HWFan

They have already begun the removal of the wooden deck around and up to the ride. I'm guessing it will happen pretty quickly as it needs to be removed, refurbished a tad, shipped to Canada, and reassembled. I'm planning on putting together a big off season "trip report" this week, hitting every area of the park in the next three days.

I believe the money from the parks' fountains go to some kind of child hunger charity.

The biggest one (happening now anyway) is the replacement of some underground utility lines from 1971. They've been working on it for a few weeks now, as they're located around the employee lot and maintenance buildings. The massive metal plates covering the trench are giving me the chance to improve my wheelie skills at least.

This morning was the annual 'State of the Park' address and turning off the front mall fountain ceremony. I'll add more details later but wanted to post a few quick pictures before editing this post to add more info later today. From Dave's retirement party after close last night. From Dave's retirement party after close last night. From Dave's retirement party after close last night. From Dave's retirement party after close last night. Also, the front mall fountain is being renamed something like "Dave's Fountain for Youth". Almost everyone there started to get pretty choked up at that point. More to come! The train was running this morning, leaving the cars unlatched. Here is one of the newly restored cars. Compared to the final unrestored car. While a forklift was going back and forth, taking each coaster car to be stored, there were already 3-4 guys working on American Thunder's track (including the removal of some layers).

To answer all of your Fright Fest related questions from the last few days: I think I may have come off sounding like I know a lot more about FF 2016 than I actually do. For all I know houses like Blind Fury or Insanity Alley could come back with entirely different names and some different themes. There's also a lot that is still up in the air. The one thing that is certain is that FF 2016 will be even bigger and better. By the way, it was great getting to see a few of you in the park this weekend, just by chance. I hope you enjoyed your visit, as we enjoyed & appreciated everyone who came out to make this "extra" weekend a huge success. I'll try to post some more information and pictures regarding the end of the year & Dave's retirement party/gifts, but it's been a long weekend for me. However, I am looking forward to just working Monday through Friday 9-5, which will let me have my weekends off...until we get to January/February with the rehire party, job fairs, and training classes. Finally, just a quick FYI, the official opening date for next season is (Good) Friday, March 25th, 2016!

I think this is the general consensus among the public, at least everyone who I've talked to. In all 3 years its been open, everyone's hated it. So yeah, it needs to go While Voided Vision isn't my favorite house by any means, I found out this fall that a lot of people really like it. It scares the crap out of them.

Can't wait to ride the real American Thunder again. My ride on Cubs Thunder left me feeling sick and shameful. 99% chance I'll be there this weekend. I may take you up on the lunch. Anyone still interested in meeting at the park for lunch or something this weekend, message me. If you don't have an account but still read the forums & want to meet, email me jrr1118@hotmail.com. I'll get you my number so we can communicate. Absolutely no promises, but I'll see if Dave can stop by. Please try to message/email me by 9am tomorrow when my shift starts. I'll try to check as the day progresses but something could always get crazy, keeping me from the Internet.

^Do as much processing as possible at the front gate as they are the only ones who can fully process the pass with the finger scan. You can also just stop by the inside-the-park GR Windows instead of making the hike up to the is SP Services building. I apologize that it wasn't as convenient as SFGA, but we do have conveniently placed employees to ask...ahem....at the front gate as well signs indicating it. Or you could just see what comes with the Gold Pass as it is plastered all over the website.

Sorry about that. It was moved over on the other side of the mall, across from First Cone near the entrance to the catering grove. With most early entry users going straight for JLBM, it made more sense to move it. However, the entrance has been in at least four places since 2013.

Just wanted to give a quick update on Dave's gift. I'm hoping to make it to the frame store today. Basically, there will be three frames. The far left will be an original painting of Scooby-Doo Ghostblasters: Mystery of the Scary Swamp's facade. The middle will be the framed nametags. The right will be a painting of JLBM's facade. Each frame will not be more than 12x12in, and the two rides pictured act almost as bookends on his time as park president (although Scooby was technically a year or two in). My best friend is working on the painting, but I did finish the name tags. It took hours to file off the backs of them, so it took a while: Not the best picture of them, but you get the idea.

Well, now that Fright Fest is officially over, I would recommend at least bringing your blood down to a nice simmer. Trade secrets are great, as they protect businesses as they work on improvement and continued success. Trade secrets are bad, as they keep interesting information away from people who are just curious. With that disclaimer, I will say that this season's Fright Fest was another record breaker by a fairly good margin. Kudos to the entertainment and operations departments who really upped their game and put their money where their mouth is. This past week was a bit less exciting for me now that the hiring season is over, but the last three days were insane! Saturday/Halloween was plagued with pretty rough weather. It was overcast all day and rained a fairly good amount. However, today was a fantastic day with sunny skies and warm temps. The warm weather actually resulted in a bit of downtime for Superman, SkyScreamer, and Rush Street Flyer. The short downtimes were actually caused by swarms of ladybugs and a few bees. Fortunately, the park had a pretty great day with its operations. After working non-stop from 9:00am to 7:00pm, I earned the ability to spend some time on the clock with Dave tonight. Along with a couple park directors, we caught the last Love at First Fright show at 7:15. As we exited the theater, Dave and I talked for a bit about a few things. However, when he saw our HR Director start walking over to take a family's picture in front of the Palace Theater (which has a nicely themed stage set up in front of it), Dave said, "Let's go make some magic for these people." He used his "authority" and charm to move the barriers and invite the family up on stage for the perfect picture. His words, "Let's go make some magic for these people," really stuck with me. They're something he did every day; something I hope to emulate. I asked a lot about how the transition would take place as Pete takes the reigns, and I was impressed by Dave's thorough plan. Dave will be at the park at least through February. In January, he'll even set up simulated spring days, summer days, and fall days for Pete where he will see each step of the day he needs to follow. Pete will also receive a lot of support by each of the park's directors, which will be greatly beneficial for everyone. Anyway, I don't want to babble on saying the same thing over and over, so I'll just end with this: Dave has led us through some of the company's hardest years and into its best years. He has set the foundation for a new leader to take the helm and continue guiding us towards more and more success. Oh, by the way, while this will be announced via social media soon, I wanted to mention that visiting the park on Saturday the 7th will really be a "blast" as Cubs Thunder returns to American Thunder. If anyone is going next weekend and wants to meet for lunch, let me know!

^ Direct quote from a Guest last weekend: "We live in Branson, but Silver Dollar City is too much theme instead of an amusement park. But y'all still even have the new superhero ride that was awesome." Theme will continue to be increased little by little as we go into the future, even Outlaw Run wasn't enough to keep that family from driving to STL from Branson for the first time.

It was never in the plans to keep RSF at Six Flags St. Louis. The plan was, and again is, to move it to La Ronde.

"(Name) TAG! YOU'RE (g)I(f)T! This one. Have them mounted on a small tasteful plaque. Something He'd want to hang. Maybe align them from top to bottom with the funny ones up top leading down to the more serious ones. End with friend. By George he does have a heart and has feelings! But seriously, I like his idea. Try to make friend stand out just a little somehow. We do expect pics of the finished product. Thanks for the feedback! From left to right, I'm thinking: [top row] Mail Room Clerk, Corporate Director of Purchasing (or whatever his title was when he bought rides), and Park President [middle row] Comedian, Time Philanthropist, Team Member (or Team Captain) [bottom row] Mentor, 'Husband, Father, and Grandpa', and Friend Feel free to add suggestions, as I'm just spit balling. I'm going to email the marketing director now to get his input. 2015 Fright Fest is the Fright Best! One thing that I've noticed is that I hold the park to a higher standard than most people (probably prozach included), even if it doesn't always seem that way on here. On Saturday night, I had the chance to pretty much roam the park, helping with things here & there, taking group pictures of Guests, answering questions, giving directions, etc. This is probably the first year that Fright Fest has had a "wow" factor for me, and I even sent emails to our Entertainment full times letting them know how amazed I was. Are there still some places that could be improved? Definitely, but there always will be. However, Guests are loving this event more than any in the past. The production quality of a lot of the things has seriously increased big time. Along those lines, whoever mentioned, a few pages ago, that the clown makeup was really looking good like they have in SFMM, I wanted to say that Rebecca (who started at SFSL, got a full time wardrobe/costuming job at SFMM, and returned to SFSL this year) was very happy to hear your comments and was glad someone noticed/appreciated her hard work. While I know that everyone likes it when parks introduce brand new upcharge mazes, I am happy that a couple of them in particular are returning next year. They're going to really be able to make them even better & scarier! Just like every year since 2012, Fright Fest will be expanding to be even bigger next season with some planning already beginning. I can't wait! Like harleyguy mentioned, the park was firing on all cylinders the past couple Saturdays. It seems to really be handling the large crowds well. Lots of happy people. I even got to walk & talk with a family, as I took them to Blind Fury, who had never visited the park before. They were from Branson but weren't be SDC fans, even with Wildfire & Outlaw Run. They had been in the park for nine hours at that point and were raving about their favorite rides & mazes. Finally, while I spent the last twenty minutes of my shift in the park with Dave as it closed, one thing we talked about was the new projection-mapping that was used for FF at SFMM this year. While there isn't any reason to believe it'll be used at SFSL next year, we discussed the great potential it has. I'd love to see projection-mapping cover all of the buildings in the front mall. It would look amazing at night and could be used all year long and easily changed for things like Fright Fest or red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July. Check out the projection mapping at SFMM here. Rushing to Canada, eh! Before Fireball was announced, I promised that you would be able to ride the Rush Street Flyer next year. I later had to apologize & recant that post, as plans changed suddenly. However, I am happy to say that my original post still holds true now, with the Rush Street Flyer being moved to La Ronde in Montreal as part of their 2016 additions. The thing I might be looking forward to most with Fireball is its lighting package. The LED lights should be seen from the highway and will make the atmosphere of that area even better, especially for Fright Fest. To the Trenches! While Fireball will be the most noticeable improvement for 2016, a lot of infrastructure work is being done already. During the week, there are massive trucks & all sorts of construction vehicles cutting trenches into the asphalt of the employee lot & back areas to replace utility lines that have been there since the park opened. All of the huge infrastructure & utility upgrades that you may never see/notice are imperative to the ongoing success of the park. Plans can change often and quickly in the theme park industry, and the same goes for SFSL. Because of that, giving details on a lot of the planned park improvements wouldn't be appropriate. If I had done that the last two years, half of the stuff I would have posted would've ended up not happening or taking on a different form (plus all of the extra things that were added later and wouldn't have been mentioned). The main thing to know is these two things: First, a LOT of detailed planning has gone into finding ways to make the park experience better & more comfortable for everyone. Second, a lot of investment has been pumped into the park for things like infrastructure, utility work, rides, and Fright Fest. Some people have expressed the sentiment that the addition of Fireball means that corporate doesn't really care about growing & improving SFSL, when you get down to it, that couldn't be farther from the truth. In Conclusion... I hope at least some of you enjoyed my long-winded post, as it kept me busy for a good amount of time. I'm looking forward to an interesting week coming up. With this being the last FF weekend, it should really be a fun one. Don't forget that the park added an extra weekend to the schedule in the last few months, so the park will be open November 7th & 8th, sans the FF offerings. On a personal note, this week holds a lot of promise for my professional development. I should be hearing back from the good folks at IAAPA on whether or not I will get to help run the IAAPA Expo in Orlando next month as part of their Ambassador Internship Program. I spent a good part of today at St. Louis Children's Hospital doing a walk-through with one of their directors to seek out any unnoticed accessibility issues as work continues on their huge expansion; I will hopefully be doing the same type of work at SFSL with our Safety Director soon as well. Anyway, that pretty much covers everything I think. Especially for those who are unable to visit the park, I hope I was able to give you a look "behind the curtain" in my detailed summaries.

I'm trying to find the best retirement gift for Dave to say thanks. Something with a personal touch. Here's what I have so far: 1. Nine or sixteen name tags, all placed together (arranged in a square) in a single frame, and each would say Dave Roemer on it. What would change though would be the position under each name tag. They could include things like Comedian, Retiree, Mentor, Friend, Old Guy, Not My Problem Anymore, Park President, Corporate Purchasing Director, Mail Room Clerk, Grandpa etc. Basically, it would be something he could hang on his wall that would reflect what he has meant to many different people over the years. 2. One of my biggest talents is writing song parodies (I know, it's impressive lol), and I was thinking about doing one to the Billy Joel hit, We Didn't Start the Fire. I haven't put much thought into it yet, but you could rhyme fire with retire and fill the song with all of the things Dave has done, all the rides added to the park, etc. I'm going to talk to our marketing director about it to get his input, as he's just as goofy as Dave and I (Ron was behind all of the Cubs marquee captions and bet). I was also thinking about it being a music video with a couple dozen people, from the CEO to Coaster Enthusiasts, having little five second parts of the video. A compilation of sorts. Moving on the the anti-Christ...oh, uhh...I mean Pete Carmichael, I'm going to ask him if he's willing to do something like this, and if he is, if you all would be interested: We allow anyone to submit questions for him (hell, maybe Dave could join him) in the way that Robb did for the ride manufacturers at IAAPA that one year. While they are a very small minority of Guests, enthusiasts are a big part of the industry. Dave has answered some of your questions via me posting in the past, but it wasn't very direct or comprehensive. I'll shoot them both an email tomorrow, but feel free to give me your input sooner. Finally, if anyone plans to be at the park tomorrow, I plan on enjoying the Freaks Unleashed show in the Palace Garden with Dave (and hopefully Pete). I'm sure they would both enjoy meeting some of you. As soon as it's over though, I'm back to my grind as a Slasher Pass tent volunteer.

There's a lot of little fun things that happen when you work at a theme park. One thing that is freakin amazing is that Dave has a folder on his work computer that is full of Microsoft Word documents...containing corny jokes. Now, Dave has a special one full of only Halloween jokes. Poor Pete had Dave and I (not knowing each other had given it to Pete) gave Pete the document. Well, as I was headed out around 9:15pm tonight (which felt early), Dave was on his way to HR to talk for a bit. While it was a curtailed conversation, I found out that Dave gave Pete an assignment: Tell one of the corny Halloween jokes to most of the full times at the daily ParkComm (park communication) meeting. This was Pete's first time meeting a lot of the people in the room, and Dave has flat out told Pete, "you HAVE to start using bad jokes. It's not a choice." So, here are a few things I want to mention and get your thoughts on, should you want to opine. (My phone is being sketchy, so I'm putting it in a second post below. Trust me: I will punish myself for the double post later.)

^I really don't think that would be necessary. He has a few month, and Six Flags has learned to handle these transitions smoothly. I got to meet him today and make him his brand new Park President name tags. He's a very nice, personable guy, and even communicating by email later today, he's seems like a really great guy.

I'm excited to get to meet with Dave and Pete tomorrow. Talking to Dave briefly today, I can tell he genuinely likes Pete. Also, I can't give out Dave's email address, but if anyone wants to either PM me or email me (jrr1118@hotmail.com), I'll forward all of those messages to my work email. Then, I'll print them out for Dave. That way he has something tangible that he can enjoy. If anyone is interested, you can follow this link to a Facebook post that I put up, which generated hundreds of likes and plenty of comments & shares. Just reading the comments says a lot about him. When it comes to moving a Director of Operations from one park to be the Park President at another, this happened last year with SFMM's Director of Operations becoming SFFT's Park President. I got to know Neal Thurmond when I stopped at SFMM on my Make-A-Wish trip in August of 2013. We've exchanged plenty of texts & emails since then (including some rivalry with JLBM vs. SFFT's Batman), and he's another special guy. To quote him, being the President of a Park is everything he dreamed it could be and more. Each day he is amazed more and more and subsequently loves his job more and more. A few other posters have been spot on with their comments in support/defense of Pete. It takes a special person to be a good park president, and I have no reason to doubt Pete. If anything, he brings new ideas and insight from another park in another market. I'll be posting more in the coming days & weeks. I'm trying to keep my enthusiasm up, but it's really gotten hard. I had never asked to leave work early before yesterday. I probably spent at least 90 minutes quietly crying with most of that time just sitting outside with a roll of those rough paper towels. (I gave Dave trouble for not giving me a heads up so that I could have brought tissues that wouldn't make my nose and eyes hurt after a while.) But to be honest, I really surprised myself with my reaction. I've cried twice in the past two years. But the other time was for about 90 seconds. It told me a lot about how much I valued him that the news was enough to make me lose my composure that much. EDIT: It looks like SFGAm and SFGAdv have their own bet going now, but they've definitely raised the stakes: http://patch.com/new-jersey/brick/could-great-adventure-be-renamed-six-flags-great-cubs-mets-fans-hope-not-0

Amen! From what I've heard, he's great. While it's not his decision alone or anything, you know Dave wouldn't leave his park in the hands of someone he didn't believe shared his vision. I look forward to meeting and getting to know Pete in the coming months. He'll be doing a lot of commuting back and forth until the final move to Missouri where he officially starts his new job on January 1st. However, I don't know how much stock I would put into the whole RMC thing in terms of him having better luck than Dave would have.

If anyone who has ever met Dave, worked with Dave, or enjoyed the park he cared so much about, you can send him a happy retirement card or letter at the following address: Dave Roemer c/o Six Flags St. Louis P.O. Box 60 Eureka, MO 63025 While it is by no means expected, I thought it might be nice. If you want to say hi to him at the park this weekend, your best bet would be to go to the Freaks Unleashed show in the Palace Garden each night. You can pretty much expect half a dozen members of management to be there wearing construction-type vests.

That's who it is. Confirmed by the corporate email. It is a sad day, and the only day I've left early. Just too sad to focus. Back in July Dave said he'd be around for at least a few more years, which is why it surprised me so much.

I feel very sad today, selfishly, and I am trying to feel happy for him. So, it is with very mixed emotions as I type this now: At the end of this season/year, Dave Roemer will be retiring. His impact on the company will live on. His replacement is currently the Director of Operations at Six Flags New England.

Just wanted you to know that I caught that caption. lol. My initial statement still stands though, outside of fright fest and the very busiest summer days, you can usually at the very least walk into the station. It's not uncommon for my group to ride it 5-6 times in the last 30 minutes or so of our trips. The only time I've ever been able to walk onto American Thunder was back in 2011. Although to be fair, there is a chance that being in a wheelchair starting in 2012 hurt my "walk" on chances. Do you want a bankrupt company? Because that's how you get a bankrupt company. But seriously though, one thing that causes the biggest problems with theming is the midwestern climate. The annual freeze & thaw cycle is rough on a lot of the widely used thematic material, such as the heavy duty foam that makes up the fake ice outside the Mr. Freeze building & huge Boss entrance columns. At the same time, you could counter with some example from Great America or something, to which I wouldn't be able to say much as I have not visited that park. But that example aside, two things: Premier Parks doesn't really exist anymore as Premier is Six Flags, or at least became Six Flags. Even the management in charge when the company by that name existed is pretty much gone by now. Six Flags, as a corporation, has a massive budget that they choose to use as wisely as possible. There is no doubt that theming is a big part of the industry, and by looking at the projection-mapping of buildings as part of the FF entertainment at SFMM, Six Flags is going with the same type of technology Disney, Universal, and Warner Brothers have started introducing into their own parks in recent years. Six Flags is just working on doing it in a way that allows them to get the most bang for their buck. Things move fast in the industry but appear to move slow from the outside, waiting year to year. Finally, there was a comment made somewhere about less Fright Fest decorations out in the park this year. While things may have moved, there's actually more decorations out in the park than ever.

Just like last night, I am returning from another great but tiring 15 hour shift, so I have to make this quick (especially as I have to be back for another fun twelve hours tomorrow. 1. I305forever: Check out pages 647 & 648 of this forum for more information & discussion on that bit of news. Unless someone else sent it too, I may have been the one to alert Screamscape. Here's a picture of the, honestly, good-quality sign (note: the larger "American Thunder" signs on either side of the large triangle shaped motorcycle ramp...err...attraction marquee still read American Thunder. However, the I-44 marquee has said, "Come ride Cubs Thunder" for the last couple days): I made a quick trip down into the park Friday morning to snap this pic and post on Facebook with the title, "Caution: This ride (sign) may induce vomiting." 2. RollerManic: I hope you were able to enjoy your visit, even with the crowd. I just saw your messages and wish we could've met. I ended up getting busy and didn't get around to taking my break until around 10pm anyway, and I ended up being stationed at the Colossal Closeouts Slasher Pass tent. 3. Because everyone likes pictures (I think), here are some random pictures from the park that I've taken recently. Some were taken in Snapchat and others are terrible quality, so forgive me for any stupid captions or quality stuff. This is just a small look at the 'Gnawlins Hollow area, as this barely shows any of the cool props at all. Plus, the pic was taken when it was set up for vehicle traffic. When the park is open, props and fences make the area into a small bottleneck (not enough to back up people but just enough to allow the actors to have some fun). Some of the 'Gnawlins props during the day this past week. The following three pictures are of the Rush Street Flyer (and possibly train). I was using my iphone, but I know for a fact that HARLEYGUY was there that night with his fancy camera. Cough up the pics dude! Finally, just a nice picture of Colossus and the cool sunset from last Sunday. 4. While the park was busy, people seemed to be having a great time. I've noticed that the Fright Fest entertainment (especially shows inside or in front of the Palace Theater) has been much more popular this year. The show quality has greatly improved, and that is something you will continue to see improve. The entire Palace garden area takes on an entirely new persona at night with all of the moving spotlights, red light bulbs in the lamps, fog effects, and the really well done "Seven Deadly Sins" area. The familiar jack-o-lantern lights on Colossus area back, and I apologize for never finding out any more info on what happened to the clock lighting program earlier in the season. 5. ChrisGraslie: The train cars really do look nice, even from a distance. I was surprised with how big of a difference it makes. The final car to be renovated will most likely not be done until next season. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but) I heard that the train has a harder time during Fright Fest, which is part of the reason only half of the loop was used for last year's haunted train. Also, I think the main complaints people had were due to a reported lack of actors in the mazes. With mazes like Blind Fury & Insanity Alley receiving nice updates, I think the mazes themselves (minus Voided Vision, as people seem to dislike it on here) are better than ever. Anyway, I guess I didn't make that quick, but there you go. Now I'm off to bed so merry Fright Fest to all and to all a good night...or some other weird/witty ending. Idk. I'm tired.

Just got home from a fantastic 9am to midnight shift and wanted to get on here real quick before bed, as I have another 9am to midnight shift tomorrow. If you are planning to visit tomorrow, expect the park to be busy. Like seriously busy. Fridays so far seem to be the best days to visit (if you're into the Fright Fest stuff, but out of all the Saturdays, this is the one I would warn most about. That doesn't mean don't come to the park, because you can still have a great time, but it might be busy. If anyone does visit tomorrow and happens to purchase a Slasher Pass, I'll most likely be at the booth near Batman between 5:30 and 10:00 helping out. I've had the great opportunity of meeting many of you in the park this year, so feel free to stop by and say hi.