I had a very enjoyable trip to San Antonio to visit my family this Christmas, I got to see a number of sights, enjoy some good food, meet some relatives I haven't seen in years, and make it a very good holiday.
Last night I got to check out the well known River Walk, and it's definitely something worth checking out once, and taking a boat tour of as well. There's so much of it though that I will have to come back and hit it up, especially if I can spend a few hours there. Just have to be prepared for it to be like driving and trying to park in Baltimore.
I got the opportunity to hit a few Chinese places for lunch, liked going to Regent because their Mongolian beef was actually hot and spicy. Of course I hit plenty of Mexican food places as well. There are a lot of Taco Cabanas here, which I haven't seen since they vanished from Las Cruces. If you get a chance though, hit up a Mama Margies. They make great tortillas and refried beans, plus the one near my parents place is open 24 hours. For a funny story from today, some of the ladies there were calling my brother Jesus, including saying "Bye Jesus!" as we were leaving.
The one thing that is screwed up though about San Antonio is the layout of their streets. I can't freaking figure out what kind of madness the city planners had in mind. There was a lot of relying on the GPS this weekend and even then mistakes were made because roads were not always clear and neither were directions. Also, they don't light up signs on street lights very well, it's about as bad as Baltimore. I'm sure that if and when I try to go find a bar to hang out at the next time I am in town, I will make at least two wrong turns to get there. On the other hand, as much as traffic and drivers can suck around here, I've dealt enough with driving in DC and Baltimore to handle it.
I definitely had fun on this trip, but I am ready to come back to Baltimore as well. There is a lot to do for me when I get back. I'll be back though, there's still roller coasters to ride and places to explore.
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
December 27, 2009
Visiting Six Flags and Sea World
One advantage of being down in San Antonio is that because it doesn't snow and stays fairly decent weather-wise, amusement parks stay open way longer than they do on the east coast. With that opportunity available, I took advantage of my visit to see my parents by going to both Sea World and Six Flags in San Antonio.
On Monday morning I drove to Sea World and the parking lot was pretty empty, probably because it's the week before Christmas and people are leaving for vacation or whatnot. I got inside, got a map of showtimes, and first it was off to ride Shamu Express before heading to one of the theaters to watch the Polar Express in 4D. Basicallly they take and cut the original movie down to an 18 minute interactive movie. It was cute and all, the kids would like it, there certainly were a lot of them there. I timed it to be able to walk right over to the sea lion stadium and watch the sea lion show. It featured one of the stars, Clyde, trying to get into the Christmas spirit. There's various stuff that happens throughout, including leaps out of the water by the sea lions, and an otter running around. I enjoyed seeing their re-creation of The Night Before Christmas.
After the sea lion show, I had about 40 minutes to kill before the Shamu show, so I walked over to the Great White roller coaster and got in a few rides on that one. It's a B and M coaster that's similar to Afterburn at Carowinds so there's lots of turns and loops. Since there was basically no one in line, they said you could stay on it if no one was waiting in your row. I got to ride in the front and the back before it was time for me to head over to Shamu stadium.
The Shamu show was good to watch and I got awesome pictures. I purposely sat up high so I could get good pictures and not risk getting soaked. The one thing that blew my mind with that show was watching the trainers basically be able to stand on the noses of the whales and be pushed across the pool or even have them stand as the whales put them in the air. It was a blast to watch and I got awesome pictures of it.
After the show I walked across the park and got in a few rides on the Steel Eel. This coaster is like Steel Force at Dorney Park in that it doesn't have any loops or other elements, it's your basic out and back coaster, but it goes across the park, so it is a good long ride. Don't bother with riding in the front, the back is a much better ride. You get some sick airtime as you go up and down the hills.
From there I wandered the park and hit all the various exhibits that were open. I saw the penguin house, then went over to the sharks and coral reef aquarium. After getting out of those it was feeding time for the dolphins so I bought a tray and got to feed dolphins as well. With that tray came a coupon for buy one get one free for feeding the sea lions, so I went over and fed the sea lions as well. One of them was very vocal about getting fish from you, another one tried to be cute by slapping the water with his fin to get your attention.
Before leaving the park, I hit Journey to Atlantis, got wet on that one since it's the giant raft down the slide. Luckily it was a sunny day at the park.
Tuesday morning I was going to take my brother to Six Flags, then I found out they don't open that park until 4 PM, whereas Sea World had opened at 10. So we got to wait until the late afternoon. I would also find out that they do things a bit different there, as some parts of the park were closed. Only 5 of the 8 coasters were open and that didn't include their biggest one, Superman (jerks!). However, we did make a good evening of it. Our first ride was on boomerang, because since it is the same as the Carolina Cobra at Carowinds, it means there is only one car, so it's best to ride it soon after the park opens, before the line gets long, especially when everyone else is going to Goliath. We worked our way back to Tony Hawk's big spin, which my bro absolutely loved. Next I went on the Romp Stomp a Bomp (don't judge me, I wanted the credit :-P) before we went over to Goliath. Goliath is a lot like Talon at Dorney Park, and the line for any row but the front was short, so we managed to get on very quickly.
Our last new coaster to ride was the Road Runner Express. It is the first time I have seen a steel coaster disguised to look more like a wooden one. I think we had the most fun on that coaster. One thing that we had seen that was put in for the holidays was a sledding hill for folks to ride down. My bro and I each took turns riding and got a picture of the other going down the hill. Since I couldn't go sledding after the big storm in DC, might as well do some sort of sledding here, right?
From there we repeated some of our rides, doing Tony Hawk, Goliath, and the Roadrunner again. I did try going through some of the shops to find some fun souvenir of Six Flags, but there were no good magnets, or even good Wile E. Coyote items. I thnk it's because it's late in the season.
It's too bad that the other coasters were closed, so I gues I will just have to try and get back to San Antonio next summer to ride those missing coasters in my list. Both parks were fun, especially when I haven't been to a place like Sea World for a few years.
On Monday morning I drove to Sea World and the parking lot was pretty empty, probably because it's the week before Christmas and people are leaving for vacation or whatnot. I got inside, got a map of showtimes, and first it was off to ride Shamu Express before heading to one of the theaters to watch the Polar Express in 4D. Basicallly they take and cut the original movie down to an 18 minute interactive movie. It was cute and all, the kids would like it, there certainly were a lot of them there. I timed it to be able to walk right over to the sea lion stadium and watch the sea lion show. It featured one of the stars, Clyde, trying to get into the Christmas spirit. There's various stuff that happens throughout, including leaps out of the water by the sea lions, and an otter running around. I enjoyed seeing their re-creation of The Night Before Christmas.
After the sea lion show, I had about 40 minutes to kill before the Shamu show, so I walked over to the Great White roller coaster and got in a few rides on that one. It's a B and M coaster that's similar to Afterburn at Carowinds so there's lots of turns and loops. Since there was basically no one in line, they said you could stay on it if no one was waiting in your row. I got to ride in the front and the back before it was time for me to head over to Shamu stadium.
The Shamu show was good to watch and I got awesome pictures. I purposely sat up high so I could get good pictures and not risk getting soaked. The one thing that blew my mind with that show was watching the trainers basically be able to stand on the noses of the whales and be pushed across the pool or even have them stand as the whales put them in the air. It was a blast to watch and I got awesome pictures of it.
After the show I walked across the park and got in a few rides on the Steel Eel. This coaster is like Steel Force at Dorney Park in that it doesn't have any loops or other elements, it's your basic out and back coaster, but it goes across the park, so it is a good long ride. Don't bother with riding in the front, the back is a much better ride. You get some sick airtime as you go up and down the hills.
From there I wandered the park and hit all the various exhibits that were open. I saw the penguin house, then went over to the sharks and coral reef aquarium. After getting out of those it was feeding time for the dolphins so I bought a tray and got to feed dolphins as well. With that tray came a coupon for buy one get one free for feeding the sea lions, so I went over and fed the sea lions as well. One of them was very vocal about getting fish from you, another one tried to be cute by slapping the water with his fin to get your attention.
Before leaving the park, I hit Journey to Atlantis, got wet on that one since it's the giant raft down the slide. Luckily it was a sunny day at the park.
Tuesday morning I was going to take my brother to Six Flags, then I found out they don't open that park until 4 PM, whereas Sea World had opened at 10. So we got to wait until the late afternoon. I would also find out that they do things a bit different there, as some parts of the park were closed. Only 5 of the 8 coasters were open and that didn't include their biggest one, Superman (jerks!). However, we did make a good evening of it. Our first ride was on boomerang, because since it is the same as the Carolina Cobra at Carowinds, it means there is only one car, so it's best to ride it soon after the park opens, before the line gets long, especially when everyone else is going to Goliath. We worked our way back to Tony Hawk's big spin, which my bro absolutely loved. Next I went on the Romp Stomp a Bomp (don't judge me, I wanted the credit :-P) before we went over to Goliath. Goliath is a lot like Talon at Dorney Park, and the line for any row but the front was short, so we managed to get on very quickly.
Our last new coaster to ride was the Road Runner Express. It is the first time I have seen a steel coaster disguised to look more like a wooden one. I think we had the most fun on that coaster. One thing that we had seen that was put in for the holidays was a sledding hill for folks to ride down. My bro and I each took turns riding and got a picture of the other going down the hill. Since I couldn't go sledding after the big storm in DC, might as well do some sort of sledding here, right?
From there we repeated some of our rides, doing Tony Hawk, Goliath, and the Roadrunner again. I did try going through some of the shops to find some fun souvenir of Six Flags, but there were no good magnets, or even good Wile E. Coyote items. I thnk it's because it's late in the season.
It's too bad that the other coasters were closed, so I gues I will just have to try and get back to San Antonio next summer to ride those missing coasters in my list. Both parks were fun, especially when I haven't been to a place like Sea World for a few years.
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