood, Knotsberry Farm, or maybe even Fiesta TX are just a better experience walking around. But it was reasonably clean, crowd was fine/safe, and the staff was friendly and putting forth some effort on the Christmas theme.

I'm so old I remember when the Alpine Sleigh Ride at Astroworld had an actual abominable snowman (college kid in a costume) who jumped out at you.

Loved Six Flags. Haven't been since early 90's.

We have Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun here in KC. We used to take the kids a couple times a summer and had a blast. Worlds of Fun has "Camp Snoopy" similar to "Looney Tunes Land" at Six Flags.

We never went on weekend. I'd always take a weekday off and go when it wasn't crowded.

As previous posts mentioned, "Silver Dollar City" is just below Disney in my book. Very clean, manicured, good rides, good food, and the shows are great…lots of Branson actors use it as second gig. Christmas at Silver Dollar City is amazing.

Mini Mine Train was basically a kiddie coaster. The Runaway Mine Train would take you into a saloon where it looked like you'd go thru the end wall but then it dropped off, as you said. That ride bounced me around a good bit - the older I got, the less fun it was. The newer coasters are smoother and a lot of fun.

It's amazing to me how Disney gets it, and virtually no other theme park does. Well, after they built Harry Potter World, it does seem like Universal might get it now, too. Their new park does look amazing. Anyways, we got a season pass to Six Flags last year, mostly because it was basically the same price as a day ticket. We went plenty of times, and Texas Giant and the Batman ride are the only ones I really like. I get why people like Titan and Mr. Freeze, but they aren't really for me. They are really wasting the DC license. DC needs to tell Six Flags to get their act together or they are going to pull the license. They need to go to Disney and Universal and take detailed notes on how to build an immersive world. Just slapping a Superman logo on a standard ride doesn't really do anything to add to the excitement. I did feel like the park was kept pretty clean, but the food was disgusting. They had a major problem with bees at the outdoor drink fountains. Also, they should probably start selling mushrooms to people standing in line for their Spelunker Cave. I'm pretty sure that's the only way anyone will understand that. Even though we got a season pass for something like $50 a person, I still feel like $150 for Disney tickets was a better deal.

One time my employer had a group team-building day at Six Flags. I hadn't been since I was a kid.

We went a few months after the Titan opened. Now generally, I have always liked roller coasters. But that first drop, it was just a bit much for me. First time I ever declined to go for a second ride on a coaster.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.757075,-97.0750707,107a,35y,201.25h,64.96t/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTEyMy4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D