Texas - Part Two - Yup... still hot as heck!

We headed up the highway from Austin to Arlington for Six Flags Over Texas. The first park in the Six Flags "collection". We we're excited but were also dreading the heat and sticky mess the day would leave us in.

This is gonna be AMAZING!! Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, Texas, USA

Arlington is a funny little spot nestled between Fort Worth and Dallas, where it houses a large overflow of stadiums and industrial parks that continue to grow and expand in Texas. Space isn't exactly at a premium here, where you can just build out instead of building up. Arlington is home to AT&T stadium, home of the NFL team, the Dallas Cowboys (boooo) and Globe Life Park, home of the baseball team, the Texas Rangers. It also is home to the American Chapter of MENSA, a large GM assembly plant and the International Bowling Campus (which I didn't even know was a thing...) This includes the American Bowling Congress (wait... what??), the International Bowling Museum and the International Bowling Hall of Fame... yes seriously. There. You learned something today. Well done.

Six Flags Over Texas is the original Six Flags, the first out of 13 parks in North America with 2 more opening Internationally in the coming years. It was established in 1961, but is not the oldest Six Flags park. That title is held by Six Flags New England which started out as Riverside park in 1870 and was added to the Six Flags collection in 1998. The name "Six Flags" refers to the 6 different Nations that have governed Texas over it's history. They include: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America and, of course, the United States of America. The park was divided into these six sections, each decorated to fit the "theme" of each Nation it represents. While the park has obviously expanded over the years, each of the 6 original theme areas are still found there.

We Love Roller Coaster!! bahahaha! Riding the Titan at Six Flags Over Texas

There were some pretty cool rides here including the original Runaway Mine Train coaster introduced in 1966, it's celebrating 50 years in operation this year! It's obviously not one of the most thrilling coasters, or smooth for that matter, but this coaster paved the way for so many future rides! It's just a really cool piece of history!

The first ride we did was one I haven't seen at a theme park before. La Vibora (the viper) is kinda like a bobsled minus the ice. They refer to it as a coaster without a track. We snaked (haha get it?) along at a terrifying 32 miles an hour, rounding the curves all the while humming the "Jamaican Bobsled Team" song in my head. It was amusing and funny (I giggled a lot) and completely unique!

on  La Vibora At Six Flags Over Texas. 

Let's get a little closer to see the white in Geoff's knuckles...

HAHA!! Geoff holding on for dear life while this thing careens out of control! LA Vibora, Six Flags Over Texas

We enjoyed the air conditioning of the Justice League: Battle for Metropolis ride where our 3D glasses and laser guns helped us defeat the Joker and Lex Luther, but we LOVED Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast. This incredible coaster seats you backwards and shoots you off, going from 0 to 70 mph in 3.8 seconds. You'll fly 236 feet straight into the air, up and over then straight down (all while going backwards), travel along an amazing track to end up going straight up in the air again, except you'll be looking straight down at the ground, and coming to a terrifying stop; only to careen back down the track, facing forward this time, to end up back where you started in a boomerang effect. SO. MUCH. FUN. We did this ride at least 20 times.

We were standing in line for a ride and Geoff looked around noticing we were surrounded by teenagers. "There's no one here our age..." he said questioningly. To which I replied: "Geoff... It's a Thursday afternoon... everyone is at work!" "Oh yeah! Right!" he said. To which we both laughed and laughed and laughed. Sorry... totally not sorry!

The New Texas Giant is another wooden coaster that Six Flags has over-hauled to become one of the best hybrid coasters around. This is one of the longest hybrids with almost 5,000 feet of track and a ride lasting almost 3 and a half minutes. The crazy turns and never ending airtime left us riding this one over and over again. And by this point I've convinced Geoff that on these style rides, sitting in the back is the best!

Tickle Tickle Tickle!!! After 20 times around you get creative at the picture point...
New Texas Giant, Hybrid Coaster, Six Flags Over Texas

Pondering life at 65 miles an hour on New Texas Giant, Six Flags Over Texas

Don't even know what I'm doing here... Six Flags Over Texas

Praying we make it out on. New Texas Giant, Six Flags Over Texas

Almost flying out of my seat on this one! Geoff looks like he wants to play patty cake...
New Texas Giant, Six Flags Over Texas

With many of the suspended coasters, or coasters with a lot of loops, sitting in the front is usually the best and worth the extra wait. With wooden coasters, hybrid coasters or coasters with a lot of air time and steep hills, sitting in the back is the absolute best for getting the most of the G-forces and the max amount of time your tush won't be in contact with your seat!

We opted for a hotel near Arlington and were mighty thankful we did. The temperatures hit 102°f with about 98% humidity and that's just too hot and sticky to sleep in the van. We also managed to stay fairly hydrated while at the park with our unlimited refills sports bottles that were part of our season pass. If you plan on going to a Six Flags park and don't have a season pass, you can still purchase one of these unlimited refills bottles and trust me when I say it's worth it! You can refill it at any concession stand and you'll have your choice of water, Coke products (including those sweet FreeStyle machines), lemonades and (my fav choice) Powerade. The $20 price tag might seem steep but with the amount of liquids you should be consuming on a hot day in the sun, heat and humidity is easily worth every penny. Don't let heat exhaustion ruin your day! Fill up and drink those icy cool dranks while you're waiting in line for the next thrill!

I look like I'm bawling my eyes out... HAHA! Why!? Geoff clearly had something red to drink before this ride... mmmm Slobbery...
Titan, Six Flags Over Texas

So scary... Titan, Six Flags Over Texas

JAZZ HANDS!! and whatever Geoff is doing..
Titan, Six Flags Over Texas

If you're wondering why we don't have many pictures from our Six Flags days it's because we take practically nothing into the parks with us. Many of the parks prohibit guests from bringing bags (including purses and backpacks) up onto the ride platforms with you, even though you can bring them into the park. Official Six Flags drink bottles are all ok but pretty much everything else has to be put in a locker which you can rent for $1.00 for 3 hours. Not ALL the Six Flags parks are like this so it's hard to say which ones enforce this and which ones don't before going in. Also we just don't really want to be bothered with bags, we only carry a bare minimum on our persons. We bring our IDs, our Season Passes, Photo Pass and one credit card which all stay secure wrapped in a hair band, in a zippered pocket in Geoff's shorts. We load up on sun screen before we go in and only bring in some lip balm and (sometimes) a travel sized sun screen for our pockets. Other than that we have our sunglasses which go into Geoff's cargo shorts pockets that are either zippered or have velcro so we don't lose them on rides. We leave our phones and other unnecessary items locked in our lock box in the van. We've seen FAR too many people lose their wallets, money, phones, glasses, hats and overly expensive headphones on rides. We've almost caught a few too while going over hills and through loops! We really recommend leaving everything in your vehicle if you can. It's just not worth losing or breaking expensive gadgets and ruining a great day.

It was a great time at Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, Texas, USA

We spent about a day and a half playing at Six Flags Over Texas before heading back in Austin for a night of fun on the town. A Friday night in the big city! But that will have to wait for a another post because this is already getting too wordy. Stay tuned!

Till next time - Fair winds my friends!

Marsha (and Geoff)