Though Christmas has passed, Holiday in the Park at Six Flags over Texas still runs through December 31. A last-minute decision, we headed out to the park for a short visit on Thursday, December 28th (park hours: noon-8pm). We arrived around 12:45pm and beelined for New Texas Giant.
While walking through Texas, we noticed the loud Christmas music playing suddenly stop and all the Christmas lights go out in the trees. Not thinking much of it beyond someone tripping over a power cord, we continued onward to see the first clue: an occupied train stuck on Giant’s lift.
An occupied train was traveling up New Texas Giant’s lift when the power outage occurred
As we pivoted and started walking over to Titan instead, we were met with a flood of people being let out of the Giant queue at the Flash Pass entrance, and noticed Titan’s train was also stuck on its lift with riders. It was then that we connected the dots that a power outage had occurred, right around the time we saw several operations supervisors rushing to the rides.
Guests flood out of New Texas Giant and Titan queues with an occupied train stuck on Titan’s lift
The Phases of Guests Dealing with the Outage
Experiencing a power outage from start to finish at a theme park is an interesting, even almost fun experience to witness (as long as you’re not there to ride things). There seemed to be phases the guests went though, beginning with frustration that their ride had shut down, to confusion once they realized all rides were shut down.
Despite not being very crowded, the walkways immediately filled with people with every ride’s queue being emptied.
With every ride suddenly closing, pathways soon filled with guests wondering around looking for anything open
Most people seemed to take the opportunity to grab food, with dining location lines filling up fast.
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Newman's Cafe food line quickly filled up with guests since all rides closed
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Long lines for Bubba's Hot Dogs
Some seemed optimistic the rides would reopen soon, forming lines at ride entrances, woefully ignorant of the significant undertaking the park still had to reopen everything. Others gathered around wait time screens, looking for anything that may still be running.
Crowds of guests gathered around wait time screens looking for any open ride
As we walked around documenting the event, it suddenly began to feel like a ghost town. Not only because of the lack of music playing or rides operating, but people had seemed to have cleared out.
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Soon the pathways emptied, with much of the crowd apparently leaving
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Even Chaparral Antique Cars inexplicably shut down, despite being one of the few attractions not relying on electricity
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So we at least know the two PCs running the screens aren't even on the same timezone.
As it turns out, everyone was just waiting in a different line — for Guest Relations, attempting to get a raincheck or refund for the day’s events. I can’t imagine the stress and workload on the guest relations team when dealing with something outside the park’s control like this.
The second-longest line was at guest relations (the first was the building line outside the park of people trying to enter)
Eventually we started to see empty trains on lifts after they had been evacuated. Despite all the madness, Six Flags got lucky with Mr. Freeze not valleying during the power outage, something its notorious for due to its reliance on the magnetic motors on the vertical tower needing to accelerate trains and provide them with enough momentum to return to the station. The ride did not appear to have a train running at the time of the power outage. When Freeze does valley, the train pendulates between the tower and overbanked turn until it finally comes to a stop, allowing guests to be evacuated along a catwalk there.
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Titan had been evacuated by 1:45 when this photo was taken
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NTG's train was evacuated at least by 1:55 when this photo was taken
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Notorious for valleying during power outages, Mr. Freeze got lucky and did not have a train running at the moment
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This area by the NTG Gift Shop felt especially quiet and strange without the waterfall running
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Pandemonium had cars stuck on the first block and brake run
Walking out of the park showed the waiting chaos. The park had halted entry into the park as it dealt with the situation, and the line to get into the park extended well into the parking lot, nearly reaching the picnic area.
Why a Theme Park Power Outage is a Big Deal
Even though the area’s electricity was briefly out, this incident highlights how big of a deal even a momentary power outage is for a theme park. When we left the park well over an hour after the power outage occurred, only a few rides had just began to start cycling again.
Quite simply, a power outage is an operational nightmare for a theme park. Every ride impacted by the outage must be evacuated as safety requirements prohibit a ride from resuming or being restarted with guests onboard. Though every ride differs, evacuations are a particular challenge on roller coasters, where a power outage can stop a train on the lift hill (as was the case for Titan and New Texas Giant) or on a block brake throughout the ride (which occurred on La Vibora and Pandemonium). Six Flags’ ride evacuation process requires area supervisors and maintenance present, so this can be a lengthy process due to limited resources having to prioritize which rides are evacuated first.
Only after the first priority of evacuating guests stuck is complete can the park begin the next step of resetting every ride, re-running certain safety checks and completing ride cycles, which of course again requires maintenance staff.
Is a Power Outage a Safety Concern?
Power outages are a fact of life and as such, every ride has fail-safe modes that the ride enters once power is cut. For roller coasters, that means the train simply comes to a stop on the lift or at the next block brake section (ride brakes default to the closed position and require power to open the brakes and let trains proceed). A power outage is a testament to the rides operating as designed — a fault was detected and the safest thing is for the ride to cease operating. Rides stopping and some guests getting stuck is an operational hassle but not a safety concern.
All-American Cafe Renovations
One update worth mentioning is that the All-American Cafe is undergoing some extensive renovations. The indoor dining area has been blocked off and the location is currently running as mobile orders only.
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All-American Cafe has converted to mobile orders only as it undergoes renovations
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Indoor seating has been closed off as the park works on renovations to the dining location
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Tarps block off much of the All-American Cafe indoor seating area
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Typically full, the queue for All-American Cafe was empty as it switched to forcing guests to mobile order
Closing Thoughts and Looking Ahead to 2024
Our last visit to Six Flags over Texas for 2023 was certainly a memorable one. A park-wide power outage is a relatively rare occurrence and made our trip worth it despite not riding anything before getting hungry and leaving.
We look forward to 2024 with optimism. Though it seems like El Rio Lento is not happening, the park reportedly still has plans to make much-needed renovations to El Aserradero. Capital improvements continue to happen throughout the park. All-American Cafe is undergoing a renovation (hopefully improved food is one of them). We witnessed carpenters inspecting and documenting woodwork needing repairs during our visit. Park President Richard Douaihy frequents SFoT social media groups, posting updates on all the smaller things the park is working on. The Cedar Fair-Six Flags merge is expected to close in the first half of 2024, which brings all sorts of exciting possibilities to the park and chains.
As always, Guide to SFoT will continue to follow the park’s events and encourage you to check back often. Everyone from GuideToSFoT.com wishes you and your family a happy, safe, and prosperous 2024.
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