Several of the day’s presenters gathered for a group photo.
Photo: Xander Lee. View full-sized image.
Sometimes Mother Nature and Murphy’s Law have a collision — it’s not a good thing. Although January in Texas was considerably warmer than normal, when an ice storm hit, it naturally chose the weekend of Winterfest and canceled the ACE South Central midwinter event.
Epic Waters and The Epic were the host locations for Winterfest 2026.
Photo: Jason Knutson. View full-sized image.
So … on February 28, a determined 168 attendees arrived in Grand Prairie, Texas, to a glorious warm weekend. The host facilities were The Epic and Epic Waters. The indoor waterpark was kind enough to open its doors the night before to anyone who arrived and wanted some family fun that evening.
Attendees were welcomed with morning goodies and breakfast items.
Photo: Jason Knutson. View full-sized image.
The hospitality continued the morning of the event as juice, coffee and pastries were on hand when attendees checked in. Once gathered in the Epic Theater — part of a city-owned, family recreation and health center (The Epic) — emcees Jeff Braziel and Chip Sieczko, both assistant regional reps, welcomed everyone and kicked things off with a 2025 regional recap. It was fun to relive what had been a very busy year.
Regional reps Jeff Braziel and Chip Sieczko served as emcees for everyone gathered in the Epic Theater.
Photo: Tim Baldwin. View full-sized image.
The morning presenters started with host facility Epic Waters and Director of Marketing Cassidy Schippel. She welcomed everyone and provided an update on what was happening at the park, including the refurbishment of the waterpark’s Flow Rider. She made sure everyone knew they could attend the spring activity, Epic Circus (located adjacent to the waterpark) free that evening.
Silver Dollar City’s Madison Foreman.
Photo: Mike Hignite. View full-sized image.
Madison Foreman, publicist for Silver Dollar City, gave a tremendous report on everything happening at the Branson, Missouri, theme park. Everyone is aware of rumblings of a 2027 attraction, but Foreman engaged attendees with other news: the upcoming Silver Dollar City Resort, the rebranding of Silver Dollar City Showboat (formerly the Branson Belle), events, a new Christmas parade and (adorable) stuffed cinnamon bread plush. It has been announced that this is the final season for Thunderation (1993 Arrow mine train), but Foreman announced that the park is purchasing a brand-new train from S&S Worldwide so that it will have greater uptime for its final season. Hmmm.
Josh Sauer of Dollywood (Pigeon Forge, Tennessee) spoke next. He wasn’t able to attend the rescheduled date but offered the presentation via Zoom. Of greatest interest was the park’s new four-rides-in-one Expedition NightFlight. The largest investment in Dollywood’s history should continue to grow the Smoky Mountain theme park’s attendance, which has set records for the last four years.
The morning also had regional awards. The Golden Track, given to a recipient who volunteers and shows ACE’s spirit at the regional level, was presented to two individuals this year: Deana Price and Lisa Brough, who are dedicated volunteers with event registration and check-in.
Members Deana Price and Lisa Brough received the region’s Golden Track Award.
Photo: Xander Lee. View full-sized image.
Cassidy Schippel was surprised by the Industry Appreciation Award.
Photo: Xander Lee. View full-sized image.
ZDT’s Sarah and Danny Donhauser spoke on the auction items provided by ACEer Alan Nichols.
Photo: Mike Hignite. View full-sized image.
Following, Schippel was called back on stage to receive the Industry Appreciation Award from the rep team, which took her completely by surprise.
Auction items wound up providing a lot of humor in the bidding. (You had to be there.) One particular moment brought to the stage both Danny and Sarah Donhauser, known to the region as the previous owners of ZDT’s, who simply attended to be with their ACE family. (Aww.) Donated parts were mounted to wood, thanks to ACEer Alan Nichols. They looked sharp and brought in some high bids.
Lunch was off the charts, including burgers with the ACE logo grilled into the buns.
Lunch was incredibly impressive. Epic Waters knocked it out of the park with Cuban sandwiches, chicken parm sandwiches, a chili and mashed potato bar, turkey Ruebens and all sorts of sides. And — get this — burgers with ACE’s logo charred into the buns. Totally cool.
The afternoon was full as well.
Ron McKenzie and the Hawaiian Falls/Ripley’s team entertained the audience with a robot dog.
Photo: Grayson Knutson. View full-sized image.
Ron McKenzie, now with Ripley’s Entertainment, which recently acquired Hawaiian Falls, talked about the investment into the three Texas waterparks. McKenzie announced that Aloha Con would still continue. He then introduced Rachel Rotella of Ripley’s Entertainment, who enlightened attendees of the more than 150 attractions around the world. Who knew there were so many! Also on stage was a robot dog from Ripley’s that had everyone transfixed!
Matt Hughey from COTAland (Austin, Texas) was thrilled to finally announce that the park would actually open this year. The ride skyline is really taking shape with all coasters now operational. An exact date has yet to be pinpointed, so the nebulous “Summer” takes care of that. Hughey went through some of the ride lineup, including Hot Lap, which will put riders in a race car with a driver going between 100 to 150 mph around the Circuit of the Americas track. Many ACEers in the audience loved preview rides on Circuit Breaker last December, and now Palindrome is ready to roll.
Steve Thomas returned to Texas via Alabama and New York and is now the manager of Wonderland Park in Amarillo. Right now, the new owners — who have totally saved the family-owned theme park from disappearing forever — are concentrating on getting the park in great shape and the rides up and running. This is no small feat as they only signed the papers in January (and the word “prototype” became a running gag). The direction looks good for keeping Wonderland alive. Thomas also gave credit to honorary ACE member Gary Slade for his efforts in connecting the right people so that the park wouldn’t be lost to history. It is Wonderland’s 75th anniversary season.
Eric Snow from Holiday World traveled down from Santa Claus, Indiana, to be with ACE. He shared a recap of 2025 and updated the audience on what was happening at Holiday World, including an intriguing tease for 2027 in the park’s 4th of July section. The park’s wooden coasters continue to receive love as well.
SeaWorld San Antonio couldn’t make the rescheduled date but sent a video of the upcoming Barracuda Strike, sharing that the opening date of the Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) family inverted coaster was going to be March 7.
Steve Thomas is the new general manager of Wonderland, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary.
Photo: Tim Baldwin. View full-sized image.
Jeffrey Siebert provided updates on all the Six Flags Texas parks.
Photo: Xander Lee. View full-sized image.
The biggest park presentation of the day was reserved for last, which allowed the universally loved (and ACE honorary member) Jeffrey Siebert, regional general manager for all Six Flags properties in the Lone Star State, to address the audience. Touching upon all properties, the big news focused on Schlitterbahn (New Braunfels) receiving parkwide enhancements and upgrades (with an announcement of a new attraction occurring a mere four days after Winterfest) and everything happening at Six Flags Over Texas — which is a lot! New theming, building refurbishments, theater remodels, refreshed signage, beautification of the front star mall and much more. And, well, a 309-foot-tall B&M dive coaster. Tormenta Rampaging Run is nearing the completion of its track installation. Six Flags Over Texas is preparing to dazzle ACEers at the 2026 Spring Conference.
Although park presenters wrapped up, Joseph Ciza, ACE’s membership director, spoke on things within the organization: website, events, membership and that 2026 is an election year.
Last but not least, Kris Rowberry of the National Roller Coaster Museum and Archives gave a presentation of the ongoing additions and work happening at the Plainview, Texas, facility and the various opportunities members have to go out and see the collection, one being the day after Spring Conference. Much is happening at the facility, with new donations coming from Canada’s Wonderland, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Over Texas, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Six Flags America and (shhh) more. It was fun to see the Canobie Corkscrew inversion element installed as well. Rowberry took a moment to thank Tom Rebbie of Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc., for the company’s many, many years of storing the ACE collection in Pennsylvania, as those shipments are slowly transferring to Plainview to be on permanent loan to the museum.
There were more auctions, of course. They continued throughout the day. Owing to the generous bidders and the parks and people who donated items, ACE South Central raised $4,053 for ACE’s charitable funds. Totally impressive!
The stage was filled with an abundance of door prizes.
Photo: Grayson Knutson. View full-sized image.
If a bagful of swag (tickets, stickers, season passes, books, patches, etc.) weren’t a mother lode, everyone went on stage to snag a door prize. Such abundance is never expected, but the gracious generosity of the presenters made sure everyone had something to truly cherish once they returned home.
A dessert bar was decorated with a Rice Krispie treat-can-cannoli roller coaster.
Photo: Jason Knutson. View full-sized image.
ACE was invited to a circus on property.
Photo: Jason Knutson. View full-sized image.
Following all that, you’d think it would be all done, but … no. Epic Waters had three more things to fill the evening, starting with a dessert bar in the waterpark (complete with a coaster sculpture made out of Rice Krispie treats and cannoli), followed by free admission into the Epic Circus tent for a thrilling, family-friendly show. For those who stuck around, there was ERT on certain attractions inside the waterpark to end the night. It was an incredibly full day with hospitality off the charts.
The next day, attendees were invited to Six Flags Over Texas for an up-close look at Tormenta’s construction.
Photo: Tim Baldwin. View full-sized image.
But wait! There was even more! Anyone interested in seeing Tormenta up close got a private construction viewing an hour before Six Flags Over Texas opened the next morning. What better way to shake off the end of a winter off-season than with a preview to whet appetites and to be able to hop on a coaster since it was the park’s opening weekend.
Everyone left thoroughly pleased and grateful not only to the park presenters but also to the regional rep team and member volunteers who put considerable time and effort into making the day an enjoyable success.
— Tim Baldwin, ACE News
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