When I Experience Six Flags Over Texas, I'm More Than Six Miles Away from Six Flags Tormenta: Furious Run First time starting.
Leaving Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and turning onto Texas Highway 360, there are several landmarks in the distance that can only be described as “Texas-sized” – AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Field, and Six Flags' long-time icons Superman: Power Tower and Titan. But there's a new addition to the Arlington skyline: the 309-foot-tall Tormenta: Rampaging Run, the world's first giant dive coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard.
The coaster's location within the park—in the recently renovated Spanish/Mexican section just inside the park's entrance—only heightens the suspense as you approach the front door. Driving through the park's pay plaza and into the general parking lot, you can't miss the imposing structure of Torment Tower, as you have to drive past it to park and then walk past it in the other direction to enter Six Flags Over Texas. In fact, people stop outside the park gates every time the coaster goes up the 309-foot lift hill. They watched. It doesn't matter if they come or go. When Tormenta's train briefly “paused” on top of the building, they pulled out their phones, pointed them at the sky, and waited for it to drop 285 feet at nearly 90 miles per hour.
The term I feel best describes Tormenta is a term from Walt Disney Imagineering called a “weenie,” which is an architectural concept the Imagineers named to describe the “visual magnets” that draw visitors from one area to another. Six Flags parks feature roller coasters, such as Fury 325 at Carowinds and Gatekeeper at Cedar Point, that welcome guests to their respective parks by interacting with the front gate. While Tormenta doesn't interact with this area in the traditional sense, it's certainly the first thing Six Flags Over Texas visitors see as they walk toward the park entrance, preparing them for the thrills to come, or the last thing they remember as they walk to their cars late at night.
While Tormenta may be a visual “weenie,” it's certainly not a roller coaster for weenies – this time a slang term for a funny insult aimed at someone considered weak or timid. In this regard, the cycling statistics speak for themselves. With a height of 309 feet and a speed of 87 miles per hour, Tormenta is one of the tallest and fastest roller coasters in the world. Add in five inversions—including the world's tallest vertical loop and the record-setting Immelman Coaster, which itself is taller than 99.49 percent of roller coasters in the world today—and it's clear that both Six Flags Over Texas and Bolliger & Mabillard intend to redefine the dive coaster.
Visitors entering the “Spanish” part of the park, themed after the fictional Tormenta Ranch, are first greeted by a large sculpture of a bull with a plaque explaining the legend of Tormenta. The area around the roller coaster entrance is beautiful – themed after the multi-level Plaza de España, complete with water features and show space. The entrance plaza to the ride is designed after classic Spanish architecture, and with the lighting of the area, the entrance marquee looks completely different depending on the time of day, but is stunning in both light and dark. We didn't get the full queue experience, but there were themed signs on the fence surrounding the attraction. Before entering the space station, Six Flags Over Texas installed a series of double-sided lockers for storing loose items, similar to the lockers in Aquaman: Power Waves. The best part? The lockers are free and just use the barcode (on your ticket or pass) to enter. I would love to see these integrated into other attractions and parks across the country!
As for the ride experience itself, I rode Tormenta: Rampaging Run twice during media day, once in the back and once in the front, and honestly, even though it was only a row apart, the experience was definitely different. Tormenta's trains are divided into three rows of eight seats each, and each seat is equipped with Bolliger & Mabillard's new “vest” style shoulder restraints. (Author's Note: For some reason, a lot of people seem to dislike vest restraints, but I actually prefer them to hard plastic OTSRs.) As someone with a larger body size, my seating options are limited to a few seats on Tormenta's three-row trains, but it's worth noting that at least one seat in each row is designed for larger rides – one each in the first and third rows, and two in the second row. These seats can be found by looking for seats with red seat belts, and there is also a test seat at the entrance to Tormenta if you're unsure about your fit.
If you've ever ridden a B&M Dive Coaster, the experience starts much the same as most other coasters in this model – the door opens in front of you and you quickly dive and spin out of the station, then head to the lift hill. This is what sets Tormenta apart from other dive coasters, as you can climb much higher in the air (over 80 feet) than any other dive coaster in existence. As you ascend, you can see landmarks in the distance. To the right again is the Rangers' Globe Life Field – which looks much larger than it looks from 6 miles away, but is more than 278 feet tall from the playing field to the top of the retractable roof. You reach the top of the 309-foot elevator and are greeted by panoramic views of the Dallas metropolitan area 15 miles away. You slowly—and I mean slowly—climb to the edge of Tormenta’s 285-foot supervertical (95-degree) drop and dangle on the cliff for a few seconds, thinking about everything in your life that has led you to this moment.
And then you drop, we mean reduce.
From the front row, you feel the speed and wind blowing in your face. At the back, it's like you're being pulled over Niagara Falls in a barrel – but Tormenta is still 100 feet taller. Upon reaching a top speed of 87 miles per hour, riders are immediately thrust into the coaster's first element – the record-breaking 218-foot-tall Immelman, where you'll feel a sense of weightlessness and admiration for your height above the ground as you look up (well, down) at the ground below. Immediately turn right onto the 179-foot vertical loop to the left of the ride's main entrance. After another inversion takes you to the mid-brake run, you're faced with another vertical drop into another smaller Immelman, which leads you into a sharp descent that circles around the coaster's iconic first drop before reaching the final brake and slowly sloping downwards at an angle back to the station. It takes about 60 seconds from first release to final brake run, but the moment is powerful and fast, with each element seamlessly blending into the next.
One of the questions I get most after the ride is whether Tormenta has the now infamous (at least according to a handful of coaster enthusiasts on the internet) B&M “rattling sound.” My answer? Yes, but not in the way those fanatics criticize. It's a giant roller coaster that propels trains through massive elements at speeds of nearly 90 mph. My feeling was more a product of the power of the ride than the roughness, and I thought it was pretty smooth for a coaster of this size. If you don't believe me, check out the reverse POV video below and you can see what I'm feeling in real time.
If you skipped all the photos and walls of text and found yourself looking for simple comments at the bottom of the article – this is your tl;dr summary. In a state that prides itself on its size — everything yes After all, it’s bigger in Texas – Tormenta: Rampaging Run definitely lives up to the hype and hype this coaster generated when it was first announced and built in the fall and spring. This is a coaster for thrill seekers, and while my Six Flags Over Texas experience isn't very in-depth (I've been to the park twice, once more than 12 years ago and back this week.) I would easily place Tormenta near the top of the Six Flags Over Texas lineup. There's a reason it's broken the record six times, and even if you're not riding it – looking at you, people with their phones watching Tormonta sprint through its course outside the park gates – it's sure to grab people's attention and lead visitors through the turnstiles eager to experience Tormonta: Rampage and the rest of the park's lineup of attractions. Take a page from the nearby Texas Rangers — this is a true “home run.”
(If the opening day footage is anything like Tormenta's daily needs, Six Flags Over Texas might need to rename “Rope Drop” to “Run” of To the bull. “)
Tormonta: Rampage is now open at Six Flags Over Texas. For more information, be sure to visit the park's website and follow Six Flags Over Texas on social media: Facebook | twitter | Instagram.
