We need parks in South-East Texas again, not just small boardwalks

@orcathecat5375

Ай бұрын

As a houstonian, I have two choices, the boardwalks half a hour away, or fiesta texas 3 hours away. I wish we still had astroworld

@MrMattogreen25

Ай бұрын

They've already got Fiesta Texas, Over Texas, and SeaWorld San Antonio, all I have is Darien Lake and Great Escape, y'all are spoiled

@orcathecat5375

Ай бұрын

@@MrMattogreen25Houston is 3-4 hours away from fiesta texas, and over texas is 7 away from Houston, most of the parks are hours away from each other, we are just a big state.

@theweakestlink2278

Ай бұрын

It's crazy that a massive metro area like Houston doesn't have a major amusement park.

@jordanwood9511

Ай бұрын

I agree the options when I went to Houston were minimal but Boardwalk Bullet was a really good coaster.

My home park for most of my life, I rode everything here except swamp buggy. Swamp Buggy - I don't remember when I first went to Astroworld (mid-70's) but this was gone by then. Serpent - Only rode this a couple times. Fine coaster for small children. Mayan Mindbender - Ok, not great. Best part was the AC for the line and inside the ride itself. Excalibur - Decent coaster, rode it many times until it was removed. XLR8 - Probably #4 for me. I really liked the underhanging cars with the wide swings on the turns. Serial Thriller - Really rough. Every time I rode it I'd come out with a headache that lasted for hours. Batman the Escape - A fun one, also with the plus of AC for parts of the line. The standup cars adding something different though the safety restraints were very tight. Viper - #2 for me. Loved this ride. If there was no line, you could get off and back on in about a minute. Greezed Lightnin' - #3. The hit of acceleration is addicting and looking out over 610 and seeing the Astrodome turn upside down was always fun. Ultra Twister - Cool concept but I hated all the spinning. I always came away with a headache on this one. Texas Tornado - That first loop was very tight and the first time I rode it I hurt my deck at the bottom. Never rode it again, and not just because it was almost always closed. :) Texas Cyclone - #1 by far. Fun, fast with just the right amount of rough (extra rough in the back car). There were several spots were you could get some decent air time. Loved this one.

@AirtimeThrills

Ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, very interesting

@cynicanal111

Ай бұрын

Interesting that I'm not the only person who got their neck injured on Texas Tornado. I loved the layout (I rode it five times on opening day, despite it hurting me on the first ride, just because the layout was *so* wild), but yeah, I wasn't able to turn my head for several days afterwards. I suspect it would have been OK without those damn restraints; I wasn't expecting the forces on the first loop to be *that* crazy, and when it pulled me down and forward, my body couldn't lean forward with my head, which got jerked down. I suspect with just lapbars, it would have been fine.

@JPFrantz

29 күн бұрын

@@cynicanal111 That's what happened to me. I wasn't expecting the force on that first loop and couldn't hold my neck straight and that was it for me. Thanks Taz!

I grew up in the DFW area, but we went to Astroworld a few times. Ultra Twister was my favorite coaster there, mainly because of how unique it was.

We should all come together and open airtime thrills park. It’s signature coaster would be a B&M/intamin launched giga looper

@elevatoralarmcoasterandarc1214

Ай бұрын

Good idea.

@ryanb9749

21 күн бұрын

​@AirtimeThrills if you were to build a park. Where would you put it? 🤔

Went to AstroWorld many, many times between ages 5 and 18 (1978-1991-ish). Texas Cyclone was such an awesome ride and I do remember it being Ranked #1 in the World for many years.

This whole documentary should be on a DVD. Seriously its all researched year by year you couldn't ask for a better look at the parks history. If they decide to keep an official video to show the history then this whole series should be used

@jarretstroud1842

Ай бұрын

It’s the best Six Flags Astroworld documentary since it’s so detailed. None of the others are so detailed.

@mattmc5069

Ай бұрын

@@jarretstroud1842 I never heard of that park before as I live in Pennsylvania. I saw the full length one and at first I was like "wow an hour and a half? That's pretty long." But I love hearing about parks that are gone so I started watching. I finished it all without a break and enjoyed it. I felt sad to hear it's closing and I never even heard of the place. Now I like learning more about it.

@AirtimeThrills

Ай бұрын

Thanks for the kind words. A ton of work goes into those to make them as thorough as possible

@mattmc5069

Ай бұрын

@@AirtimeThrills that really is the best way it seems like the smallest mistakes sometimes just cause a business to just crash. Here it was the 3rd buyer. No one gave it much thought as sell no 2 did very well for years.

Between Houston and New Orleans, that whole stretch of population center is barren since both of their major parks closed. And that was almost 20 years ago now.

@colinschmitz8297

Ай бұрын

I have often wondered if SF bought Jazzland with the intention of it replacing Astroworld then Katrina messed up their plans.

@ItsSiebay

Ай бұрын

@@colinschmitz8297 I don’t think so necessarily because Fiesta Texas moreso took AstroWorld’s place as the entertainment center for Six Flags. New Orleans was too small and underdeveloped to make a big splash in comparison with the other Texas parks. Plus, half of the rides were relocated from other parks like AstroWorld’s were.

@bryanfarris4696

Ай бұрын

But what about Dixie Landing and it's ... boomerang?

I miss Astro world . Houston is just 2 hours from where I live. And yes , Texas cyclone was SOOOO GOOD!

Bat: The Ride deserved at least some credit for having an amazing que line through the BatCave Mountain. On those hot summer Houston afternoons, it was an attraction unto itself.

We went to the park 6-7 times between the age of 12 and 20. At first, I didn't want to ride the coasters but my dad talked me into riding the Texas Cyclone with him. So the roughest, scariest ride in the park was my first. I loved it of course because several points on the ride it looked like you were going to hit your head on wood beams as you dipped just under them and the carts would shake left and right in quick succession giving you the impression that you were going to derail. It was just outstanding and I was immediately hooked and rode it 3 times that trip I believe. I then went on to ride every coaster in the park the next trip. Batman was surprisingly fun. But only if you rode on the very first cart. It looked like you were standing on the tracks. But the air conditioning on Batman and Mindbender were a great plus. X-LR8 was such a pleasant ride, because of how smooth it was, you could sight see around the park and not worry about your head getting jolted. I think more coasters should be designed to move around the park like it and allow for great views. Serial Thriller was fun, it was a big step up from Excalibur but I still missed it because it was another great coaster for looking out at the park.

Glad I got to ride a bunch of these as a kid. Real bummer that Houston doesn't haven't a proper park anymore despite the city having a metro population of over 7 million. Houston could easily support one of the largest parks in thr country.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it really depressing seeing a coaster in piece, in a parking lot?

@vanapotamus6348

27 күн бұрын

Your not alone

As someone who grew up in Houston and visited Astroworld a lot as a kid, it's honestly insane how horribly Six Flags bungled closing the park. They spent money to scrap it, lost a revenue stream (even sold the Six Flags-owned waterpark, Splashtown, to an independent owner, a move they realized was so stupid they bought it back around a decade later), couldn't sell the land due to the recession and tricky location right across the road from the football stadium, then shipped a bunch of the rides away but somehow damaged almost all of them enough in the process that they never opened again. Genuinely piss-poor leadership and decision making.

I was a Year and a half old when Astroworld closed. My dad went several times from the mid 70's to the late 90's. Wish it was still open, i'm a sucker for old (not to mention rare) coasters

My home park, got all but the swamp buggy credit. "Moving conveyor please watch your step"

Always happy to see new astroworld videos

@elevatoralarmcoasterandarc1214

Ай бұрын

I agree.

Little correction on Greezed Lightnin' - the train did get sent to Frontier City, but it is not the train you see on Silver Bullet. The original plan was to turn that train into a second train to run on Silver Bullet - be it for two-train ops or to have a spare and get the other one overhauled. This hasn't happened so far, and I am not sure whether they still keep that train around to maybe one day use it as a complete train or turned it into a parts donor for the operating train.

My home park growing up. When will Houston ever get another park?Probably not in my lifetime.

@AirtimeThrills

Ай бұрын

I wonder whats stopping it. Humidity? Doesnt seem any more stormy or humid than other places with parks

@brutus5973

Ай бұрын

Idk Travis brought it back 😂

@brutus5973

Ай бұрын

@@AirtimeThrillsno space for an amusement park in the city

@JackDPearl

Ай бұрын

There's one under construction now in New Caney, but Covid has pushed the schedule back years. Might now open till 2027 or 28.

@mahler49

Ай бұрын

@@JackDPearl yep. I live down the street from it. I’ve been hearing that rumor for 20 years. Since earth quest adventures. I’d love for it to be true, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

I wish I got to try out Zonga. I heard it was pretty rough, but if it was still around at my home park(DK), I would have definitely given it a try

Great video! Those were fun looking coasters! I enjoyed watching! I hope you get to 90 K subs soon! 🙏

Rip to Astroworld

Native houstonian here. Texas Cyclone is still the best cyclone style ride I’ve even ridden. I got to ride the original, Georgia, and viper. Viper is second but not close by any means. Also inside info: the greased lightning train actually went to the SFOT for Shockwave.

The whole Astroworld story just makes me so sad. Same with Geauga Lake. Also, if you’re going to Japan next summer and want recommendations for things to do/places to eat/etc., let me know. I lived there for 3 years and it was great.

Astroworld was my home park during my late teenage years 💔

I love your videos. I was never able to get to this park so this was very interesting.

It's hard for me to give a fair comparison from my 2002 experience, when I knew very little about coasters, to my more recent experiences. But I do have Viper ranked ahead of Texas Cyclone, and both ahead of Coney Island's Cyclone. Ultra Twister is my # 1 from Astroworld, mostly for how unique it was, and Texas Tornado was SBNO. Greezed Lightnin is my # 3, Viper # 4, XLR8 # 5. My cousin told me that Serial Thriller was bad, so we didn't ride it, but she hadn't ridden Batman the Escape until that day. We both hated it, easily my least favorite stand-up, and I have it ranked behind every SLC & Mini Mine Train (I didn't ride Astroworld's). We didn't ride Mayan Mindbender, but I do have Hornet ranked ahead of Batman the Escape. And I like Swiss Toboggan, so the one here probably would make my top 6 if I had ridden everything.

Another great video. You're doing God's work!!

Before watching, as someone who grew up going to this park, here's how I'd rank the ones I rode (which is all of them except Swamp Buggy): 1. Texas Cyclone 2. Ultra Twister 3. Greezed Lightning 4. Taz's Texas Tornado (I have a hard time ranking this one; on one hand, the layout was the second-best in the park, and was *crazy* intense [6.7 G's prior to getting reprofiled as Zonga!]; on the other hand it did hurt my neck pretty bad thanks to the damn "accordion" restraints) 5. Viper (FWIW, this one ran faster than the one at Frontier City) 6. Batman: The Escape 7. Excalibur 8. XLR8 9. Serial Thriller (another hard one for me to rate; it was *great* its first year, was weirdly glass smooth despite being an SLC that year, but then had the usual roughness starting in its second year. The first-year version is waaaaay higher on the list, top 5 for certain) 10. Mayan Mindbender 11. Serpent Post-watching, it looks like our ratings are pretty similar. FWIW, supposedly Six Flags *did* look into moving Texas Cyclone to SFFT; however, the clearances on the third/fourth turn (depending on how you count; third turn after the first drop, but there was a 180 degree turn to the lifthill) were too tight to meet modern safety codes, and they couldn't figure out a way of revising it to meet them.

@AirtimeThrills

Ай бұрын

Thanks for your rankings, it's good to get some first-hand knowledge

Great video mr. Guy.

Every time I see the Toboggan on the French carnival circuit I have to ride it !

Texas Cyclone was far & away the best of the Cy-clones. Marathoned it in ‘88 and it was the class of the park, by far.

One thing about Ultra Twister: back when it was at SFGA, the advertising for the ride was a bit misleading. They advertised three inversions and going backwards, but you would think from the ad that this meant you would be inverted six time. In reality, you got one inversion forwards and two inversions backwards.

@AirtimeThrills

Ай бұрын

Kind of the opposite of boomerangs. You rarely see people call them 6 inversion rides

Always a good day when we get a rankings drop!!!

The only one I remember is the Cyclone. I rode it with my sister who was probably far too small to have been permitted on it. She screamed in true terror and I really thought she might get ejected because there were no seatbelts, only a lap bar that only served as something to hold onto. She could have easily slipped out. I was terrified for her but there was nothing I could do. The ride was far too rough to not hold on with both hands for dear life.

Cyclone was janky as hell but I think part of it was due to poor maintenance. Wood coasters in a swamp climate do not mix. Viper was my first loop I remember being scared of it when I was really little because of the tunnel from when I road Serpent. For some reason I always thought the two were connected with the snake theme and paint job. I always thought that Greeze Lightening was overrated. Remember riding it when we went on a field trip after our class did a roller coaster project and was like what's the big deal. I liked Viper better. The Maya ride was pretty basic but was one of the only few that we could get my coaster hating sister on because of it being in the dark. Batman and Twister, Serial Thriller, and Torando were always broken we went-lots of things were towards the end. Tornado did look cool from the highway. Excalibur was my first non-Junior coaster it wasn't bad and neither was XLR8.

I didn't get into coasters until the late 2010s. But I've always respected astroworld. Never understood why it shut down really. Not the best lineup but the togo coaster alone makes me wish i couldve gone

It’s sad that most of the coasters from here didn’t reopen at other parks when this park closed 😔

@jarretstroud1842

Ай бұрын

It’s sad that the park closed. I wonder why did couldn’t just look for another plot of land for the park and relocate the park.

@coasterfair2602

Ай бұрын

@@jarretstroud1842 agree

I rode Serial Thriller on it's opening season and it was a rough ride even then.

I wonder if that famous six flags ride rotation program will continue once the cedar fair merger is complete

Are you working on a new documentary style series? The first few were so well done!

This park's closure has left a major hole in the theme park world that has yet to be filled.

Such an odd collection of coasters. Really only the Texas Tornado is a standout coaster. There are some curiosities in there, but the lineup mostly suffers from hand-me-downs and possibly some redundant coasters.

U should go to great America again viper got retracked and it's awesome now and also extremely smooth

Great list, no Alpine Sleigh? Keep following up on your master Astroworld documentary!

@zacharyyamashita8554

Ай бұрын

Technically that wasn't considered a true coaster.

Can you imagine if they were still around today?

Viper’s trains got sent to SFOG for Mindbender prior to its 2021 referb. I would’ve never thought that those trains came from AstroWorld. I honestly assumed that it’s been used at the park for a long time since its opening.

@Stupidiot

Ай бұрын

I really dislike Mindbender's trains They're so uncomfortable and if you want to hold onto anything (it's very uncomfortable to hold hands up on the loop) you have to hold onto the seat infront of you Also shortening the trains sucks for speed and thrill. The dispatches are also super slow.

@cynicanal111

Ай бұрын

I don't think it could have been Viper's trains added to Mindbender, unless they modified them; both of the "box track" Schwarzkopfs had seat belts, but Viper's trains never did; they only had lapbars.

Surprised to see Serial Thriller so high

XLR8 was so fun

Six Flags America really could have used a unique ride like Ultra Twister

No, you missed out Batman was the shizz, i rank it at 2 in the park followed by cyclone, the best woodie in Texas, then greased lighning. Ultra twister was lack luster and honestly, boring. It looked a lot funner than it was. Number 1 was Taz's Texas Tornado. That ride was intense and hard core fun. Man i miss that park.

Houston now only has small parks now

Airtime Thrills: "In the dark, I'm sure it seemed like it was going a lot faster." Narrator: "It didn't." Unlike Runaway Mountain at SFOT, the seams in the pyramid were enough to let just enough light in to know how fast you weren't going.

@jennithomasson2338

Ай бұрын

It felt fast to me as a kid 🤷🏻‍♀️

@cynicanal111

Ай бұрын

My enduring memory of that ride is that the turns were too slow for the amount of banking, so you were leaning to the right basically the whole time.

While the Texas Cyclone was good the coffin cars used in the later years hurt the ride experience.

@cynicanal111

Ай бұрын

They were removed a few years before the park closed! It actually made less of a difference than I thought it would.

Never went to Astro world. However with my dad living in Texas at the time of being open I'm sure he went there. I'll have to ask him. If he did I'll throw in an edit to talk about some of the rides and how they ran.

I wish the more unique rides like ultra twister and XLR-8 would have survived.

I was 12 years old when I rode that Intamin stand up (as Shockwave at SFMM). Not good. I remember the ad featured a bunch of people with then-modern sunglasses. It’s a great 80s ad.

I love the video, but but.......Boblo Island will always be Detroit and not Canada. Legally it's Canada, but the remains of our park remain on the US side, which is the docks that bring people there. The Ste. Claire Ship still lives in America and that is how people got there. Bois Blanc Island will always be part of "South Detroit", just ask any bar with over 300 people when "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey comes on. lol

I don’t think the city of Houston will ever have a park again, but I do think the outskirts/surrounding cites of Houston are perfect for a massive park. People in Houston are clamoring for a new park and talk about it often, but no one has smartened up yet…

@zacharyyamashita8554

Ай бұрын

Same thing with Santa Clara if they indeed close my California's Great America by 2033.

@Caglecardscollectibles21

Ай бұрын

@@zacharyyamashita8554 I really hope not. That’s a good spot for a park, but I’ve never been

Not sure what they did to Edonr but it isn't nearly as bad as its age and relocation would make you think.

Maybe it was a video mistake but I don’t understand how suspended arrow trains could’ve been used for viper at magic mountain?

@ElectriKong-

Ай бұрын

Where does he say that Xlr8's trains were used on Viper? He says they were used on Ninja.

Travis Scott reference 😲😲😲

The only ride was worth anything that was Alpine sleigh ride and then that close down early. All of these roller coasters there were very small. Like a carnival.

It's cool you like viper at SFGA but it's not as good as the one at Luna Park Coney Island. The only Cyclone that might possibly be better is the Wicked Cyclone which I've not even ridden.

So we're just going to ignore he confirmed a Japan trip at 9:16 ?

I feel like a large portion of these coasters were moved and then scrapped several years later, what a depressing fate thinking they'd hang around but NOPE.

@AirtimeThrills

Ай бұрын

Its amazing how they spend money to relocate coasters and then scrap them

@kaylawhipple7570

Ай бұрын

@@AirtimeThrills right especially Darien Lake, that park has been done wrong so much.

@ElectriKong-

Ай бұрын

​@@AirtimeThrillsThey probably planned on relocating the rides but then couldn't afford to build them, and then minds changed post bankruptcy.

Am I tripping or did you do this video already? lol…stuff like this interests me so even so I’ll watch it again but was feeling Deja vu. Your videos are good man, your knowledge of roller coasters is great and I can relate to you since you’re only a couple years younger than me. It baffles me that you get negative comments, like what is there to say about your opinions? They’re YOUR opinions and if people don’t agree, then whoopdi doo. You never get political, you are very informative, and are knowledgeable. So anyone walking trash on you for objective things are just morons, and clearly don’t understand good KZreadrs. They likely spend more than half their days on social media and are addicted to being upset and angry at others contrary opinions.

I know it's just an SLC but I'm still to this day so salty about Great Escape not installing Serial Thriller and that it got shipped up to La Ronde. I've still also never heard a reasonable explanation for why that happened and what exactly went down. Some people say it was always just in storage for La Ronde, some people say it was supposed to replace Alpine Bobsled/Steamin Demon, also heard some people say it was supposed to go in the Jungleland walk through area of Great Escape that later became the Looney Tunes kids area. None of the explanations really make much sense. Why would it be in storage so long at Great Escape if it was always destined for La Ronde? Why would it go in a jungle walk through area on protected land? The most likely to me seems like it was to replace one of the aging coasters but i've always been so jealous I was so excited for it to go to Great Escape. I know an SLC isn't much but it would have fit in really well at that park.

Bobalo park is or was in the belle isle area of Detroit

@AirtimeThrills

Ай бұрын

That was in Ontario, Canada

You haven't made any park documentaries after the one for Astroworld. Is there a reason for that?

@seanlewis1148

Ай бұрын

Maybe he's busy...especially with two kids now

28 feet high. Also known as 54 dongs or 16 dogs of hight or Doh for short. The coaster is alzo 150 Lizards long or 1500LL for short. With trains that could weigh up to 8 fiat punto or 0.5 ugly big truck for Americans.

Texas tornado shouldn't be that high it hurt and it was closed most the time becuse it couldnt run if it was too hot which in texas is most the time it was a horrible investment other than that good list

video idea: most overrated and underrated coaster in each park. Can be by chain

yoo

I can assure you that Shockwave was nothing like the early B&M stand-ups...it was much worse. The restraints were singularly uncomfortable for masculine folks. In an imaginary time-travel coaster scenario, I'd rather ride Iron Wolf all day than ride Shockwave again.

Probably not gonna happen, with Greg Abbott as governor.

@ninjagirl226

Ай бұрын

Why? Politics don’t seem to matter as most theme parks that I can think of are in red states. Heck Texas has a lot of parks already and they appear to get nice investments so that doesn’t make supine. Unless it the Houston government and Karen’s who don’t want the noise. Then that makes sense.

Hi daddy

First

Pin me pls

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