HWFan

It looks like we have a good view of the path that leads to Thunderbird as well. I love the way that it hugs the edge of the woods and gets us nice and close to Thunderbird with new views of the Voyage. It seems to be towards the bottom left.

The Employee Fright Fest Preview was last night. I wanted to give my quick review of this year's attractions without any big spoilers: 1. Voided Vision - I didn't notice a change at all from last year, so if you didn't like it last year..... 2. Blind Fury - This was my favorite one last year, and the maze seems to have been relatively untouched for 2014, but there are still a few fun surprised in store for Guests this year. I still thoroughly enjoyed it. 3. Insanity Alley - This is the only haunted house I wasn't able to get to. However, it is a good to note that the entrance and exit were switched this year. It seems to be a good thing. This way they have more queue space by Joke to leave Batman Plaza more open for the coaster crowd and the circus scare zone. 4. Slaughter House - Because this long haunt goes from outside, into a first building, and then into a second building, I was only able to do the final building due to being in a wheelchair. I actually didn't do the Slaughter House last year, so I'm not sure exactly what is new and what isn't, but even in that final building it was still a fun time. Just make sure you're ready for a bumpy ride.... 5. Radioactive Rails - I didn't do the Holidead train ride last year, so I'm not sure how this compares. However, I found the theming to be very impressive. It's going to be a fun, higher capacity haunt that those who are too scared to go into the walk through haunted houses will really enjoy. Besides, who doesn't like a nice break to just sit down and relax? The ride picks up at the Chicago station and ends at the St. Louis Station. I was surprised to see the theming at the stations. I had to go to the ramp in Chicago, but when you enter normally, you go through the little building that is pretty themed. Some other accents on the platform as well as what seems to be a fairly disgruntled employee from wearing a gas mask add to the mood. Luckily the train slows and stops multiple times making the ride about 15 minutes (from what we timed). It's not too short, not too long. My favorite parts are the use of fog. When the train is in some of the narrow parts with the foliage pressing in on both sides, the fog really makes it creepy. One interesting thing was it was a little bit hard to follow the story of the ride if you don't listen to the PA. It's not like it's absolutely vital, but I think that they could have made it more simplistic. Also, fans of the band Imagine Dragons rejoice, as a slightly remixed version on "Radioactive" is used as we make our way around Batman (which perfectly fits the theme of the train with it's industrial look). Finally, just make sure you go through the "decontamination zone" in the St. Louis station so you don't have any of the unwanted side effects. 6. Sinister Clowns - I really thought this was a cool scare zone last year in the way that the employee back area, giant purple wall, and spinning tunnel were utilized. This year, I actually prefer it in the Batman Plaza area (not just because the employee cafe has more room now). The thing about the Sinister Clowns and Gnawlin's Hollow scare zones last year was that they were like very, very short walk throughs. Have an emphasis on the scare actors out in the midways makes it much for fun as they are able to better interact with the Guests and make their way through the crowd. The area, with its lights and banners, is really cool from a visual perspective with lots of circus props. They were even able to dress up the old Batman queue concession stand to enhance the circus atmosphere. In case you were worried, the spinning tunnel is still there. 7. Gnawlins' Hollow - I did not make it to see the different actors here, but being there last weekend, the props are really cool, and having a good amount of actors there will allow them to use the bottleneck there to really scare the Guests as they pass by. 8. Zombieville & Zombie Paintball Apocalypse - Only a lucky few were able to experience the paintball, my guess due to cost. As I was not one of them, I also didn't make it up to check out the Zombieville area. Also keep an eye out for some of the Scooby props throughout the park, which will be used for years to come. One of them in particular made me say, "Zoinks!" I hope you enjoyed reading about some of the attractions for Fright Fest this year, and hopefully I'll see many of you out in the park this year. But once the freaks are unleashed, I think I'll stick to the safety of Guest Relations.

I think you better get on the TPR label makers!

Where did you hear that? I actually believe I've posted that here sometime in 2013 as well. Either way, if the Iron Boss was announced for 2016, I would be in utter shock. The issue with the length is just the price tag of the transformation, and whether or not it's worth having to tear out part of the ride or something.

Exactly! But more importantly, in my opinion, it's more fun when it seems more like a surprise!

The turnstiles have been like that for most of the season. The park now processes season passes at the turnstiles, so that's why they have a section for pass processing. Regular daily ticket visitors don't need their fingerprint scanned. As the season has progressed, multiple ways of handling processing passes, returning passes, and one days tickets at the front gate has changed. Right now, with the signs above the gate, the balance between returning pass areas and new pass processing is still being worked on. As the system evolves, more changes are not unexpected if they occur.

Looking at the webcam, I could actually see them taking a while before fully connecting the launch with the end/bottom of the immelman that is installed. Depending on the way it works out, with the break run already installed, the road between the launch and that bottom track (I need a better name to call it) might be the only flat and direct way to move heavy equipment that is very tall into the center of the circuit there. However, I could be completely wrong. Either way, I'm loving it!

After getting to learn a lot of really cool things about the ride as well as some of the general park improvements slated for 2015, I just wanted to add that like Pandemonium, the ride vehicles will not stop in the station unless someone like me in a wheelchair needs to get on (I always feel bad backing up the cars on Pandemonium). This will reduce load/unload times, increasing capacity. I know that certain members here don't care about little things like that, but I thought it was interesting. Also, if you come to the park, there are all kinds of signs around Scooby-Doo advertising the new ride. One of them that went up this weekend actually has a really cool graphic of what the front Hall of Justice entrance is going to look like. "If you go on a lot of the rides at Disney or Universal parks, a lot of times the queue has some kind of large hall towards the beginning. While our hall may not include multi-million dollar goblin animatronics, it will have the same type of effect in setting the stage for the attraction." - Dave Roemer By the way, can I just say how great Dave is at what he does? If you ever see him, don't hesitate to introduce yourself. I'm told that he is the most down to earth park president in the chain (maybe because he started in the mail room, applying just because he had some time to kill before his interview at the Chrysler plant). He isn't perfect, just like the rest of Six Flags, but he absolutely blows me away with his caring for the park's employees and Guests. (Dave Doesn't read these forums, so I'm not just trying to suck up )

Hopefully never. I kind of miss the days where the exact layout and ride experience were a little more of a surprise. If you want it to be a surprise, how about you just don't watch it. A lot of us won't be getting to ride it anytime soon and would like the chance to get the best look possible at the ride.

During my only visits to Epcot in 2001, 2004, and 2007, my family and I always loved the ride. Keep in mid this was years ago and I was around 12 years old during my last ride. I've never even seen Frozen (I live under a rock). However, I'm very excited for this project. I think it's funny when people say that they never ride Maelstrom anyway AND they don't like this announcement. Either way then, it is going to (most likely) be a huge hit, bringing in a lot of business so that they can continue to expand the parks to keep up with Universal. Also, with the lack of specifics mentioned in the article, I wonder if the extent and budget for the project isn't even totally settled at this point.

If it says that, then you will just need to go to www.sixflags.com/seasonpass and enter your card number. From there you can put in your personal information, activating your pass. After that, you can either go back to www.sixflags.com/pass and view your coupons or you can just leave it. Either way, go to that first website so that you don't have to wait in additional lines to activate it on your next visit.

I want too, But my family is worried about St. Louis in it's current condition (Ferguson) so it's a huge IF. That is the second most ignorant statement I have heard on this board. Please don't come. I don't mean to beat a dead horse but you have no idea how scared a lot of people were of this. First off, even being in five minutes away from Ferguson wasn't dangerous. Hell, my best friend's extended family lives just a block from the epicenter and were fine. We had people pass up FIVE COMP TICKETS because they were scared. Their STL family kept telling them that it was too dangerous to come. If you are really too scared to come to St. Louis, especially Eureka, because of the Ferguson nonsense, you should not be in control of a motor vehicle due to severe lack of judgement. Seriously. But hey, this gives the good old a chance to get their act together. The only cops who are against wearing cameras are bad cops. *steps off soapbox*

If I remember right, Scooby had a max of 18 boats, but last season it operated with just 9. A few were refurbished for this season, making the ride run with twelve for most of the year, if I'm not mistaken.

I actually talked to Dave Roemer about this "contract" that everyone has been talking about. Basically unless corporate is hiding something from hi, that contract is just a rumor. Either way, he said that it has, to his knowledge, no impact whatsoever on the Boss getting converted.

Some Justice League Updates & Clarification As has been said before, Oceaneering is making the ride vehicles. These vehicles will be exactly like, from a technological basis, the ones used in Transformers & Spiderman at Universal besides only seating 6 people and not having the ability to make it "bumpy". Actually the Scooby show building is bigger than the ride actually needs it to be. The computer designing of the ride has allowed it to be nice and compact. At the same time, the ride will be the same length (roughly). Scooby is just a lot of huge, partially empty show scenes. For those wondering about a Fright Fest overlay of the ride: The ride will close to the public of September 14th. On September 15th, demolition begins. While most components of the ride are already mid-construction in facilities outside the park, the building itself needs to be gutted. Besides that, one of the most time consuming parts of the project is the filling in of the trough as well as taking out all of the plumbing, etc. One really cool thing that I got to see was a video that shows a simple layout of the ride with how the cars will move scene to scene. The pneumatic doors allow more intimacy like you are part of the ride while other vehicles move around you. It's super cool. I believe that some quoted the price of the ride at WB as around $7million. Our new ride won't be much off of that. One great thing is that SFOT & SFSL were able to split the cost of filming the scenes. Is it Transformers or Spiderman? No. However, it will be super cool, especially here in St. Louis.

Seeing the posts about Sunday really sucks. Honestly I hate it because it was not a great day. I'll admit that. Algorithms don't mean anything when you have 8,000 more people than you expected. I'm sorry your day, as well as the days of others, sucked. The last three weekends have been pretty steller from an operations stand point. Unofficially on behalf of the park and most of the team members who work there, we're sorry. We messed up. We (mostly) tried our best, but we couldn't keep up. You have every reason to complain. We do hope that you will come back in the future as that day was one of about five similar days throughout our long season. However, the compliments/complaints that go through Guest Relations actually go through a system where not only departmental supervisors see them, but park directors see them as well. Did you know that Dave Roemer actually personally goes through every single compliment given, as well as a lot of complaints. Yea Six Flags is a corporation, but there are still real, good people who would take your feedback seriously.

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Also, sorry to post so much (I like to think I'm bringing new relevant info/insight each time), but.... If anyone has any questions at all especially involving season passes, memberships (current or new), park information, etc. Don't hesitate to private message me, and I'll help you out. I know that it can be confusing sometimes, but I will take the time to make sure everything is all good. A few people have been asking questions all year, and I'd like to think that I helped. Even if it seems like it's a stupid question or obvious, let me know. I don't want people to spend lots of hard earned cash and end up with problems. Thanks! "Five minutes on your computer now or two hours in line for Guest Relations later." -Albert Einstein

Let's clear this up. From the website: "First-of-its-kind, fully programmable, multi-DOF (degree-of-freedom) vehicles that will transport guests through all the exciting twists and turns designed by Oceaneering." That statement is talking about the spinning vehicles.

A couple notes: 1. Get your season passes early!!!!! This is a flash sale to get the best price between now and September 1st. It isn't like last year where the pricing was all the way through the end of the season. Let your family, friends, coworkers, mailman, etc know, so that they can take advantage of this sale. 2. You all know how I'm always coming with an optimistic attitude about Six Flags. However, those larger looping carnival rides are not coasters. That announcement video left me shaking my head, but hey, props to the marketing teams! 3. Six Seater Ride Vehicles in a ride that dispatches a lot more quickly than Scooby (especially in it's half-capacity state right now). Even though the line will be longer than Scooby, the line will be moving. The indoor, immersive queue is really awesome, IMO, showing that they are not just going to half @ss this ride. 4. Holy crap the Colossus redo blew my mind. I figured they would have it down to one coaster to save money at the expense of less capacity, but man does it look incredible! With the two SF RMC projects for 2015, hopefully we are seeing a trend where less iconic wooden coasters are demolished rather than being upgraded. What is everyone else thinking?

By the way, did anyone see what World's of Fun announced for 2015? It's a 4,500sq/ft splash pad, just like was recently suggested for SFSL. If that is all World's of Fun is getting, I would expect a new coaster for 2016 due to the low investment.

YES! According to the plans, which are subject to change of course, our park is getting some great refurbishments of current areas. In some cases, the money will go for upkeep (new paint, wood, etc). I see a lot of the original buildings and facades as the parks greatest blessing and curse. They require a vast amount of maintenance, but they look beautiful compared to some areas of Holiday World (most of Thanksgiving is literally red or blue vinyl siding. If Six Flags did that, people would complain like crazy). In other cases, the money will go to reenergize dead spaces including new structures! As soon as everything is 100% happening, I'll post some details. Just like how even though the plan was that Batman was being repainted, for instance, I couldn't post until the paint was basically on its way to the park.

I don't think bumper cars would be a good idea as we just removed them this year. They were removed last year and I understand - they were old, used and abused (original attraction from '72). However every amusement should have bumper cars. They need to replace them imo. It is a solid family attraction. Bumper Cars are in the "master plan" to return in the future. Unfortunately the older bumper cars were slowly turning into a water ride on certain days. The Boomerang was specifically placed their to keep the bumper cards from becoming another Hannibarrels. The ride had to be closed, so the best way to get money for demolition is if there is something new for that spot. This is the same reason why the Hannibarrels are where they are. Every single year since they closed, demolition of the Hannibarrels was on the park's list of to-do's but never received the funding.

If you look between 2007 and now, Six Flags isn't half bad compared to HW. HW built four flat rides (plus a kiddie frog hopper) while SF built two. HW built two water coasters while SF built three coasters. HW built two slide towers while SF built two. HW built two kiddie water park areas as well as a failed water ride. It's funny how nobody complains about HW building only a smaller version of a traditional carnival ride and a not-too-exciting slide complex (although I do love Hyena Falls) for two years in a row. I think that Tsunami Soaker beats Mayflower and Boomerang beats Hyena Falls, at least for the general public. And American Thunder & Pandemonium are two of my top three favorite coasters in the park. Also, you have to remember that Six Flags is way more built up than Holiday World to begin with in the dry park side. Even though they aren't new, Batman & Mr. Freeze are both absolutely fantastic rides. Does Six Flags have some sizable shortcomings? Yes. Is it as bad as a lot of people act like it is? No. It's a theme park. Seriously. It shouldn't make you want to pull your hair out. It's made for fun, so there isn't a reason to be so negative. But that's all I really want to say about that. Edit: ^SFSTLMO almost none of the visitors who come to SFSL have been to SFOT. People act like clones are a horrible thing.

I get what you're saying, but "Time of their lives" in reference to most visitors is kind of a stretch, don't you think??? At the end of every night during Fright Fest last year I would sit at the front gate, and I always thought it was amazing how much fun people had when I would talk to them. It does really depend on the person, but if you just watch trains of Mr. Freeze come back, you will see over and over a look of just pure happiness on a lot of the rider's faces. Either way, the vast majority of visitors have a fantastic time.