Six Flags Over Texas

I’ve already mentioned Aquarena Springs in San Marcos, Texas, but there was another great amusement park we patronized, one much closer to home: Six Flags Over Texas. Six Flags was a key factor in establishing the city of Arlington the playground of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex that it is today.
Six Flags opened in 1961 and was conceived as a Disneyland-like theme park, but with a regional market instead of a national one. The late ’50s and early ’60s saw the opening of a number of similar parks, slow-paced family oriented theme parks that showed no sign of the thrill-ride emphasis that would gain favor years later.
My memories of the park are primarily from the 1960s, and until this past summer I hadn’t visited the park since “Senior Night”, 1976. As I expected, a lot had changed in 32 years. I missed the old rides, many having undergone major transformation or complete replacement. Two personal favorites, the La Salle Riverboat Ride (see postcard) and the Spee-Llunker Cave were both lazy water rides that have been replaced by the Roaring Rapids and the shamelessly commercial Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure, respectively. I’ll cover The Cave and other attractions in future posts, but this time I’m going to focus on the Riverboat Ride.
The boats had a driver (Riverboat Captain) that would provide humorous commentary along the journey, and who also played-up the action at key points. Several dramatic sequences were played out during the ride, like sneaking past an imposing Spanish fort (who’s cannonball’s splashed nearby), avoiding hostile indians, and dodging a tree (felled by beavers) that splashed down just inches from the boat. Once past those dangers, the boat would be caught in a current that pulled it directly towards a wall of solid rock, which opened at the last second to reveal a dark cave. (populated by glowing skeletons and treasure chests, as I recall) Sadly, this ride was closed in 1982. The website, parktimes.com includes some interesting facts about the ride:

After the ride was closed, some of the boats were sold to the nearby ‘Lion Country Safari’ amusement park. It eventually closed. A few of the boats were given outboard engines and actual steering capacity and are still in service as tourist boats at Cypress Bayou in Jefferson County, Texas.

The postcard above nicely illustrates both the River Boat Ride and the Astrolift, a suspended cable-car ride similar to those found at other parks. (including the State Fair of Texas and Aquarena Springs) The Astrolift, built by the Von Roll Co. of Berne, Switzerland, was shutdown permanently in the early ’80s following a serious accident on a similar ride at another park. (The park who’s accident inspired the removal isn’t clear, as I’ve heard it said to be Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags St.Louis or even the State Fair of Texas) The back of this early postcard, circa approximately 1962, reads:

RIVER BOATS AND ASTROLIFT
At Six Flags Over Texas, visitors may take a trip on a 19th Century River Boat, then embark on an Astrolift ride through space from the 21st Century. Many other thrills are to be found here in this fabulous entertainment center.

Among other early rides were two that featured small cars (guided on tracks), the Chaparral Antique Cars and the Humble Happy Motoring Freeway. (with sports cars) There was also the Six Flags Railroad, Casa Magnetica, the Log Ride (also known as the flume ride, and originally called “El Aserradero”), El Sombrero, the Fiesta Train (which traveled past several animated displays, including dancing tamales!) and the Runaway Mine Train. Good stuff, and I’m just glad we had the opportunity to enjoy it.