Six Flags Over Texas — Attraction in Arlington

I’m really disappointed with how this park has treated me and my family. We’ve been going here for the past 5 years and it’s steadily gotten worse throughout. This is a lengthy review but I feel it necessary to speak up about the longstanding issues that has made me feel like an undervalued customer.

-SEASON PASSES. When it comes to admission and passes, the park and it’s sister water park have consistently over-promised and under-delivered. We’ve purchased memberships and season passes multiple years, and the value keeps going down. Even worse, the benefits of the season passes and memberships keep dwindling. There’s been multiple times where we felt that we were denied what we had paid for, due to ambiguous technicalities listed in the fine print of the membership terms of agreement. Allow me to elaborate.

PREFERRED PARKING. This past summer, we were supposed to have preferred parking (PP) for each visit, but at both parks, the PP areas either weren’t being regulated, or the attendant was telling us the lot was full when we could visibly see open parking spots. The park’s policy on season pass PP is no refunds, no exceptions. When I asked management about this, they said that the preferred parking was first come/first serve but wouldn’t even let me enter the parking lot to find a spot (we saw multiple spots and cars leaving while we were trying to enter the lot), and that I would have to reach out to corporate for more information. Multiple emails over several years all resulted the same; no response. Why couldn’t they set aside some of the standard parking lots for these needs? This was a careless oversight that significantly detracted from one of the main selling points of the parks’ prestige pass. Had I known how we would have been treated, I wouldn’t have spent the $900.

-STAFF AND EMPLOYEES. The staffing of these parks is a SERIOUS problem. It’s very obvious that every employee HATES working here. They make it well known. I asked what the working conditions were like, and one employee told me they work 8 hour shifts with no break, for $13/hour. Some of the ride attendants were so jaded that they were insisting on creating unnecessary difficulties for others. For example, one of the rides had nobody in line, and the flash pass entrance was shorter to the front. When we walked up, the attendant said we needed to walk back out and go around the long way. Why does it matter if there’s nobody in line??? It just seemed like such an unnecessary thing to fuss about. The worst offender though, was when my 8 year old autistic son wanted to get a picture with one of the halloween scareguys, and the guy told my son to stop trying to pose like him and “just be normal”. His attitude was so aggressive, I had to pull my son away and forego the pictures entirely.

-CLOSED RIDES. Another major issue is how many rides are shut down on a recurring basis. Opening night of fright fest, we were told that the batman was closed for the rest of the year due to an incident, and that the Mr.Freeze would be closed as well (delivered with a notably bad attitude from the staff to boot). I haven’t had a single visit to the park where all the rides were operational. What’s really bad is that a sizeable portion of the park is closed off for new construction. So even though they have less rides available, they’re still understaffing the park which results in some rides not being open.

Another complaint; the food is overpriced, even for a theme park. Most of the stalls have no business because nobody is willing to pay $15-$20+ for bland food.

I just wish we could go back to universal studios in florida. THAT...

OKAY SO LET ME BE VERY CLEAR ABOUT WHAT I TRYING TO SAY IN THIS REVIEW, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE SIX FLAGS OVER TEXAS I have been coming to Six Flags Over Texas every since I was about five years old I'm now 48 so here I go, now that I have gotten older I have noticed a lot of changes which is understandable you have to change on some things as time goes on I remember that if the park said that it was going to open at 10:00 it opened at 10:00 & all rides, games, stores, & food areas were open they now open and sometimes will be at the time they have posted and other times it may be 5 6 7 8 minutes the time that was posted and when you get to your first ride it may or may not be open already to take on riders the pathways were usually filled with employees with brooms pushing water off of the walkways now there are usually gumballs some pine cones twigs and usually some trash I never remember these things being that way in the past next thing I would like to focus on is the factor I also don't remember rides constantly breaking down over & over I understand maintenance comes and fixes the issue but whatever the issue is fix it and fix it right the first time so it stops continuing to be the exact same thing causing the ride to break down, Six Flags is a multi-million dollar corporation there is no need for rides constantly breaking down with the exact same thing going wrong, and yes I know that Six Flags & Cedar Fair have merged together to make a better theme park experience yes I am seeing things that they are upgrading and trying to make a better enjoyable theme park, I have noticed Six Flags updated their Chaperone Policy and yet I do not see them enforcing The Chaperone Policy because you walk through the park and you see plenty of teenagers who are under the age of 15 walking in groups 4 up 12 to 16 in a group and there is not someone who is at least 21 years old with them that is not enforcing The Chaperone Policy they have updated recently twice that I am aware of in just a year, with that being said let me go back to the beginning and say I do love Six Flags Over Texas, one of the biggest things I have noticed over the years is the amount of security that the park has to have in place which is good so don't get me wrong in that, I just feel that a lot of people probably have the same aggravation I do when I come here almost every other weekend I'm always hearing oh it's closed oh it's broke down this has got to be an aggravation for people first time visiting the park it is definitely an aggravation for someone who visits almost every other weekend, in my mind this is an issue that could be filed, this park on most days throughout the year closes at 9:00 and doesn't open up again until the next day at 11:00 that is over 12 hours of down time each operating day not including the times they are not open during the week so there is plenty of time for maintenance to do maintenance and fix the rides properly, so let me in by saying I get it it's going to take time for things to get better now that Six Flags and Cedar Fair have merged together I just hope to see the theme park back to the way it used to be in the...

Lots of Potential, but Frequent Ride Breakdowns and Frustrating Fast Pass System

We spent about $180 for two people (tickets + fast pass) and were excited for a good time at Six Flags Over Texas. While we did have fun on the rides we were able to get on, the overall experience was held back by constant ride breakdowns, long delays, and a poorly executed fast pass system.

The fast pass lets you select only one ride at a time, and each has a countdown before you can even enter the fast pass line — which can still have a 15- to 60-minute wait. It’s not efficient. On Freeze, after getting the code, we waited 40 minutes in the fast pass line in a stifling, unventilated garage-like room in 100-degree heat — only to be told the ride was shutting down. Not exactly in the spirit of “Freeze.” At least add fans or A/C in that area.

We also tried Pandemonium. After waiting an hour for our fast pass to become active, the ride broke down and froze the timer to get the code. It stayed stuck for 40 minutes in this state before we gave up. We finally had a win with Superman, which ran without issue after another hour-long wait to get a fast pass code.

While waiting for that, we lined up for The Riddler, which had two technical stops. We were even buckled in once before being asked to exit the ride and return to the waiting area. No ETA was given. Thankfully, after another 30 minutes, it came back online — and it turned out to be our favorite ride of the day. It was thrilling, smooth, and worth the wait.

Somewhere in between, we rode the Pirates ride. I had hoped for something like Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, but it felt more like a surreal It’s a Small World filled with way too many odd sea horse creatures — a strange creative choice that looked budget.

Food at Johnny Rockets was mixed. The chicken tenders were good, but the burger came out cold and drowning in “secret sauce,” which none of us liked. With the volume of guests, cold burgers shouldn’t happen.

We overheard others complaining of 3-hour wait times, which lined up with our experience of slow-moving lines and inconsistent ride availability.

Overall, we made the most of it and enjoyed what we could, but the day was full of missed opportunities. If the park improved ride reliability, ventilation in waiting areas, and the fast pass system, it would be a much better experience. As it stands, I’d hesitate to...