Personal experiences, and a tribute to "Six Flags: Astroworld" (1968-2005).

Most people are familiar with the Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. There are various Six Flags amusement parks located all over the United States. There are currently two Six Flags that operate here in the state of Texas. Six Flags Over Texas is located in Arlington, Texas, and Six Flags Fiesta Texas is located in San Antonio. There was a third Six Flags amusement park that was located in Houston, Texas. It was known as Six Flags: Astroworld. It was a largely popular attraction, especially during the summer months. Six Flags Astroworld originally opened June 1, 1968. Unfortunately, this theme park closed permanently on October 30. 2005. It was later demolished, and most of the rides were moved to other Six Flag locations. I personally visited Six Flags Astroworld three times total. I'm going to talk about my experiences there, and give a tribute to a place that I now miss going to.

The first time I visited Six Flags Astroworld was way back in the summer of 2000. This trip to Houston included myself, and several close family and friends. Overall it was a very fun day, and this was probably the best out of the three occasions I had went. I was totally in awe just being there. It was a very hot day, but I didn't even care at the time. I think my adrenaline played a large factor in that. One of the popular rides that was at Astroworld was the Dungeon Drop. It was one of those rides that took riders way up high, and then quickly dropped us back down. I used to see advertisements on television where this ride was shown, and I thought to myself; I would never get on that. However, that's exactly what I ended up doing the first time I went. My younger sister, who was eight years old at the time, wanted to ride with everyone else. This put increasing pressure on me to get on, and I was talked into getting on as well. I can vividly recall looking down at my mom when the ride got to the top. She looked so minuscule. There was also a guy and his girlfriend sitting next to me. When the read reached the top, I recall him asking me; "You ready for this bro"? I quickly replied "Hell naw". I felt a great deal of relief once I reached the ground again. I rode several other rides, and actually ended up getting sick. After getting off one of the rides called XLR-8, I ended up vomiting. I didn't get even a chance to make it to a trash can. Pretty disgusting indeed. I totally understand why all of the other riders attempted to get away from me. Even though I ended up getting sick, I enjoyed myself a great deal.

We decided to go back again in the summer of 2001. There was only five of us this time. Due to me getting sick from all of the rides in 2000, I took it kinda easy this time. I only recall getting on the ride called "Viper", and once again on the XLR-8. You're probably wondering why I chose to get on the ride that sent my stomach over the edge the first time again. Well the ride itself was fun. It was just an accumulation of all the previous rides that led to me regurgitating in 2000. Although we didn't ride as many rides as previously, we still had a nice visit overall. The summer of 2001 was a great summer period. This is something that myself and one of my good friends that I had a lot of experiences with back then still talk about to this day.

I once again found myself back at Astroworld in 2005. This time we had carload, or should I say "van-load" of people. There was eight of us in total on this occasion. We actually rented a van to accommodate for all of us. Like the previous other occasions, this was another fun day as well. Nobody ended up getting sick, and there was no over the top heat since summer had yet to set in. After 5 years, I finally rode the ride called "Serial Thriller" for the second time. This marked the first time I had ridden it since going in 2000. Unlike the previous two occasions where we spent the night in Houston, this occasion was a turn around trip back home. We had planned on going back again the next year, but unfortunately 2005 would be my last visit to Astroworld. The closing of Astroworld came as a big shock to me, and I'm sure it was to others as well.

My sister recently visited Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. She enjoyed herself so much that she told me that we should go. I'm all for it. It's something that's been discussed several times over the years, but has yet to come to fruition. Hopefully everything will align just right, and we'll all get a chance to go. I have family and friends that live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, so hopefully we'll all be able to come together and go. It would be great if it happened sooner than later. I certainly would enjoy that. As for Six Flags Astroworld, thanks for some great memories. I'm pretty sure the people who live in Houston miss Astroworld quite a bit. If you've been to any Six Flags theme parks, feel free to share your experiences in the comment section. Thanks for reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Flags_AstroWorld

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Flags

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