Six Flags

I really feel that I owe much of my amusement park enjoyment to Hamel's Park. If you're not from Northeast Louisiana, you might not have ever heard of Hamel's Park, but if you grew up in Shreveport during the 80's, you almost certainly spent countless hours there. Hamel's Park was one of the only amusement parks in Louisiana for a long time, and was the place where that fueled my hunger for bigger, faster, twistier roller coasters.

The coaster at Hamel's was relatively tame. There wasn't even a train, it was a single car that seated four and went through a simple series of hills and turns over the course of a few seconds, but since it was the only game in town, we rode it over and over and over again. By the about the fourth ride, I was ready for something more. That's where Six Flags over Texas came into my life.

Once I started going to Six Flags on a fairly regular basis, I was already addicted to thrill rides, and most of theirs put the old roller coaster at Hamel's Park to shame. I rode them all. I loved them all.

Now my kids are old enough to ride the big roller coasters. At least Reagan and Abbie are big enough anyway, and they both wanted to go to Six Flags for their birthday. Since their birthdays are so close together, we just decided to go ahead and take them out to Six Flags this past Saturday, and they were completely pumped about getting on the big coasters.

My idea was to start them out small and get them ready for the really big rides, but the kids had a different idea. I managed to get them to start with the bobsled ride; a pretty worthless ride to wait in line for if you ask me, but easy for everyone (including Emma) to enjoy. After that, Reagan and Abbie declared that they were ready for more. They wanted to go straight to the Batman coaster.

The Batman coaster is my personal favorite out there. I love the fact that you hang below the track and that it inverts you five times. It's just a great ride. I was thinking that instead of the kids going there first, we should start them with the Runaway Mine Train or Judge Roy Scream. They're not really experienced coaster riders, and Batman seemed like jumping in the deep end before you learned to swim.

The kids wouldn't hear any of it, though. If only they had a chance to ride that coaster at Hamel's, then maybe they would be a little more prepared for what was coming. We stood in line to ride in the very first car. Nothing in front of us but open air. It was great for me, and the kids were both very excited. At least they were right up to the point where we got to the top of the hill. As the train started down through the course, they both went white as a sheet and the tears and screams started pouring out like they'd never cried before in their lives.

They wouldn't even talk when we got done. I really think that they thought we were going to die. All they wanted to do was go sit in a quiet corner and mumble to themselves. They certainly didn't ever want to get on another roller coaster.

Later in the day, the shock of Batman had worn off, and as memories often do they forgot the trauma and remembered it having been not so bad. They believed that they were ready for another coaster. Again, I thought of good ones for them to try, but they didn't want to listen to me. They were ready for Titan. One of the tallest in the world, Titan is a load of fun.

It's the longest coaster ride at Six Flags and probably the fastest at 85 mph. As a matter of fact, shortly after it was built, they had to change some of the braking in the middle of the ride because passengers were literally passing out from the speed and G force (up to 4.5 Gs). After what I saw on Batman, I was not so sure that the kids were ready for this, but they were. So we stood in line for Titan and got all the way up to the point of boarding the train when Reagan decided that she wasn't up to the challenge. Abbie, on the other hand, sat down, strapped in, and was ready to go.

At least she was ready to go until we got about halfway up that hill. Then she started thinking that this might not have been such a good idea after all. She screamed until she couldn't scream any more and then was reduced to tears, heaving, and talking to herself. It was not good, and she was firm in her conviction that she would never get on another roller coaster again. Ever. All she wanted to do was suck her thumb and hold a blankie.

Reagan, not having been through the experience, wanted to try the Judge Roy Scream. It was enjoyable, and Reagan had a lot of fun on the ride. So much so that she was able to convince Abbie to ride the Runaway Mine Train. It was already after dark by this point, and Abbie was only agreeing to this because there was no upside down and no big hills. She did pretty well on it; I think helped by the fact that she finally sat beside me on the ride and I could tell her what was about to happen. But once we got to then end, the one little hill on the ride, followed by a trip through the tunnel (which was pitch black since it was dark out), she was once again in tears.

I really hope that my kids are not permanently scarred from riding the big roller coasters because I love to ride them, and I want to enjoy that with my children for years to come. Honestly, though, Abbie may not ever even want to drive by an amusement park again. No, really, she did great, and I did tell her repeatedly how proud I was that she at least tried them out, and I reminded her repeatedly that they're never as bad the second time around.

After all of that, the park was preparing to close, but they were also getting ready for the Coobrila (Cooler, Brighter, Later) circus show. Of course, we had to hang around to see that, and I will admit that it was definitely cool. The many different acrobats that performed were really amazing, although, I did have to wonder what kind of kinky stuff inspired some of the acts when I saw men flipping other men upside down and lifting them up to their faces. And I'll never understand the practical use for being able to balance yourself on one hand on the top of a big bald guy's head. I guess that ranks up there with the guys that pull trains with their teeth. Who knows what inspired them, it's just cool to see.

All in all, it was a great day at the amusement park and nearly everyone fell asleep on the way home. After all, it was nearly midnight when we finally got back to the van.