I posted a SWSA TR a month ago and was meaning to do this right after, but have had no spare time at all so here I am at two in the morning trying to gather my thoughts and get this out. This parks TR will be shorter because its been so long i'm a bit hazy on the details but will try my best.
The TLDR: I loved this park. From what I knew about SFFT is that its a beautiful park that should be great but has a lot of the same SF issues with shoddy maintenance, a lot of downtimes, slow ops etc. I did not find that to be true at all and actually found the exact opposite, the place looked great. All of the buildings, signage, rides etc all looked freshly painted and well maintained to an actual high standard. This place certainly does not come across as a SF park. We got there pretty early and the toll plaza as well as the front gate was open and the rope drop was pretty far down into the park, the rides were all cycling and ready on time for park opening, the employees all around the park were very friendly. We did not encounter a single even remotely rude employee in the entire park.
The place isn't perfect, it does have some duds. It has a Vekoma Boomerang and an S&S Freespin coaster, I do not go on those so I don't really have anything else to say about them other than the fact that they are there. The speed of operations were mediocre (but from what i've heard that's an accomplishment for SF parks nowadays), Goliath/Chupacabra was running one train though everything else that could was running 2 (except Batman of course which had more).
Speaking of Goliath, its new paint job was finished and it had both a Goliath and Chupacabra entrance signs up right next each other lol (the Chupacabra sign was built into the ground right next to the entrance, and the Goliath sign is overhead). The safety signs say Chupacabra. Not really a fan of the new color scheme but I guess does fit the Fiesta type entrance plaza. Very odd how SF decided to put a Batman clone in the same city of a park that already had a Batman clone for many years (and there is another one in the same state)...but we know how it was with SF not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed at the time so what are you going to do?
Iron Rattler is obviously the best coaster in the park and a fantastic number one standout for this park. Superman Krypton Coaster is definitely an older B&M and although I don't think its as bad as Kumba or Kraken, it definitely had some older B&M roughness going on. Despite that its an iconic coaster and I love how its built into the terrain. Very odd entrance in the back of a gift shop. Wonder Woman was good although i'm not a big fan of the seat, its kind of small and uncomfortable, the ride itself was great though (even though I rode it first thing in the morning and i'm sure it runs faster in the afternoon) just wish it had a more comfortable train. Not really sure what the point of the HRRR "load while train is moving" thing, it seemed to confuse people and they constantly needed to stop the train anyway because people couldn't get in on time. Dr. Diabolical ("interesting" name for a coaster) was a great addition to the park as well. Its well themed and while dive's aren't really my favorite I did like this one more than most because of the theming and unorthodox layout. Did not ride the Tony Hawk coaster (maybe I would if it were a walk on, but I don't really care for spinning coasters like that much anymore).
We absolutely loved the new DC Area and its one of the highlights of the park, much MUCH better than SWSA's new kids area (ironically they both opened at the same time, like a week before we went there). They have a little Peoplemover type thing that does a lap around the top of the land which is clearly inspired by Tomorrowland (although obviously a much more modest scale) but when you are there with a little kid its a much welcome attraction, and you get great views of the park. The rides and theming of the land are exactly what they need to be (although the Kid Flash thing obviously not so much). This area is also home to the most underrated ride in the park which is the Supergirl Star Flyer, its tall and has an amazing interaction with the rock quarry walls. Turned out to be one of my favorite rides in the park.
The parks railroad has some great interactions with the rides and quarry walls as well. There of course is a carousel and a Ferris Wheel in the boardwalk section so there is a fair amount for families to do in the park. The park is a decent size though not huge, i'd say its like SFNE size where it's great for a visit once in a while but doesn't quite have enough rerideable attractions to be considered a big park.
The one thing that really made this park stand out is the vibe, which is rare in the SF/CF scenario. It doesn't feel like the typical SF/CF "collection of rides with no thought whatsoever," and its not just because of the parks amazing location surrounded by quarry walls (although it does help). The fact that the park is well maintained, well presented, and is family oriented helps a lot. The location IS awesome though...like when you're driving in and you see the big SFFT sign and then all the quarry walls its a really cool entrance statement that differentiates it from any other park. Whoever's idea it was to build a theme park in that spot deserves a medal.
TBH i'm kind of afraid to go back to this park thinking maybe I caught it in an unusually good spell. With parks its pretty common they have their good and bad spells and I feel like knowing SF I could go back and it would be worse, but I think of this park very positively and definitely at the top tier of the SF chain.
At this moment SFFT is a better ran park and we enjoyed it more. I think a lot of SWSA's appeal was in the shows but now that the shows are a shell of what they once were they seem to be struggling for an identity. Also that park lacks family rides and the family rides they have are subpar.
Fiesta Texas may not have the most or best attractions, but I think it is the best run Six Flags park.
So if I could only visit one of the two parks, which would you recommend?