The Ultra Twister

The Ultra Twister was one of the newest and most exciting rides to hit Astroworld since the park had opened. Appearing at the park somewhere around 1991, its arrivial kicked off a massive marketing campaign that drew record-breaking crowds.

The ride began its life in the mid 1980's, first appearing in a park called Six Flags Great Adventure. There it was also called the Ultra Twister. The decision to bring it to Houston was made after only a few years in service at that park.

Astroworld was already quite full, so it was installed on the far east side of the park, right on the edge. It made for fun viewing from the car dealership next door.

It ran continuously until Astroworld's closure in 2005. From there it went into storage for a number of years. There was an attempt to sell it around 2009 but when the ride was inspected, it was so worn and damaged (probably during the deconstruction of Astroworld, not to mention standards being much stricter now than they were in past decades) that the sale fell through.

The ride was far from smooth, being almost as bumpy at the Taz roller coaster on the other part of the park. However, the sharp spins and twirls were so unique that it drew large crowds throughout its existence.

I seem to recall that the height requirements were set at about 52 inches, which meant that little brothers and sisters typically couldn't ride. A lot of families worked hard to get around that height requirement though, sometimes layering their kids feet with three or four pairs of socks just to boost them enough to get on it!

There are a few coasters in Japan that are nearly identical to the Ultra Twister (the original Ultra Twister was designed by a Japanese company, as well).