The SpongeBob Movie Unlocked A Childhood Memory (And It Involves The Biggest* Roller Coaster In Texas)

When I took my kids to see The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, I went into the new 2025 movie expecting to have a few laughs, eat some popcorn and snacks, and then go about my day. While all of that went down, something very unexpected happened a few minutes into the movie: a long-buried childhood memory was unlocked and flooded my brain with nostalgia for something I hadn’t thought about in nearly 25 years.

It wasn’t some memory of watching SpongeBob SquarePants back when the all-time great animated series premiered back in 1999, nor was it introducing my kids to that burger-flipping Nickelodeon character. Instead, it involves the biggest roller coaster in Texas, or at least the tallest at the time of this writing. Let me explain.

The SpongeBob Movie Brought Back Memories Of An Old Commercial For Six Flags Over Texas’ Titan

Growing up, I was admittedly obsessed with roller coasters. I played Roller Coaster Tycoon and its various expansions until my parents' old Compaq could barely run, I recorded Travel Channel shows about theme parks, read books, and even made numerous trips to Six Flags Over Texas and Astroworld (RIP). Watching The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants brought back all of those memories, plus one involving a random commercial for The Titan, a massive 245-foot hyper coaster, at Six Flags Over Texas from 2001.

Like the scene in the movie where SpongeBob is too afraid to ride the big coaster, the Titan, which is the tallest roller coaster in Texas until Six Flags unleashes Tormenta Rampaging Run in 2026, made use of “O Fortuna” from Carol Orff’s Carmina Burana. As SpongeBob looked up at the mammoth ride with the iconic track playing in the background, I was taken back to 2001, when all I wanted to do was ride the Titan in all its glory.

I haven’t been able to find the commercial online, but I’ll never forget downloading the short clip over a dial-up connection on my parents’ old computer after school shortly before the ride’s big debut.

The Scene Where SpongeBob Is Too Afraid To Ride The Coaster Also Hit Me

The big gist of The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants is that the titular character is trying to prove he is a “Big Guy” so that he can ride this gargantuan roller coaster. When he chickens out (and is too embarrassed to admit it), he goes on a quest with his best friend Patrick and Mark Hamill’s Flying Dutchman to the underworld. Just like the bombastic sound of “O Fortuna,” this character moment also took me back to chickening out on a ride as a kid.

It wasn’t a roller coaster, but instead a big water slide at Hurricane Harbor (a waterpark next to Six Flags Over Texas) back when I was like 9 years old. Watching SpongeBob going through it took me back to that late summer 1997 afternoon when I walked with my brother and dad all the way to the top of a slide, only to make the walk of shame down the stairs minutes later. I’m just glad I didn’t have to go on a journey to the underworld in hopes of proving I was a “Big Guy” afterward.

Movies are funny like this, as one little moment can stir a memory you’ve long since forgotten and take you on a stroll down memory lane. Or, in the case of The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, a roller coaster ride.