theymitbgi

I would try to stick to Sundays. Saturdays before 5 are usually pretty good though. Fridays are definite non-no's unless you can catch a cool weather night and the park can be empty.

Finally got our trip to Chicago in over the past weekend. I didn't take nearly enough pictures to post a full TR, but I'll do my best to tell you what we saw. I must preface this by saying I am not a coaster rider, but my two boys will ride anything and were really looking forward to X-Flight. We went on Saturday and purchased the platinum flash passes for my two sons. They loved being able to cut the line and riding twice, still had a little wait on each ride as they insist on riding in the front of everything. We also lost at least 1.5 hours due to the weather closures. I'm going to try to group this a little bit to cover everything I saw The good-lots of rides, lots of flats, great theming, could really tell when leaving one area of the park and going to the next, we were able to use our dining passes from SFSL here(we asked a supervisor before trying), built on flat land(unlike our home park of SFSL), staff was very friendly. My kids found Raging Bull to be the ride in the park with Superman a close second. The bad-roaring rapids was closed, X-Flight didn't open till almost noon(we wasted time waiting for it to open, should have rescheduled reservation and caught it later, but the boys really wanted to ride), X-flight was disappointing they only chose to ride it once. The layout of the park is nice with a big loop, but found many ride entrances on the left side of the park seemed to be hidden(roaring rapids, Log ride, boat ride). The park could use a cut-through the center of the park as we would be in one corner of the park and then have to walk through the entire park to get back to another ride(we didn't do this often, but when the kids wanted to get back to raging bull, we found ourselves in the opposite corner). We went on what we were told by several regulars was a very slow day, I would hate to see it on a busy day as we had to wait 15 minutes to get a couple cold slices of pizza. It seems like the Flash Pass at SFSL works better as most ride entrances for Flash Pass users are just entering through the exit and choosing your seat. Are there a lot of left over queus/buildings that aren't used? seemed to notice at least 2-3 on the left side of the park. Ride Count-for my boys X-flight-1 Raging Bull-4 Viper-2 Superman-2 Dark Knight-2 American Eagle Blue-1 Batman-2 Revolution-2 King Chaos-4-6(they really liked this) Log Jammer-1 Demon-ZERO(closed most the day) Vertical Velocity-1(said it was a head banger) Whizzer-2 Fiddler's Fling-1 I rode Dark Knight, Whizzer, and teacups... Wife rode Log Jammer and Teacups.. Overall- not having been to many parks besides SFSL since I was my kid's age I would give this a solid 8/10. Food service, signage, and park layout need improving. Even though it seems like I had a lot of negative to say about the place, we really enjoyed our visit and we try to go back again next year, but I would not try this park again without flash passes.

Since they rarely use both sides of the log flume, I would like to see them combine both sides into one long ride with two drops. I know this seems far fetched but they would still only need to employ one crew to operate. Also I saw the signage for the haunted house in the old chevy show building, really interested in seeing how this will work will the tiered seating from the theater. A very large false floor would have to be built or something.

Wouldn't a 125 ft skyscreamer be anticlimactic as St. Louis is taller and Texas is 400 ft? They would have to have a sky screamer in the 200ft range?

A couple notes from a local about city museum: The local news has reported on the accidents at this place several times, but never enough to shut it down. I think most people understand the risks when going there. City museum is actually the first of two playlands the owner was developing, he actually died during the construction of the second one. It is supposed to be called "concrete world" or something along those lines. It's located in North St. Louis very near the rivers, it's supposed to have castles, moats and even a small canal connecting to the river. I haven't heard to much about the progress on that place since the owner died about two years ago.

They had 4 upcharge haunted houses last year. One near batman, the backlot terror tour drivethrough, the slaughter house(mine train building), and the best by far was in the covered pathway between thunder river and mr freeze. It was well worth the price. Last year they had a flash pass type package for the haunted houses and we did all of them 2-3 times. I haven' t heard any news/ rumors about this year.

Thinking about making the drive up from St Louis to visit Great America soon. Will be 2-3 weekdays, plan on arriving mid afternoon on day, spending the next full day at the park and part of the next. Just looking for tips. Looked back about 20 pages and didn't find any help. 1. Best cheap place to stay? doesn't need to have a shuttle or anything as we have the nationwide season pass parking? would like a pool/hot tub for the end of the day. 2. We don't plan on doing the water park at all, as all rides a similar to what is offered in st. Louis, so is two day enough for the park? 3. Should we purchase a flash pass on the full day we attend? 4. Is the dining pass good only at your local park? I kind of forget on this one. 5. Is there a good plan of attack for the park? What to ride first? etc? 6. How are the shows? Anything worth seeing besides Ignight? Thanks for the help.

I'm sure it could be easily found but like previously stated how many more coasters are in operation now than in 2004. Also what is theme park attendance compared to 2004? I'm sure the increase isn't exactly proportional, but pretty close. Another thing I would like to add, is that in my previous employment as a warehouse supervisor we would always have to investigate an "employee injury". notice how it is phrased "injury" not accident. Most reports went back to the employee being at fault for some reason, not wearing PPE, not operating equipment properly, etc. Even those these were things they had done in the past safely, one time something happened out of the ordinary and an injury occurred, seems like pretty much the same thing here.

Robb, great job on tv tonight. just got done watching it with family, you were the only voice of reason on the panel. Also still not sure what being a WSI has to do with thinking thrill rides aren't safe. I was a Lifeguard Instructor, WSI, First Aid, CPR instructor and it really has no bearing on how I feel about coasters. If I felt they weren't safe I wouldn't let my two sons ride them alone as I am deathly afraid.

Was at SFSL today and overheard this: "they changed Mr Freeze".... thought to myself okay it's been over a year since they turned it backwards but she continued " it used to be like Batman with your feet dangling, now you sit in a cart".. wow..

Johnson Shut-ins is definitely worth the extra time for your trip. It's really a unique one of a kind place. Plan on getting there early though, pack a cooler, and stop at elephant rock state park on the way out. Elephant rock can be done in about an hour, but it is really cool also.

I was looking at the registration for this, it sounds really interesting an overnight at SF. Wonder if all coasters will run all night.

Just a couple notes regarding Dave. He can normally be spotted in the park or at the exit gate. We run into him about every 3 rd or 4th visit and usually chat for 5-10 minutes. He will answer just about any question given including daily attendance numbers. Remember though, he is only our "local" manager and can only do so much with the resources he is given. I' m sure he would love an unlimited budget to do what everyone asks, but he has restraints. My biggest memory of Dave was trying to prod him for info about this year's addition and i think in private he was disappointed in getting a used coaster.

Wow, I finally signed up for an account after over a year of lurking here. I had to defend our park, they clearly got the times right for the Boomerang Preview. It was sent to us in the bi-weekly e-mail. Gold Pass members were from 10:30-12:00 noon and general season passholders were from 12-1pm. As for the ride, my sons were on the first train Friday morning and rode in the very back. They are the coaster fans, not me. I can get into that later. They said the ride was actually much smoother than the Ninja and the worst part was catching the chain lift on the return hill. I think the ride looks amazing although it does look very slow and sounds rough, but like I said I don't ride. The trip report posted was absolutely beautiful. We are at the park 15-20 times a year over the past few years and get used to seeing everything, but looking at in pictures, really makes me appreciate the little gem we have. One note about the Scooby-Doo ride- it seems like they did a lot of work on it over the winter. Many of the animatronics that haven't been working are fixed Anyway I hope I followed all the rules for my first ever post and will definitely be posting more often.