Love of roller coasters must be a maternally heritable trait. I love roller coasters. Both my daughters love roller coasters (though one of them was slower to warm up to them than the other). My husband’s not a fan, but that’s fine. Someone has to hold our stuff and procure overpriced drinks and snacks while we’re inching along in line for rides.
But Austin’s not exactly known for its dearth of roller coasters. If you want to find thrill rides, you have to either travel a bit or know where to look within the metro. But that’s about to change as our first true amusement park is set to open later this summer. Here’s where to find rides for your thrill-seeking kids this summer!
Six Flags Fiesta Texas
San Antonio
For your tried and true theme park, it doesn’t get any better than the OG in SA. Now that school is out for the summer, Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Hurricane Harbor waterpark are open 7 days a week. The sprawling park has rides at every thrill level, so there’s something for even the tiniest future thrillseekers. For the older kids with a fearless streak and a minimum height requirement, there’s every type of roller coaster you can imagine:
- Drop coasters
- Loop coasters
- Lightning fast single-rail coasters
- Floorless coasters
- Dark tunnel coasters
- Spinning coasters
Pro tips from yours truly
If you want to fit in as many rides as possible in a single trip, spring for the Fast Lane pass. It’s absolutely worth it to skip the long lines. The fast lane passes run in a browser, making a day at the park hell on your phone’s battery – pack a power bank! Road construction along 1604 in San Antonio gets gnarly, so if you want to hit the park early when it first opens, give yourself some extra travel time, which you should do anyway so you can hit up La Panaderia in the shopping center across from the park entrance.
COTALAND
East Austin
Before you know it, Austin will have its very own theme park at the Circuit of the Americas! COTALAND is hiring for its anticipated grand opening, which doesn’t have a firm date set yet but is expected to be some time this summer. They’ve already teased some of the rides, like their tilt drop roller coaster Circuit Breaker on F1 weekend, but by the time the slow roll ride opening is complete, the theme park campus will have 30 rides for kids of all ages, including the US’s first and only infinity shuttle coaster.
Pro tips from yours truly
Sign up on the COTALAND website for details on their grand opening, along with early bird specials and any preview events before they open to the general public. 71 and 130 are already a mess on race and concert weekends, and the opening of COTALAND only means more cars to add to the chaos. Visiting the park on a weekday or with a carpool will make traffic a bit easier to swallow. If you’re going to visit the park during F1 weekend, you might as well start driving there now.
Austin’s Park
Pflugerville
While it’s not as flashy as Six Flags or COTAland, Austin’s Park & Pizza off of I-35 in Pflugerville has an impressive showing of rides for a park of its size. There is an indoor roller coaster and drop tower, along with a small train coaster, 2-story carousel, bumper boats, and several other rides outside. There’s also a full bar and pub games to appeal to the grown-ups.
Pro tips from yours truly
I like visiting this park late in the day in the dead of summer when it’s too hot to do anything else. We can ride the indoor rides, lose all our money at the arcade, and eat dinner at the restaurant. Then when the sun goes down, we can head outside and enjoy the outdoor rides during the golden hour.
Pinballz Lake Creek
Northwest Austin
In addition to its massive indoor arcade and European-style go kart track, the Lake Creek Pinballz location also has a spinning tilt-a-whirl style ride that my kids enjoyed riding over and over again. They’ve also gone all in on VR, with several immersive thrill ride experiences to choose from. Maybe it’s not as good as the real thing, but you don’t have to wear sunscreen and waiting in line isn’t part of the VR. It’s also the only arcade I’ve ever visited that has both Tron AND Discs of Tron.
Pro tips from yours truly
Many of the rides, including the go-karts require closed-toed shoes, so don’t make the mistake of coming in flip flops. The La Bamba ride isn’t always well-staffed, so keep an eye on when it is so your kids can ride it on repeat. This is a great place to bring a whiskey lover, with a whiskey bar that’s 200+ bourbons, ryes, and whiskeys strong. (Father’s Day is just around the corner!)
Pinballz Kingdom
Buda
At the other end of I-35, Pinballz Kingdom in Buda has another indoor tilt-a-whirl type ride called “Lost in Space”. It’s a 2-seater that spins and tilts, and can accommodate riders taller than 40″. For older kids, there’s also a zombie apocalypse-themed 45-minute escape room. Outside, there’s a shaded retro bumper car arena with the old school electrified floor for just $5 per rider.
Pro tips from yours truly
Of all the Pinballz locations, the Kingdom in Buda is my favorite because it’s not as crowded as the OG, isn’t as hard to lose a kid as Lake Creek, and it has the best food and drink options. Yes, they also have the OG Tron, and the Tron pinball game. (Can you tell I’m a Tron Stan?)
The Wild Card: The Mighty Thomas Carnival
South Austin
There’s an unassuming tract of land on Warehouse row of 71 – between the AISD administration building the UHaul storage facility that transforms into a colorful carnival seemingly overnight, and at random times of the year. It’s because the land is the physical headquarters for The Mighty Thomas Carnival – a traveling organization for county and state fairs across the country. When they’re between gigs (including the one they do at the Dell Diamond every year), they return to base and Warehouse Row lights up with the ferris wheel, the wacky cowboy coaster, the star tower, and more! It’s also used for winter storage and maintenance of the carnival rides in the off season.
Pro tips from yours truly
While they have a website with their official route, Austin is not listed as a stop in the near future. They are very active on their Facebook page, so if you want to know when they have a stopover in South Austin, checking there is the best bet!
Life’s full of ups and downs – we might as well strap in and enjoy the ride! Any other roller coasters or thrill rides hiding in plain sight in the Austin metro? Drop them in the comments for all our tiny thrillseekers! Happy summer!
