A true cyclone-caliber coaster is a "twister" coaster, tightly compacted, weaving in and out of the wooden structure, and the Texas Cyclone certainly does that. With a height of 93 feet and a 53 degree drop, the air-time on this snappy woodie is incredible, with the infamous "coffin cars" cushioning the unforgiving hills and valleys over 3180 feet of track. An intense little ride that just celebrated 20 years of operation!

Originally located at Six Flags over Mid-America, this coaster was moved to Astroworld in 1989 and has been there ever since! Featuring a unique enclosed drop, this is one of an infamous series of Anton Schwarzkopf production models. Known for high g-forces, tight turns, relentless speed and unique layouts, these intense steel creations are few and far between in the states, and this is one of the most feared. By the time we began photographing this coaster, the sun had begun to sink in to the west, leaving us precious little time to get more shots and with only one day to spend in this huge park. We began to scoot a little faster and mercifully found short lines for the rest of the evening. Another good thing about arriving at the parks late; the weather wasn't nearly as horrendous, being the middle of summer, we wanted to reduce our deep-frying time.

XLR8

After Arrow first experimented with suspended coasters which finally resulted in the short-lived debut of The Bat, this was the first successful suspended coaster, and still one of the longest at 3000 feet. It was opened in 1984 and has two lifts, the first is 81 feet high and the ride lasts over three minutes long.

Besides these coasters, there's the Mayan Mindbender, a family style adventure through a themed pyramid, and Greezed Lightnin', a shuttle-loop coaster that takes you forward and backwards, upside down and into a free-fall, Excalibur, a premiere mine-train adventure and Batman: The Escape which was originally known as Shock Wave, and has visited several Six Flags parks before.

As the park closed, we pondered heading up to Dallas immediately and springing into our next park by morning; or just camping out at the Sheraton across the street. Our aching bones opted for the latter and we ended up getting a severely discounted room due to an influx of crickets on the bottom floor. Breakfast on the house was also the first order of the day as we pulled out of Houston with an eye towards the north. There, we'd find the original Six Flags park.