ALT2870

Six Flags is 35 minutes from downtown St. Louis and has a cheaper price point than any of those parks (especially since the majority of Six Flags guests have an absurdly cheap season pass or membership). You could easily make a case that their thrill rides are better than Worlds of Fun and Holiday World (this one depends on preference but is mostly an irrelevant point anyway) and unlike Silver Dollar City they have a water park included with admission. A Mack spinning coaster or whatever SDC is building isn't going to suck the market away from Six Flags. The park is 4 hours away, most people wouldn't consider that a day trip which means it comes with the additional cost of a hotel room. Silver Dollar City is 4 hours away, Worlds of Fun is 3 hours and 45 minutes away, Holiday World is 3 hours away. None of those parks are competing with Six Flags St. Louis for the St. Louis market. They have the market cornered and they know it. 1: It's not just a "Mack Spinny Coaster". It's a significant and biggest investment in SDC history. I promise they aren't gonna throw a Cobra Curse V2 in that plot of land....especially with the amount of footers visible to the eye. Yes, a world class coaster like a Helix V2 would draw people away. 2: Depending on where you live in the STL Metro area, it's 3+ hours; like I said. 3: They most certainly ARE competing with the STL market. Hence advertising in the STL area....advertising that is NOT SFStL. Many of my friends and family have/will visit the other 3 parks mentioned before SFStL. SFStL is and has become very stale. There isn't anything grabbing people to return; that's just a fact. Local(ish) parks are running laps around them and making real investments. Ironically I just meet a family who was from St. Louis yesterday at my park. Silver Dollar City is like a once or twice a year vacation for them. That's what Branson is, a tourist destination, not a spend every day or weekend there. They have passes to Six Flags and go there way more often. Your saying that every weekend families go down to Branson or Kansas City instead of staying in St. Louis? I highly doubt that. I did the St. Louis Branson trip in a day (I left late even), it isn't fun to do in one day. (Note that the drive from Eureka to SDC is already 3.5 hours, and you are pushing it calling Eureka a STL suburb.) Last I've known that Six Flags St. Louis is one of the most profitable parks in the chain. Oh, and it is the only park actually still owned by Six Flags, so they must be doing something right. SDC's new coaster will not suck any market share from St. Louis, it will just want to make people return. I think your username is most appropriate. Point is I hate it when people dish on this park. What did it do to you? I agree the only thing it needs is that headline attraction but even then, it has arguably one of the best wooden coaster collections in North America, a layout that doesn't make you walk in a circle, lots of shade, more then a few unique rides, oh, and plenty of room for expansion despite being one of the top 5 largest Six Flags by land area. I guess people hate that this park is doing everything right. Thanks coasterbill for sticking up for this park.

You're stalking this project harder then I am and I work at the place.

If anyone is curious about the height limit, it will be 46 inches with or without an adult. I was thinking 42 because it was a Soaring Eagle ride. None the less that makes it the second shortest height limit for a thrill ride behind the zip ride. Didn't go up yesterday but from the looks of it on town, the building is starting to take shape.

The belts on the Canyon Flyer can only be unlocked either by the panel or a special key. (Which is really handy when you don't want to unlock every belt.) Like wise the zip ride has two belts, one regular with one with a lever both which the guest cannot get to. Seat belt only rides are nothing new. I get off at 4:30 tomorrow so I'll probably grab some pictures. I haven't been to the site for some time now so I'm excited to see what has changed.

I forget which thread it was, but there was a long, drawn-out discussion of how dirty the (devices used to store personal items while on a ride) at a certain park were. Robb set up this word filter to discourage people from talking about it anymore. There's a picture floating around somewhere, taken in Japan I want to say. Basically the lock.ers were painted as bunnies and what was inside them? Medicine and goo of course. That's where the filter came from, it's just for fun. Don't think he set up the word filter because he was annoyed at it, just found it comical. Edit, quick use of the relatively unused search function found it:

There is an employee there.

Fahrenheit is the only coaster there with that high of a required temperature to start at. I think it is 55 degrees? I've seen the past two years heaters there, Wildcat, Lightning Racer, and sooperdooperlooper to get them up and running quicker. Apparently not, it was running all day, in the rain, and in the cold. I did ask a senior ride operator about a minimum temperature for rides to shut down, she claimed there was none, and this was at Storm Runner. Overall it was a good day at the park. We ended up missing Skyrush by one train. (Yes, next in line to ride.) Apparently that thing doesn't even like mist. The train overshoots the target in the station (which is what it did before we were going to get on) even when a little wet. Maintenance tried but to no avail even though they had three hours after in stopped raining hard and the mist quit. Another reason to go back I guess. Should also mention that Great Bear was non-stop the whole day as well.

You and me both. We ended up leaving after doing Cyclone, Houdini's, and Thunderbolt. Took one look at Superman and said peace out. Ended up going to Dorney where everything was a walk on. You drove all the way to Dorney from the park? Seems like an awefully long trek in one day park to park. It was, but totally worth it. We had a great time at Dorney in the three or so hours there, way more then at SFNE. And rode a lot more too. We were driving to Hershey anyway so it makes sense and made up for what was turning out to be a hum dinger of a day.

Storm Runner at Hersheypark.

Rolled the dice and went to the park, in line for Skyrush right now. Pretty much everything is opening up...

You and me both. We ended up leaving after doing Cyclone, Houdini's, and Thunderbolt. Took one look at Superman and said peace out. Ended up going to Dorney where everything was a walk on.

Yes, trying to figure out alternatives. Even Knoebels is most likely out of the question. We are staying in Harrisburg (driving down there tonight) so might get a taste of it tonight. Still glad I did not get tickets for Hershey yet. Just stinks since we are down there regardless but so it goes.

Had initially decided to go to Hershey tomorrow but dang, 100% chance of rain? Doesn't look like there will be lightning, just lots of rain. Will give a call tomorrow to verify but what rides will be closed?

So heading to the park after who knows how many years. Have a plan of attack from reading through the thread. My one question is, is there anyway you can convince the ops on El Toro to run the dang lift full speed? I know it's a flip of the switch but any ideas would be nice.

So while looking for a good overhead picture of the Eagle to prove to someone that the park didn't flood, found this little article with some nice throw back pictures. http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/the-screamin-eagle-at-six-flags-is-turning/collection_8820376c-a702-53d1-a76c-ad0693df2134.html#8

I was genuinely surprised there were no metal detectors especially after going to the other parks which either had detectors or wands. So this overall is not a surprise...

I'm going to through Glenwood Caverns back in the mix again then. Leave Hoover Dam and drive roughly 8 hours to Grand Junction or if you can handle it the 10 all the way to Glenwood. You are going a weekday in Summer so you should be able to knock out the rides by mid-afternoon if you show up at opening. The reason I recommend this is that you stated you might not be out this way for a while. Glenwood Caverns is a lot further out then Denver is and it is a very family oriented park with some very unique thrill rides. (I may be biased since I work there. ) If you do leave early enough from Glenwood it will put you in Denver plenty early enough. (I noticed Lakeside will close around 10 or 11 so if you leave Glenwood by 4PM you will have 3-4 hours at Lakeside.)

I'm assuming you're driving I-70 though Colorado. Can I recommend stopping at Glenwood Caverns? If anything, it would take less then an hour to stop by ride the Giant Canyon Swing, and another ride or two.

Probably enjoying a nice vacation from all the crazy people.

Alright, so I think the best compromise right now is SFGAdv on Thursday, SFNE on Friday, then on Saturday this: Drive to Allentown the night before. Based on how we are feeling, decide on either Hersheypark or Knoebel's. I know we can get back to Hersheypark a lot easier then SFNE. I feel this gives us the best bang for the buck while still hitting up everything we want to and not tiring ourselves out like we did last year.

First off, thank you everybody for your comments. This keeps becoming a more and more difficult decision. I absolutely agree that Knoebel's is a great park. I appreciate everybody that is trying to push me to it. Here are my issues: 1.) I was already planning a Pennsylvania trip in the future. Obviously this one is the easiest to cast aside. 2.) The person I'm going with (my father) is starting to find it more and more difficult to ride wooden coasters. With last years trip he pretty much had to skip every wooden coaster. Probably my biggest issue, he loves roller coasters and much like me that is his preferred ride at a park. 3.) I will not be that far up into New England for some. Second biggest issue. 4.) We already have passes to Six Flags so switching to a park (all day) that we know have to pay for kind of throws the budget away. Again, I appreciate your help thus far. I'm still leaning towards SFNE and so is my dad, but still thinking.

Well that's definitely good to know. I was thinking about Knoebels and i knew it was coming up. So I'm now thinking SFNE on Friday then drive down to Knoebels that night. Knoebels Saturday morning and then Hershey that afternoon. Possible at all? I'm really set on SFNE because I'll probably not be up that far for a while. Edited first post to new order.

Hey guys, after my mostly successful trip last year due in part to you guys, just want to hear some quick thoughts, ideas, etc from you guys again. I'm doing a mini trip in early May with the schedule below. May 11th (Thursday) ~Six Flags Great Adventure ~Stay till close (6PM) then drive to hotel near Hershey, PA May 12th (Friday) ~Six Flags New England ~Stay till 6 or 7PM then drive to Allentown, PA May 13th (Saturday) ~Knoebels till noon ~Hersheypark in afternoon ~Stay till close then drive up to NYC for flight next morning. Pretty simple trip with three parks I have never been to before as well as SFGAdv which last time I was there El Toro was still testing! Any other recommendations are welcome as well. (Ex: Must Do's, resturants, etc) Thank you guys for your help.

You mean l----o----c----k----e----r? Very odd to use fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo as a replacement. Ditto to YOLOcoaster in lieu of F----u----l----l T----h----r----o----t----t----l----e (or perhaps Full Throttel?). Or Full Throttle works just fine. The explanation for the l.ocker filter comes from a trip overseas where the filter really is true, mostly.

This looks sooooo familiar Yep. It's the same sign they put on the one at sfot. prozach626, if you do get a Flash Pass and budget for it, I highly recommend the platinum. I used it on a BFF day and it made my day so much better. Like others have said, I put in my next ride in right after scanning so I can zip to the next ride without waiting. At the end of the day I marathoned Raging Bull. (I did five or so rides in a row before the people at the back end of the line even came close to the front.