The opening of Hurricane Harbor did not add to the total number of six flags parks in Texas. In 2007, the residents of Houston witnessed the closing of Waterworld, a water park that had been part of Six Flags Astroworld. For 37 years that water park had drawn both vacationing and families to the area just south of the old Astrodome.
Ironically, that Astrodome had once served as a sort of “hurricane harbor.” It had never held the sort of rides now found at Arlington’s Hurricane Harbor. Visitors with tickets to the Astrodome could not hope to ride on a Black Hole, a Der Stuka or a Geronimo. Still, in the summer of 2005, the Astrodome had sheltered many of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
While some water park seekers from Houston, might now decide to drive north to the Dallas, Fort Worth area, other families might well choose to drive south and west—over to San Antonio. Hurricane Harbor did not have a wave pool like the wave pool at San Antonio’s Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Fiesta’s wave pool had been built in the shape of the state of Texas. Obviously, a pool that’s shaped like the state of Texas has to be pretty big.
Some people might think that everything in Texas is big, including all of the six flags parks. Well the Six Flags Park that had once thrilled visitors to Six Flags Astroworld had not been an exceptional size, but the Texans who lived in the vicinity of that Park did have big hearts.
Many of the people who lived close to the Astrodome worked at Texas’ Medical Center. Some students who occupied housing in that Center could stare out their windows at the Astrodome. Some of those same students also saw the patients sitting in lines of chairs at the M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute. Having big hearts, those students would forego the nearby entertainment, in order to acquire the skills that could offer help to the needy patients.
Even the closing of Waterworld would not deprive the area students of worthwhile entertainment. The Houston Zoo would be walking distance from the Medical Center. During the summer, students could enjoy picnics or concerts at Hermann Park. In the autumn, when classes started at nearby Rice University, the University events would introduce yet more enticing entertainment.
It was unfortunate, though; the children discharged from any of the Medical Center hospitals could no longer set their hopes on a visit to a nearby Six Flags water park. Now families who wanted to treat such children would have to recall the approach taken some 37 years ago, back before the completion of Waterworld.
Those children would need to visit the Houston Zoo, or perhaps to spend some time at the skating rink in one of Houston’s malls. A visit to a Six Flags park would have to be delayed, delayed until the discharged patient felt ready to do a bit a traveling.