prozach626

Can't we just agree they should Iron Horse the Boss to turn the double dip into 1 long drop of 200+ feet? I think most everyone wants to see that done, except for a few die hard fans. I also don't think there's a question of 'if' it will happen, but when. SF corp seems to love those hybrids. Especially since it means lower maintenance costs in the future. If that means scrapping the helix, so be it. That would even leave room for a small flat, or something else, in that spot.

This is also the only RMC option that makes sense, as we don't need a 4th wooden coaster. Of course 'we' would all love to see a new RMC product in our park, but my point was that it's not going to do us any good in the eyes of the GP. People don't know there is a difference, even if it does go upside down. Unless the words "bigger" and "faster" are used, the common idiot has no idea that a RMC Woodie is different than any other woodie. Most of the time I still hear people (GP) saying ignorant comments like "I can't believe they built American Thunder, when it's smaller than the other two wooden roller coasters." People are dumb. You have to wow them with something different.

Let's not confuse dreams with reality. Either way, there's little benefit to getting a 4th wooden roller coaster. A wooden coaster with inversions? To the GP: Big Deal. Many have ridden one "just like it", 4 hours away. Also, great idea to put a wooden roller coaster.... right next to another wooden roller coaster... If you can't see that the need for steel drastically out weighs our need for new wood, then you need to wake up.

go play roller coaster tycoon...

^this is lol!

^^ Don't take the shittiest addition in park history and try to move up from that. Don't let a mediocre used coaster satisfy your urge.

Thanks for the update! Purpink, perhaps? I honestly couldn't agree more. I think it's hard for the industry to move on from such a well designed model like the inverted coaster. It's one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite, coaster designs. (as long as we can forget forceless designs like about Silver Bullet and Patriot)

Just a suggestion for those who are craving another B&M at SfSTL: Take a trip to SFGAm. They have a great selection - Batman, Superman, X-Flight, and Raging Bull (top 10er for me, personally). Also, take a 6 hour road trip to King's Island for Banshee and Diamondback, next year. Don't waste your time on Patriot at WoF.

Can we please stop asking for hand-me-down roller coasters? I don't know how much you guys have ridden Bizzaro (medusa) floorless clones, but they really aren't that great, comparatively. They look neat, but they lack positive and negative g forces. Although they are still relatively smooth, they have also acquired some natrual roughness, that even B&M can't prevent. Roughness that isn't going to get better with age. I'd rather not have a 10+ year old mediocre, forceless, and semi-rough roller coaster, however great looking it may be. The fact remains that something is going to have to be done to the Boss, relatively soon. Like it or not, that's our best chance at getting something cutting edge, inverted, smooth, and fun. Unfortunately, I wouldn't count on it for another few seasons.

We have one.

Not that I want a wing rider, but X-flight has a pretty small foot print. If you get creative, I think you could use the space wisely.

What fantasy figures are you basing this on? Not now, but after a Boss Rehab. Boss would become a steel coaster, and the park would only have 2 wooden coasters. Plus even though these RMC's are wooden coasters, they have elements you find on a steel coaster,they're smooth like a steel coaster, have little maintenance, and are relatively cheap compared to steel coasters. They're great investments and I could see Six Flags corporate putting them in multiple parks. To the GP, the Boss will always be a wooden coaster. Steel rails or not. I'd rather see more diversity in the park than to add more wood. It's a clone, but who is going to visit Finland to ride Thunderbird??? I agree. They had their time, but that time has come and gone. The park would still have the mule-go-round, if it were kept on the "expansion vs upgraded replacement" strategy. Basically, it would be useless.

Haha! Have you ever been to Holiday World? It's even worse. Scary worse. Yes I know that, I was stating that I in particular dont care for them lol, but yes SFStL water park is a laughing joke compared to what else is around the area. But they are money makers as they draw in local crowds and spend money just to splash in some water. A laughing joke? I don't really care for water parks either, but HH is not a laughing joke. They have a decent selection of slides. Have you ever been to Ocean's of Fun? That place is a dump. How many more parks are in the area?! Swing around fun town? Raging Rivers? Yes... HH really blows compared to those... You can compare the water park to Splashin Safari,which is three hours away, but HW has a 3rd of the roller coasters. Their main focus has become the water park, as of lately.

Yeah, because we really need a 4th wooden roller coaster... Operating. Costs. Operating. Costs. But going on from what you told me, Freeze is old (14 years old), there is a two copy's of them out there unlike Voyage which is unique under its own right like Ninja at SFStL. Unlike Ninja though, Voyage is still pretty new, and it is still high on the charts so I can see the cost of justifying upkeep unlike Freeze; and Freeze may be popular to locals but that is about it (sure there is some outside enthusiasm). Ninja under its own right deserves a little love also because of how unique it is to the rest of the world. So what I am getting at all of this is, if the corporate leash was tighter, why spend money, on a old duplicate ride that cost thousands to millions to upkeep rather than getting a brand NEW LIM launched coaster that could actually utilize the whole island and could break new records and draw crowds something that Six Flags Over Texas really doesn't need to worry about. And see this park ain't attached to that leash to tight, this park is allowed a lot of slack away from the others. They keep what they got because the big boys don't allow this park to play and spend its money freely, and also you could look at it this way- with them being the Missouri Coaster Capital, why lose a coaster; cause you know Silver Dollar or Worlds of Fun might catch up to that 9 coaster count while we could get our 10th coaster. Sure they got a "new" coaster this year, but was something cheap that every one has seen and quite old like Ninja, something to shove in are mouths like a bone to keep us quite for a while. So if we can live with a multi copy boomerang, a double Freeze, a copy of Pandemonium plus another copy of Batman; don't we deserve something to call unique? In that category we have Ninja, American Eagle, Boss and American Thunder (you could also count River King if you count the two separate sides different); so three wood and ONE steel (two if you count river king). OK, get over it. Just because YOU like the ninja, that doesn't mean that it's a popular ride. Unique? Every park I go to has a vekoma or arrow head banger. I've probably ridden at least a dozen of them. These rides all have one thing in common: They are all walk on's. These rides are out dated and painful. They just aren't as exciting as the new attractions. Freeze DOES draw crowds. No one comes to Six Flags St. Louis to ride the Ninja. Also, you can't just endlessly expand without increasing your operating costs. (maintenance, staff, electricity, etc) The park has no need to expand. We're at the point where we replace older attractions with newer attractions. It's smart from an economic standpoint.

^ Exactly.

I'm crossing my fingers for this to be less like Silver Bullet/Patriot and more like Afterburn/Raptor!

Don't worry. It's only a matter of time before operators get complacent, again...

I'm interested in what else the park will do to spruce up the area around the aqua twist. It won't really fit into a wild west themed area. I'm also interested in what will happen to Tidal Wave, since HWFan made mention of it's demise this season. Hopefully the aqua twist won't go where Tidal Wave is.

An element is an element. What does it matter if it goes upside down or not? Does going upside down really change a ride that much? It's not the inversion that makes the ride different, or better. It's the flow of the intense elements, which sometimes comes more easily or better using an inversion. After riding so many roller coasters, they become monotonous. RMC is changing the game to bring a fresh new ride experience, as opposed to the same turns and elements.

These are just my personal opinions from my experiences at the parks. I'll just throw out some randoms: World's of Fun: 3/10 SFMM: 4/10 (I know... just let it be) SFFT: 5/10 (before Iron Rattler) SF Saint Louis: 6/10 Knott's Berry Farm: 6/10 SFoG: 6/10 Carowinds: 7/10 Holiday World: 7/10 SFGam: 8/10 King's Island: 8/10 Busch Gardens Tampa: 9/10 (From what I can remember) Cedar Point: 9/10 Again, looking at my personal ratings, I'd probably give SDC an 8. I also really wished I had been able to experience the park at night. lol. Maybe it was because I snagged my 100 (Diamondback), or maybe it was because we drank too many beers between 6 to close, but my wife and I really had a great time at KI. To each his own, I guess. Like I said, you can tell my opinions vary from the majority, since Mr. Freeze (FORWARD blast) would probably be in my top 3-5, if it hadn't been changed.

I'm just curious to hear what some of your 8, 9, and 10 rated parks are? I think most people on this board would give SDC at least a 9 as it's one of the best parks in the world. I'd like to know the same. Personally, Silver Dollar City is right up there for me with some of the best parks in the world. So I'd love to know what parks rank higher for you. Just out of curiosity. You're not the only one. While I love the ride that Outlaw Run's back seat delivers, for some reason I prefer it towards the front too. Giving it a 9/10 is really a HIGH score! Which speaks volumes for the ride! Do you have any 10/10 coasters? Just trying to understand your ranking system a bit more, that's all.... It just seems so often people rate things from 5-10, instead of 1-10. I consider 1-3 to be unsatisfying, 4-6 to be average to decent, 7-9 to be fun or better than average, and 10 is perfect. To me, I've yet to find the perfect park or the perfect coaster. It's not that I haven't been to some amazing parks (Cedar Point or Busch Gardens Tampa) or ridden some fantastic roller coasters (Outlaw Run or Maverick). A 10 to me is reserved for perfection, or as close as it gets. A 10 is the coaster that I have yet to ride and it very well may never exist. It may sound cheesy, but as a coaster enthusiast, I'm always searching for a 10. It's what keeps me searching out more coasters during the summer. It's what keeps me on the edge of my seat during the announcement of new attractions. Looking back, SDC was probably closer to an 8. I gave it a 7 at the time, because I rated KI as an 8, and I feel like I had a more enjoyable experience at KI. SDC is a great park and by no means did I mean to degrade it by giving it a 7. A 7 is good in my book. Either way, my ratings are subjective, just as with everyone else. Hell, I'm one of the few people who used to consider Mr. Freeze a 9... or maybe even a 10... before it was altered. For whatever reason, that was close to the perfect coaster for me. I honestly think it was one of the coasters that fueled my coaster fire into adulthood. (also one of the reasons I'm so bitter at SFSTL) Thanks for the info!

The announcement isn't even 3 hours old and here comes all the complaints. Wow... I wish my local park had a future 5 star coaster to complain about... After riding Outlaw Run five times on Tuesday, I honestly wouldn't WANT it to be any longer. With elements as extreme as RMC provides, I think short and sweet works best. Is anyone else really impressed with the SOLID line-up that SFGAm has?

As far as the security questions go, yes we live in a high crime area, but most of the dangerous crimes are thug on thug action. It would be rare for someone to go to SFSTL with the intention of committing a crime outside of minor disorderly conduct (teens being teens) or larceny. There's really no reason why they couldn't move the metal detectors behind the gates as opposed to a temporary looking check point area out front. The chances of a mass shooting are far less likely of happening at SF than most other areas. It's too open. In reference to the new addition: Thumbs up from me, as long as it goes in the hannibarrel area, or if something is done with the hannibarrel area, period. It will be a nice addition to the park. That being said... it probably won't bring me back to the park next year. I'll be saving my money Canada's Wonderland and making a return trip to King's Island, next year.

Trip report 08/27, Silver Dollar City: My wife and I spent a weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks. There's only so much beer drinking I can do, so I talked her into leaving the Lake a day early to take a two hour drive to SDC. Even though I have lived in the STL area my whole life, I somehow managed to scrape up 134 credits, before I made it to this park. I was excited for Silver Dollar City for an obvious reason: Outlaw Run. Even though I'm not a woody fan, I was looking forward to experiencing what RMC had to offer. I'd also heard that Outlaw Run gave SDC a great Buzz this year, and I was really looking forward to going to a park that was riding high on a new hit attraction. We got to the park around 1030. The park looked very crowded as we made our way back toward Outlaw Run. However, the more I looked around and noticed the majority of the people in attendance were seniors, my apprehensions of waiting in long lines went away. We got to Outlaw Run just in time for it to open. We boarded the 2nd train of the day, which was our longest wait for any of the attractions throughout the day. We rode Outlaw Run a few times and loved it. Not wanting to get sick, we spent the rest of the day slowly walking around and casually going from WALK ON coaster to WALK ON coaster. We also let ourselves unwind a bit, since we're usually health/fitness conscious. We never touch park food, aside from the occasional pretzel, but this place was an exception. Throughout the day, we ended up splitting a potato twist (ok), a white chocolate turtle (wow!), and a potato sausage skillet (decent). We took the cave tour around 130. It was really neat and the cave was much larger than I anticipated. The tour was a good way to dry off our sweat from the hot and muggy afternoon... The tour guide, Tony, was really good. That said, my wife, a social worker, and myself, a cop, could have really done without the cheesy theatrics. However, we understand, since there are so many children who attend the tour. That's the price we pay for my geek hobby. I wouldn't recommend going to SDC and missing out on the cave tour. Overall, the park was very interesting. It had more of a southern attraction/flea market feel, as opposed to the usual theme/amusement park feel. It was a nice break from just going ride to ride. We could have gotten endless rides on Outlaw Run, or any of the other coasters, but after going to Carowinds, Hilton Head Island, and Lake of the Ozarks, all within the past two weeks, we really just wanted to relax and enjoy ourselves. We took in the themeing, the atmosphere, the food, and yes... the rides. Unlike other parks, we took it at a slow enjoyable pace, which really made for a unique experience. It was definitely a far cry from Six Flags, thank God. We honestly can't stand 'shows', especially theme park 'shows', so we missed out on a lot that SDC has to offer. Even without that element, we still had a fantastic time. It was well worth the short drive from the Lake and the 4 hour drive back to STL. We left around 430, after Emily and I had a front seat walk on ride on Outlaw Run, completely by ourselves. WOW! Even my not-so-coaster-enthusiast wife thought it was awesome. I'd rate the park as a 7/10. Here's how the coasters stacked up on my list: *Outlaw Run (9/10) #135 - We got five rides on it. We could have gotten as many as we wanted, but five was plenty for us. What a great ride. Definitely a top tener, and definitely the best wooden coaster I've ever ridden. I didn't give my wife much advanced notice about the ride and she was totally shocked, on our first run. Surprisingly, we preferred the front more than the back. *Thunderation (5/10) #136 - Probably one of the most fun Arrow Mine rides I've ever ridden. It was forceful, but smooth. The long sweeping drops were great. We only took one memorable ride in the back row. *Wildfire (7/10) #137 - It was much better and much smoother than I expected. It was a great B&M sit down with a great first drop, huge elements, and it was somewhat forceful. I could use tad bit more on the positive G side. We took three rides total. Again, we preferred the front as opposed to the back. *Powder Keg (7/10) #138 - It was no Mr. Freeze (before the ride was ruined), but it was way better than Flight of Fear/Poltergeist. This Premier Launched coaster's elements were reminiscent of Intamin. Plenty of positive G's to go with the negative G's, but it was a little more rough than I expected. Also, the mid course lift hill was just awkward. I could have done without it, in exchange for smaller finishing elements. We took 3 rides on this. Again... we preferred the front row. *Fire in the Hole (3/10) #139 - The scenes were confusing the coaster/dark ride was too fast to get a good look at any of them. The 'drops' were surprising and fun. It was good for one ride, but I would never wait longer than five minutes for this roller coaster technicality.

It would be great to see an old school tilt-a-whirl in a park. I can't even think of any that I've seen at any other parks. You see scramblers at almost every park, but they aren't as fun, in my opinion. Last time I was there (Sept '12) it was there. I wish they would get rid of the whole mess... seems rather excessive. Niether any Disney Parks (FLA or CA), Busch Gardens or King's Island (destinations I have been to within the last 6 years) have metal detectors. Not sure all that security is necessary for a small park like SFSTL. We have the most intrusive check point out of the 7 or 8 parks I've been to in the past few years. Most parks just have metal detectors right after the entrance turn styles. Although it creates a slower entry to the park, it's effective and it doesn't look as make-shift as our security check point. Our check point really ruins the entrance plaza. After being gone for a week, I was hoping I'd see some updated information on our new attraction, but I guess I'll have to wait. I won't jump for Joy when the Aqua Twist is confirmed, but It's a much better addition than a Boomerang. Especially, since it's going to replace our notorious SBNO ride. **On a side note, if you can somehow make it out so SDC this week, DO IT. Everything was walk on yesterday, including Outlaw Run.