Rajah
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
- Messages
- 9,632
Since there's been so much talk recently about the Six Flags parks, including Astroworld, I thought some of y'all might be interested.
Yesterday was NASA day at Astroworld, and a couple of my friends work for NASA itself so were able to get us tickets. It was my first trip to Astroworld in 8 or 9 years (DH opted not to go -- had some work he really needed to do instead), and I was looking forward to spending the time with my friends, and seeing for myself how bad the park had become.
Well, the old saying still holds: go in with rock-bottom expectations, and you'll be plesantly surprised.
No, the park is not Disneyworld, and can't even be compared on the same scale. And true, I haven't been to a ton of non-Disney theme parks out there that I can actually remember, but even still, I thought it was rather cute. It is an older park (35 years?), and is showing its age in places -- the paint is wearing thin in areas, stupid visitors have built up piles and piles of gum on some posts, and the water rides are showing the color that comes with years of water taking their toll, but the park appeared in good *safety* repair anyway, and every ride we did was enjoyable.
The lines were rather slow moving, but they are pretty much everywhere you go that is non-Disney, so that didn't surprise me. And when you're in the company of friends, sometimes waiting isn't too bad.
Really, we had a very good time, didn't feel unsafe anywhere, and didn't encounter anyone who was downright rude. The food (BBQ, I think catered from their BBQ restaurant, and some roasted corn) was very good for theme-park standards, and though my "medium" tea was $3, it was large enough to last me for about 2 hours of constant sipping, so it wasn't that bad of a deal when it comes to park costs.
Granted, we did have very low crowds, it was a Sunday (typically shorter lines on Sundays), and there was a threat of rain hanging over us all day, but I'll go again.
All in all, despite all the bad things I'd heard, I didn't really think the park had changed that much in the 8 or 9 years since my last visit, and I had just as much fun on this visit as I ever had in High School.
So those who are going to be in the area and want to try it out, go and have fun. Don't go expecting "gold", you won't get it and you'll be disappointed, and personally I wouldn't go if it was really hot, but you can still have fun even though it's far from a Disney park.
Yesterday was NASA day at Astroworld, and a couple of my friends work for NASA itself so were able to get us tickets. It was my first trip to Astroworld in 8 or 9 years (DH opted not to go -- had some work he really needed to do instead), and I was looking forward to spending the time with my friends, and seeing for myself how bad the park had become.
Well, the old saying still holds: go in with rock-bottom expectations, and you'll be plesantly surprised.
No, the park is not Disneyworld, and can't even be compared on the same scale. And true, I haven't been to a ton of non-Disney theme parks out there that I can actually remember, but even still, I thought it was rather cute. It is an older park (35 years?), and is showing its age in places -- the paint is wearing thin in areas, stupid visitors have built up piles and piles of gum on some posts, and the water rides are showing the color that comes with years of water taking their toll, but the park appeared in good *safety* repair anyway, and every ride we did was enjoyable.
The lines were rather slow moving, but they are pretty much everywhere you go that is non-Disney, so that didn't surprise me. And when you're in the company of friends, sometimes waiting isn't too bad.
Really, we had a very good time, didn't feel unsafe anywhere, and didn't encounter anyone who was downright rude. The food (BBQ, I think catered from their BBQ restaurant, and some roasted corn) was very good for theme-park standards, and though my "medium" tea was $3, it was large enough to last me for about 2 hours of constant sipping, so it wasn't that bad of a deal when it comes to park costs.
Granted, we did have very low crowds, it was a Sunday (typically shorter lines on Sundays), and there was a threat of rain hanging over us all day, but I'll go again.
All in all, despite all the bad things I'd heard, I didn't really think the park had changed that much in the 8 or 9 years since my last visit, and I had just as much fun on this visit as I ever had in High School.
So those who are going to be in the area and want to try it out, go and have fun.
Don't go expecting "gold", you won't get it and you'll be disappointed, and personally I wouldn't go if it was really hot, but you can still have fun even though it's far from a Disney park.
