End of Summer Updates: 65th Anniversary and Cocina Abuela Progress

Aug 8, 2026 | Park Articles | 0 comments

August at Six Flags Over Texas means the end of summer season and daily operation. We visited the park on a hot Friday to check out the park after its 65th anniversary festivities, see how operations are going, and also try to get an update on Cocina Abuela and Railroad construction, two major projects that the park hasn’t said much about after Tormenta’s opening.

Front entrance with 65th anniversary decor

Heat Relief

Summer in Texas means skin-piercing heat and UV, and it has a noticeable effect on park attendance. When we arrived at the park at 1pm, just two hours after opening, we noticed dozens of parties already leaving.

It’s in the park’s best interest to mitigate the heat to keep guests around longer, so it wasn’t surprising to see the water sprinklers return along with even more shade structures. Unfortunately the park’s massive swaths of blacktop do exactly the opposite, absorbing and radiating the heat right back up at guests.

Sprinkler installed in Boomtown for heat relief during summer 2026

Sprinkler mounted high up on Oil Derrick for heat relief
Sprinkler near Dino Off Road Adventure
SFOT Photo Op left up from 250th celebration

Perhaps this is the annual reminder that the park would greatly benefit from more trees, which not only provide shade but also actually cool the surrounding area. There’s a reason that even on a hot summer day, the Old South area feels okay while Gotham City is brutal:

The Old South section is always a welcome relief from the summer sun
The blacktop desert of far Gotham City

Roaring Rapids

Luckily for crowds needing a cooling down, Roaring Rapids finally opened up last month after a lengthy delay. The park favorite for getting absolutely drenched was initially planned to open by Memorial Day but missed that by at least a month as the 43-year-old ride obviously needed more work.

Guests getting soaked on the now-open Roaring Rapids
Guests float toward the station on updated rafts

The park’s full trio of water rides are all open and helping to cool guests down.

Tormenta

The massive new Tormenta Rampaging Run continues to draw in crowds to experience the tallest dive coaster and biggest inversions on earth. The park installed additional shade throughout the queue to help with the heat.

A Tormenta train rockets towards the second Immelmann

The ride is an absolute capacity machine, eating through crowds with its 3-train operation, which meant it was a literal walk-on during our entire visit on Friday. Some online commentors have claimed Tormenta’s lack of a line means the ride isn’t drawing in the crowds, but line length isn’t a great indicator of anything when the ride is running at max capacity as intended. Kudos to Tormenta’s fantastic ride crew, who was efficiently operating the ride without stacking trains (although I don’t quite get why rows continue to be assigned when the ride is a walk-on; let people pick their own rows).

We have noticed Tormenta has finicky lockers at times. We attempted to use the left and center pass-through locker kiosks multiple times, but it would never assign a locker after inputting the personal code twice, instead just freezing. The entire locker procedure is honestly more clunky than it needs to be, between assigning the initial 7-digit number and then typing in a 4-digit code twice (and then using it a third time to open the locker). We much prefer the versions where you are handed a barcode that you scan.

Shock Wave Closure

Shock Wave’s extended closure continues, with no official word from the park on what’s happening to the classic coaster that has basically been closed all season. We did notice a truck parked underneath the ride during our visit, but it didn’t appear anything significant was occurring.

Shock Wave's closure continues with a sign now stopping guests before the railroad crossing
A truck parked underneath Shock Wave

The only real change from our prior visits is that the park has closed the entire area beyond the railroad crossing, blocking access to Six Flags Speedway as well.

Online rumors have run the full gamut between this being scheduled maintenance for the ride to more serious issues that will prevent the 48-year-old ride from reopening.

Shock Wave is located along a floodplain due to Johnson Creek which flows through the park and frequently floods sections of it. This floodplain is reportedly a big limiting factor in future expansion, with some claiming no new attractions could ever be placed in Shock Wave’s place should it be removed (others claim new attractions are possible but would require significant infrastructure work to mitigate floods).

The endless Shock Wave rumors are a direct result of the park staying silent on the subject. Hopefully they will see the value in transparency with their guests and provide some sort of meaningful update soon.

Operations Improvements

It has been an objectively rough year for park operations, with multiple major rides having extended downtimes and running at reduced capacities with single trains. New Texas Giant is no longer part of that list, however, with it finally adding a second train for the first time this year. Batman is also back to two trains after running one for an extended period.

On the other hand, Mr. Freeze continues to have issues and has now been closed for a few weeks. Signs at the ride entrance claim it’s heat related but crews were spotted working on track between the overbanked turn and spike.

Summer Entertainment Ending

One of the highlights of 2026 thus far has been the entertainment offerings. Six Flags Over Texas featured a solid summer show lineup including the Swelltones, Western Daze, Miss Cameo Kate’s, and of course Brad Ross in the newly renovated Southern Palace.

The Brad Ross show runs through August 9, 2026
Levitating woman in the Brad Ross show
Floating glass illusion

Railroad Construction

The beloved Six Flags Railroad has remained closed throughout the construction of Tormenta since the railroad track went directly through the coaster’s construction site. But now that Tormenta is open, what’s going on with the Railroad?

Not much it seems. Little to no progress is apparent regarding new railroad track being placed. There are several cones placed along the logical path of new railroad track that would complete the course between Tormenta and the log flume, but we didn’t see any new track laid down.

Six Flags Over Texas railroad construction

Cones line the likely path of new railroad track

Railroad track can be placed relatively quickly, but there also doesn’t appear to be any progress on a new engine house after the old one beneath La Vibora was also removed for Tormenta. The railroad has been expected to reopen sometime in 2026, so we’ll see if that actually pans out.

Cocina Abuela Construction

If you’ll recall, Tormenta was announced to open in 2026 within a reimagined Spain area featuring the all-new restaurant Cocina Abuela. With Tormenta now open and the summer season winding down, it appears something has fallen through for what was set to become the park’s largest restaurant.

Large construction walls block view of Cocina Abuela’s construction site, but the new restaurant seems to be the elephant in the room. Park officials didn’t make a single mention of the dining location during Tormenta’s media day or at the park’s 65th anniversary celebration, seemingly indicating it won’t be opening anytime soon (if at all?).

We did manage to get some vantage points to see behind the wall and what was back there wasn’t very compelling. Some footers have been poured but not much else has been done.

Overview of the construction area

The restaurant was definitely intended to open this year, according to permit filings listing a May 1, 2026 completion date. An online post claims the restaurant has indeed been delayed, but nothing official from the park has been released.

Series of footers poured
Concrete structure
A worker walks the construction site

Meanwhile, Flume 2 of El Aserradero continues to be closed since its exit is part of Cocina Abuela’s construction purgatory. Hopefully it truly is just delayed and not cancelled, as the Mexico & Spain area could greatly benefit from a large dining location.

Casa de las Banderas Construction

We noticed a construction permit posted to a window on Casa de las Banderas (which was not open during our visit) and was surprised to see the small offshoot dining room of the dining location stripped down to its studs.