One thing that’s been on my mind since I returned from Texas was the big empty lot across the South Loop Freeway (610) from the Astrodome Reliant Park complex in Houston.
What used to be in that empty lot was Six Flags Astroworld - the amusement park where I popped my roller coaster cherry as a young boy. My first trip was with a large group of kids I attended church with - a summer outing of sorts. I don’t remember how old I was but I was just old enough to ride anything in the park so we’ll say early teens. But I do remember the first roller coaster I chose to ride: the Texas Cyclone.
Actually, I know I did not make that decision on my own. The “cool kids” to demonstrate how badass they could be at age 13 or so decided the Texas Cyclone was the first ride to ride. In hindsight, it was a genius idea - it was one of most popular rides in the park so you wouldn’t have to worry about standing in line all afternoon for it. And like taking shots of booze when you begin to drink, riding the Texas Cyclone first made the subsequent roller coasters not that intimidating.
I will never forget the thrill and fear I had on the roller coaster - specifically because when I walked away, down the ramp I noticed that my legs were uncontrollably shaking. It was as if I was in a Looney Tunes cartoon and had seen a ghost. And thanks to the magic of YouTube, I can have a nostalgic yet relatively boring re-experience with that moment:
The wikipedia article on the Texas Cyclone mentions it’s “feeling for being out of control”. That’s certainly what I experienced on that ride - and although I’ve rode several roller coasters since, nothing has quite matched that original fear. I suppose that has more to do with age and experience - although I have to credit the original Cyclone which I rode this summer out at Coney Island for being a great ride. And it wasn’t until I even walked up to the roller coaster that I made the connection between it and it’s Texas counterpart. The wikipedia article talks about Astroworld’s interest in purchasing and relocating the Coney Island Cyclone but ended up building a better, faster and more thrilling ride.
Astroworld had some other great rides including Greezed Lightnin’ which wasn’t as scary as it was fast - the entire ride lasted about 30 seconds. The novelty of that coaster was that it had little-to-no wait to ride so you were able to get in about 3-5 rides in 15 minutes.
But I’ll always remember Astroworld for the Texas Cyclone and as one of my favorite Houston landmarks. A lot of the rides, including Greezed Lightnin’ have been relocated but the Texas Cyclone was scrapped for parts. It lives on in my memory and, for the time being, on Google Maps.
I was just listening to John Lennon - Watching The Wheels