Six Flags Over Texas To Close Flashback & Texas Chute Out Rides

Your final chance to ride two iconic rides at Six Flags Over Texas will be Labor Day.  The park will be closing the Texas Chute Out along with Flashback after decades of service to make way for a yet to be announced new attraction for the park.

When asked what new ride would be taking their place,  spokesperson Sharon Parker would only say they’ll announce new plans for the space being vacated in the future.

The Texas Chute Out is a can’t miss ride in the park because the 250 foot white tower stands at the parks’ entrance.  The Texas Chute Out opened in 1976 and has since carried more than 29 million riders up 200 feet to be dropped back down to Earth!  On the descent, the ride would kind of catch, as if the parachute opened and you floated back down slowly.  As a kid (and adult) I have ridden this ride many times and enjoyed riding in the baskets more than the chairs, but the baskets were removed in 1994 in favor of the chairs returning.

The Flashback was one of the first boomerang style roller coasters that opened at Six Flags Over Texas in 1989.  This ride flipped its passengers upside down three times on the ride forward and then three times on the ride backwards!  It reached it’s top speed of 50 mph and has thrilled more than 17 million people since its opening.  Before this ride opened to the public in the spring of 1989, I was working at the park and we got to ride it before it opened to the public.

Being a long time Six Flags fan and ex-employee it is sad to see these rides go away.  I know that the park has to keep adding newer rides to attract new visitors, but it is still sad to see an iconic skyline figure coming down.  The closing of these two rides  comes a month after Six Flags Fiesta Texas announced it would be closing its iconic wooden coaster The Rattler.

You last chance to ride these two classic rides will be September 3rd.