HWFan

Actually some of his post sounds pretty accurate. And if superman does reopen, I wouldn't be surprised if it were only 2 or three cars. Well, for starters, we have a great maintenance division, so his comments about their aptitude are not appropriate. Second, his whole thing about JLBM isn't rooted in facts. Things with that ride have absolutely nothing to do with the park being handed a ride from "HQ" (lol) without the proper maintenance budget. The main problems have to do with the ride system and hardware/software itself rather than a lack of maintenance. To quote a Sally Corp VP who I was texting with yesterday, "It's been a rough journey, but I think we finally have it now." (The rest of the conversation included some details, but I'm going to leave it at that for now.) Especially as more JL rides are built, it will only mean better upgrades to reduce downtime for us. Yes, Superman & Boomerang are having longer term issues it seems, but Tidal Wave is an issue that came out of the blue and is being corrected as we speak.

Sorry. One last thing: Shout out to Screamscape for very dramatic but lacking-facts post. #ThanksLance

Oooooooookay. So let's re-group here for a second. Here's my response to the last couple pages (I won't quote posts because I'm on my phone): 1. Mr. Phantom: It's always good to hear from you. Keep up the high quality posts, sir! 2. I actually ran into Pete yesterday, and he stopped me to talk for a good ten minutes. That chat just reaffirmed my confidence in him. 3. Vonni: Regarding your post about reopening Tidal Wave, Pete wants to have as many rides up and running as possible. When you think about how he came from an operations background (Director of Operations at SFNE), it makes sense. He's actually huge on lowering downtime and increasing efficiency...rather than running Mr. Freeze with one train just to save money. 4. Pete is actually headed to Holiday World soon and knows Matt Eckert. The two had fun talking at the ACE event. 5. "Hey number six! Why are you afraid of seven so much?" 6. "Because seven 'eight' nine!" 7. "You bet I did! But let's get back to the park, shall we?" 8 (coming from inside seven's stomach). Pete really likes to focus on the small details. For example, he's actually really excited to check out things like the lockers at Holiday World. He said that it's mainly because a lot of those type of details are what can really help improve guest experience. 9. For the (probably) ninth time this year: The park has been investing a lot into upkeep and maintenance to make the park look better and better. Don't worry; corporate is giving SFSL plenty of "love". That level of investment in the park's maintenance really kicked into high gear between 2014 and 2015 (e.g. The new roof & exterior renovation of the Palace Theater. Speaking of which, the landscaping in the Palace Garden are of the park is seriously impressive this year.) 10. If anyone here likes A) putting up Cheistmas lights, B) the idea of getting to work in the beautification of a theme park, or C) making money, you can still apply for a job working with the lights contractor setting up for HITP. There are also plenty of other exciting jobs, which can all be found at http://www.sixflagsjobs.com! Have a Six Flags Day everyone! ^I meant that ending in a nice way, btw. I know that some posters like Mr. Phantom might take me saying "Have a Six Flags Day," as an insult.

Has anyone tried the new single rider line for JL on busy days? If so, what are wait times usually like? I'm really happy that there is one, but I'm disappointed that it had to come at the expense of the dedicated Accessible & Flash Pass entrance, which is now the exit. I always enjoyed seeing Cyborg as I approached the dock, but I guess a single rider line is for the greater good. Also with JL, I too just started noticing that facade defect. However, as Six Flags didn't "build" the ride, if anything, it would be Sally's fault as they managed and hired all of the construction and contractors. I'm sorry I haven't been on here much recently. I've been stressed, so when I finally get home from working, this thread was only making it worse. I'm really happy that people have posted defending Pete, because a lot of the accusations were ridiculous. He was personally trained by Dave and has an extremely successful SF track record. I also was being 100% genuine when I told you he was a great guy. He has passion for the park. No matter who would have taken over for Dave, they would have still been judged basically because they aren't Dave. I'm still excited to see corporate giving plenty of love to SFSL for things like events, maintenance, etc. Things will continue to improve. Finally, I promised someone that I wouldn't comment on next year's addition, so I unfortunately don't have anything to add when it comes to that.

At the park now camped out in the store by Thunderbird. After being in here because of the storm for 45+ minutes, I haven't seen any ponchos. I previously worked in Guest Relations for another park and have heard multiple "Holiday World gave everyone free ponchos..." complaints. I was always surprised HW did that due to the cost,trash, etc, so do they not do that anymore? I have to get to First Aid by 2:00pm (which it is still expected to be storming at that time). Has anyone gotten a free poncho recently at the park? Also, on an unrelated side note, it seems like all of the retail/food employees are little kids. My mom said it was like a happy version of Children of the Corn. I had seen 14 year olds working in the past, but it seems like a lot more this year. Either way, as someone who works in HR at another park, all of them have been exceptionally welcoming.

First, Superman has been open all day today, which is fantastic to see. Second, responding to parkjunkie, I posted a pic a few pages back of a huge HW advert on the front of an Imos box I ordered. It's interesting seeing a Thunderbird billboard at I-44 & 141 on my way home each day. However, I really think the HW advertising in STL topic is being blown out of proportion. HW will get plenty of new Guests, but I don't really see it affecting SFSL too much at all. If anything, it's a much better topic for the HW forum. While I've never really thought about it until now, I've had the rare experience of working & living with the Koch's who built up HW as they bring the same strategies as HW while also having a lot of experience working in different roles at a Six Flags park. However, that doesn't make my opinion any more valid than anyone else's.

Outlaw: Before I was in a wheelchair, the ProSlide "Tornado" slides were one of my favorites to ride. I've always wondered about what would happen if people didn't hold on, because it's nearly impossible to enforce. However, there are dozens of the slides all over the world operating for years without any big injuries (I've never heard of anyone falling out). To comment on the lack of rumors and possibility of a HH addition, SFSL is less likely to add a water park attraction than a park like HW. With HITP and FF, the park is open for two months of weekends in the Spring and around three months of weekends in the fall/winter. That's around five months where HH is closed. Especially with FF growing each year, you can "play RCT" in your head and think where it would be best to invest. How often do you invest in HH knowing that a HH attraction wouldn't help drive the gate (or help capacity) during those five months. While I don't have any kind of inside information, I think it's an interesting point to remember when looking at SFSL's capital expenditures.

The Ninja VR seems truly amazing when it works. I think I'll give it another try later in the season, but just not quite yet.

Josh's List of Facts (Not Opinions) 1. I am employed by Six Flags St. Louis. 2. I have been very vocal about my support and defense of the park in the past. 3. I visited the park with my mother after I got off this afternoon. 4. I tried the Ninja w/ the New Revolution VR. 5. The VR video for all four people in our car was stuck at different places and never moved during the ride. 6. The VR was causing the Ninja's trains to wait 2+ minutes on the break run before entering the station. 7. I had to take oxycodone & ibuprofen after my ride on the Ninja. 8. I have never had to take oxycodone because of a ride before. 9. I have never been in so much pain at a theme park before (coming from someone who left HR by ambulance in January). 10. I cannot say anything else without just stating facts, so I am going to stop now (See Fact #1). Bonus Facts 1. The Cyborg animatronic in JLBM was wearing 3D glasses. 2. The glasses, as well as some cups sitting on Cyborg's desk, were put there by ride attendants. 3. The ride's Lead told me that people putting 3D glasses on Cyborg has become a regular occurrence unfortunately. 4. I have pictures & names of employees to make sure it is taken care of but would suggest anyone who sees similar problems in the future to please post a picture here, so that it can be taken care of by park management. Good Night

Not being in GR, I don't know how all of the policies are 100% now, but because the new season pass card style doesn't have your picture on it, the cards are pre-printed and sent to the park. Because of that, the number on your card will most likely not reflect the number on your receipt/voucher. You will need your pass to get in the park, so if you don't have it, just stop by Guest Relations, as someone already mentioned.

The design of Thunder River as it relates to Mr. Freeze access is pretty smart engineering. At the same time, when TR has its pumps off, the water at the crossing point is still around 3ft deep. When I worked up in Season Pass Processing in 2013, I always liked sitting on the porch when TR was fired up and the water quickly materialized to create a river where dry concrete existed only seconds ago. Also, in terms of accessing Freeze (again TNT please correct any false info), there is a faster but more difficult way to cross as well. If Freeze were to valley, which I've seen twice, TR and Colossus will close immediately. Once TR is clear and maintenance is ready to cross, Dave told me that they could "put the pumps on reverse, which would give maintenance only 45-60 to cross the river before 3ft of water filled the area again. This made it faster to reopen TR without having to pump as much water into the reservoir. In other news, I talked to Pete a bit yesterday, and he is still very happy & optimistic. I didn't get to discuss the park much unfortunately, because he was mainly asking about my Alabama working vacation (which you can find my long photo TR on the Alabama Adventure discussion thread) and about sitting with/meeting Matt Eckert (President of Holiday World). I actually hadn't seen much HW advertising until ordering pizza last night: They know exactly which pizza place to advertise with.

It was funny walking around the park with Mrs. Koch, because little kids would see her and get all excited. I've never seen such happy Guests either. The thing that the Koch's needed to accomplish to be successful at ASA was to give the entire park a new attitude. By making themselves the "unofficial" mascots of the park, it personifies the park and does so in a way that is completely genuine. A lot of people don't expect to see Dan & The General working non-stop while the park is open, but they do. They both have the attitude of not thinking that they're above certain jobs. If they see a need, they fill it. I'm really excited for the park's future (by the way, I'm not on the park's payroll right now, so I'm saying this because it's the truth).

After having the incredible opportunity of spending six week living & working with the Koch Family as they continue to improve Alabama Splash Adventure, I wanted to post a trip report with a lot of pictures showing what the park looks like now. Friday morning started with the 3am to 9am Coasterthon to raise money for the local Children's Hospital. The group ended with 101 laps on Rampage! The train left after the Coasterthon to go rest on the break run. But it had to have some more fun first of course. To give you some perspective, Rampage's station in on the right, and the train is stopped on the break run far above the station. It's break run & return to the station are unique and totally awesome. In case you forgot what coaster we were talking about. I had the best parking spot ever for the event, right next to the coasters. But now let's hop in and (as the rapper Nelly would say) take a ride wit me. See, I told you it was prime parking. The first drop really gets the ride off to a fast start and it makes great use of the terrain. This is the view you would get if you were inside my brain on Friday. Driving back up to the Admin building is fun whenever I get to use these old paths which aren't open to Guests...for now... In Alabama, "Cool Zone" means shade. Not A/C. Just shade. Those queue structures are reminders of the pain-machine that used to reside there. Now we're on the, as I call it, Jungle Explorer path. But the secret is, it's not a Jungle because jungles don't look like this. Here is the entrance to the old boomerang coaster. The only open & unused spot of the small "family ride loop" would be the station for the old kiddie coaster, but Guests can't see it from the open paths. If you stood on that wooden bridge in 2011, you might have gotten wet from the ride. However, if you do it during a bad thunderstorm now, you can still get wet. That building was "Mission Control" for the S&S tower that stood in front of it. You can take selfies with the park's handy mirrors, if you're into that sort of thing. The S&S tower was pretty far removed from the center of the park, so it's content for now. The Rampage and some footers from some stupid ride. This is the park's massive Admin/Warehouse/Maintenance building. This is one of the hallways, many of which are full of doors on each side. You have to watch out for the Scooby-Doo gang & a monster running back and forth between each door. I had to keep a reminder of home on my computer. This is what a drawer inside a theme park employees desk looks like. Yes, it is very exciting. Well, now it's time to head back down to the park for opening that day. Another amazing Rampage view. Driving past the rides section (we'll get to that later). See, rides. The famous backside of wat...err, the new Drop Zone family drop ride. It's very colorful. This is my parking spot right behind the I see the gate! Here's a look at the front gate from inside the park, right before it opens. Here is the view when you turn around from the last picture. (Fun fact, Alabama Splash Adventure's main street is the exact length of Mainstreet USA at the Magic Kingdom.) Mrs. Koch welcoming everyone and leading the countdown to opening! One thing that surprised/impressed me was how nice the park's landscaping is. There are dozens of these planters all over the park, and they're all really nice. Here's a map of the park for you the peruse. The ticket booths in front of the park. The park is completely renovating their Funnel Cake location, but there is still some work to do like painting, selling funnel cakes all year, making funnel cakes all year, etc. Here is a television. Both of the park's gift shops look very nice. Everything is just clean and organized. Nothing special but that's perfect. When Dan talked about cleaning up sight-lines in the park, here's an example. Even though these stairs don't actually (and have never actually) lead somewhere, Dan personally power washed all of them to make it look clean from the main street. This year the park is adding a small history room to showcase some of the park's....interesting....history. Concept art. Very pretty. Spoiler Alert: This concept art never even fully came true. Now this is finally some concept art that reflected reality. This is from when the water park was first built. However, things like the wave pool & Upsurge have been added since then. This is a sign. This sign was actually the inspiration for the song, "I Saw the Sign". (Please don't fact check that.) Here's another thing. These are buildings at the park. They house things, like the Star Theater, for example, which is an awesome air-conditioned space for catered group meals. I thought I would Mix it Up by adding this picture. (The picture includes the "Mix-It-Up" ICEE stand, so that's what the joke is. But still, even if you knew that, the joke isn't really that funny anyway.) The entrance to the water park. The Aqua Maze is actually a pretty cool attraction. Kids love it, and there have only been a couple built. This is a pathway. This is the entrance to the area with food, lockers, changing room, and other things. Mama Lizetti's pizza place is really good. (I've never actually tried it, but I wanted to make the park look good.) Surfside is the other water park eatery. To increase capacity, Dan was able to organize the addition of a large new patio with fifteen tables. It was built in a day. Take that Rome! The World's Largest Pepsi Oasis. It's the largest, so any other Pepsi Oasis at any other park should feel bad. Just kidding, Pepsi Oasis are not sentient. The wave pool has waves that people seem to enjoy. Upsurge is actually a pretty great halfpipe-type attraction. Cabanas The famous backside of a Pepsi Oasis. A view from the "terrace" down into the kids area. This lazy river pictures isn't that great because I was too lazy to get a better one. Dan spent over a hundred hours renovating this rock work (which extends around the kiddie area), and it look great. They have these awesome lockers. The park's GM, Mike Kamp, actually developed the technology behind these lockers, which are now used at parks around the country, including Universal. Neptune's Plunge is made up of our black slide that do twists and turns. Because, you know, REAL slide have curves! This is a great look at what I will call, water park past & water park future. There are a lot of water things on this play structure. Wipeout, which is a water adventure course where you get to wear a harness! Horses also get to wear harnesses sometimes, so... Let's head down this path. This is an area that the park is currently putting a lot of work into, as they will be able to host large events with lots of seating and catering capacity down here soon. Right between the green & blue buildings in the previous picture you can see wipeout, which is at the end of Main Street. This is the view if you turn around. We are NOT on a log flume. Because this is a crappy log flume, built crappily. Blagh. This is an amphitheater that once hosted Smashmouth! But it also hosted me signing alone at night. A ride pad waiting for some time to go by. There are a few ride pads together that are empty. Fortunately, the park built a very nice bright blue fence, which makes them a lot less visible for now. Let's head around the ride's loop. Drop Zone on the left and Jump Around on the right. The Wacky Worm coaster, CentiSPEED! "Crank and Roll" - A completely Guest powered attraction. Heading down past CentiSPEED. Here's the park's new tea cup ride. It's great for families and really rounds out the family rides area, which is nice. The Rampage Oasis before opening. It has misters and free soda, which is pretty cool. Little Bumpers is a covered, kiddie bumper boat ride. Moving on, restrooms on the left and the park's Rio Grande train, Splash Express, is behind the white fence on the right. The station for Splash Express is on the right, but let's head up to Drop Zone. See? I told you it was very colorful. It isn't very intense, but families seem to love it! The General's Diner is a great, air-conditioned restaurant that has memorabilia from Mrs. Koch's life on the walls. Pretty neat. In case you forgot, this is what Wipeout looks like Finally, Little Harbor, a kiddie boat ride. I'll talk about the park more later, but I'm already 30min late to pick up my dad from the airport, so I hope my rushed captions were okay. If not, I apologize.

Everybody stay calm and don't worry, because I get back to STL on Monday. As you all can probably guess, upon my return a new hyper will be built and all of your dreams will come through. You are welcome as always. Sincerely, HWFan P.S. I kinda missed the whole car and lower back convo there so I was wondering if there was still room for me to play the wheelchair card. I'd not, then I'll still play it anyway because that's how I....(wait for it)...roll.

For the past six weeks, I have relocated to Alabama (from Six Flags St. Louis). It's been an insanely eye-opening experience living & working (mainly working) with Dan and The General (aka Mrs. Koch). The night of April 30th, when I first arrived, Mrs. Koch drove Dan, my mother, and I all around the property. To be completely homest, I didn't realize how much work needed to be done on every square inch of that park. It's amazed me how much things have changed since then, as I told Dan, "I didn't think you could ever make it look this nice in that amount of time." The Rampage, which I'm told is a lot better than last year, is fantastic! My main wooden coaster experience is SFSL's Boss, Screamin' Eagle, and American Thunder, plus HW's Raven, Legend, and Voyage. Rampage is hard because I want it to be my number one woodie, but the first three hills on Voyage are the only thing standing in the way. Either way, I don't think there are any parks of this size that have coasters of Rampage's caliber. I've been gathering pictures slowly and am looking forward to creating a mega photo TR showing off the park, some behind the scenes things, and sharing some interesting information & stories picked up during my Alabaman Adventure (my family thinks they're so clever when they started calling my trip that). Stay tuned!

Not to mention that its a holiday and bring a friend free weekend. You couldn't pay me to go on a bring-a-friend day. Eh. It's not bad. I've been paid to go on a dozen bring-a-friend free days.

Just wanted to address one thing parkjunkie included in the rant regarding "HW and WI Dells choosing to both advertise in STL now isn't a coincidence." While I can't speak for The Dells, in terms of HW....YES. IT. IS. I know for a fact that as far back as 2012, HW wasn't advertising in STL yet because they felt that they needed to grow more as a park and really work on their capacity & infrastructure. It had nothing to do with SFSL. Actually, there were an insane amount of "Visit Indiana" commercials and billboards (there was a huge one with the mammoth on it on I-55 in south city). The Visit Indiana commercials usually featured HW very prominently. Anyway, that's all I have time for tonight. Good night TPR forum. Sleep tight, don't let the paranoia bite.

^It is dead wrong, because increased dining pass sales have had at least something to do with longer lines. I'm going to plead the fifth with the rest of the things you said though, mainly because I haven't worked at the park in weeks. However, remember how multiple people have said I'm being overly optimistic and/or too positive on certain issues? There was some truth in many of those instances. Take every negative & positive post with a grain of salt. And as we say down here in Alabama (and everywhere else in the US), "that's all I have to say about that...something something...chocolate."

^With all due respect, your first statement is dead wrong.

^Now that I've been working constantly in Alabama, I've been trying to lay low and just check this thread every once in a while. However, I wanted to address your point above. You're talking about millions of dollars for a light package like that. Plus, Colossus is even bigger than the one at Cedar Point. Dave Roemer was a fan of the chaser lights on Eagle. Anyway, Colossus has a great lighting package that can even be an animated jack-o-lantern or a giant clock! That lighting package was a good sized investment. It would be a waste to spend millions on an LED light package now. Maybe 5-10 years from now, sure. But there are better uses of that money right now.

Just a heads up to anyone visiting the park soon... Justice League will be closed until May 14th. As I mentioned a couple pages back, the ride system is being updated. Now before anyone posts the whole "Classic Six Flags...they had the whole off season...etc", I want to point out that the park (any park) doesn't get to dictate when a manufacturer will have any kind of system update. I'm just happy that they are able to get it done before the park goes to full time operation.

Ah I did not know they were made from the same company.. but isn't that a bit of stretch to shut down the while buying of Eurofighters? Wasn't the accident human error? It should also be pointed out that after being sued, Six Flags then joined the victims family in a lawsuit against Gerstlauer. But Mack and a few other manufacturers are making some great Eurofighter alternatives, so that type of coaster could still possibly be on the table for a Six Flags park.

And I guess now that media day has happened, I can post this pic I took before testing yesterday afternoon: They can hold the train at the very top like that indefinitely. Also, the queue looks nice, is covered, and includes fans. The entrance and exit deck are both new with composite flooring. The exit deck in the same level as the midway, so the base isn't very noticeable while you're watching it.

Honestly, I enjoyed Fireball. It was a bit more intense than I was expecting, but the hang time is great.

In reply to parkjunkie, I would say "no comment." In other news, Six Flags announced another record quarter. The company is doing great in building itself up. Can't wait to see what's In store for the future.